The first table-reading of The Physics of Joy happened yesterday. It was - as always - so helpful to hear the words read aloud. Lots of great insights to mine over the coming days, but I did want to get the quick rough notes and photos up.

A big thank you to all the old and new friends who came and helped to make this happen; it was quite humbling.

Notes

Summarized notes follow. Some important notes are excluded, 'cause while I'm fully game to share my process, I don't want to give up the gag at the end the show.

Read times

97 minutes w/ action read
75 minutes w/o action read

Watch the clarity of theme: "Constantness and Love;" it’s stated directly in the show (in Odes, it was "Possession" and some of that is till bleeding through).

Some general thoughts:

Get rid of the scene numbers? They feel really important for readability of the script, but also may create a false sense of being episodic instead of continuous.
Watch out for giving the men the last word in the scenes.
Let’s pass the Bechdel Test. This one is tricky, as that the whole show is about relationships, but maybe get April and Rachel to come together about something else other then ‘men’ during "The Quintet"... "Was gonna be an engineer. I loved science, then..."

Thoughts on how physics is playing:

Bring modern physics into the talk… move past gravity. [more on this later]
Joy being a PhD candidate needs to show up in the dialogue… it’s only in the character description, and it’s important to understanding future-Joy. Need to figure out how to get this to the top of the show without it feeling forced.
When does physics finally get Joy to the real [redacted] part of the story?
Rachel studied physics (or loved physics and should have studied it?) Gladwell's David and Goliath bit with the wrong school. Comes out when April approaches her after her dad blows up at her. “What am I even doing here? I hate this stuff. I was gonna be a physicist (or engineer, or something)…”
Need to see the seed of physics sowed in Joy; Rachel and/or Liam?
Find the constant stuff in the family and make it sing throughout the show; probably what the physics stuff needs to be about.
"I know we don't see things in life play backwards in time. But the laws of physics says that we could. The actual math, not science fiction; the math says it's possible."

JOY

Get Joy talking about [redacted]. This is new and important, why isn’t she talking about it?
Make Joy 5 instead of 8.
[Redacted, but it's a really funny new line]

MAGGIE & LIAM

What’s Maggie's role in the family, really? The reality is all the grandpa stories are equally about grandma; few are just about the one.
Maggie is religious. "Don't you blaspheme!”
The Troubles; it's right in Maggie and Liam's timeline. "Left The Troubles, landed in The Boeing Bust. The luck of the Irish."
Make it Dr. Wiesmann instead of current name.
Explain Liam's a catch phrase. Something to do with weight/gravity.
When Liam is searching for his words at the end use the "I'm useless at this" phrase.
Doesn't snow much in Ireland. Is the story true? Is it something that Conor likes to tell and Maggie doesn't care for because she knows it's hyperbole? Or have they both come to believe it after it's been told so many times?
Make sure Liam sets up the “always wave to your kids” at the top of the show.

MICHAEL & JAKE

Have Michael tell Mary [redacted]. This is how she gets her to stay and settle down. Get them playing like new BFFs. Then it comes out that she [redacted; no spoilers…]
Michael and Jake's relationship need more layers; more depth and richness. What does a brand-new power couple look like? They’re young. They’re trying on things, and this is the first time something of their stuff comes out - escapes them. How do they handle it?
Michael is jealous of Jake. She knows he's just faked his way into it; that she feels she has made him who he is. That they are where they are through the pure act of will of Michael. She has shaped it all.
"...CEO" feels like it is getting at that Michael really cares about power. Use it; go further with it. She's gonna get back at [redacted].
Michael knows [redacted]; she's not stupid.
Increase Jake's fame; more to lose heightens the motivations.
A line somewhere? “He’s one of those effusively ignorant people that you just can’t help but love.” About Jake from Michael?
The bit in Act II between Jake and Liam about "it isn't real, you know" is not working yet. Talk about the false attraction - the biological attraction - of great wealth.
When Mary meets Jake, change to, "holy crap you're…" as if meeting [someone really famous].
Rework pg 19. Remember that Michael is his best friend; that the issue is kinda moot.
Feels like there is a way to mature up the conversation between Jake and Mary about the women's movement and Take Back the Night. Need to introduce a hint of it early on, and need to make it feel much more rational.

EVAN & APRIL

Evan and April are like the two plates of metal in the NOVA experiment proving that empty space is filled with stuff (sub atomic particles). Ultimately provable, but only theoretical to begin with.
April should do the "like dating a super model that's always sick..." bit.
May need to return to the bracelet April got from her niece. Can it be given to Joy at some point?
Maybe make Evan - in the future - managing the call center that he hated at the top of the show. For this to play, need to have it land pretty close to after he talks about how much he hates it.
The COO bit has come too early. Make this scene about how Jake has never read the books. Or, make it the bit with him and the October New Yorker. Michael preps Mary with this bit, then Jacob comes back in with Judd ("speak of the devil"). Later, when Jake starts to break this nugget out, Mary comes back over the top with it in a later fight. And, we the audience are all in on the joke.

MARY & JUDD

How long have Mary and Judd been together? They've been dating for a little over a week. Not online; actually bumped into each other. Maybe make this their second date; it ups the stakes a bit.
Make Mary a mean drunk
Have Judd feel attacked when trying to be gallant (he's a rescuer; thought Mary was broken because of the rejection in her life).

RACHEL & DAVID

Make sure there is no appearance of "slut shaming"
Have Rachel flip on the lights, not Maggie. Make it a moment between Rachel and David (or at least David takes it as such). Is it un requited love on his part?
Can we make David the entertainment? Can he just get on stage and sing "When the Lights Go Up" as a singer/songwriter sort of number?