Culture Days Live Blog

1:58pm – Actors are at the table, the projector is up, coffee and goodies are out, and people are starting to arrive at Pacific Theatre.

2:07pm – Reading is live!  Thank you to Ron Reed, Kirsty Provan & John Voth for being our actors and to Kim MacEachern for reading stage directions.

2:13pm – The slide show is sharing images scanned in the US National Archives when playwright Sean Devine & projection designer Jason Thompson visited Washington DC in preparation for this play.

2:21pm – Laughter in the reading room over the following dialogue:

EMILY: Index card 476: Mental notes: a)
MCNAMARA: Anticipate possible laughter re: “accountant as proud warrior”; new girl Peg thought it was funny.
EMILY: b)
MCNAMARA: I won’t be involved in Washington’s social circuit; my job is to serve the President and the Party, not to attend parties.
EMILY: c)
MCNAMARA: Bit about attending parties might be funny; try it on Peg.
EMILY: d)
MCNAMARA: In case of pressure to socialize, schedule time to learn The Twist; practice in front of mirror.

2:34pm – Meanwhile, in the theatre, TD Jess Howell is painting the set pieces and getting ready to put them up. They’re starting to look like marble!

2:37pm – Playwright Sean Devine is having the readers go back and change some of the lines.  Sounds like the script is still in flux.

“We’re in the operating room here, folks. We’re cutting.  Scalpel!” – Sean Devine, Playwright

3:01pm – End of Act 1. Discussion to come. But now, coffee, tea, cookies and fruit!

3:11pm – Question: The play is based on history. How much of it is true? Did Emily ever meet with McNamara?

Answer: It is a mixture of fact and fiction.  Emily’s encounter with McNamara is entirely fictional.

3:25pm – It is fascinating to hear Sean speak about the people behind these characters.  His research into and communication with these people is amazing to listen to. Robert McNamara had a fascinating life.

3:30pm – In 1995, Robert McNamara released “In Retrospect” in which he gives one paragraph to Norman Morrison.  That is pretty much the extent of what McNamara has publicly said about the tragedy.

3:46pm – Question: Will the visuals that were projecting during the reading be used in the production?

Answer: They will to some extent be used in the production.  Some will be specific uses (McNamara’s briefings, etc) and others will be general ambience.

3:55pm – The first draft of Re:Union was written in March 2009 after Sean read a book while researching another project.

4:00pm – Thank you to everyone who joined us at Pacific Theatre this afternoon or who followed along here on the blog.  Re:Union opens in 21 days (October 21, 2011) and we hope to see you all there.