To meet showcase code, you have to follow specific rehearsal conditions that are designed to prevent the exploitation of actors, but working within those conditions can be difficult to manage.

"I really like to take a lot of time with process, but when you have four weeks to put something together, it's a challenge," Stebbins says.

Adding to the challenge of being a process-driven director given a tight rehearsal deadline is that Byron's play centers on two obessive fans of a pop culture icon, Elvis. In "Graceland," two women of different ages and different backgrounds come together for one common thing: the opening of Graceland to the public. Each wants to be the first to see this shrine to rock n' roll's "king".

"Both of these woman have a connection to Elvis that allows them to deal, or somehow put aside, difficulty in their relationships with men," Stebbins says. He adds that one character does credit Elvis with saving her life. So each is deeply wedded to, and very protective of, this almost mythic figure in their lives, making their relationship initially adversarial, though ultimately unifying. It also makes their knowledge of this man pivotal to the play's performance.

"You have these two women who are supposed to know every single thing about Elvis that you ever could," Stebbins says. "To know what you are talking about, and everything that you make reference to, is a big challenge." The truer it is to the actress, Stebbins feels, the truer it will be to the part. So, somehow he had to condense and transfer years of breathing, sleeping, eating, reading, watching and listening to a thoroughly-documented pop icon into just four weeks.

"Equity rules say how many hours a week you can rehearse, but it does not say that friends can't get together and have a movie-thon," Stebbins says.

That's exactly what he and the cast did. Elvis video marathons were one way he was able to stick to the spirit of the showcase code, while stretching the letter of it; HBO also helped Stebbins round out his rehearsal research. The sponsors of a weekly movie screening in Bryant Park every summer, HBO coincidently scheduled "Viva Las Vegas," starring Elvis Presley, for the first week of this year's film series. Stebbins, who had never seen the film before, took the cast and stage manager to see "Viva", where an estimated crowd of 10,000 gathered to soak in the gyrations and vocalizations of "the king."

"This was the way to see this movie," Stebbins says. "When Elvis came on the screen...the audience went nuts, screaming and sighing at the way he shook around."

Stebbins and cast members Delina Christie and Hope Lambert also listened to hours of the rock n' roll legend's music as they tried to decide which sounds to use from his lengthy discography.

"Some music that we found, not Heartbreak Hotel and everything that everyone knows, but before the hype of him, when he was just starting out, was so powerful, " Stebbins says. After hearing hours of Elvis tunes, he walked away with a profound understanding of the incredible talent and charm that Elvis possessed as a young, pure artist.

In that sense, "Graceland" has brought together more than just two characters onstage around the figure of Elvis; it has also given the cast a greater appreciation of this over-worshipped, often-maligned artist.

Stebbins says: "Sometimes when you do some research, you listen to things and go places where you normally would not go and I think we are all very happy that we did."

"So we are sort of using this time around to research and experiment with the first piece and do it with the second piece in the Spring," he says.

The timing from their showcase of "Graceland" could not be better. In a few weeks, Graceland will begin a 10-day celebration of the late superstar's life, "Elvis Week 2001," including a candlelight vigil on Aug. 15. Check out elvis.com for details.

Relevant Excerpts from Equity's New York Showcase Code (basic)
Equity's New York Showcase (basic) mandates that the rehearsal period of a Code production "shall not exceed four consecutive weeks." Furthermore, prior to opening, actors "shall rehearse no more than six hours any given day except during the final week of rehearsal when the director may schedule three eight-hour days." On the day of the first public performance, rehearsals must "terminate at least one hour before the half-hour of the scheduled performance" and the combined rehearsal and performance time cannot "exceed eight hours." The same termination time is extended to rehearsals after the opening, though the total hours spent rehearsing on performance nights (including the performance itself) cannot exceed six hours while on non-performance days the rehearsals cannot exceed three hours. After opening, all rehearsals must be schedule with the actors' consent.