I said to my partner Arturo, “I wish we had another week of rehearsal before we open.” He reminded me I say that every time I’m on the precipice of opening a show. But this time I really mean it. Because there’s so. Much. To. Mine. Even mime. We still have to mine the mime.
This play is circular and twists back on itself. It’s loopy. I like it and want to spend more time in it. Learn to mime the dark tunnels and stockinged faces. I want more time to fill in the rest of every cut off sentence, every moment of every back story, how did I get here step-by-steps.
Years ago I acted in a play Chris wrote, Elora Gorge, and I struggled to make logic of it. “There isn’t any.” Chris proclaimed. “Simply be in the moment. Act each moment”. I fought that, wanted to make sense of a Twin Peaks type world, and in the end, Buddha’s mandate was the savior. For all acting, I suppose, being in the moment is the savior. But especially handy when acting in a play that has no clean beginning middle and end. It’s a loop. So be in each moment of it, play each moment truthfully, and….that’s all you can do.
So the next three days are about looping the work so I feel confident enough to be in the moment, not the moment ahead or behind, but playing, breathing, living in the space between you and me.
Here I am in the moment of wishing we had another week before opening.
Aviva Armour-Ostroff
Aviva works in Toronto as an actor, director, writer and producer.
Most recently, Aviva appeared in VideoCabaret’s The Great War, where the cast won a Dora Award for Best Ensemble. Prior to that, Aviva appeared as Berta in Hedda Gabler (Necessary Angel/Canadian Stage) and as Virginia in Age of Arousal (Factory Theatre). She was nominated for a Dora Award for her performance in ARC’s production of Moment.