Rehearsals, noon to 1:00

It's almost impossible to observe and have no impact. I try to be discreet but then I see people I know. They smile at me. I wave at them. Indiscreet. I did, however, manage to sneak into Tina LaPlant's rehearsal space and, when she turned around and saw me she yelled, "I didn't see you there! Paint me as the innocent in all this!" All what? Nicole Boyer Cochran has Jerry Kraft's play in the little area between the main lobby and the stairs down to the lower theater space. (Michael Patten is in there, who I know. So is Khanh Doan and Gordon Carpenter. It's funny how I sometimes don't recognize actors until I see them acting and then - oh my gosh, they've both been in scripts of mine!) As I sneak through I hear Nicole talking about "the drugs and the sex." Nice. David Gassner has Charles Smith and Stan Shields rolling on the floor in the lobby where we usually buy our drinks and cookies working through Celene Ramadan's script. Brian Faker's group, who is rehearsing in the strange and badly lit Vault, is onstage working out a little blocking. Peggy Gannon is there and I ask her, "You said you tempted the 14/48 gods yesterday, anything ever come of that?" She says, "Not yet." And then we laugh. (The rule is, if you speak what you are most afraid of happening "Boy, I sure hope I don't end up with a big long monologue in an all-nude play", you'll end up getting that EXACT thing.) I have to climb back up stairs and ramps, through rehearsals again, to find Opal Peachy directing Glenn Hergenhahn's script in the little lobby on the same level as the ACT offices. Well, they're not exactly rehearsing - they're running lines. Mark Boeker and Shawn Law behind the counter, Erin Stewart and Imogen Love up the ramp a little. (Mark Boeker onstage always makes me want to cry a little.) Past them, in Buster is Tina LaPlant. I already told you, something wicked is happening up there! In the vaulted and echoey Ackerly Forum, I find Don Fleming directing the five woman script by Louis Broom. Five women. My dream script. And it's a great cast. Although I think Louis has written a role for a dinosaur? I'm not sure. And then I can't find the last group. Yoo-hoo! Where are you? In the office/food area I see Peter O'Connor. "You finding everyone you need?" No. He takes me to the Greenroom. Karen Jo Fairbrook (volunteer with the food) is washing lettuce in the sink. And behind the refrigerator, George Mount is working with a cast of three on Anita Montgomery's script. It's too cramped for me join them so I perch and listen from a distance. They're doing it without the scripts in hand. At 1:00pm. Nice, guys! Oh, and the band! How can I forget the band? It's so fun to get to hear them practicing - when you're a writer, you sleep through ALL this stuff! But I got to sit and listen for awhile. "Play D minor." "D minor?" "That's what makes it Louie, Louie, dude!" I'm on lunch break from work so I have to go. I'm looking forward to coming back and seeing the changes. Also, when I come back, the actors will be where the playwrights were last night. I'll want to hug every single one of them.

Becky Hellyer