Ahhh...the first day...

It was pretty fantastic.

The cast is very eager and energetic.

They run the gamut of experience from people who have studied and performed Shakespeare extensively to actors who have only been in one or two plays.

As a group they are very appreciative to be in the room.

I get the sense (and my stage manager assures me) that it is a welcome treat to be involved in a professional Shakespeare production at a black theatre company.

I try not to overwhelm them with my skabillion thoughts. That's tough.

We did some traditional WPY/SFLA community-building work.

We started with a sparkling cider toast.

The reading of the play was exactly 2 hours. Exactly.

Once we add songs and fights, we should be in good shape.

After reading through the play we "covered the space", asked the "3 who's" questions and talked a bit about bringing a spirit of trust and collaboration into the rehearsal process.

I would have done that first but I lost my Cassio to his tech rehearsal for another show and had to make that adjustment.

The reading sounds good and the casting looks great.

Our Iago is a silver-tongued devil, alright.

Othello is actually younger than Iago, Cassio and Montano. There are other soldiers who seem to be about the same age- mid to late 20s.

It gives the show an interesting sort of mentoring relationship between Othello and Iago.

Obviously Othello is a remarkable soldier to command these older and equally obviously, he has spent all of his time fighting and knows nothing about love relationships.

It helps us understand why Othello would trust Iago so quickly and completely.

The actor also has a very sweet quality in those moments. Very young and trusting that makes his demise all the more heartbreaking.

It's interesting.

Desdemona is equally young and sweet. And I think that she has a quiet fire that will elevate her beyond the stereotypical ingenue and allow us to see the warrior in her that is Othello's match.

There is also an interesting mentoring relationship between Desdemona and Emilia that should be very telling.

The set looks fantastic. We got an incredible 3D model to look at. It will be cool to work with.

The costumes are getting more specific.

I have people in the cast ready to come up with a fantastic drinking song.

That might be more fun than rehearsal can hold, I'm not sure.

Now I have to turn my attention to weaponry...