By the end of week 3.

Creating the mess is a natural part of the rehearsal process. In having more ideas than are usable, it is inevitable to arrive at a point with a certain amount of chaos. Then, you start making a list, stripping away the fat, and checking off the items until what is left is a slick and purposeful piece of theatre.

Major accomplishments of Team Floss this week:
1. working through act one
2. creating clear stories from our imaginations of witch hangings
3. working the second fight with catherine
4. finding the how of the Maggie trade-off
5. deciding on a workable floor
6. clarifying who the witch is and her sound
7. bucket fitting
8. program notes
9. so much character definition
10. puppy, horse, water, blue
11. new cast member, new trilogy
12. music choices coming in
13. build begins of costumes and set begins, light plot complete
14. marketing materials

I made assurances to the cast at the end of last week that we would be slowing down. For a few days, we really did. Now, the pace has naturally picked up again. It was necessary and important to allow some breathing time and room for growth. The principle that you only grow when you sleep certainly applies to this kind of work. If you don't rest, you'll not retain. And I say that I could happily work on this play for a year-- but the truth is, the pressure of a deadline and the intensity of the project will instill in the production a hot energy that is unmatchable in another circumstance. So, I don't really want to imagine the process another way.

It is clear to that we will just barely be ready to move downstairs into the theatre for tech, but we will be ready. The prolonged tech period due to thanksgiving will be blessing that allows us to push very hard up until that break (and then sleep (grow)). We will have choreographed, blocked and worked nearly every single moment of the quite epic play, and so, when we head down, it will feel like we are moving an army of ideas and moments. A new chaos will be created, and one moment at a time we will clean it up again. I feel a certain calm knowing this process of play-making and my personal habits so well.
I am very excited to see what we will make!