ON THE JOURNEY: BENJAMIN GREGG

The rehearsal process for Our Country’s Good has been unlike any other project that I’ve been involved with previously. Many times, the preparation before and even during rehearsals can feel like a very solitary endeavor. You spend countless hours locked in a room memorizing lines or conducting research about your character or the play in its totality. There’s only so much time to actually play because there’s inevitably an emphasis placed on shaping a show, finding the beats, and capitalizing on the major focal points of the production. To that end, I’m not sure I’ve ever spent months prepping for a show in conjunction with others.  It's been wonderful to find discoveries about Our Country’s Good collaboratively with the rest of the cast and the production team over the course of the last few months. I’ve never really worked with a cast where all of us agreed to embark upon implementing a specific acting technique in the rehearsal process - much less one that would anchor us on a ten-month journey. I’ve been fortunate to be involved in some wonderful productions in the past, but often the nature of the rehearsal process feels truncated and rushed. Sometimes that sense of urgency can really propel a production into being, but often, it feels like a missed opportunity to uncover the subtleties and nuances of a play. In reflecting upon past shows that I’ve been involved with, I so often feel locked into this pattern of self-doubt because there’s an immediate emphasis on results and less time devoted to discoveries. Other than getting my bearings in one of our first rehearsals, I can honestly attest that I’ve really been able to let go and allow myself to make “mistakes” or fumble through certain exercises in the Chekhov technique and not feel that I’ve made some choice that could catastrophize my creative process or the play itself. It’s also been refreshing to know that if a certain aspect of the technique doesn’t resonate with me that I can do away with it if I so choose. With this much space in the rehearsal process, I really hope to continue to soak up the time that we have left with this show. More intensive rehearsals are right on the horizon and August will be here before we know it. I almost wonder if I will ever have a chance to be involved with something like this again. Regardless, I hope to dive into the creative process even further. I already know that what we’ve explored is going to serve us tremendously in the creation of this show, but again, at this point it’s not about the results. It’s about the journey.