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prev # Thursday, May. 06, 2004 5:28 p.m. # next
I need a muscle relaxerA few hours ago, as I was helping clean out our rehearsal space, I suddenly felt an excruciating pain in my lower back. Like every muscle back there tensed up, rock hard. Or a very strong hand grabbed my spine and squeezed. Major, major pain. They had me lay down on the floor, and Jerry, who had muscle spasms like this and eventually had surgery for it (yikes!), talked me through an exercise and some general advice. I lay there (OK, I've even had a lesson on the use of "lay" and "lie" and I still can never remember - I guess I need to break out that letter of a year ago...) for about an hour and a half. I'm up and moving around now, but it still aches like crazy. What have I done?
Why do I feel like my body's falling apart? Um, because it is. I just don't understand.
I need to get back to the gym. I was actually planning to go today before this happened.
On a more pleasant note, I spent a little time working on Old Times today, and made a few discoveries. As I was contemplating my first line (my first entrance is a rather lengthy monologue that's basically one long sentence - oy!), and looking for something to identify with, I had a great discovery. The line is "Queuing all night, the rain, do you remember?" -- Anna, my character (about 40 yrs old), is reminiscing about her days in London in her early 20s. I suddenly remembered my favorite club in London - Lazy Dog on Sunday nights at the Notting Hill Arts Club - and how I spent like 3 hours in line the second time I went, in the freezing cold. The memory was so vivid, and so precisely the right feeling, that it just made my day. I love it when these things click; I feel like that's the first step towards finding this whole character. Plus, thinking about Lazy Dog just made me happy by itself - the first night I went there was one of the most joyous times I've had.
Another happy thing: I have a song in the works.
For any that are curious, this is where I'll be working next year. Click on "Company Profile" and you'll see a rather gorgeous shot of the outside of the theater. Yee haw!
Off to work a show - let's hope the back holds up!