An Excerpt from The Captain & the Queen
Our last night of rehearsals flew by. Before starting, Aaron gave us all a speech. He called everyone together—the stagehands, Corrine, Kevin in the booth—to take a seat.
“Okay, guys, this is it. Our last rehearsal. So, if you’re going to mess up, fall, or break something, do it tonight.”
Everyone laughed, grateful for the lightening of the mood.
“I want to thank all of you for your hard work. Listen, Shakespeare isn’t easy. And I know this is going to be the first time for some of you on stage. I want to assure all of you . . . you’re ready for this. You put in the work. Tomorrow evening, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night will be a stroll in Central Park.”
A stroll in Central Park, huh? I just hope I don’t get mugged.
“For our three performances, I want you to leave it all on the stage. Do you know what I mean by that?” he asked. “I see by the look on your faces, that some of you have no idea what I’m talking about. Puck, you play football. Can you please explain it to everyone?”
Nothing like putting me on the spot, Aaron.
“Well, if you’re talking about leaving it all on the field, then you want us to ‘bring it.’ Take everything we’ve learned in practice and deliver it during our performance.”
“Exactly. I want you to bring it! I want everyone involved in this production to bring it, so that when we finish our final performance, we have nothing left to give. Because we’d left it all on stage.”
Nods all around.
“Okay, now, let’s get to work. I want to run through this twice tonight. No stopping. Even if you’re bleeding or dying on stage, we’re not going to stop. Understood?”
So much for lightening the mood.
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