A day off?

So, the first day off in three weeks – well – mostly off. I had to work on lines in the morning, but the afternoon a few of us headed out to explore. We drove out to Saratoga Lake – which I was hoping was like the lakes near Ithaca and sort of quiet and nice to drive around, but this one was really built up on every square inch. We stopped near a public beach area – very small – and just sort of hung out for a while. Then we headed downtown to ride the carousel. I love carousels mainly because they are such a great throw back and are driven by 19^th century technology. There is something so quaint about sitting on a wooden horse that has been carrying passengers for more than 100 years. Not sure if everyone with me really got the whole “let’s ride the carousel” thing – but it was nice.

We then walked around the town – very white, very high end, very lovely – one of those downtowns that tries to seem as if it has always been that way since like the 40s. We ran into our director Emma in a coffee shop and she was up for the carousel – so I got to ride twice. I really needed others to go with me cause I get how creepy some 50-year-old dude hanging around the park by himself would look. The late afternoon brought a nice nap, listened to some music, and more line work.

Rehearsal started at 6:30 and we worked until we could get into the theatre to tech at 8:00. It is a really interesting piece. Emma has done a nice job shaping it and offering very specific comments on style and movement. It has been a nice collaboration. Jonathan watched a run and, as always, had some wonderfully perceptive comments to offer. He was concerned about motivating the end – which he was completely right about. So we worked on that after he left. He also asked us about our concept – which is an odd choice to go into this play with. We are kind of protective of it since we want everyone to be surprised, so I’ll provide detail after we perform it tomorrow. The nice thing is we will get notes and then have a few days to work it before the final presentation on Thursday.

The timing on the training feels about right – we all seem to be winding down a bit – it really is hard to keep the same level of intensity for such a long period of time given the length of the days. I am anxious to head home, but also realize that the long drive will work well since I have a great deal to process. The main thing to consider is what I do next, but I have options and time to explore them.