November 30, 1998: Just another day in the life of Jessica Buchanan, unwed mother-to-be, runaway, kleptomaniac, pyromaniac, kidnap victim. It's also a pretty typical day for Erin Torpey, the sweet-natured young woman who, since the age of eight, has portrayed the troubled-but-decent Jessica.
Shortly after 7 am: Arriving at ABC studios looking every inch the teenager she is, from sneakers to jeans to baseball cap, Erin heads to her dressing room, the day's script in hand. Although she'd received the script before Thanksgiving break, now is the time to commit her lines to memory. Memorization comes easily for her, and working ahead can get confusing. Today's schedule‹a few short scenes with little dialogue‹says Erin, will be easy.
7:30: A voice on the PA system calls Erin and Erika Slezak ("Viki") to the rehearsal room for blocking. It's the first time the actors will work with director Gary Donatelli; introductions are made, and everyone gets to work. Seated in folding chairs set up to represent church pews, scripts in hand, the women speak their lines, Slezak suggesting a few alterations. Donatelli maps out the simple blocking the scene requires and, despite a few brief discussions about line readings and intentions, there will be no second run-through; since onset of the NABET lockout, the shooting day has been compacted, and it's time to move on to the next scene.
7:50: Erin stops to chat with security guard David Coleman, then checks to see when she's due in hair and makeup. Outside of wardrobe, she and day players Kim Dooley and Bill Massof speculate about the significance of a scene in which the pregnant Jessica overhears a couple (Dooley and Massof) pray for a baby. Back in her dressing room, Erin talks about holiday shopping and activities with ABC Daytime Publicity Coordinator Lauri Hogan. "I was asked to be in the Philadelphia Thanksgiving parade," she reports, imagining the following dialogue: " "Hi, I'm Erin Torpey!' "Who?' "Erin Torpey!' "Who??' "
8:20: In the hair and makeup room, a makeup artist is at work on Wortham Krimmer (Rev. Andrew Carpenter). Erin greets hairstylist Wayne Bilotti with a big happy hug. Bending over the sink to wet down her hair, the two report on their respective long weekends.
8:30: Erin's blow dry is interrupted; she's needed in wardrobe to try on the new pregnancy padding she'll be wearing. Ten minutes later, back in jeans and T-shirt, hair wet and sneakers in hand, Erin is called to the rehearsal room. After running through a short scene with Erika Page ("Roseanne Delgado"), it's back to hair and makeup. While Bilotti dries her hair, Erin alternately chats and reviews her lines. Although Bilotti and Erin would like to cut her hair short, for the time being the show's producers want Jessica to retain her bouncy, girlish locks.
9:00: It's a full house in hair and makeup now. Hillary B. Smith (Nora Buchanan) has moved to a hair chair from a makeup chair that's now occupied by Florencia Lozano (T a Delgado). Erika Slezak is in the other hair chair. A few minutes earlier, Slezak was angry: she'd learned her already-long day will likely be extended because of another actor's late arrival. Now, over the hum of blow dryers, she and Smith talk computers.
9:20: Lozano has moved to a hair chair and Slezak to makeup; she and Smith discuss the latter's current story line, which leads to a riff on the multiple specialties of daytime doctors; the two remember "OLTL" 's erstwhile "Larry," who was, variously, an ob-gyn, internist, nephrologist, psychiatrist, and chief of staff. A few minutes later, Erin and Slezak, both being made up, run lines.
9:30: Having retrieved her outfit from wardrobe, Erin dresses. Emerging from her room, she wonders aloud about her shoes; the few people in the hallway agree they're wrong. A return visit to wardrobe proves disappointing, and Erin remains shod in the decidedly un-teenage pumps.
9:45: In Erin's dressing room (which she shares with Gina Tognoni, who plays Kelly Cramer), "Regis & Kathie Lee" do their thing on the TV perched on a high shelf. Erin phones the tutor she meets with three times a week; this year, her accelerated work schedule means she can no longer attend public school. A voice on the PA announces 15 minutes till camera blocking, dress rehearsal, and taping of scenes on the St. James Church set.
9:55: Upstairs, Erin passes through sets representing "OLTL" 's courthouse hearing room, the Banner office, and Mill House. The St. James set is bustling with camera operators, technicians, actors, makeup and wardrobe personnel, and assorted others. Erin and stage manager Cindy Jacobsen laughingly compare their pregnant bellies, Cindy's being real. Within 10 minutes, final adjustments have been made, actors are in place, and camera blocking begins. Erin and Slezak, seated in the front pew, speak their lines, scripts still in hand, while director Donatelli calls camera shots.
10:15: Dress rehearsal is called. (Prior to the lockout, dress and taping would have taken place after lunch; the current block-dress-tape schedule leaves actors less time to learn lines and blocking.) While Stage Manager Alan Needleman places actors, including numerous extras, Slezak tells Erin her skirt is too short for church. "If I were your mother," she jokes, "I wouldn't let you wear that!" They rehearse the scene.
10:30: Makeup and wardrobe crew jump in for touch-ups. Erin, looking a little tired, takes her place at the church entrance.
10:40: Quiet falls. Needleman slates the scene, calls standby, and counts down. The first part of the scene runs without a hitch. Erin glances at a script, then returns to her place, ready for the next part; someone adjusts her collar. Shooting begins, but is stopped because the pews are squeaking when the extras stand and sit; they'll have to start from the top.
10:45: Shooting starts but is stopped almost immediately, again because of ambient noise. They begin a third time. Erin asks for a line, apologizes, and they start over, this time getting the scene.
10:50: While an insert is shot, Erin reviews her script. Director Donatelli returns from the booth to prepare the next scene. At her place at the altar, Erin lets out a big yawn; it may only be 11, but she's been up for hours, having driven in from her family's Bucks County, Pa., home.
11:00: Not needed for several minutes, Erin decides to find out how the day's schedule will be adjusted to work around the late-arriving actor.
11:15: Bad news: They'll stick to the original schedule and shoot her very brief final scene (whose set is just a few steps away from the St. James set) much later. Why, Erin, wonders, don't they shoot it after this and let her go?
11:30: While waiting to shoot the rest of the St. James scene Erin, at the altar, talks with Lozano, who has taken her place in the front pew. The scene is rehearsed and shot.
11:35: Erin goes to the booth to ask the supervising producer if he might move up her last scene, and comes back smiling. Picking up the scripts that have appeared in her mailbox, she heads back to her dressing room, checks for messages, and returns a call. Erika Slezak's daughter, Amanda, passes by, and Erin calls out to her. The teenagers spend several minutes catching up on holidays, friends, and college applications.
11:50: Hungry, Erin looks into the rehearsal-cum-lunch room, hoping for something to tide her over, but all the food is wrapped tightly in plastic. Amanda appears, and the girls continue their conversation.
12:05 pm: This is down time for most of the early-call cast, who move about from dressing rooms to waiting areas, with many longing looks thrown in the direction of the lunchroom. The camaraderie that's been evident all morning becomes even livelier, as people get coffee, greet newcomers, jostle, and joke.
12:20: Erin goes to her dressing room to peruse delivery menus and place an order, which arrives quickly.
12:50: Halfway through lunch, a re-energized Erin is ready when she's called to the set, where the show's Jessica will encounter Roseanne just outside of Llanfair.
12:55: Donatelli camera-blocks the short scene. Crew members adjust the actors' makeup and costumes; a brief discussion resolves the question of whether Erika Page's Roseanne costume is in exact continuity with her last appearance which, while representing the same day, was shot almost a week earlier. Cast and crew are ready, but the lights require further adjustment.
1:05: Skipping rehearsal, the director goes right to tape. The scene is shot, ending in those long, meaningful close-ups that are a specialty of daytime drama.
1:10: Erin returns to her dressing room. Jessica's day is over, so the young actress changes clothes and goes home.
‹Andrea Wolper