Teal Sherer and Brad Blaisdell in PROOF at NoHo Arts Center Ensemble
Since moving to Los Angeles in November of last year I've made a lot of friends. Mostly fellow artists and actors with NoHo Arts Center Ensemble, where I'm currently the playwright-in-residence. Perhaps the most remarkable amidst a whole slew of remarkable people I've befriended is Teal Sherer, my producer for Praying Small.
As any Gentle Reader of this blog has probably deduced by now, I have a dark and sometimes quirky sense of humor. One of the many reasons Angie, my fiancee, are so compatible is because she is a very optimistic, light-hearted, positive force that fits and completes my tendencies toward pessimism and dark sensibilities. And yet she also 'gets' my sense of humor. One of the most underestimated traits for long-term relationships is an appreciation of humor, I suspect.
Teal Sherer is exactly the same. She's an eternal optimist and yet at the same time appreciates my rather foreboding sense of humor.
I first met Teal when she was playing the gargantuan lead role in PROOF, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play about, well, about a lot of things. The piece was being done in the second stage at NoHo. Frankly, I'd seen several productions of the play as well as the film version and wasn't too terribly keen on seeing it again. But in the spirit of solidarity I toddled over to NoHo and saw this one. I could not have been more pleased. Teal was wonderful in it playing the daughter of a deceased mathematical genius (played by another wonderful actor, Brad Blaisdell) who may or may not have inherited not only his genius as a math guy but also, quite possibly, his genetic make-up as a nut case. She balanced the fine line beautifully throughout the play keeping us guessing as to her own mental state. I could write a great deal about her performance but suffice to say it really was quite incredible.
In fact, I liked it so much that I immediately began making revisions in a play of mine called Heavyweights of the Twentieth Century so as to include her.
Teal is wheelchair-bound due to a car accident some years back. Upon meeting her and becoming friends, the wheelchair, astonishingly, has become invisible. I don't think I can put that more succinctly.
She is the producer of Praying Small and I can't imagine doing this play without her. She has become the backbone of the production, handling all of the details and doing an amazing job of keeping the small, worrisome aspects of producing a play off of my plate. And for that alone I can't possibly thank her enough.
We rehearsed PS yesterday all day. By the end of rehearsal I was really wrung out. Nothing left. Emotionally spent. A quick bite to eat, a short nap and I was back at the theatre getting ready for the one-act plays I'm doing there. A long day.
Today, another round of the one-acts. After that, a marathon session of learning lines with the ever-patient Angela.
Life is good. I wish I could eat pizza and ice cream everyday, but aside from that, I couldn't possibly be happier. I'll settle for salads and fruit.
See you tomorrow.
