Feelin that high

I have just arrived home completely buzzed outta my mind! Not surprisingly to you who know me or regularly read this blog I am not drunk, nor have I taken any form of narcotic. I my internet chums am high on the magic of THEATRE. Yes I did just say something that flamboyant. If i wasn't typing there may have been accompanying jazzhands.
Today was my first real production as a director. I've been running on high since the process began on Sunday. Having met the writer and received the script on Saturday finally getting to get into things with the cast was unbelievable.
Even from just doing a cold reading there was an energy and a chemistry between the actors which was very exciting. Every direction I gave them, every sub textual thought I encouraged them to emote and every gesture I choreographed they managed to take and and make it real. The process was surprisingly natural; we were very luck to have a cast and a script that just seemed to fit together and it was almost effortless. Despite having only 24 hours to learn their lines as well as the staging, the expressions, the intonations, everything it seemed to just pour outta them like their own words and reactions.
The writer and I were watching the actors run through their lines together we felt like proud parents. We'd been completely caught up in it during the last rehearsal; drawn into it despite knowing exactly what was happening and what was going to happen!
I was buzzing with the nerves when our show was up. We were part of a collaboration of short one-scene plays and we were second to last. I introduced the show (like an absolute nervous fool I may add!) and as I settled back to watch i was nearly clutching the writer in anticipation.
They were flawless though, they did it exactly how we hoped and more. It was just magical to see something go from words on a page to a real life experience that you actually felt right in your heart. Hearing the audience reactions, from laughter to sober silence to sympathy. It was intoxicating. I honestly felt so proud and just incredibly satisfied to have been part of the process.
Truly on a high like nothing else right now!