| By Betsy Connelly
Special
to the Journal
 It
was an exciting weekend for the company of ‘TNT’.
‘TNT’
is the acronym for the Concord Players Fall production. The Night Thoreau
Spent in Jail. The excitement was the appearance of the plays co-author.
Jerome Lawrence. who dominated the weekend rehearsals.
Lawrence.
who with Robert Lee also numbers "Mame" and ‘Inherit the Wind' among
the plays authored by the writing team. began his visit by watching
the cast go through a section of the play under Virginia Kirshners direction.
She had. he found, brought the cast to an advanced point where they
could react meaningfully to his ideas and feelings as the father of
the characters.
Like
a coach teaching strategy to his team. Lawrence held a 'skull session'
with the cast. He projected an electric feeling in his exchanges with
the actors, who must have wondered how a small chair could hold a man
so active when he spoke.
The
membership of the Concord Players is more than 200. and it was clear
that they knew that Jerome Lawrence was in town. Throughout Sunday afternoon
and evening many of them who were not connected with ‘TNT’ came to watch
the master at work If they had imagined an intense man with bright,
penetrating eves. they found just that. As the action began again, he
stood at the front of the stage. It seemed that at any moment he would
fling aside the role of director and leap into the action. surg ing
across the stage in an effort to portray every shade of emotion as it
sprang from the playwrights mind.
For
the actors, there was a sense of amazement at what they could bring
from theiselves into the life of their character. Say each line as though
you just thought of it: Lawrence exhorted.
‘TNT’
is currently being produced by dozens of theater companies American
Playwright’s Theater APT has granted production rights to many independent
groups across the U.S.. instead of the more traditional route for a
major new play -- to Broadway and then to the nation.
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