Hi Everyone! Alex here again with another entry into the Future Future Dear God Director's Blog!

Since we last met, the show has been cast and rehearsals have started. I am very happy to say that aside from some scheduling conflicts there seems to be little to no friction, especially when it comes to the work we're doing in rehearsal.  After the first read-through we focused on blocking out the two first scenes (the whole play is composed of three, a short beginning followed by two larger portions).

I don't want to brag so much about how my cast is superior to those in the other One Acts, but it's hard not to after witnessing such talented people work quickly to block out over half the play within two hour-long rehearsals. I had expected to have blocking take up more time, bleeding into the week after next, but at this point we appear ahead of schedule which is awesome in every sense of the word. Seeing that time is our biggest limitation, this gives us the opportunity for more refining of scenes in the future.

Throughout this process I've noticed my own directing style begin to appear in it's different manifestations. For the most part I keep it free-flowing, and aside from keeping within the boundaries of the concept I allow and encourage the actors to make their own decisions in regards to what feels natural or right in the moment. I feel this enables us to move quickly, as they are working with their own initiative under the greater intent that Mike and I give them. There were a few moments where I stepped in and changed something specific that I felt wasn't working, but I only had to do that infrequently. The cast jives with our vision for the play, and that becomes obvious when lines are hilarious and just work out on the "first take."

That's it for now, I should probably kick myself back into my normal pattern of skepticism in order to not have my dreams crushed by some unseen and impending doom slowly descending upon this production, but these people and circumstances make it hard to add a storm cloud to all of this silver lining. Until next time!

May your dreams always have like, five or six other dreams in them.