A new trick

Today, we had a pair of three-hour staging rehearsals with an hour lunch break in between. Those seven hours just flew by. I always come home with a story, don't I? Well, today the director asked one of my castmates to drag me upstage as part of our drunken pre-execution revelry. I don't think he knew it, but he couldn't have picked a better person to do the dragging. Bryan is certified in stage fighting (or something like that), so he shared with me some of the basics. There are clever techniques for making it look like you're being jerked around even though you're really in control. So, although I'm not in control of the direction or speed of the dragging, I am in control of the physical contact so that I'm not in any danger of dislocating a shoulder or anything, despite the complaints of the stage manager that she was afraid I was going to get hurt. I guess that just means we're convincing! I enjoyed learning how to pull that off.

Naturally, after a long day of rehearsal like this, I've got Pearl Fishers perpetually stuck in my head. The good news is that every time I notice this, it's a different scene that's running through my mind.

This evening, my family took me to Benihana for my birthday, and I had a great time. I love watching them turn cooking into a spectator sport. :-)