Cambridge, MA

I am just wrapping up my second week in Cabridge, assistant directing BEST OF BOTH WORLDS at the American Repertory Theater. Is has been a whilrwhind! I find that assistant directing always takes over my life more than I expect, but this show is especially that way.

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS is a new gospel and R&B musical based on Shakespeare's THE WINTERS TALE. The music is by Diedre Murray and the book and lyrics are by Randy Weiner and Diane Paulus, who is directing. The musical has a cast of nine including a child actor, a four-piece band, a big car on stage 20+ songs that -- along with the book, choreography, and staging -- are constantly evolving, so there is a lot of work for everyone involved.

The cast is made up of some AMAZING performers, many of whom are Broadway or opera veterans. Hearing them sing this music every day is thrilling. One song, sung by Jeannette Bayardelle, makes me cry every time I hear it-- to the point that it's hard for me to write down the blocking!

My duties in rehearsal encompass a lot of different tasks. In general, I try to anticipate Diane's needs, to offer creative ideas when she invites them, and to help stage management stay on top of organizing and tracking rewrites, new music, schedules, and all the other paperwork and details in the rehearsal room.

Heres a "day in the life" for me right now.

8am Check e-mail for rewrites that come from the authors overnight, and forward to stage management to start making a plan with them on how to implement the changes.

9am Walk to the rehearsal space in Harvard Square. It is a beautiful 20-minute walk among elegrant old brick homes with a canopy of red and yellow leaves overhead(see the photo above). It is truly the perfect change of scene from NYC, where I have been for the past five years.

9:30-11 Prep for the day alongside stage management or attend some kind of design/production meeting -- such as visiting the car in the scene shop to find out what kind of flexibility it has for staging.

11-2 Rehearsal. During music reherasal, I double-check the lyrics in the book against the lyrics in the score. This is also when I accomplish a lot of paperwork and script updates with stage management. It's also the time when I sometimes run scenes with the actors who are not needed for music reheearsal for a particular song.

During staging, I sit near Diane and the choreographer. I write down blocking, take notes down for Diane, and sometimes jump up to walk someone's role or whisper a quick message in the music director's ear. Diane is an incredible leader. She works very collaboratively, but make decisions quickly and effectively. She moves fast and demands great focus and creativity from the actors. Keeping up with her is an exciting challenge, and getting to occasionally be another set of hands or ears for her is a treat.

2-3 Lunch. Which means more organizational work with stage management, pow-wowing with our choreographer, composer, and/or music director, running errands to the theater, and hopefully, eating something!

3-7 More rehearsal.

7-8 Some days, pow-wow with Diane and dramaturg about possible script changes. And every day, meet with stage management to compare notes about changes and help plan the schedule for the next day.

9-11 Eat dinner and review notes on staging / update out-of-town members of the creative team about progress/changes/questions from rehearsal.

These are full days!

It can be exhausting, but now that I've in settled into Cambridge and am getting to know everybody, it's easy to stay energized, because I am genuinely excited about this show and am eager to see it put in front of audiences here. Diane's enthusiasm and seemingly boundless energy is also infectious; you almost can't help being passionate about the work we're doing as soon as you walk in the door at A.R.T.

So all's well on my front. Happy Halloween, everyone! I hope to write more soon.

(posted by Laura)