The Good, the Bad, and the VERY VERY Ugly

We all sin sometimes, and I committed a theatre sin last night. I got into a fight. But my limit with this certain individual had been reached.

It's a difficult thing to blog about in a way. But as I don't use names, and as it is a secret to nobody that was there, I will do so. Briefly, because I am still reeling from the unpleasentness.

The person in question likes to make changes to the script as he performs. Usually without telling anyone else in the scene he is going to do so. The reason is usually to "cover" for something that he feels needs to be covered, but is not covered by the script. It is usually without warning.

Last night, (this is tech week, just to remind you), it happened again, and I was confused, and yes, I stopped the progress to ask him to please not change my cue line on me. Yelling at me ensued, and yes, I yelled back, until the director broke us up, and we finished the scene.

In the green room, (which is basically just behind the stage), I was pissed. Understandably if you ask me. When cast mates asked what was up, I told them, dropped it, and then proceeded to gather my stuff for my next scene.

The man in question came up to me again, intent on blaming the stage manager for the situation. (A charge I have to say, in the interest of fairness, was unfounded.) I told him that I didn't want to hear anymore about the issue that night, and I proceeded to leave the dressing room. At which point I was followed, yelled at, and berated. Not having the energy to be the bigger man, I did in fact yell back, as I stormed out of the room, to take a walk around the blog.

With a cooler head, I returned, only to be approached again. This time, I was more balanced, and asked to be left alone. This was met with more blustering rage. To my own partial credit, I didn't return any of it this, time, (nor the subsequent time he brought the subject up, angrily.) I know, I should have been able to ignore it the first time. I couldn't and didn't.

So needless to say, I am not longer comfortable being around this person. I have requested that all changes he makes to the script now be explained to me by the director, and no he himself. I fear more confrontations otherwise.

And that, loyal blog readers, is how to put the "hell" into the opening of "hell week."

Not that even more "dance issues" didn't set the tone earlier in the evening already.

Then, me and a cast mate broke a glass on stage as we tried to wheel out a table. That held things up a bit.

Amazingly enough in all of this, I only dropped one line in all of my scenes. I hope to do no worse than that from here on out, obviously.

Getting to a more positive side of things, I did wear a costume of my own procurement last night. Simple khaki's and a striped shirt as a base costume.I don't know if I am to wear a tie yet or not, but there are plenty available. A dinner jacket needs to be procured for my stints of a narrator. Can't imagine that will be too hard.

I also wore what I suppose is called an overcoat for the Walter Mitty scene. I made it look frumpier on purpose, so, (hopefully) the character would look more pathetic as himself, and even funnier when he imagines himself to be noble.

I was told I could wear someone's hat for the scene as well. (There is a site gag with it, so I need one.) I pulled the hat and set it with my coat, but it was gone by the time the scene turned up. So I grabbed the nearest guy hat I could find; A cheap Halloween shop version of a black fedora. It is too small to look good, but it allowed me to wear it at a funny angle, which, judging by the notes we got at the end of rehearsal, seems to have worked very well. So I am going to keep it. I love when something last minute ends up being the right creative choice.

The line I dropped came in Preble. Unusual for me this late in the game, and I am not happy about it. But like I said earlier, I hope to minimize that sort of thing from now on.

I worry most at this point about the scene that caused the altercation, a few pieces of Mitty, and of course the dance at the start of the play. The rest of my responsibilities seem to be going smoothly, knock on wood.

We need more than three days of rehearsal to get it at optimal strength, but we don't have more than three days. So the goal is to get it solid, and to perfect a few problem spots. I wasn't out in the house to see how most of the other skits were going, but I imagine all of them are in need of some work, just as most of mine are.

Here's to a lot of work, and no politics from here on out.