This week is the table read before our Madness workshop, the first time our dancers, one of our visual artists, and half of our band will hear the script out loud.
Our actors are terrific and the reading is a help to me, hearing the words through their voices – and as ever, finding things to cut or clarify.
I rewrite the first scene completely to humanize the husband, since he comes off too negative and that’s the writing, not the lovable Eddie Gomez.
The next day I send notes so everyone can make a few hand-written cuts and line additions, and reprint the first scene for everybody. We recast a couple roles due to last-minute scheduling conflicts – and I send out other scripts until Friday’s workshop. And start a challenging online class through the Dramatists Guild taught by Edith Freni, on adventurous play structures in works by women playwrights.
Coralette Damme is already drawing lovely creatures – and lovely leaves! – for our homemade forest. Painter Ana Maria Vasquez creates this gorgeous work that’s part of the climax of Madness after listening to the script tonight, her vision of beautiful and heartfelt dancers in a forest.
And in the center, is Ana Maria’s version of The Dance Contraption.
