Why Do We Play?

There comes a point in every rehearsal process, when all of the lines are learned and the real playing begins. Kenny Jones and I have reached that point in A Number, the play that opens on Friday night as part of the Syncrude WinterPLAY Festival. For the next two evenings of rehearsals we will both make discoveries that will take the play to a whole new level.

"When you're cooking, you're really cooking," shared our Director, Claude Giroux, this evening. And when we are cooking, we absolutely feel it.

This is the third time around in tackling a two-hander for Kenny and I. Each time we have stressed over lines, laughed uncontrollably in rehearsal, and skipped entire sections in performance. But we always land on our feet, practice instant forgiveness, and bask in the experience.

So, why do we spend 50 hours of our lives preparing for 45 to 60 minutes on stage? Why do we play? It's certainly not for the fame, nor the adulation--as we get little of either. It's not about the number of people in the audience or the kind words people say when they pass us in the hall after the show--although that is nice. It's about something way deeper, a sense of adventure, of putting aside ourselves for a brief few hours and inhabiting a new skin, a new sensibility. It's about putting yourself in the light and giving yourself over to the story you are about to tell. That is why we play!

Why should you come and see us play? Because, like Forest Gump says: "You never know what you're going to get!" Unpredictability is very exciting and highly entertaining. Join us Friday or Saturday evening starting at 7:30 pm in the Keyano Recital Theatre. You'll also enjoy two other shows produced by the Katie's Playhouse gang, Time Flies and The Ladykillers. A better night of culture you'd be hard pressed to find!

February 23, 2010 - 193.4 pounds, 27.6% body fat

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