The stage is set for its first audience. Photo: Liz Lauren

Previews are a thrilling part of the theatrical process. For a week we spend each afternoon in rehearsal working, tweaking, tightening, discussing and each evening we perform for an audience. Each performance feeds the work we do in rehearsal the next afternoon and it is wonderful to watch the play improve by leaps and bounds with each passing day.

Things change when you add a live audience—particularly with a comedy. The laughs fill out a scene and make sense of some moments. The deadly silence of awkward pauses feel as though all 600 people in the room are holding their breath. The moment when Elyot says, "As a matter of fact, the real cause of that fight was..." sometimes brings an audible gasp from the room. This energy is contagious and feeds back into the energy on stage. In previews, the play feels alive in a way that you can never fully create in rehearsal.

By this point Gary and I have watched the play from beginning to end many times. It has been wonderful to continue enjoying the story throughout the process. Every night we find new depth within the story and new moments of interest. The four major characters—Elyot, Amanda, Sybil, and Victor—are all so complete and interesting to me that I feel the longer we work with them, the more I learn. Private Lives really feels like a lucky opportunity to step into the intimacies of four fascinating people. That excitement has made the week of very long days during previews seems like a privilege.