10 days 'til the festival...

I feel good! Last night's rehearsal was very energetic; we got further along with character development and being present. As still a newer director, I find it encouraging to develop what I need from the actors. Many of these things just come with experience, so it's always nice to watch things work. When they aren't, it's good to observe and let what's needed organically develop; learning to trust my own instincts.

I am also very glad the depression is lifting. It makes me much more engaged with the cast and the process in general. As an artist, life is felt in HD; while others experience life in B&W with rabbit ears. Hi's are high and Low's can be low...but the heart is open wide and full of life and love.

Tonight is going to be about getting the actors to be in the moment, playing around with some choices...it's gonna be great.

11 days 'til the Festival...

Ahhh, it's getting close. We have a rehearsal tonight, and will be almost every night until the show. Overall, the show is going to be very different from the original show...mainly because of my understanding of playwriting vs. screenwriting now. The original show worked well; and you could tell that it was adapted from a screenplay.

But here, I am pretty excited about how the show is developing. It's also interesting to have a new cast member. It reminds me of cooking, having to incorporate a new ingredient (person) is like folding whipped cream into a batter...it needs to be done gently and mix until the batter is uniform.

I love this, I love what I do...I also love the people that I work with. I am grateful for the upcoming festival to showcase the talent we are unearthing.

31 Days 'til the Festival...

Feeling great this morning. Last night's rehearsal was very productive. The cast is really beginning to go deeper with the layers of their characters. I think we really had a breakthrough with Nika and Eli last night. Tonight we another rehearsal with Nika, Eli and Amir. Next week we have a couple of cast members out, but I have plenty of stuff for us to work on. I'll look for some more exercises for the cast to chew on. They do really well with it.

Feeling better...

As it stands now, I did need a break. I really got overwhelmed with where/how my life was and was unable to really move towards anything. I have had issues with depression in the past; so sometimes, I get to know the signs. Mostly I try to do something before it gets too bad.

June seemed like a lot emotionally. Although I really needed that time to prepare for the SF Festival; I have to be grateful that I am better and am able to get work done at this point. We had to replace our original Nika for the festival; I think Allena will do very well.

We all got together a few days ago at my house to read the script, there are only a few changes that I need to make. I think the cast is going to be awesome. My next steps are promotion, rehearsals and blocking.