DAY THIRTY TWO - Thursday April 26

DAY THIRTY TWO - Thursday April 26

Patti did not sleep AT ALL and her leg is killing her.

On the way to rehearsal they were rehearsing some music for the "Fiddler on the Roof" performance.   Some great musicians.

We did the only huge scene we hadn’t staged – the end of Act One. One of our performers - who is actually very attentive during rehearsal in spite of a frustratingly (for him) small role, was LITERALLY texting as he was crossing downstage DURING A SCENE! Not offstage, sitting in a chair waiting to go on. Not in the hallway, not on a break, not observing a rehearsal from afar. LITERALLY as he was crossing during some else's dialogue. I blew up. I mentioned how disrespectful it was to their fellow performers. He mentioned he was turning his phone off. I'm not sure if I believed him but I mentioned that it might be a good idea to turn cell phones off BEFORE you enter a scene.

A note about this guy - I used him as an example but he is far from the only one doing it. He's actually usually very attentive - in spite of feeling that his role is too small. And, further, he saw that Patti was in pain, walked over to her and said he does chiropractics as a hobby and would she like him to adjust her? It turns out he has miraculous hands and has made regular visits to help her. Everyone is rallying around Patti with such compassion. Everyone searching for the right doctor who can help her - coming to check on her, bringing her flowers, offering advice - extremely caring people who are making Patti feel cared for - if not cured.... yet.  

We even got one creaky looking crutch from the props department and a real set of crutches from one of the IT guys!

In between sessions, Patti went to the hospital to (hopefully) get an MRI.  I went to "The Office" for lunch.

It turns out she did not get the MRI. The doctor - who she said seemed to know his stuff - told her she had a herniated disk. He gave her all sorts of medication - two of which were injections - there are lots of syringes going around in Russia! Once she got back to her room, the troops rallied again to help administer the various philtres, potions and pills.  

In the evening, I did some catch up work with one of the actors who has missed a lot of rehearsal. Unfortunately, I released two other actors and ended up having time to work with those I released. Oh well.  On the phone very late with all sorts of folks - thanks to Skype!