i feel the magic

Good morning world-

It is the exciting day after makeup! The picture above shows me applying something-or-other to give me the desired aged look for the show. Did I mention that I am playing a grandma? A Sri Lankan grandma? That's the avant garde for ya. We're all about the non-traditional casting here at the Builders Association and thanks to the magic of my genius stylist Dick and the forgiving nature of video, I will magically be transformed into Granny. It's so theatrical! Really really fun.

Rizwan Mirza, who plays "that handsome guy" (according to Granny), also got some makeup support so that he can attain the look of a haggard frequent flyer which should be familiar to anyone who has had to go through airport security or been made to brave the Long Island Railroad on a Friday evening. Dick made him look haggard, but could not take away the handsome part. Sorry that Granny objectifies you, Rizwan, but she's from that generation, you know.

We worked on the scenes where Granny appears with her granddaughter Jen, played by the fabulous Tanya Selvaratnam, and then had a story meeting with the creative brains of the operation, Marianne, James and Constance. Also in attendance was Kate Stannard, Marianne's super-capable assistant director, who has come to us from Glasgow. Ideas were flying and decisions were made about the direction of the scenes and the tone and the message and all of the important conversations that end up being distilled into the final product. The audience does not see all of this, but believe me, it's there.

Meanwhile, things are buzzing all about the space as Joe and Neal and their colleague Jamie McElhinney the tech manager continue to build and construct and, since it is the avant garde, deconstruct the set and its workings. Stewart Laing, the show's designer has created a beautiful design that serves a quite complicated set of technical demands of this piece elegantly. It is all coming together, with new pieces being added each day and it is all coming together beautifully.

All this to say that today, I think this thing is gonna be great. Rest assured, dear public, that we at the Builders are hard at work, burning the midnight oil to bring you the highest quality avant garde theatrical experience that blood, sweat and tears can coax and that money can buy. Isn't it so exciting for you? It is for us.

more later,
moe.
PS-On the bridge today, I saw a guy sleeping. No lie, he was sound asleep against a fence that keeps the subway trains separated from the pedestrian path. Five feet behind him, rumbled the passing D trains.