TAPE. Scheduling became a major impediment and we decided it wouldn't work.

I had decided to cast Akiko Aizawa, formerly of the Suzuki Company as Nell

(in English) but it was getting very late in the fall before I realized that the perfect

choice for Nagg had been practically standing next to me all summer. Barney

O'Hanlon of the SITI company was the forest I didn't see for the trees. To my great

pleasure he agreed to do it. Both Akiko and Barney have extensive dance

backgrounds and are very gifted physical performers. Putting two trained dancers in

the most physically constrained roles was an important part of the casting of Nagg

and Nell. It was clear that the less movement was possible, the more refined the

movement would have to be. In Akiko and Barney I knew I had performers who

would polish these cameos to a bright shine.

The cast was now comprised of four actors who would keep me on the edge

of my directing chair. These were artists who I could not drop my guard around. I

was both intimidated and stimulated by the atmosphere that was created. I knew

that I would have to keep my spine straight and my brain, spirit and eyes open.

Peter Campbell and I agreed that he would be the dramaturg for the project.

We had worked together at Columbia and wanted to do more. He saw the same sort

of existential significance in Beckett that I did so there was a shared sense of

mission.

For designers; I asked P. K. Wish to design the set, props and costumes, and

David Gordon to design the lighting.

I had seen some of Penny Wish's work and had collaborated with her in a

class at New York University. I knew that she was an unconventional thinker with

tastes that I trusted despite their being different from my own. Although irrelevant

to my desire to work with her, Penny being English also satisfied my desire for an