A Series of Small Steps ...

Five weeks out from rehearsals: producing is a series of small, small steps – possibly forward, possibly not –

• Rehearsal draft done – forward step
• Missing some actors’ availabilities – stalled
• Issue of a blonde wig – backward step

Work on the rehearsal draft is finished and hard copies mailed out to cast and crew – moving forward (yes; good; okay).  There are still some issues to be addressed but I need to see them on the floor, with actors.  Particularly the set-up at the top of the play – the story-telling as modus operandi, the establishment of each character’s individual journey, and the genre set-up.

Difficult to get availabilities for all the cast and crew – and challenging when they eventually did all arrive – 2 actors in evening shows, 1 actor in a 2 week daytime workshop and another working an almost full-time day job. Hmmm.

The wig issue.  There’s a wig issue.  I have spent hours investigating how to get the visual image of Liminee on the stage at the end of the play, white-haired, sprawled, looking like ‘a broken doll’.  I’ve phoned wig shops, talked to hairdressers, checked online with suppliers – investigated hair pieces, dye jobs, wigs … I’ve spent 20 hours, as producer, pursuing the creation of a ‘blonde’ character who has to do a hard, fast stage fight.  And I don’t even care if Liminee’s blonde or not.  I certainly don’t want her looking like ‘a broken doll’.  The writer in me knows she is flaming stronger than that.