All right, so I'm not off to the best start here. My only excuse for the lack of posting thus far is that for the first time, I've brought part of my day job with me to Iowa. It's just one big project that I'm trying to get out of the way as soon as possible, so I've been devoting much of my time in the mornings to finishing that.

Also, the first few days of rehearsal are devoted to tablework (a misnomer, as there is no table involved), for which the whole cast is called for the whole time. We sit in a large circle of chairs and read through the play, stopping frequently to discuss any issues raised along the way. This runs the gamut from the very straightforward, such as verifying the pronunciation of obscure or difficult words and proper names, to the meatier issues of motivation and relationships.

Today, Day 4, we will get on our feet for the first time and begin a rough-blocking process. Now that tablework is over, the call is more broken down, so you have a little more time off for a while.

I have my first costume fitting today. Twelfth Night is being set in the 1890s, and the renderings for my dresses (by longtime Festival costume designer Lindsay Stang) are beautiful. Olivia begins the play in mourning for her brother and father, who died within months of each other less than a year before the action of the play begins. So I am veiled and wearing all black for my first scene, as is necessitated by the text. Once I fall for Cesario (the disguised Viola), however, I break out in color. When I next appear, and for the rest of the play, I am in the full bloom of love and decked out, accordingly, in pink! In The Tempest, I am not human but a sprite, Ariel, and I will hold off on describing the costumes until I can provide visual aides.