| | Back to busy with the show again. As well as trying to see other shows. The one hard thing about theatre is that you won't always be doing shows with your friends, they are off doing shows of their own. And you want to try and see all of their shows, but if you're in one yourself, that sometimes just isn't possible. Thank God for previews. Yes, it would be nice to financially support all theatre, but the reason I say "Thank God for previews" is not because they're free, but sometimes it's the only way you can see a show. A lot of theatres in this area tend to schedule shows on identical runs. It would be great if they were a little more staggered. I understand that shows in one part of Greater Cleveland are going to be running at the same time as others, but you would think that shows in theatres which are much closer in proximity would not do that. Not to name "names", but Aurora Community Theatre, for which I've done their Fall Show the past three years, is very close to Hudson Community Theatre. They are only about 9 miles apart. Yet Hudson has always scheduled their Fall/Winter show during the last three weekends of Aurora's Fall show, which runs for four weekends. Which means almost no chance to see each other's shows. You'd think they'd stagger them a bit more.
That led to a bit of a strange thing on Thursday night. Thursday was our first brush-up rehearsal for "Rumors." We were hoping for a speed-through of our lines. I was planning on meeting friends afterward. Expected to be done within an hour. But two people from Hudson showed up. They couldn't be at our opening night because of an emergency, but that meant they couldn't come to any of our other performances because they were involved with the Hudson show. So they came to a brush-up. I don't mind that - but if someone had told us in advance? Instead of a speed through, we did the whole thing with blocking, no costumes, some of the props. But it meant making it go almost an entire two hours. And by the end we were just rushing to get out of there. I did not like that. And I did not like being an hour late to meet friends.
But that brings me back to trying to see everyone's shows. It just doesn't always happen. And occasionally, you get stuck in a clunker of a show. We've told each other from time to time, "Oh, you REALLY DON'T want to come see this one!" We try and respect that, but there's also something about seeing a train wreck of a show that pulls us in as well. Plus, if your friends are really good, you get to watch them shine.
Wednesday night, we did get to go to a preview of "Vital Signs" at CVLT (bad segue - I'm NOT saying it was a clunker by any means!). The show is many 30 second to one minute monologues, all performed by women. It was written by a woman trying to convey the many aspects of contemporary women and women's viewpoints. Some of them worked. But some of them really didn't have to with a woman's perspective. They were funny bits but as another friend put it, there really wasn't an "overarching" feel to the script. But the actresses were all great and it was good to see some friends getting a chance to make up 3 or 4 completely different personas in one performance. It's running our last three weekends as well, so that was our only chance to see it.
Last night's performance for "Rumors" went really well. We didn't have a huge house, but we did sell about 112 (the house holds 243). Luckily, we had Denise there. Denise is a BIG laugher and once she gets going, there's no stopping her. That usually gets the rest of the audience going, but sometimes it annoys other audience members. Not her fault if they have sticks up their butts! She made a huge difference, but then again, we had a couple of other laughers who started before even Denise did, so that really worked. There was one thing that distracted me at one point, earlier in the show. This theatre is a thrust stage with amphitheatre style seating on three sides. It is a GREAT space to do a show! But it also means blocking is a little strange because there is no proscenium - and your back is going to be to part of the audience at many different times. Also hard about this show is that a lot of it is played to people up on a balcony along a second story landing - here's a couple photos of the set to give you an idea (click on the picture to see a larger version). You can see railings on three sides - that's where the front rows of each section of the audience are located. By the way, this is probably one of the best looking sets I've ever had the pleasure of performing on!:
At many points of the show, you're sitting right next to an audience member, or you're sitting right in front of an audience member with your back to them. During this scene, I'm sitting on the couch and looking at Chris, who is sitting in a chair right in front of the audience on one side. And just above Chris' head, I see someone who looks really familiar - and it became distracting. His eyes were just above her head and I thought at first, "Why do I know this person?" Turned out to be someone I see at our company fitness center almost every weekday. I'm usually leaving as he's coming in, so we see each other in the locker room all the time. But we've never really talked - don't even know his name - and seeing him out of context threw me and I hate being distracted when on stage. I want to be IN the moment and focused on the performance. It wasn't until the show was over and the lights went up that I realized that it was him, but he left with his wife and friends and what do you say? "Um, hi! Wasn't sure if that was you since we see each other naked in the locker room every day! Didn't recognize you with your clothes on!"?? Of course not, but I'm just hoping he liked the show and I'll probably see him this week and tell him to "PLEASE tell your friends to see the show!"
I like playing to full houses. It doesn't happen that much with community theatre like it used to and when it does, it's a good feeling. Your energy shoots up and I think there's more of an "air" in the audience because they're thinking, "This must be a good show if it's sold out!" Our next weekend is selling really well. I've heard from a lot of friends that they "usually try to see the third weekend of a show because that's when they're hitting their stride and if it's a good show, we don't risk getting sold out at the last weekend if we wait too long." That might be why next week is doing so well. And at least last night I didn't say like I did Opening Night, "I'll get you some towels, I've got to heat up some bandages first!!" The line is supposed to be "I'll get you a towel, I've got to get some bandages first!" and then I'm supposed to walk down the upstairs landing and go in the far door. When I said it wrong Opening Night, it wasn't until about 4 seconds later when I got to the door, that in my mind I thought, "What the f*ck did I just say?" and got inside the door to bust a gut laughing with the other people waiting behind the set! Luckily, it fit really well with the flustered nature of most of the characters in the show.
Someone last night asked me if I'd done more shows with Adam, another actor in the show, than anyone else. And I did not know. I thought I'd done more shows with Mike, but I told them I would have to look at my resume to really figure that out. I just looked at it. This is the 6th show I've done with Adam and I've done 5 with Mike - BUT Mike directed me in two more. So I've done more shows with Mike, but acted in more shows with Adam!
And finally, last night I got one of the best compliments I've ever gotten. We all headed out for drinks afterward, and FINALLY Great Lakes Christmas Ale is out and available. For those of you not familiar with the Great Lakes Brewing Company here in downtown Cleveland and their amazing Christmas Ale, 'tis a pity!!! Enjoyed about half of my first one when the waitress came out with another one and said, "It's from a Secret Santa." Allrighty!! Who am I to turn down a free Christmas Ale? It wasn't until later in the evening that I learned it was one of my fellow performers in the show. Really nice guy - don't know how old, I'll just say "older than me". He was just married last year and he and his wife still act like newlyweds. He is also someone I very much admire - GREAT speaking voice and I'd seen him onstage twice before and he is very good! This is someone who has been in over 100 productions and whom I believe used to be a member of Actors Equity. He came over and was talking to Denise, Deb and myself for a while, then asked if I was enjoying the Ale and I said, "Of course! Are YOU my 'Secret Santa'?" To which he confessed "yes" and said he just wanted to let me know that "of all the shows and actors I have worked with over the years, I have to say that you are EASILY one of the top 10 actors I've ever seen!"
Coulda knocked me over with a feather!!
"Really?? Geez, thank you, I'm almost embarrassed here!"
"Don't be! I'm telling you right now that if I can, I am going to see you in every show you do from here on out because I LOVE what you're doing up there! I'm really enjoying working with you and now that we're comfortable with the lines, I am catching the subtle things you do to progress yourself from one moment to the next!"
Color me VERY flattered!
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| | Posted 11/7/2009 4:58 PM - 43 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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