BAKING A MUSICAL FROM SCRATCH: Playwright and Producer’s diary
While I awaited the music—six to eight weeks–I thought I’d get me a director. I was fortunate to be able to hire Chrisse Roccaro. I was really excited to have someone with her experience and level head as director, not to mention being a female of a certain age….
By this time I’d pretty much decided to put the show into the Fertile Ground festival time slot. This would maximize my woefully inadequate publicity budget. (Yes that glorious grant check continued to shrink radically as I discovered I’d have to rent lights, a board, and come by a sound system. What was I thinking? Oh right—the Sellwood Lodge space was a bargain. But the list of what it didn’t include was growing. Then there were new sexy items like Insurance to think about…)
We held auditions for the other actress and cast Cindy Lyndin in the dual role of Laine/Dr. Dopfelganger (both the visiting friend and Shelley’s Therapist. I am playing the role of Shelley.) I was delighted at the turn-out for auditions; how interesting to be on the other side of the table. I really appreciated what the women who auditioned gave us. I had to chuckle at the surprise of actresses when they arrived to find saw a clump of middle-aged women waiting their turn. Not so many roles out there…
Music shot back at me from my far and oft-flung arranger. Someone else understood my ideas—always gratifying. As a Tech theatre-phobe I suddenly wished I’d paid attention to my many unfulfilling hours of tech work in college. Finally Dug Martell and I agreed upon one another.
An important and sometimes difficult part of production of my own work has always been to kick the writer out of rehearsals. This is a little tricky when she has been the whole shebang for so long. For one show, I had to get a little nasty with her and send her to wait in the car until rehearsal was over. Fortunately, at this point it was a little easier.
By now, a month into rehearsals for The Only Way Out is Through the playwright has been pretty securely dispatched. And once again—I am amazed how different my own writing looks from the standpoint of actress than writer. I have to get used to it, remind myself, discover it again and yes—work hard to memorize it. You’d think it would be easy to get those words into my head since they once came out of it. But, no.
Now, we’re rehearsing on a mostly-full set in my basement with a few twists and turns and of course not the sound we anticipate. We’re getting choreography from Kerris Cockrell—that’s exciting. Every day I think up something else new to do, in addition to learning my part, connecting with everyone in the production, finishing last week’s mess and keeping the rest of my life somewhat afloat. I’m almost getting used to this… Tickets