Rehearsal Time

Theatre folk.

We know how to rehearse.

The permission to be wrong.  The collaboration (if the producers/directors are open to this) of the company.  

The exploration.  

What is the theme?  What are the expectations?  

There are markers along the way, some imposed by others, and some we lay in our brains all by ourselves.

By this date, I will be off book.

By this time, I will know my cover tracks.  Have the movement cold. Alert my social media feed that there is a show growing.

And this time comes with pressure.  Because there is a hard date. 

An assumption. 

That all will come together and the show will open.

So, we have this time that is fluid, within a structure (schedule) that is static.

There is always a possibility lingering, that something will change. Cuts will be made. 

And we will shift, we adaptable creatures, to adopt the change and still focus on the date when the show is set. 

Rehearsal time. Creativity within a structure. 

The flow is forward, and can be glacial at times.  Or breathtakingly fast.

But the thrust is to Open the Show.

What about the rest of your life?

You may think, as a creative creature, that structure is not beneficial to you.

But the real story of our human brains is different.  

We benefit from a focus point, ahead of us, toward which the fluid, beautiful, messy fails and discoveries aim.

And, (unless you go home to a director (or dictator....) you have to set this focus for yourself.

Rehearsal time for your off stage life.

Your focus may be starting a family. Earning money to support the life you want. Establishing a home.  Traveling the world. Writing a book.  Becoming a director. Finding your next job. Exploding your value as an actor. As an activist.

You may focus on your spiritual path.

Don't kid yourself into believing that when you leave the theatre, or the location shoot, that your work is done.  

If.

You want to evolve as a human on the planet.

You need to aim toward something. 

And.

If you don't know the How.

You rehearse.

There is a phrase I want to push back a bit.  

'Life is not a dress rehearsal'

So. What? Recognizing that this is meant to mean...

don't just get ready to be wonderful, be wonderful, live now...

Is life supposed to be.... The Show?

Just consider.

If we stop rehearsing. If everything is set and ready for packaging, marketing, reviewing.

Is that when Life Gets Real?

Or is the best life a Continual Rehearsal?

What would that mean?

Rehearsal time is when so much is still possible! There are options that may be better, that haven't been conceived yet.  

Think about living into that.

Permission to try new ideas, get feedback, see how things feel.  In your life.

Rehearsal.  The word may incline toward 'not ready yet'. 

But none of us are ready.  Fully complete. 

The show will open. It will be what it will be.

But.

Your Life is Now! Happening Now. As you read this.  As you decide what to have for dinner. As you misinterpret something said to you.  As you think your thoughts. As you judge your mate.

Now is what we've got.

The structure is our lives on earth as humans.

We get to rehearse.  Play and solve and decide.

Every Damn Day.