Being at the Grand Canyon

I always believed that deciphering the intention of a playwright using dialogue alone is like a human only experiencing life through one of her senses. Imagine trying to describe the experience of being at the Grand Canyon to a group of people, having only seen a picture and never been to the Grand Canyon. You'd be trying first to figure out what it was like to be at the Grand Canyon, then trying to describe the experience to others. This experience has been different. We have been able to fully experience the Grand Canyon, and bring that experience into the rehearsal process. We know the intentions behind the lines because we wrote them. This also means that the lines aren't written in stone. It is freeing not feeling handcuffed to a line that isn't working, or if it isn't what we're trying to say. It's comforting to know that the product of this process is the story we want to tell, and the time we would normally spend trying to figure out what the playwright is saying, we spend perfecting the words and actions in the story.

- joseph