The next level

Last night at rehearsal, we hit a nice turning point for TMS. It was the first time we really ran the show from top to bottom, and the first time we were forced to do so without either calling for our forgotten lines or getting the line prompts from our stage manager. The result was a somewhat stuttering show as we hit rocky patchs for the lines, and we managed to cut about 9 1/2 pages from the script thanks to forgotten cues. There were also a couple times when I had to feed my costar her next line, because she gave me that blank look that meant she didn't know the line. Even with those skipped passages, however, it was fantastic to run the show as a whole. I also got very complimentary notes from the director, as I think I've finally managed to bring the dimensions to the character that she has been wanting and asking me for. I realize that she had been giving me notes that I found confusing and contradictory, so I refined my performance to basically take out all those notes she had given me. I've ended up with a performance that is delivering exactly what she wants, but I'm doing it with tools and skills that I know. It's perhaps not as much of a learning and growing experience as I may have hoped it would be, but the character and the show are at least turning out well.