"All Your Questions Answered" - Part II

(All Your Questions Answered, written by Greg Kotis and directed by Sean Daniels, will open September 19 at the Geva Theatre as part of the Rochester Fringe Festival)

I missed the second rehearsal of the show (I am not going to be a totally consistent Cohort...), and by the third, some playlets had been cut, others added, and parts had been assigned to the ten extremely young actors (all either still in college or freshly graduated, and mostly local). Again, I could only stay for two (of the eight!) hours, so I only saw a few skits rehearsed, but I was impressed with the speed with which the actors responded to Sean's excellent direction.

All of the actors were still holding their scripts, of course, so it was difficult for them to speak their lines and move simultaneously.  Nevertheless, the scenes were taking shape, and it was amazing to see in just a few read-throughs how well the actors incorporated prompts from Sean about their characters' motivation or a scene's tempo and dynamics.  Some of Sean's direction seemed necessary because of the actors' youth - they aren't old enough to have experienced some of the situations, or to know the pronunciation of some of the words...  At one point in a scene that didn't seem to work, Sean had the two actors improvise the subtext instead, and I'll admit that I found the improv funnier than the actual scene.  But perhaps that was the point - for the actors to figure out how to convey that subtext in the actual text that seemed totally unrelated.  Confused?  I was!

The show reminds me a bit of Paul Sills' Story Theatre, which I saw on its post-Broadway tour in the early 70s, but darker (although some of Grimms' fairy tales, which are the basis for much of Story Theatre, are much nastier than their sanitized Disney versions).  Both are comprised of little morality tale vignettes, many of which portray a slightly conflicted morality, with characters who are both good and bad, sweet and macabre, innocent but also complicit.

It's odd sitting in "the audience" and watching a rehearsal - it feels a bit voyeuristic.  It is evident to me that even though the cast are all young, they are taking this business of making comedy very seriously.  And they obviously understand that part of their job (and it is a job, rehearsing eight hours a day, six days a week) is to make the enormous effort that goes into producing those couple of hours of entertainment seem effortless.  I am distressed that I will miss a whole week of rehearsals while I go on vacation - I can't wait to get back to the theatre after Labor Day and see the progress they've made!

I tried to buy tickets to opening night at the box office on my way out, only to find out that the first five performances, which are part of the Rochester Fringe Festival, are only available through the Fringe Festival:  http://rochesterfringe.com/   I made my purchase on their website, and I guess I'll have to get to the theatre early - it appears that there are no assigned seats!  Tickets for subsequent performances can be purchased from Geva directly (if not on their website, then in person at or on the phone with the box office).