Book-It does Rhoda

I sit in heated anticipation of this, my first official blog.
My fingers just removed from this plastic keyboard/ink well are ready to tithe the virtual and curious reader.
We are in the rehearsal process of Book-It Repertory Theatre's original adaptation of Ellen Gilchrist's Rhoda: A Life In Stories, adapted by Rachael Atkins.
I know the director. I know many of the actors. I know the play.
I am excited to learn from that which I already know.
I am excited to be given the gift of insight.
I am excited to embrace the unknown.

Today we blocked the end of the play. For those of you who do not know the term "blocked", it means we choreographed the movement of the actors in the final scenes.
We also learned a Cole Porter tune, To Begin The Beguine.
Generally and especially for the Director, the ever-talented Sheila Daniels, finishing the blocking is a fantastic step in the process.
It means we are ready to embrace the unknown and "see what happens". This is a delicate fulcrum point in this art form. It is time to remove your preconceived cap and don a more magical mask and quite literally masquerade for a spell. Walk in the shoes of someone you've never met, feel their voice in the rich depth of your cords and blink their eyes either deliberately or with ruined abandon. This is the actor's sculpting ground. I love looking down this corridor of truth, this conduit of character into the eyes of who you will inhabit for the next x weeks, hours, days, seconds...It makes my insides chitter and giggle.

Shortly, we will harness this vast template, condense it, consolidate it, work it, rehearse it, tighten, bolt, screw and adjust it until it hums and roars and finally we release it. To you. Our gift to you.
Come see the machine at work.
April 20th 2007
Rhoda: A life in Stories.
Book-it Theatre

Thanks-
-Peter Dylan O'Connor