Opening Night

Well, there you have it! We have opened the show, and I have nary a complaint about it!

I think the crowd was 25-30 people. Not bad for a new company still finding its way. I have been advertising it to everyone i know, and a few people I do not. Including here. The reviews are in, and we did great, so tell your friends, and come see this show!

There were some rusty patches. But very small ones. Some line drops that were covered instantly. A few lines flubs, including my own. Nothing that the audience would have noticed, I think, but I still felt silly having messed it up.

Despite the smallness of the crowd, there clearly were laughing in several parts. Not all the ones I would have expected, but as a counter, they laughed at some thinks rather heartily that I did not think they would.

Also, the show got better as the night wore on. Later scenes having more energy than earlier ones, until the final scene, in my view, was dead on where we wanted it to be. "Eleanor" mentioned that she felt the energy ebbed and flowed throughout the night, but did concur that the final scene was very high on energy and drama.

I suppose if you get one scene to stand out, it is nice to have it be the final, and climactic scene in the play.

I like it for other reasons. For me, I play Geoff as cold, calculating, and usually in complete control for 95% of the play. But in the final scene, based on a choice I made, I get the opportunity to have what I call a "Richard" moment. In other words, to be quite passionate, and loud. It is the only time in the play I really do this, and I think it is made all the more powerful by how it contrasts to the quietness I bring to the rest of the play.

It was intense to me as well. It always is, but I felt that she and I, along with some of the others, were playing off of each other so well that I could...in my own parlance..."fell it in my face". Sometimes when a certain moment or part is of a high enough level of intensity, my face gets washed in a sort of almost tingling, partially burning sensation. Physiologically I imagine it is because there is more blood going to my face at that moment. But it is brought about by those moments of intensity you hope for in drama. Moment that never quite show up just from yelling alone...but from yelling mixed with the correct atmosphere.

Tonight was such an atmosphere. And the best part is, coming down from that sensation is also a useful sensation in many contexts. As it was tonight in the final scene.

It is a little weird, the venue. We have no access to bathroom the whole time, and back stage space is minimal. And we have to be extra quiet as we walk and communicate. But much more room to be private and spread out than we had in the chapel for the last show we did. ("We" meaning this company.) So you take the good with the bad, as usual.

More good than bad tonight, and I hope it continues to be so.