The rehearsal period for a play is a funny thing. After auditions, which deserve an entry all their own, there’s the first read-through. You meet your cast mates. Maybe you know some of them already. Maybe you’ve never met the ones playing your family. You read the script and think, “OK, I see what this relationship is.” Then you get up on your feet, script in hand, and say those lines over and over. And you think, “Whoa, if I say it this way it takes on a whole new meaning, and that changes things.” Then you put the scripts down and start to develop the physicality. And you think, “Why do I want to do this, at this point, is there some other underlying emotion between these characters?” You start adding bits of yourself because after all, you’re you, even when you’re playing someone else. So you think, “If someone said that to me, this is how I would feel.” Layers and more layers. Relationship creating, building up, strengthening, tearing down. Art imitating life.
