My latest baby.
I’m actually working on two shows right now. The first, which goes up this weekend is Beyond Therapy by Christopher Durang. I didn’t get cast in this show, but I am ASM (Assistant Stage Manager) for it. I’ll be working backstage. It was kind of nice to take that break from the lights, but it’s got some serious problems. I don’t know if I have the energy to bitch about it right now, so I’m going to focus on more positive things… like ‘night, Mother by Marsha Norman.
We have just begun rehearsal on this one. I came up with the idea during The Lion in Winter by James Goldman, where I played Alais.
See?
Okay, so I’m in the background of that one, but it’s still one of my favorite photos from this show. Plus Jared is in it and he’s a hottie.
Anyway – I got the idea one day right before the show. It bothered me to no end that so many people seemed to want to be part of the theatre just to see their names up on the marquee. Fame and no fortune was the game, and I was starting to get sick of it.
And of course I did what I always do when I see something I don’t like – I changed it, or at least created another avenue.
I thought of putting on a show with my company that was a benefit. A way for actors and other theatre people to give back to the community using their art. The first script I thought of was ‘night, Mother by Marsha Norman.
‘night, Mother is about a woman named Jessie, who announces at the beginning of the play that she is going to kill herself later that evening. Her mother goes through all five stages of the death process with her, until at the end, the play reaches it’s dramatic, and inevitable ending. Jessie goes into her bedroom, locks the door, and shoots herself.
My thought was to produce this as a suicide prevention benefit. Sure enough, the other members of my company loved it, and the project was born. We got in touch with the local LifeSavers group in the area who will receive the money, and found a place to put it. We even cast the show! We’ve started rehearsal too, so the majority of this blog will be about that process.
Stay tuned for more, as it arrives!
