It’s that time again! Going into rehearsals this week for our next show, True West. To kick off our rehearsal process, we held two open readings of True West, free to the public. The readings went really well, and an unanticipated benefit was the terrific discussion that ensued afterward. The folks who had listened to the script had great insights into family dynamics, Sam Shepard's oeuvre, and specific language in the play--plus, they all seem excited to come and see the fully-mounted production!
I want to thank all the actors who read: Scott Treadway, who will be playing Austin, Kay Galvin who will be playing the Mom, Lance Ball who will be playing Saul, and Peter Savage who read Saul on the Sunday reading. Peter also tweeted during the reading and took a few vids. You can see them here and here. It’s an interesting thread about the reading so I encourage you to check it out.
I wanted to share with you a couple of interesting comments and questions
that came up--hopefully these will whet your appetite for this unusual
play!
Comment: Oh, I know this family. You know how it is in families--there
are no surprises. You all know what cards the other ones have. A topic
gets brought up, and you know that your mother is going to say this, and
that will make your sister say that, then your father chimes in with
this...We're just watching this family do their dance. It may get more out
of hand than your family does, but...well, it may not!
Q: How long have you been rehearsing together?
A: We read this for the first time today.
Q: Wait, no, because this play opens in--what? On February 17?
A: That's right. We rehearse all of our plays for three weeks.
Q: How do you do that?
A: Well, it's the big advantage of working with this cast--Scott and I
have done a number of plays together, Lance and Kay have worked together,
Kay and I have worked together...it leads to an ease in the rehearsal
room, and it also means we're not really starting at square one, since we
know how the other people in the room work and think and communicate.
Plus, rehearsing this play is a full-time job. We rehearse about 30 hours
per week.
Q: This is by Sam Shepard, the actor?
A: Yes! Except he's also Sam Shepard , the playwright. He's quite well-known as a writer of dark family dramas, as well, of course, as an actor in movies and on stage.
(Side note: I worked for three days on the film Sweet Dreams which starred Jessica Lange back in 1984. She and Sam Shepard had just started dating, I think, and Shepard sat on the side of the set the entire time we were shooting. Cool! BTW, Ed Harris looked at me funny in that film! Uber cool!!)
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