Being transported and rapt in secret studies

Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I officially donned by dramaturg hat!  I formatted and edited The Tempest for our GGSS production.  The directors sent me an HTML edition with their initial cuts.  I then went through and, cross-referencing the 2008 Norton Shakespeare edition, formatted to show shared lines, corrected spelling from the HTML edition, made additional cuts, and-- at times-- chose places to share lines differently from the choices made by the editors of the Norton Shakespeare.  I would have liked to use a facsimile First Folio, but at the time I didn't have one on hand...

I also had variable punctuation between the two versions-- and boy, does punctuation matter.  Figuring out how to punctuate was a beast, because it can make such a difference in how an actor interprets a line.  Additionally, since we have several women cast as male characters, and the directors want those characters to be women, I changed pronouns, "sirs," "fathers," "brothers," "lords," and "masters" to the feminine (while trying to maintain the meter).

Altogether, formatting and editing the script for performance took nearly ten hours, but I had so much fun working with the play that I didn't even notice the time passing.  I actually wished I had more time to work with it-- but alas, it needed to get sent to the directors for approval ASAP, and I had obligations for class to worry about over the break.  And, now that classes are over... I still have two major papers to write.  But all I want to do is research for the actor packets and compile the glossary!!!  ...I think I should take this as a sign that I need to find a way to throw myself back into researching and making early modern drama-- or making some kind of theater-- full force.