I love readthroughs. It's the first time my characters escape the padded confines of my skull, and it's always a blast to find out what they sound like.
We had the first readthrough of
Kill the Critic! last night, and it was everything I had hoped for. The cast was enthusiastic, the characters are already showing some definition and the dialogue moved along at a farceworthy clip, keeping everyone in a near-constant state of laughter.
It's been two months since the disappointing end of my Indiegogo campaign (I raised only $120 toward my $1000 goal) and it feels great to get back to work.
Not to say that we haven't had some excitement. Over the last few weeks, we lost two of our cast and had to scramble to find replacements.
The biggest loss was the critic. The guy we originally cast in the title role is a professional stunt man--not an absolute necessity for the part, but it would have allowed us to push the envelope physicality-wise. It also gave us a nice hook for our marketing efforts.
The hunt for a replacement went on longer than I liked, and things got so desperate that I actually thought about playing the part myself. But I soon came to my senses, and Nancy was able to find an actor with the right combination of arrogance and a willingness to take abuse.
Oh, and did I mention we went through a trio of Officer Schwebnicks?
Well, that's all behind us now. The cast is complete, the script is frozen (for now) and everyone is excited to dive into rehearsal.
There's no time to waste. We've got only 36 days until opening night.