By Amy Clare Tasker, Assistant Director for the Strindberg Cycle

As we draw closer to the opening of each part of the Strindberg Cycle, we’re finally indulging in the “luxury” of working on one thing at a time. In our RISK IS THIS workshop this summer, we burned through each play one after the other, and when rehearsals re-started in August, our schedule had us rotating through the plays day by day, so that each play got equal attention as we moved forward. We were always deep in Strindberg’s world, but never digging into each individual piece for very long. As we prepared for the opening of The Ghost Sonata, the schedule changed to allow us to focus on that play for a whopping four days in a row. With The Pelican and The Black Glove opening next, we dove deeper into those plays than ever before. In our final week of technical rehearsals and previews, culminating in the opening of Storm and Burned House, it feels very strange to be “done” with three of the plays and finishing the last two. As a director, I am so used to sprinting to opening night – then suddenly reeling because my work is finished and I don’t know what to do with my evenings the following week. So many other aspects of the repertory experience are mammoth and demanding; by contrast, the process of slowly bidding farewell to each play is surprisingly kind and gentle. But next week… I bet I still won’t know what to do with myself.