August 27, 2008

Kevin, having cast an African-American as David in Anna Livia, asks for a rewrite of the passage where David describes himself in a 100 year old photograph, where he is clearly a straight-ahead Irishman. He says, "It’s the only place where I can’t make it work." I do not ask, as it occurred to me to ask, "Why did you cast a person whom you’d have to make ‘work’ when thousands would have fit it seamlessly?" I didn’t see the problem myself. I liked the idea of an African-American in the role; it merely requires that the audience believe that the characters in the play (themselves souls) are seeing souls rather than bodies. I tell him that, that everyone is regarding eternal selves rather than temporary forms, and it seemed to content him, though it is the kind of question which, merely because it is asked, strikes terror in the playwright’s soul. What can you do to your script to accommodate it to my directorial vision? I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to work.

Later: Kevin emails from Chicago: It actually all worked rather well last night. After only one week of rehearsal, we actually have a play!