Jumping Right In

Mondays are my day off.  In theory it's the one day I get to catch up on homework, clean my room, do laundry etc.  In practice it's the day I sit around the house in a stupor accomplishing very little. 

Today is a transitional monday.  Yesterday was closing night of A Midsummer Night's Dream at PCPA (I played Lysander).  It was only a three week run which felt too short to all of us involved.  I auditioned for the show in December, so I've been preparing for it in one way or another since at least October  or November when I started picking and working on an audition piece.  

Every once in a while you find yourself doing a show that is really special.  You don't always see it coming because you're so focused on your work.  Also you're in a rehearsal hall without people watching.  But then you open the show and share it with the audience.  When you bring that crucial element in you know what you have, and to our delight we had something magical.  And then just three weekends later we close.  One of the things about theatre is that it's an art that only exists in the now.  There's nothing that remains from it after the show other than the shared memories and communion of the people who experienced it.

Tomorrow we start rehearsals for Les Miserables.  I'm in the ensemble and understudying Javert.  It's going to be a very different show, but the material is remarkable, and it's a great group of people working on it.  Hopefully it will be another magical result.  Especially since our run goes for something like 56 performances.