The first question of a character on day one of rehearsal, and the final thought before stepping on stage, was the same. What did they want? In every scene, characters pursue something simple. These little actions, strung together, add up to a larger, possibly unconscious directive. Their life’s desire. What did they want above all else? To pursue these threads, to enable the sympathetic magic to begin, an act of identification was necessary, and so we were instructed to always speak in the first person. What did I want?
