We Wait: A Song Cycle in Two Parts by Thomas Hodges

Last semester, I had the pleasure of performing a first draft of We Wait by Thomas Hodges for Skull & Dagger's Night of One Acts. (Click here to watch some of the performances. - You have to be logged into facebok, then click the Wall tab.) It was such a fun experience to work on, and I loved every moment of it. A few weeks ago, Thomas sent me, along with some of the other performers (and some new ones!), a revised version of We Wait, now a two act play/ song cycle. I had never really had the time to read it until now, and it's been sitting on my list of things to read, since Thomas said he'd like to have the first read-through at the end of this month. So, I finally picked it up and read it.

Tears were welling up in my eyes by the end.

Thomas has an incredible talent for painting a vivid image and evoking emotion with words. He masterfully takes the audience on a journey through the stories of various individuals, and illustrates a different way of viewing the world. I have to say that even though Thomas is my friend, I would be just as moved even if he wasn't. He is so incredibly talented with everything he does.

With We Wait being a song cycle, I honestly didn't know all the melodies to all of the songs, however I feel that this didn't take away from my experience with the script at all. Some of the songs in it were used in the previous version, and a lot of them are new. I'm very excited to hear the melodies to the new songs and see who will be singing what.

Many of the monologues in We Wait are gorgeous, and one in particular struck my attention. The show opens on a character, The Poet, who throughout the play recites a poem in their journal. Thomas has told us that we would most likely be switching characters throughout the show, so The Poet is represented by more than one person. I really like the idea of multiple people being connected by a common ground, whether it be a personae or a poem. I find that in life, so many of us harbor the same fears or secrets, but none of us know it because we keep it under us. This shared text between multiple people is gorgeous, and I really love the way it connects the entire play together.