Response to Group A's Blogs

It seemed that most of the responses were focused on that adorable doggy that ruined the red heads song. And after reading these comments (Youtubes included), reading these articles, and even the old adage of children and animals… I’m confused why we keep doing it.

I can genuinely only assume that the director wanted that response from the audience. How else would you think things would go?

And also… someone had to have told the director it was a bad idea. Someone had to have said to him/her, ‘Hey, so the dog isn’t really staying put in all the rehearsals. I don’t think it’s going to stay put during the show…’

But I keep coming back to what States said: “With running water something indisputably real leaks out of the illusion.”

What illusion? The illusion of the real? Of the play being real?
This is something I’m fascinated with because it’s almost a riddle.

I’m wondering, where does the line get drawn?
So… we’ve all pretty much agreed… no animals.
And States doesn’t like water.
And children are kind of in the air right now. It depends.
We get a cute little girl who can play Annie. That’s great!
You want to cast a little girl in How I Learned to Drive? Get out.

This line seems to be very wide at times, and narrow at others. It seems full of zig zags that weave in and out of possibilities at will. And at some points it even seems to fade and disappear into nothing.