Love Bombing Rehearsal #1

After spending a couple sessions doing table work and then a few more days doing rewrites, we started doing scene work last night. Andy Huff is performing at Meadow Brook which means I am having to rehearse scenes out of sequence.

Although I am also the playwright, I am slowly letting go of that hat and focusing on the directing work. Michael Carnow is acting as part AD and part dramaturg, so I am relying on him for any text insights that may need quick revisions. I am very fortunate for that as he is very perceptive and I trust him. He is also very straight with me which I need. I also have a great cast in Andy Huff who plays Norman, a Case Officer, Caroline Price, who plays a woman, Shannon Ferrante who plays Lia, and Kevin Young who plays Tomas. They have all been very perceptive during the process thus far and have been great with new ideas, as well as people to bounce ideas off of. All four are amongst a talented young group of professional actors in the Metro Detroit area.

The general outline of the play is this: it is the year 2013, one year to the day that a catastrophic earthquake has left a couple (Lia and Tomas) struggling to survive. On this day, a high-ranking security official (Norman) interrogates an ex-army officer named Tomas. The questions target the officer’s relationship with a mysterious woman, and then hone in on a string of subversive incidents.

Love Bombing After The Earthquake is written in 9 scenes. Last night we worked on Scenes 1 and 3 with Caroline and Shannon. The main focus of both scenes is the unique relationship between these two women who now share a living space. Even though it was the first rehearsal, I found both Caroline and Shannon had firm understanding of the atmosphere that we were looking to create in these opening scenes. And I find it very interesting watching two women create an intimate and somewhat sensual atmosphere while simultaneously providing exposition in to their own losses. It will be very human, yet sexy at the same time.

Then we worked on Scene 7, a scene featuring Kevin and Caroline. I find scene 7 to be the most difficult scene in the play. It was the most difficult scene for me to write and I have an inkling that it will be the most challenging scene to stage. It has a different atmosphere than the other scenes and places us in a different setting. However, its actions and exposition is very necessary to the story’s development. We struggled with it a bit last night, all three of us questioning motives, blocking, and the intent of certain lines of dialogue. But by the end all three of us were developing a grasp of the scene. In the early stages of rehearsals, I have always found it better not to dwell on certain areas that are problematic, to let actors find their character’s way with me guiding them. I find as other things are pieced together, often these areas get fixed with new insights and become more effective in the end.

We have tonight and Sunday off. Then are rehearsing all of next week.

A special shout out to The Park Bar as usual!!!

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