Sometimes, We're Nowhere.

The kids got up bright and early and cheerfully this morning. They are exctied and reasy to get to work. Everyone in the dining hall seems charmed by them. I am charmed by them myself.

We start the day by learning some basic principles of playing in the round. This is brand new to almost all of them, but they are interested to explore. As with everything in theater, there's no one perfect place to start, and a lot to learn. I know from experience that the kids will pick this up pretty quickly, but we're still at the stage where they "know the words and notes, but not the music."

We do a couple of runs of the show today, with time in between to work on the new scenes and work new actors into the mix for the first time. I am conscious of the need to give the kids sufficient free time, as no one can make worthwhile art when they're exhausted from churning through an over-stuffed schedule.

The new scenes look good. I can't say enough about how hard and how well Brian and Lydia have worked while I've written terrible scenes for them again and again and again. But those two kids, both so sweet and so earnest elevate bad writing with the strength of their youth and lack od cynicism. Having finally provided them with better scenes, they are starting to shine.

I am not as confident in the rest of the play. The run-throughs today are making me very nervous. The play just isn't working. Some actors are too stuck on past readings, going through the motions without being present and thinking. Some others are desperate to avoid auto-pilot and so have over-compensated in the other direction, making weird choices that do not work. Everyone is having a great time hanging out with each toher and wearing rehearsal skirts and shoes, but the play isn't clicking. We do notes, and I try to make sure they understand that a note is just a note. Some of them are clearly resentful at getting notes, others freak out for not getting enough...or any. There is no way to win.

We close out the first real day of work and I know that I must now come up with a brilliant plan to challenge them without tipping them into self-doubt, to praise them without condemning them to complacency, to shake them into being present.

I have no idea how to do this.