gehearsals and gublicity

We have just now come to the end of week FOUR of rehearsals, if you can believe that, and Old Growth opens in just under two weeks at the Ottawa Fringe. And as of yesterday, I feel like we have a show. As of the day before yesterday, we only had a stumble-through where we didn't quite know our lines, nor why we were saying them. Things change quickly. In just two evening sessions (last tonight and tonight), Aura and I sorted out ALL the music for the show.

It's the weirdest thing. By the way, my new hobby is going to be using common colourful expressions out of context. I especially look forward to saying "what are the odds!?", for instance, when someone mentions that they are from North Bay - or Spokane - regardless of whether I or anyone else present is from that place.

It's the weirdest thing. Back in Novemeber I wrote a few very short pieces for flute that fall into a collection called "Branchings". None of them contain more than 99 notes. So the fast ones are over in a flash. It was an exercise, I wanted to see if I could write "music that sounds like a tree". And did so in whatever way seemed appropriate in November, with the aid of some computery randomyness, because randomness sounds "natural" to me. I thought, hey, spruce trees are symmetrical and recursive in structure, so I'll write some music like that. Whatever it is. Like all mappings from the visual to the aural or whatever, it's actually totally arbitrary. It was an arbitrary little experiment.

But it works. It's spooky - it works NOW. I like the pieces on their own, but when we put them with the play... it's spooky. Aura keeps whippin' 'em out. We come to a part of the script where we want music, and I say, hey, I think it should be something that feels a bit like this, and suddenly a "Branching" is up on the stand. We're using all but one of them. And they fit. Like, to the word. It's really quite magnificent.

And I like acting with live music. It feels like wearing a mask - I can really give myself to it, I can really sparkle because I'm safe - I'm not alone up there.

So my life is busy. We rehearse weekdays 10-2, and then I've been doing either magic or music rehearsal in the evenings. Tomorrow is magic all day, Sunday is the day we personalize our costumes and props with the aid of paint and putty and wax and sewing. And on Wednesday, we have our first preview. And every time I come home, I send out publicity emails. Every, every time. The other night I had that nightmare where I wake up and wonder if I even have a show to advertise. There is a pile of five books on my dresser that I haven't even cracked.

I am keeping tabs on the ducklings at Dows Lake, though. They're independent. They know where mama is, but some of them are happy to be even 15 away on the grass. I wish I had that kind of self-confidence at age Three Weeks. I aspire to be a duckling. It's my calling.

Bed, or publicity? ...