The Read Through

Tonight the cast of Hanging of the Greens read through the script together for the first time. It is really a great story!

I left Eden Prairie for White Bear Lake at about 5:45. Half way there, as I was happily singing along, my i-pod stopped working. Then the radio stopped working. Then the ABS light came on. Then I noticed the clock was dim around the edges. Then I called Dan. Not that he could do anything over the phone, but ever since our conversion van broke down in the middle lane of 694 (at night, while I was driving it, alone), I have severe vehicular anxiety whenever things start and/or stop glowing in inappropriate ways. He assured me that it would be fine, so I drove all the way to the theater. When I got there, I turned off the car and then decided to see what would happen if I tried to turn it back on. It didn't turn back on...or start up...or whatever it is that cars do. So I called Dan. And he came out to WBL to make it work while I went inside to rehearsal. During a little break, I went outside to discover that the car had started right up for him, but he left me his car and drove the devil car home. It's not really a devil car...I love that car - it has heated seats - but I do not want to be in it if it stops working at a stop light or on the freeway.

Okay, so that was fun. I sat outside in the car waiting for someone else to show up so I could follow them in through the right door. When I got inside, there were two sweet "mature" women there - they were there to take measurements for costumes! How fun is that! I hope the silly excitement over such apparently routine theater thingys never goes away for me. So, the costume lady came at me with her tape measure and started rattling off my measurements (for all to hear) while the other lady wrote them down. As others arrived, they had measurements taken and we all settled in around a long, long table to read the script.

I have seven children of my own - which means 14 names to learn - and those are just my children. There are 22 in the cast; which means 44 names, well, 42 actually as I am fairly certain of my own names. Somehow, I find this more daunting than memorizing my lines. I hope to have them down by the time I go to my next rehearsal on Wednesday. I LOVE these children...they are amazing and friendly and happy and smiley and I think they will be almost as fun to hang out with as my nieces are. And that's a lot of fun.

I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that I have a fairly big part. Having now read the whole script, I am even more honored at the director's confidence in me to pull it off...I am so excited about this! There is a wonderfully dramatic scene where I am determined to make every mother in the audience weep. There is also a section of the story where the witch's forest spirit slaves are seducing the children out of their home and away from safety that gave me chills as we read it...it was creepy and wonderful...I can't wait to see what it looks like.