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into daytime work. Whereas the rest of the cast ends their day with West Side Story, Dane’s day is just beginning. He gets up at four in the afternoon, eats breakfast—one Rally’s hamburger, fries, and a Coke—and heads for rehearsal. Dane, who is constantly in motion, is not a small person. On opening night, he stands six foot one and weighs 308 pounds, making him one of the largest Jets ever. Luckily, his dominating presence fits Diesel perfectly. When he appears at the rumble, ready to fight Bernardo, everyone in the audience can feel his bulk as something dangerous, physical, and downright overwhelming. Despite his evident bravado, CJ’s waiflike Bernardo hasn’t got a prayer against Dane. Dane’s most difficult opponent turns out to be himself. By his own admission, he is a person for whom change is difficult, inherently threatening. Although he professes an undying love of spontaneity, he has a permanent fear of chaos and has dedicated a great deal of time and energy to staving off the unpredictable. His first defense is the safety of routines. His “morning” ritual (rising at a certain time, the Rally’s breakfast) is only the tip of the iceberg. He proceeds to arrive at rehearsals before anyone else, often an hour early, which gives him a chance to “absorb the atmosphere” and decompress with the help of a belt-mounted CD player and four CDs—the same four CDs, week after week after week. He begins with heavy current rock, Korn and Limp Bizkit, and ends with either Phantom of the Opera or Fleetwood Mac. Dane claims to be heavily influenced by Fleetwood Mac— Stevie Nicks in particular—together with various Eastern philosophies, a casserole of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism . His favorite book is Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, a tome that he sees as a primer for dealing with hostility, both the world’s and his own. It doesn’t always help. When taking trips to the big city—Springfield—Dane drives only as far as the White Oaks Mall. The mall is familiar, safe; anywhere else is too jarring, devoid of the safety of routine. If he has to go somewhere past the mall, then someone else must drive. 174 Deaf Side Story Unfortunately for Dane, West Side Story is one long process of tinkering and trimming, amendment piling on amendment until, at the final gun, most of the initial stage and dance directions have become as extinct as the dinosaurs. This is often not the way of high school or local community theaters, and it is in those arenas that Dane has had his most recent and influential stage experience. (He describes the director of his last production , Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, as “a profound individual” and “a force to be reckoned with.”) Dane is accustomed to blocking a scene, rehearsing it as needed, and locking it into place. Changes are rare, momentous occasions. For Diane— and for Christopher, who constantly updates and fiddles with his choreography—change is the essential form of theater. The clash of styles and personalities is inevitable. The difficulties begin with Dane’s assigned role, a combination of Diesel and Big Deal. Diesel is the sticking point because Diesel, as the script makes perfectly clear, is not the brightest light in the universe. In fact, he’s stupid. Dane accepts the role, but also takes offense; why, he wonders, should he have to play the big, dumb fat guy? Why, for that matter, wasn’t he cast as Tony? Like Meredith before him, he worries that he’s been typecast to the point that he will be unable to rise above the restrictions of the role. Diane, well aware that Dane would prefer to be virtually any other Jet—especially Action—tries to mollify him by getting him to treat the role as a challenge. How, she asks, can he breathe life into Diesel without reducing him to a stereotype? Dane responds with a slow-burn pout that builds and builds. As rehearsals wear on and key roles remain unfilled, Dane’s frustration grows. He wonders how he can be expected to interact with a Doc who isn’t present—and how can he learn his blocking if there’s no Tony to work with? Even when the casting solidifies, Dane keeps finding himself at the center of changes. When Joey abdicates the role of Chino, all the careful work in “The Rumble...

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