One of the challenges we’ve been talking about since the beginning of the process (before we even cast this puppy with seven of the finest actors I’ve had the good fortune to work with) was the transitions.  It’s important, we decided months ago, to have transitions that are part of the storytelling of the show.  We didn’t want (nor can we afford) to have people in black come on stage, pretend they aren’t there, and move chairs and props around.  What kind of theatrical mileage can we possibly get out of that?  So the challenge became finding a way to stay both inside and outside of the world and time continuum of the play, to accomplish the basic task of getting furniture and props on and off stage while also working on another level to keep the storytelling moving forward.

Tonight was the night to stage the transitions.  I’m really glad that we set aside a whole rehearsal for something that seems to typically rank pretty low on the priority totem pole.  I came in with the idea of working in two time signatures – to have Phil and Meredith (the couple whose lives we follow in this 24-year marathon) in one speed and everyone else in the other.  I’m lucky enough to have the aforementioned brilliant cast that is also willing to jump in and try things, even when prefaced with my “This might be crap, but let’s try it.”  I’m also lucky that even if it starts as crap it’s anything but by the time they’re finished with it. 

I’m happy with what we found tonight.  I know that the shifts will get tighter and (hopefully) inform the scenes as any connective tissue informs the limbs it sits between.  I hope that the audience finds the transitions engaging and that we’re able to communicate a sense – not literally, but more evocatively or expressively – of the lives happening in the gaps between scenes.  I’m excited to see how these moments continue to grow and shift.  I’m excited to have such a brilliant team to work with.  I’m just excited to see and hopeful about what we discover next.

About a month ago I issued a challenge to three of New Leaf’s playwright friends: Given identical lists of some of the features of Chicago’s Mid-North Neighborhood, create a ten-minute play using anything on the page as an inspiration, starting point, setting, character – anything – but you have to somehow incorporate something about the neighborhood on that sheet of paper.  

I was excited to see what these three gentlemen - as different from one another as they can be - would come up with, espeically because this is no idle exercise.  This Saturday each of these plays will have their world-premiere reading as New Leaf’s contribution to this year’s Mid-North Association Summerfest.  At 11 AM, 1 PM, and 3 PM, staged readings of all three plays will be presented in our home at the Lincoln Park Cultural Center.  This was arranged long before seeing the plays, even before officially broaching the subject with the playwrights.  It was a bit of a leap of faith, espeically since we’re hoping that this event will be a way for us to reach out to people in our neighborhood who still look at the LPCC and say “There’s a theatre in there?”  After all, first impressions are a tricky thing. 

On Friday, these three lovely men (Bilal Dardai, Brandon Ray, and Dan Rubin) e-mailed me copies of what they’d created.  The three pieces I received are as different as their creators are and do exactly what I hoped they would – examine the inspirational aspects of New Leaf’s neighborhood in three distinct ways.

I was clear in the beginning that these are going to be staged readings, so that the guys would feel free to write something as fantastical and “unproducable” as they like.  I think Bilal really took up that gauntlet and rocket-launched it; his piece is incredulous and ridiculous in so many ways – it is truly delightful.  Dan has created something that is structurally and thematically fascinating to me and I can’t wait to hear it out loud.  And Brandon’s piece, the most naturalistic of the three,  is full of richly developed characters (yes, developed characters in 10 minutes) in three respective, instantly recognizable crossroads with which we can all empathize. 

On Thursday we’ll be assembling three directors, six actors, and two of these lovely playwrights to work collaboratively for a few hours to wake these texts up and get them in the air before showing them to the public on Saturday.  I’m finding this process (abbreviated though it may be) to be just exhilarating.  It’s reminding me how lucky I am to be in the company of such creative minds.  I can’t wait to see what happens next!

By the way – the images above remind me of the three plays.  Intrigued yet?

And then we were told that we weren’t allowed to “congregate” in our home, the LPCC.  “Congregate.”  Something about that word being applied to the well-nigh spiritual experience of a first rehearsal is really getting under my skin.  ”Congregate” you say?  Humph.  We were not allowed to “congregate” because of a miscommunication with our contract, and the restrictions to do with insurance that said miscommunication imposed, etc. etc.  I won’t bore you with the details. 

In my own life, I was never kicked out of my house.  My parents never even threatened to kick me out; I know that’s not the experience of everyone my age.  I have friends who were kicked out of their house or even disowned because they were “trouble,” because they were gay, because – get this – they wanted to study theatre.  I have been blessed with the world’s most supportive families, both biological and urban.  I am very lucky indeed.

But I feel tonight a little bit like I’ve been kicked out of my house.  Only I’m not really sure what I’ve done wrong.  I mean, I understand that there’s a paper that needs to be signed and then everything will presumably be forgiven and life will go on much as before.  But for right now, I have a sick, unsettled feeling in my stomach.  It’s not the same as the countless men and women without an actual home, the ones who are suffering even as I write this from my cozy studio – complete with heat and running water – and I don’t presume to know or even to be able to conjecture what that feels like.  I think it’s just going to make me even more grateful for our home when we get to move back in. 

Something else to be grateful for is a cast and production team that rolled beautifully with this sucker punch of an evening.  We sat in Stanley’s (delightful food, excellent & understanding service), had some snacks (and drinks) and read the play.  We had a reading to wake up the play last December – which was awesome – but there is already such a great deal more nuance and depth.  I cannot wait to see what’s next.   

And I am reminded yet again, renewal does not guarantee you a bump-free ride to an undisputedly happy ending.  For the plans of mice, men, Jessie, and New Leaf, renewal just promises us the chance for a new beginning.