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Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Rehearsing "When is a Clock" # 4

Last night I sat in briefly for table reading of several scenes in Gordon's workplace. Tom, Trumbull and Laura Desmond were there. Kyle was drinking tea. That's what he does now.

Tom, as an actor, has the challenge of negotiating how his character speaks in time. He is the narrator, but plays out scenes that happened years ago, days ago, weeks ago, before and after he describes and introduces them to the audience. When it was decided what the age of Matt Trumbull's character would be (his own) then Tom noted that, if the scene took place years ago, maybe Gordon and Caldwell were closer in age during the scene than Tom and Matt are personally.

Tom got to see how hard it often is to be David DelGrosso, and stare Matt Trumbull in the face while he's delivering lines like "I had a dream about cod." If you saw The White Swallow, you know what a challenge that must be.

Laura has the unenviable task of acting like someone that you probably work with. Being good at it makes you either an excellent mimic, or spending too much time in places no one should be. Like a cubicle.

Tonight, Kyle, Dave and I are recording a podcast at the nytheatrecast to promote and discuss the play. I'll send a link when the interview is live.

4 comments:

Matthew Trumbull said...

When Kyle drinks his tea, he pours it out a Thermos the size of a SCUD missile. More tea goes into that Thermos than the Sons of Liberty dumped in Boston Harbor.

David Johnston said...

Ah yes. Kyle and his 'tea.' Much like the late Joan Crawford and her thermos of 'Pepsi.'

Matthew Trumbull said...

Like how my Creative Writing teacher in high school always had a mug full of "coffee" tipped up under his red, veiny nose.

David D. said...

Indeed. Sort of like David Johnston and his "pens".

Also, for the record, most of what makes eye contact with Matt Trumbull onstage hard is that you can see The Devil in his eyes. It's one of those "And the Abyss gazes also" sort of things.