The countdown is on!

I had the pleasure of being one of the emcees for the Ottawa Fringe Festival's media launch today. As usual the presence of performers outweighed the media presence, but the Fringe staff came up with a creative venue and presentation to launch their festival so I think the impact was felt. The new website is totally hot, with plenty of new features like promotional videos, online ticket sales and online reviews...so you should definitely check it out.

Today was also a special day as it was our official "off-book day" for The Churchill Protocol. Much to my surprise, both stellar gentlemen actors were, I would say, around 80 to 90% off-book. I probably shouldn't be revealing this director's secret, as I may be kicked out of the club, but here goes anyway. I usually set an off-book date that is, depending on the total rehearsal time frame, about one week before I actually expect line-memorization-perfection. That way, I don't get disappointed, the actors have time to feel the pressure, but not get overwhelmed...Then everyone wins in the end! So you can imagine how surprised I was to do a line-run with Pat and Kris today and have them be so confident about their lines.... I was a very happy lady.

Well, my happiness turned to mini-defiance this evening when I read my actor-conspirators recent blog postings. I essentially found out that they both agreed to ignore my off-book date request... they even shook on it... probably after having learned my director's secret from someone I've directed before. I guess the fear that my pregnancy hormones would lead to homicide if they didn't do as they were told made them learn the lines despite their "deal".

Oooh.... if they thought I was hormonal before, they have no idea. (insert maniacal cackle here.)