A Staged Rehearsal

Angela Knapp, Keith Gerchak, Ashlie Atkinson & Sonora Chase

Sunday morning I woke up to a deadline. Final script pages due by noon. No more tinkering. No more changing. No more anything. A final read through with Angela and then a poke of the send button and it was done. Script finalized.

Until last night.

Last night we had our staged reading rehearsal. Tonight it will all unfold on the ACME Theater stage but last night it unfolded in a living room with numbered spots at a table, with Angela filling in for the reader of the stage directions. Last night was the first time I got to hear this cast read my words. And it was amazing.

It has been 1,898 days since I started studying screenwriting and pursuing this vocation full-time at UCLA. That's 5 years, 2 months, and 11 days. Ask anyone in my life, it's been a long time coming. And it's not even here yet. But it's begun.

Amazing. Simply amazing. To hear these actors, these people who get paid to do this, stand up in front of me and act out a story I wrote. To embody these characters I created from the ether.

Amazing.

There were only small changes. There were a few questions and a few laughs but mostly, there was work. There was intense focus on the part of all of the people in the room last night and that was pretty freaking cool.

When I wrote the lead of my story I didn't have an actress in mind. To me, she's just Leah. But last night, Ashlie brought Leah alive. She gave her an awesome voice and a beautiful face. When I wrote the lead's main foil, Trainer, I did have an actor in mind. Someone a little different than Keith. But last night Keith blew me away. He brought Trainer to life and made me laugh over and over. I love that. And Sonora, to pull all of this together and to be an amazing Chase? Have I used the word amazing too much? No. She was amazing.

In an hour and a half I will head off to the main event. We'll have a cast/crew dinner beforehand and then at 7:30 the show will go on! I am beyond excited. I can't wait to share this night with a theater full of people. I can't wait for what's next!