It's fun to watch a pro at work

This evening we had a play rehearsal, the first time on the stage for the scenes I'm in. The purpose of this evening's practice was to block out the scenes, making sure that everyone who is on stage knows where they are supposed to be at any given time. Sounds simple, right? But I was fascinated, when I wasn't taking my turn on stage, to watch the director working with two people who I assumed would be sitting side by side on the sofa having a rather intense conversation. No, that would be much too simple. Throughout the conversation, they were directed to get up, walk away from each other, turn their backs on each other, circle around, stand face to face, have one person sit in a chair, and then, finally, bring them both back to the sofa where they sat face to face. By the time they were finished walking through the scene it all seemed quite natural and much more interesting than just two people sitting on a sofa. It was such fun to watch the scene come alive. Now if I can just get my lines memorized by Monday when we are supposed to be off book, life will be good indeed.