Today was affectionately called “Marty Day.” Marty Lodge, who is ridiculously overqualified to work for me, let us borrow his free time between Oleanna rehearsals with Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles to play Larry Stein, Alex’s head boss. I’ve admired Marty’s work on shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Numbers and The Wire for years, yet he somehow managed to pull out a whole new bag of tricks for us. Somewhere between Smithers and Shatner, he created an eccentric, approachable CEO. It has shocked me how many extraordinary performers have read my writing and offered to work for a day around their schedule…I’m honored and cannot wait for you guys to see his performance!

Meanwhile, Erik began uncovering the desperation of Alex’s character. It’s a tough role. You’re a lead so you’ve got to keep it from going too over the top, but it’s also a high energy comedy so you have to keep it turned on. Erik is an incredible “eyes” actor conveying so much with a look…it’s a joy to turn him loose and let him start incorporating the rest of his body in his work. There was a lovely tension in all his scenes with Marty which is perfect for the underlying fear of being caught and fired. Now we can find places in the future to let Alex be more relaxed and confident of his surroundings…this is why I wanted to do episodic work – it’s so character based. We don’t just follow a story. We get to see this character in a dearth of situations and test all his boundaries…all of them!