theremin play
beautiful, funny, music, true May 14th, 2008Tonight was the best play-reading group night ever.
The play we read tonight was the one about Leon Theremin, written by one of the members of the group, and I got to play a real theremin. The music and sound effects were very much scripted into this play, in a way that they have not been in the other plays we’ve read. Not in the notation sense, but there were cues like, “Tuning” or “Ether”, or the actors will say, “What’s that sound?” or “Dance, and your body will control the instrument,” and that was my cue to make an appropriate sound happen. Total blast. I also got the opportunity to read the part of a Soviet bureaucrat, which I’ve said a million times is fun to do.
Saussha came to the reading with me, and she expected to just sit and watch the proceedings, but instead she got asked to read the part of Theremin’s (second?) wife Lavinia, a Jamaican socialite and professional dancer who lived in Russia and New York. Talk about a challenge! But she pulled it off adeptly, like the total professional that she is.
A good time was had by all. I know I’ve already mentioned how much I love this group. . .but tonight was the most fun I’ve had yet.