Acts of Love Read Online Free PDF

young.”
    â€œI’m different, I’m a genius. What the hell, this play is about real people and it’s about a woman who isn’t young!”
    â€œFifty isn’t young.”
    â€œYou just said it was; you said that’s why you want to change her age.”
    â€œNot young young. But not old. Old is out, damn it. There’s no way I’m going to produce a play about an old hag who people will think is a witch, not a magician.”
    There was a silence. Son of a bitch, Luke thought again, seething. No one was going to tell him how to direct The Magician ; he’d lived with the script for three months and by now it was his far more than it was anyone else’s. But still he had to go through this charade to get where he had thought he was when he first walked in twenty minutes ago. They’re midgets when it comes to directing, he thought, and then, with a glance at Gerhart’s huge frame, he broke into a chuckle. Midgets.
    â€œWhat’s so funny?” Kent demanded.
    â€œNot a lot.” He stood up. “I didn’t come here to listen to you two hack away at each other. We’re going to talk about getting this play produced or we’ll drop the whole project and I’ll put together a new team.”
    â€œLena’s age stays the way I wrote it,” Kent said flatly. “It doesn’t change by one year. Not by one goddamn day!”
    Luke nodded. “We understand that.”
    â€œLook, it’s a no-brainer,” Gerhart said. “Do a draft, Kent, give us something to talk about. Couple days, that’s all. Well, take a week. Can’t talk without something in front of us, right?”
    â€œNo. Damn it, Monte, how many times do I have to say it? No. No. No.”
    Luke leaned forward, his hands on Gerhart’s desk. “Monte, read the play again, straight through. I don’t intend to have this discussion again, so this is what I want you to think about.” Pulling a pad of paper to him, he scrawled three lines, tore off the sheet and put it in front of Gerhart. “First, you know who fills most theaters these days: older people who can afford the price of a ticket. You think they won’t understand Lena, and admire and identify with her? Second, when there are young people in the audience, whom are they going to lean toward? We know they’ll identify with the lovers, but what about Lena, who’ll remind them of their grandmother . . . or make them wish they had a grandmother like her? Third, when Lena’s grandson falls in love, it’s very much like the love affair Lena had when she was young; she feels more protective of it precisely because she’s in her eighties—sixty years removed from that passion. A woman of fifty could look forward to another love affair; Lena can’t. I have notes on all those points, but before I show them to you I want you to read the play again, beginning to end, not stopping for single lines or even scenes. Get a feel for the whole thing.” He waited. “I assume you’ll have time to do that,” he said evenly.
    Gerhart was drawing again, concentrating on bulging calves fading to slender ankles. After a moment he looked up and grinned. “Well, you’re a tough hombre, Luke. I don’t mind that; it’s why you’re the best director around. I thought of those things—you’re right about the old people in the audience; you might be right about everything else, I don’t know, but I did think about all that and it’s a hell of a good play just the way it is. I knew that last night. No question I’d like her younger—I think with some rewriting we could make it work—and you know I always try to get my way and I will again—fair warning, Luke, I always try to get my way—but for now, with Lena, you’ve got a good case, so, okay, we leave her alone.”
    Kent was staring at him. “So okay?