I've been in Albuquerque for four weeks now, rehearsing the pants off of Oedipus the King.  The process has been energizing and transformative in that every artist working on the production is committed to risking daily in rehearsal and learning as quickly and effectively as possible; but also because I've had the good fortune to live in actor housing with my main squeeze (who is playing Oedipus) and the director, who is a mentor, a friend, and a scientist of acting.

Rehearsal spills into our living room conversations.  And what we ate for breakfast becomes fodder for rehearsal.  For the past four weeks, it seems that we have been having a continuous conversation about the art and craft of creating theatre and how many of the common practices in the theatre community are not necessarily the most effective practices.

Like memorizing.  Why would we try to remember our lines?  A character will never do that.  Instead, we can rehearse needing the words to get to the next moment.

Or the read-through.  Or the off-book rehearsal.  Why have we condemned those rehearsals to being "just" this or "just" that?  Instead, we can allow them to be as risky and compelling and illuminating as every other rehearsal.

We go into tech tomorrow and I am excited to continue the experiment of making character-driven choices whenever possible.  Allowing my character to live in the clothing, the space, with the new light.  Allowing myself to follow each impulse I have in order to navigate the pestilence-filled square of space that equals Thebes.

And remembering constantly: I, the actor and the character, am capable of much more than I think I am.  Always.