Opening Scene

Once again, this is going to have to be a quick post. We had our first rehearsal tonight for the big Christmas program at church. It was so much fun! We blocked and ran through the opening scene several times and it just came back to me so naturally.

Okay, okay - I guess it is like riding a bike.

The opening scene is the chaos of a family getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving in the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. My character became the family matriarch at a young age and has had to juggle responsibilities of life, family, and holding it all together just when the world is getting ready to fall apart.

The director talked with us after we'd had a chance to play around in the characters a little bit. She wanted to see how we were reading the characters. I told her my character rather resonated with me on a personal level, the enormous responsibility, the independent spirit, the vulnerability she hides - then seeing the world she knew crumble into dust around her.

Wow, some Christmas play you say. Ah, but it has what sounds like a rather beautiful ending. Her husband is off as a pilot and airplane mechanic for the planes being sent off to the European front. Pearl Harbor comes and he's called off into the war. But the director added a final scene to bring closure to this part of the story. As a surprise he comes home for a couple of days before shipping off. Ruth felt it more uplifting this way and so added this scene to the end of the play.

There are some absolutely hilarious moments in the opening scene that set the family dynamics around the Thanksgiving table. Makes me think of my own Thanksgiving undertaking this year. I certainly hope it goes off without as many hitches as the play.

Better run - my fluffy bed is waiting and my eyes are drooping. We're doing Scene 2 tomorrow, so be sure and tune in to find out what happens!

Wait, didn't I say this was going to be a quick post?