A Fine Tooth Comb...

One of the the things Jay and I thought we would do with this blog, is give whomever reads it, an insight to the process of putting up these shows. The thought was that some people might find process interesting. Other people...well not so much not so much. If you aren't one, it's okay. I don't blame you. I mean end of the day, process is trivia, right?

So Saturday, August 10th, we had our first reading for "Funeral". We were pretty excited seeing as how this was the first reading of "Funeral" that did not involve Jay and I reading all of the characters to each other. For those of you who do not know, our wonderful cast for "Funeral" is made up of the fabulous Anne Sheridan Smith, the virile Ben Veatch, the cunning Tim Heurlin, and the electric Bryce Peglow. They did such an awesome job. It was just really awesome to finally hear it out loud. Its totally different with actors doing it. You get to hear what works, what doesn't work, that kind of thing. And most importantly, you find all the typos.

I am the first to admit, I consider grammar and spelling as a list of suggestions, as opposed to they way you are supposed to write so that people understand. Which is why when I write my stuff, it is full of typos and misspellings and nary a semi-colon to be found. Luckily Jay does not feel the same way. Which is why she has to go through the script, especially my stuff, with a "fine tooth comb". And in spite of her best efforts, our little game of grammatical cat and mouse usually ends with a few bit of my "inventive sentence structure" in tact.

Saturdays draft was no different. We had a few mistakes, some dialogue that was confusing and the like. But that is what you are supposed to get at a first reading EVER. Best part is after when the actors ask questions that don't have to do with my typos, about characters and story. It's very exciting. If if you have never experienced this, I suggest you write a play and get people to read it.

That said, I thought it was excellent, and we are so lucky to have such a talented cast. (Actually TWO talented casts). So I hope you guys (whomever "you guys" end up being) tune back in periodically to check on the status. (Could I use parenthesis more?) I think it should be interesting. If its not, I promise I will start making things up like fights or affairs between the cast, crew, Jay and myself. Gotta give the people what they want.

Jason