The Kennedy Center has (finally!) posted a detailed schedule of the works being presented in its fourth Page-to-Stage festival. This weekend, three dozen plays will get staged readings in spaces all over the Center. Companies include Signature Theatre, Washington Shakespeare Company, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (through its PlayGround Playwrights).

posted: 2:32:16 PM  

We ran Act I tonight, and then worked a few scenes, including one of the two that I'm having a lot of trouble with, where Boyd and James meet for the first time. Boyd is supposed to feel awkward in that scene, an outsider, and the scene is written to be awkward, with James and Len carrying on what is nearly a private conversation in front of Boyd. We made some progress with it, and Colin and I both figured out what the line "You're the director" is about.

Karen and I also worked my short expository monologue about what a great natural actor Ruth is—sitting in the back of the house, Karen had been losing some of my words. The advantage of working at Asbury is that we have access to the theater for most rehearsals, so people like me who tend to speak softly can practice ramping up the volume and diction in that sound-sucking space. It's not a huge auditorium; it has about 260 seats, but each one of them is well-padded. The disadvantage of the theater is that we often have to deal with other equipment left behind from other activities there, as in moving a grand piano and a big electric organ console from the stage to the community room down the hall. (Of course, every time I push the organ down the hall I take the opportunity to tell Leta's off-color chestnut about "roses on a piano.") At any rate, we worked the monologue, and I am now resolved to find a way to say "firearms" so that everyone in the house can hear the word.

Karen is willing to listen to me grouse about having to lift and tote in order to get the rehearsal space ready. She's very easy to work with: she understands the strengths and weaknesses of the materials she has at her disposal. She's easy to joke with, and yet we get a lot done. And we do have some big jokers in the cast, David J. and Andrea being the usual culprits.

I was at the theater early, so I ran lines with Casey in the parking lot for our talky polysyllabic scene. It's coming along nicely. The other scene where I don't feel like I know what I'm doing is the bit with Ruth (Andrea), when she more or less stops the rehearsal because she's upset about Walt.

So, a good evening's work, offset by the long commute home. Alberta (or, as she is in danger of becoming known, That Damn Car) refused to start in the parking lot again at the end of the evening. Karen gave me a lift to Shady Grove metro, and I made lucky connections onto the penultimate Orange Line train of the night. No cabs at the cab stand, and Yellow Cab's phone dispatch was citing a 40-minute wait, but a free cab rolled in after only a few minutes. There were four or five of us waiting, hoping to go in four or five different directions, and no priority established. After a little bit of "no, you take it," I climbed into the cab. I was a little too stressed to worry about who had the better claim.

The cabbie was chomping on a sandwich: I was his last fare of the night. He wanted to chat. He brought up Katrina and the destruction that is New Orleans. I said, "yeah, it puts your little problems into perspective." And we were just quiet for a bit, as we motored down Hunter Mill Road and to my home.

posted: 1:37:05 AM