Dear Friend and Reader:
My first hours in Santa Monica were shot from a cannon. Caught in LA rush hour traffic, slowing to a crawl the last ten minutes of the drive, I inched towards the I-10 and a relatively car-free thoroughfare heading west. In all, except the last 30 minutes, it was a relaxing drive. However, as soon as I arrived, wobbily removing myself from my little Nissan hatchback at the Highways Performance Space, I was put to work.
I’ve always been an actor. I never bothered with what was happening on the other side of the stage. My concern was for my part and being part of an ensemble. All I ever worried about was making my mark — meaning hitting my spot light or sound cue at exactly the right time when either occurs. Its a partner dance between you the actor and the house itself, the theater. You call, and it responds.
Today, it’s Angela Baham’s job for this show to be the actor and star of В “The Unsung Diva.” I’m the show’s director, and therefore part of theВ production crew –В responsible for what the eyes of the public will see when they see our show Saturday.В That means knowing what lights go where so that when she moves center stage on a line she won’t be spouting poetry in the dark, or when to bring up a sound cue so it doesn’t come up during a serious monologue. Cue-to-cue rehearsal, the placement of sound and light cues into a show, is the hardest and most demanding theatrical process on all involved. The director and the actor have to know what’s needed where.