Part 1 – Jan 7 – First week with the Cast:

I’m the new guy here. There’s a 13 year old actress in the cast, who clearly knows more about what’s going on than I do.

The actors are quite incredible. They’re learning the text as they go, switching back and forth through multiple characters, jumping forward and backward through the scenes. It’s really interesting to see it happen. To call them mercurial would be an understatement. Some of the cast are switching between ten different roles. They collectively represent the entire town, showing us how everyone reacts to the terrible events of the murder and the strange course of justice that followed.

In the first few sessions, I’ve been sketching rapidly. Trying to memorize faces as the actors read, re-read and discuss the text. They call the first few days ‘Table Work’ – for reasons that became fairly clear. It was very much like watching a jury deliberate for hours. Everyone trying to determine, what does my character know at this point? Who knows what rumors, what are the police doing, how did events move so quickly to their bizarre conclusion.

I’m just learning the faces of all the people involved. They’re sitting down, but they’re not still by any means. There’s the usual fidgeting of people in a meeting, but also plenty of emoting and gesturing and debating. The faces are constantly in motion.