The First Run

My brain kind of skidded to a halt when at the beginning of the third week we were told that on Friday we would be running the show. Seriously? After three weeks? We still spend a third of the morning playing games! And with what material are we going to be doing this run through, exactly?

There is no way we could have done a run through after just three weeks with my previous troupe. It took two and a half months before we ran the entire show. And yet by the end of Friday afternoon it was pretty clear that not only were we ready, but we're in pretty good shape.

Yes, there are still some holes to fill, but the first act actually runs pretty smoothly. The second act is considerably more challenging as there is a lot more rigging, and far fewer people available because all the duos/trios are in the second half and can't be in what comes right before or after their own acts.

It occurred to me that the reason we have a show so soon is because this show actually has a lot of circus in it. All of the acts are circus acts and with the exception of the few group acts, they almost all already exist. In my previous show, I feel that less than half the content was circus and so we spent a lot of time creating these image driven poetic moments (many of which were cut along the tour, I might add).


I suspect what we did on Friday will in no way resemble the final product, and that the order will likely change many times from here until the premiere. And even with the considerable amount of circus, I'm pleased to note that there is going to be a lot of poetry as well. You never want to get too excited too soon, but I really think we're going to have a really kick ass show!