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from Cindy Gold (Bessie Berger, Awake and Sing!)

Rehearsal after four or five previews = very exciting day.  We had notes with Amy, and then did a speed-through of the show.  (That’s when you run it all, but fast!)   It’s mostly for muscle memory, but I find it useful and often find new moments.  This cast is so friendly and loving, and FUNNY.  We really enjoy each other, which is such a gift.  I had the company over to my house after the second show on Sunday.  We ate and drank and laughed a lot.   Is that ok to “blog”?  I’m new to this blogging thing… Anyway, tomorrow we have our first school matinee - 10:30am.  That’s early to be barreling through this play.  And I always feel, if I’m doing this one correctly, it’s as if I’ve been shot out of a cannon from the get-go.  So it’ll be interesting to see how it goes so early tomorrow.

I’m excited and nervous for our Sunday opening.  The 9-10 previews are a gift to an actor — we get to work the show each day, and run it for an audience each night.  So rare to get that kind of time.  I’m grateful to BJ and Tim and Janet, who really understand the actor’s process and how best to develop a good production.

from Cindy Gold (Bessie Berger, Awake and Sing!)

Playing someone outside my personal comfort zone, like Bessie Berger, is exciting.  In this case, Bessie is so LOUD.  Amy [Morton, director] keeps telling me to have a megaphone at ALL times.  Bessie needs to be seen by everyone, and she’s loud.  It’s hard playing someone not too likeable.  I’m used to playing smaller, charactery, funny ladies who the audience finds “cute”.   So this is challenging.

Though Bessie is a “Jewish mother,” I don’t want to be stereotypical or general.  But I think I know these people well, having grown up around family who went through the depression and WWII - and were/are Jewish.  My grandfather, Irving Ozer, was a doctor in Philadelphia during that time.  He was one of the few in his family who was bringing in money, so he supported a lot of his family and various relatives lived in the house along with himself and my grandmother, Ray, and my Mom, Betty.  Must have been chaotic, but loving, I think.

Another interesting challenge has been to find the realism in such foreign-sounding language.  But it’s like doing Shakespeare, or any heightened text.  You figure out what the meaning is, and what you WANT, and play with it until it feels right. Tricky.  But Amy is genius at teasing out meaning.

from Mara Mihlfried, Associate Director of Marketing

“This is always my least favorite day, because everybody looks at me like I know something…but I don’t.”

So began Director Amy Morton at the first rehearsal of Awake and Sing! earlier this afternoon. I always love first rehearsal - the entire cast, production team and staff are invited to “meet-and-greet” each other, followed by informal presentations by the designers to describe some of the production elements (that they’ve already been working on for months) to the rest of us, and then a read-thru by the cast - for most of us, the first time we’ve ever heard the play out loud. Though many of us on the staff spend much of our time sitting in cubicles and working on computers - much like any office - first rehearsal is a time when we all come together and are reminded why we’re all here. And reminded that it takes all of us - on the stage, behind the scenes, and in the office - to make every production happen.

Awake and Sing! is a beautiful play - I’ve been excited about it since our Artistic team made the choice to include it in our season about this time last year. And Amy Morton, (though I confess, I can’t look at her without picturing her screaming at her August: Osage County family “I’m running things now!”) is an amazing artist who I’m thrilled is working here at Northlight. Contrary to her opening statement, clearly she knows a lot. I’m looking forward to seeing her vision take shape.