The "Click"

As a Stage Manager I've found there is always a moment, usually (hopefully) during tech, when everything seems to click into place. It all comes together, the panic subsides and you realize this is going to be a great show. Tonight I discovered (or confirmed) that directors and assistant directors have those moments too.

After stage managing a sold out house for Friends Like These, I went straight into a late night rehearsal for Landscaping The Den of Saints. Tonight I had the pleasure of watching the "click" happen from the director prospective. We had called the two lead actors in to run the middle chunk of the play. It's primarily 60 pages of just the two of them. Up until tonight it has always been good. These two guys are probably some of the most talented actors I've had the pleasure of working with, so anytime we rehearsed this scene it was also good, lately it had moved up to great. Tonight it jumped over good, sped past great and landed in absolutely amazing.

I think Jake and I both had a feeling it might be tonight, I'm not sure why, we hadn't talked about it, it just felt like tonight would be the night. There was a different energy in the room, a different vibe off of the actors, it all came together, it all clicked. Neither one of us took notes, I halfheartedly followed along with the script in case of line calls, but for the most part both of us were so engaged in the story that I think we forgot everything else. All I wanted to do was watch these two incredibly talented guys tell this facinating story. I think that's when you know you've made it to the "click."