The wife visits

Steph came up to Boston for the weekend, hence the utter lack of posting. I’ve missed her more than I think I even knew. Part of the thing about me is that I’m occasionally out of touch with my emotions, and so I’ll feel bad for just no good reason, oh, except there is a terribly good reason, like, for example, I haven’t seen my wife for 3 weeks and I’ve been working my ass off without any real support system (except my wonderful friends, whom I love, thank you all who are reading and who took care of me for the few weeks before I came up to Boston).

That paragraph was a bit convoluted, so, to summarize – wife good, loneliness bad, friends good, lack of insight into ones own emotions, bad. I think that covers it.

So we just hung out on Friday night when she arrived. Went to the local Indian bistro in J.P. (that’s what all the cool kids call Jamaica Plain), talked a lot, and did what husbands and wives do (he said, tastefully drawing a veil across the matter). I will say we had a good time.

Aside from the fact that I had, the previous week, managed to cultivate and bring to ripeness a massive crop of cold sores that made my lip look like the aftermath of some sort of leprosy colony party on my mouth. I’ll give you a second to really savor that one. Oh yeah. OK, so no kissing. Which is OK, cause God knows if you haven’t seen someone you love for a number of weeks, after having never been apart for more than a weekend, you don’t really want to kiss them, or anything. FUCK!

Sorry. Just letting that out.

The next day I had rehearsal, as per usual, and it was one of the more relaxed days of rehearsal in a while, involving line-throughs, a second visit to the costume shop for fittings (where I found the joy that is the frog flippers. Once I get a camera, you’ll see. They’re dope), some blocking work, and, after rehearsal, thence to the cinematic genius that is SNAKES ON A PLANE! Yes, it is trashy, and deeply satisfying, in much the same way that a delicious, trashy snack cake, perhaps filled with delightful creme filling, can completely satisfy one, if that’s what one is in the mood for.

So Steph got to meet a good portion of the cast, including the aforementioned Katie (she of the blog and cuteness), the inimitable Stage Manager, Lanny (his blog can be found here, and Zack. Stephanie's friend from Ireland Alyssa also joined us. She was great, too

SOAP (as the cool kids call it) was awesome. There’s enough noise on the blogosphere about that movie, so I’ll just leave it by saying that everyone in the cast has a couple of weeks of “Snakes on a (NOUN)!” before it is forever banned, so we’d better get those jokes out now.

Then Steph and I hung out some more (tasteful veil, cuddling sounds), and the next day went and saw the Illusionist (Ed Norton + Paul Giammati + Philip Glass = great filmmaking). Steph and I got some pizza, worked on lines, talked about finances, watched a little TV, and went to bed.

Sounds boring, right? In much the same way, the sentence “I drank a glass of water” might seem prosaic, unless you understand that the man speaking it has been wandering beneath a desert sun for endless weeks. Yeah, one version is just something you do, and the other one keeps you alive a little longer.

Anyway, I’m going to miss her. God willing, we’ll be in touch (literally) once more before the real meat of the tour begins.

So let’s talk about the cast of characters (both words used quite purposefully):

1. Zack – Looks like my good friend Chad (says Steph), but really has a great deal in common with my friend Christopher. He’s great, lovable like a golden retriever, but a bit ADD (“You know, the thing about the American Revolution was that… are we going to the West Indian restaurant?” ACTUAL QUOTE!). We will probably end up as roommates.
2. Megan – a beautiful face, a dancers grace, but with Amy Sedaris’s mouth, and a slightly drawling voice with a little grit in it. Sarcastic, funny, good people.
3. Katie – shorter, red-head, super cute, also funny, seems, on first blush, the ingénue, but with a devil just under the surface. The cool kind of devil that you want to go drinking with. Soprano, given to warming up in the morning hitting notes that have dogs for blocks shaking their heads in awe saying, “What the fuck was that?”
4. Steven – built solid, like a linebacker, but remarkably graceful and sweet. Used to do a lot of shows as a dancer, but is now returning to the company we’re working with for his umpty-fifth tour. Will be the guy that gets us through the tough times, I think, since he’s pretty much seen it all
5. Lanny – Stage manager, neat fellow, great to talk to, protective as a mother wolf, fierce, loves karaoke, and has a tattooed freak inside just waiting to come out.
6. Beth – US, house manager, sound engineer, has the hardest job, as far as I can tell. I’m still getting to know her, but she seems pretty even keeled and friendly, though she did tell me a story of breaking a windshield because “she was mad.” so there’s that. I think she’ll work out fine. Seems pretty self sufficient right now. I hope we can find time to “bond” before the show hits the road.
7. Nicole – She’s working our electrics. Just met her. Steven loves her, so that’s pretty much all I need to know.

I’ve written plenty tonight. I’ve got what is called the “Early Run” tomorrow, where the producer comes in and makes sure the wheels aren’t going to fall off. We’ve been beating the hell out of the physicality of the show, in Katie’s phrase, “blocking the thing within an inch of its life.” Yeah, so Saturday they tell us that what they’re really looking for on this Early Run is acting – relationships, moments, real connection. Great! Now they tell me I have to ACT, too. Jeez, this professional acting gig is harder than it looks!

Oh, also, the building next to my house was firebombed before dawn this morning in what may be either a further step in an inter family real estate battle, a revenge for discriminatory housing practices, or something else. Neat, huh?