Day 6 - 8:48 a.m.
A call from Morgan practically in tears awakens me. I can’t really tell what she’s talking about. From the sound of her voice I’m afraid she’s injured, but it’s car trouble (she lives and works at least an hour’s drive from the City). Naturally, both of us have our own personal and self-centered scale for calamity. I tell her to come to rehearsal if at all possible, and that I understand the problem. In truth, I want to get her off the phone and get back to sleep, but I’m glad she’s told me, I need to be mentally prepared for not having a full cast again. It’s frustrating, because I’ve got 30 hours to make this ballet, 15 have gone by. Her absence today leaves only two days with a full cast this week and two more rehearsals left. If I make them next week, I lose Mary to a pre-arranged absence. I wish I had enough money to have dancers as employees and be able to insist upon attendance. One of the compromises I make for dancer quality is to allow them some flexibility in schedule, but it becomes an awful juggling act, and I never feel as if I rehearse with a full cast at times like these. I remind myself there’s really nothing I can do about it and try and catch up on the lost hours of sleep.