Rehearsals are heating up for DINNER WITH FRIENDS, which I am directing for Falcon Theater. We had rehearsal tonight in our old rehearsal space; we get possession of the theater on Saturday morning. Dinner tonight was a run out to Mecklenburg Gardens in Clifton. I enjoyed my dinner of Mock Turtle Soup and Trout with Almonds and Raspberry Sauce. It was a hearty, filling dinner before rehearsal.

After our rehearsal, our cast went out to ZA, a pizza joint in Clifton, for drinks and snacks. I really enjoyed the social time with them before we head into the hell that is tech week for the show. Driving home, I realized just how exhausted I was and climbed into bed, probably fully asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Tonight was the first night of hell week for DINNER WITH FRIENDS, the show I am directing for Falcon Theater. Hell week is more politely called tech week, and is the week before the show opens when all the technical elements — the set, lights, sound, props, costumes, and more — are added to the mix. Tech week is notoriously difficult for actors as the attention is less on them and more on what’s going on around them.

Tonight’s dinner was a quick stop for Chicken Planks at Long John Silver’s, chosen because it was close to the market I needed to visit to get Pumpernickel Bread (which looks convincingly like meat on-stage and is easier to deal with and is acceptable to vegetarian actors).