Big Bags of Frozen Crap

So, finally, here's the poster for Top Girls. We open two weeks from tonight and still have a ton of work to do. Saturday is a set painting party and then Monday is our first full run of Act I.

My astonishingly gifted cast continues to pour everything they've got into their performances and watching them grow as we rehearse is just so satisfying... 

Tonight we ran the infamous dinner scene again, adding some hand props and food for the first time, which was... interesting, to say the least. It never ceases to amaze me how the introduction of props can throw actors into spasms of clumsiness and confusin (though to be honest, they really weren't that bad). 

We ran it once and then took a break, during which my producer and I started to discuss how we might pull off all the food props, since there really isn't a proper kitchen in the theatre. We were soon joined by sweet, sweet Emily, who is playing Griselda and Nell. The discussion turned toward the possibility of frozen meals we could nuke, when Emily says: "You could always just go to BJ's. They have those big bags of frozen crap." Q immediately turned to me and said "Please make 'big bags of frozen crap' the title of your blog post tonight." Et viola! Ze trick, she is done! For the first time in over two years, Caliban's Revenge has a title suggested by someone other than Uncle P and quite frankly, I find it refreshing (well, as refreshing as Big Bags of Frozen Crap can be, anyway).

Of course, I don't anticipate Top Girls being a big bag of frozen (or thawed, for that matter) crap, but rather an intense evening of theatre that will have our audiences talking and debating for quite some time afterward. That's the plan, anyway...

More, anon.

Prospero