2:54 pm - Sat 8/24/02
Emailing Mark

(Feeling guilty about my backlog of email, I decided to email as many people as I could get to. Unfortunately, that's left me with no time or energy to do this. So I'm taking the lazy man's way out, and copying this email I just finished writing to Mark Z. It's pretty much everything that's going on with me in a nutshell anyway...)

Hi Mark,

I always wondered about that, regarding heaven (Okay, maybe not when I was really young, but for a long time now); It seems like the only way we know that things are really great is that sometimes things are really not great. But presuming a heaven, and someone in charge of same, I have to assume that would be worked out (Maybe there'd be so many experiences to enjoy, each in their different way, that the contrast between one pleasure and the other would take the place of a contrast between good times and bad).

Regarding things in your past feeling as if they happened "to another person", I've always felt that way too. So I'm not sure at what point, exactly, I expected "the warm glow of nostalgia" to kick in (Or more likely in my case, the bitter taste of regret). I guess maybe when I'm too old to expect anything really good to happen in the future. At this point, I'm still working on convincing myself that things are going to get better "any day now" (And in fact, that they aren't that bad as it is ). But anyway...

In Corpus Christi news, it looks like after assorted organizational burps and farts, I'm about to start rehearsing for this show.

On Wednesday, I was told that there was maybe a rehearsal the next night. On Thursday, I called the theater--twice--to confirm, and eventually got a call back saying that yes, there was a rehearsal that night, from 9-11:00.

So I went. And the director said, "What are you doing here? You're in the other cast" (The call I'd gotten about rehearsal wasn't from the director, producer, or theater manager, but from a fourth party. I don't know what his involvement is in this show, but he was tech director for Crossing The Line).

I watched them block the first half of the show--The director suggested I stay, though for the life of me, I didn't understand why, since he had no script or schedule information to give me--and I typically would have found that very boring, except I haven't read the show yet, so at least I got an idea of what the first half is about (And we are a long way from the King James Bible here!).

The director called me yesterday, saying that someone had dropped out of the cast I'd seen last night, and if I wanted, I could jump in there.

Now up to this point, I was under the impression that the show was "double cast", but I should have known better; That was their intent, but they didn't get enough people to fill two casts, so the "second cast", the one that I'm theoretically in (Which the director had taken pains to say wasn't like "junior varsity" or anything like that) actually consists of just four or five guys, when you need thirteen (When I heard that, I have to admit, I did feel a little "put out"; I didn't feel like I was "junior varsity", I felt like I was on the "reserve" list!). So Jamal, the director, was planning to have more auditions, then depending on how that went, start rehearsals for the "second cast" next weekend, or else just integrate the "second cast" guys in with the other cast (That was basically how the last show went. instead of two casts rehearsing at separate times, it ended up just being one big cast, taking turns going over stuff, and alternating performance dates).

So anyway, I'm going to go in tomorrow morning for a publicity photo, and from there, I guess I'll start rehearsing the show.

And that's your up-to-the-minute, Corpus Christi report.

I think I'd rather be doing your show, truth to tell (The rehearsal I saw last night left me very uncertain as to how this show will hang together, or be received by an audience. But that said, I did see things that looked like they would be fun to do as an actor. And there certainly wasn't anything in what I saw last night that I didn't feel I could manage. But anyway...).

Meymo always struck me as one of those people who was very ostentatiously "theatrical". When I was younger, I found that sort of thing annoying and phony, but now, I tend to be more amused by it, and less judgmental (I used to assume that such a person was a phony, when in reality, how do I know that this isn't just a very emotional, expressive person?

Anyway, good luck with it. It sounds like a really worthwhile project (Though I share your curiosity as to how he got the rights to it, and half suspect that the answer to that question is "He didn't").

Well, I've gotta dash. I've got laundry to rescue from the dryer, then I've got to get cleaned up for work (I've been sick for the past two days of my "weekend", a cold which is on the mend just in time for me to head back to work, more tired than ever because of two days spent not sleeping and struggling to breathe. Oh well...).

Say hi to your other half for me. I'll look forward to hearing from you when you have time (And I'm getting excited about your upcoming visit. I told Jane, it didn't feel real to me until the last time she and I talked).

Love,

Jim

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