The adjusted scene

Definitely the biggest challenge in doing STAGE DOOR beyond having so many people in the cast is the adjusted scene at the end of act one.

The script takes place in a bedroom (while all the other scenes take place in the living room of the footlights club boarding house. This "small" scene really requires the idea of people coming in to the bedroom of actresses kaye, terry and jean at all hours. Instead, we've shifted it to the living room - with the permission of samuel french.

But the intimacy and the pre-bedtime talk is much harder to play now. The actors seem disconnected as a result and well, I am just hoping I can clarify their objectives so they can really connect.

Of particular concern is terry's speech about how she always wanted to be an actress and how her mom was one but gave it up to be a wife and mom. There's all this backstory - and it is all about how terrified she is of failing: failing her mom's dream for her, failing as an actress. It seems very playable - and certainly a sense of frenzy seems to help.

How kaye's response works is also challenging. It clearly brings her down that she is hearing terry, the best actress in the house, talk about failure. She then exposes the truth about her husband having previously not let on to anyone about her own backstory. Playable, but challenging.

Anyway, we'll have another crack at it tomorrow. I just want to make sure its more than just wordiness and actually two people have needs from each other.