Art Churches - The Rothko Chapel and the Neuhaus Stage Tuesday, May 25, 2010 I am re-emerging today after a day off and feeling very ready to start the day and see the second preview. Our first preview was a smashing success with a sold out house and a standing ovation at the end. -- Oh, incidentally, even though I recused myself from rehearsal earlier, the team was still emailing me with questions throughout the day. That made me feel needed while I was simultaneously screwing my head back on at the Rothko Chapel, a place where you can literally go and pray to the muses. I'll try to remember this when I have kids and need to learn to let go. -- I was very surprised that 300 hundred people decided to come to the theater on a Sunday night and maybe even more surprised that they found the play to be so accessible. It's a tough material and people came up to me in tears, the children of survivors, the friends of survivors, people who believe in a better world and want to see it in their theater. I had two patrons tell me that they had never been in a more quiet theater and had never felt like they had been participants in a theatrical event like they felt on Sunday night. I can't tell you how much that thrilled me. For me, theater is not only entertainment. It's a chance for all of us to be in a room and to have a collective spiritual experience. The Rothko Chapel really high-lighted this for me and it was a nice symmetry to be in two art churches in one day. (Our set design has enclosed us down in these mines and it almost feels like a house of worship.) So, anyway, we still have more work today, Jackson and I devised a new ending last night that we're excited about and my agent is coming down and I'm counting down the days until Rebecca arrives. I bought her a pair of cowboy boots down here and I've put them next to the door and it's been nice to pretend, for a bit, that she's here too. end of scene