T Minus

Our two hour rehearsals have now stretched out to 4. We've added the clothes, the make up, and sign-age. Our lights and sound people are working hard. Our props and costume people are working hard. Our backstage tumble is turning slowly into a choreographed dance although occasionally we still break step and find ourselves in a pile of wheel chairs or shopping carts.

I've had a change of heart toward buttons. Seemingly innocent and efficient the button is a clever technology. In theater, however, when you exit as a woman and need to reenter in approximately 30 seconds as a man, the button (especially when in groupings of more than 4) is the enemy. And that is a difference between the real world beyond and the stage. A wall separates us from a time and place where the button is tiny and cute. I always laugh at the difference that wall can make. This is theater right? The illusion that whatever is happening in the space directly ahead of your seats is all there is. But not true. Just three feet to the left there is an underworld of moving parts. People rushing and frantic. People focused and undeterred. One character from Minnesota is dusting on their final powder as a character they'd never meet on stage slowly morphs into her Florida do. And all counting how many buttons between them and a late entrance.

We open Thursday. Time to take a breath.