So good night with lulla-byyyyye...
Aug. 28th, 2006 12:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceebeegeeSo as everyone has said already, both shows were rained out yesterday. The timing was dead on--it had been spittin' off and on and I was hoping it would hold off, but just before 1:00 the skies opened. It was especially frustrating because when Chris, Jason and I arrived at the space at 11:30 I discovered that I'd left my makeup at my apartment, so I bounded home and back in an hour. But something nice happened--first off at Saturday's second show, two adorable little girls and their dads were eyeing the show from afar--Sami talked to them briefly at one point, and then I was crossing behind the audience to get something from our right wing area, and they buttonholed me and asked about the show. I was explaining to the girls what the show was about and I said it had been written by a man a long time ago. One of the girls chirped "William Shakespeare!" I applauded her and said "Yes, that's correct and when you get to high school you'll learn a lot more about him." God, I love precocious New York City kids--well, I should say that's the cute (not annoying) level of precocity. I told them there were a bunch of lovers who were under magic spells that made them act crazy, and some fairies were behind the whole thing playing tricks on everybody. I said they should hang out until the fairies come out, and I told them about the four fairies being Earth, Air, Fire and Water. 
They watched the show for a little bit until the third act or so--I was hiding behind the rock when I saw them go. The girls spied me and waved to me, and I waved back and then they gave me the thumbs up signal. SO cute! Aaaaughh! My ovaries hurt around adorable kids like that.
ANYWAY, as I was tearing down 72nd Street toward the park with my makeup yesterday morning, I passed them and I heard one of them squeak "HEY! That's her, she was in the show yesterday!" They recognized me from my hair, in my Puck hairstyle (which I wanted to suggest to be horns, because Puck is frequently portrayed with horns).
They were on scooters and I chatted with them, still continuing toward the park. Their names were Libby and Rebecca. (I wanted to say "nice Biblical names" but then I thought maybe their dads would think I was some kind of Xtian evangelist.) Their dads joined us and they asked about the play. They ended up joining us--they were going to try to watch the whole thing but of course, the shows were rained out.
So--I made the call right before 1 pm to cancel the first show which KILLED me. Ugh. SO annoyed. Most of the cast took off for Flaherty's on Restaurant Row--Chris, Jason and I huddled beneath the Mineral Springs Cafe overhang to pull things together a bit and wait for Melissa, who was stuck in traffic. I glowered for awhile. I HATE to cancel shows. HATE IT. I don't put in all that time for rehearsal so I can cancel. I want to perform. I have an insanely strong work ethic about shows--when I worked at Adventure World, we were doing 6 shows a day with gymnastics and everything--we were required to start a show even if there was no one in the audience and I would do full choreography, I didn't mark anything, not even cartwheels. I was also annoyed because of some carping from a (very) few cast members--yes, I understand it's not comfortable. But it's outdoor theater. You knew what you were getting into. Your being cold is not cause to cancel the show.* There are two factors that make me cancel a show--1) safety, and 2) the audience. My glowering continued until some skanky homeless hippie dude came over and started asking really stupid questions about Midsummer which Chris was patiently trying to answer. SHHD was asking "Where does this take place" ("Athens.") SHHD: "Is that like--romantic Athens or...Athens of like..." And then after he'd heard the plot points: "That doesn't sound like Shakespeare--is that one of his later plays?" Okay, dude--you clearly know nothing about Shakespeare or Midsummer. Stop trying to make what you think are incisive thought-provoking questions. To get away from him, I went over to the two adorable little girls and their dads, who had also adjourned to the overhang. They were showing off (adorably) on their scooters, and asked me "How old do you have to be to get a job like that?" (meaning, be in our show). I said "It's not how old you have to be, it's whether or not we need children for our plays. We didn't need children for this play but we might in the future."
*The show where Tracy and I first met, the second Shakespeare's Women with Julie, did a run at one of Chatterton's spaces in Midtown in the absolute dead of January, when it was literally 10 degrees out. The backstage was not insulated at all and I am not exaggerating when I say it was something like 55 degrees there. Naturally my first scene had me in that skimpy flame-edged red suede top, so I had to spend a half-hour backstage FREEZING. My fingers and lips were blue, and at one point I thought "I don't know if I can actually say the words" because my teeth were chattering so much. I went on. Tracy went on. The show goes on.
Eventually Chris, Jason and I went off to Flaherty's where we joined Carrie, Paul, Katie, Sami, Silas, Mickey, Duncan, Anita, Alex, Don and Dana. That place is fun--a cozy Irish pub. I've been there before; Peter and I have had drinks there before his shows when he was in Annie Get Your Gun. I was still somewhat gloomy but hanging out with the cast was a lot of fun. I did "These are the forgeries of jealousy..." for Carrie, Mickey and some others, and hugged Carrie and told her how great she was. She totally wants to work with Holla Holla again. Silas and I played pool, and we all ordered lots to drink and eat. I had the seafood gumbo pie which was delish. Around 3:15 I called the second show--even if the rain had stopped, at that point the ground would've been a morass of mud and not safe for the actors. ARRGH.
So it was a disappointing ending, but...it was a glorious run nonetheless. I had a GREAT time with this, and as I told Jason,
we walked down a path and passed a space where there was nothing. Instead of continuing past it, leaving it the way it was, we changed that space, and we left behind something good, a cairn of glittery, light-suffused magic. We left behind a good strong show, we left behind some new actors and connections that we'll work with again, we left behind good memories for the audience, we left behind a budding Shakespearian actor (Paul), we left behind roles that people can list on their resume. Something is better than nothing. We created.
They watched the show for a little bit until the third act or so--I was hiding behind the rock when I saw them go. The girls spied me and waved to me, and I waved back and then they gave me the thumbs up signal. SO cute! Aaaaughh! My ovaries hurt around adorable kids like that.ANYWAY, as I was tearing down 72nd Street toward the park with my makeup yesterday morning, I passed them and I heard one of them squeak "HEY! That's her, she was in the show yesterday!" They recognized me from my hair, in my Puck hairstyle (which I wanted to suggest to be horns, because Puck is frequently portrayed with horns).
They were on scooters and I chatted with them, still continuing toward the park. Their names were Libby and Rebecca. (I wanted to say "nice Biblical names" but then I thought maybe their dads would think I was some kind of Xtian evangelist.) Their dads joined us and they asked about the play. They ended up joining us--they were going to try to watch the whole thing but of course, the shows were rained out.So--I made the call right before 1 pm to cancel the first show which KILLED me. Ugh. SO annoyed. Most of the cast took off for Flaherty's on Restaurant Row--Chris, Jason and I huddled beneath the Mineral Springs Cafe overhang to pull things together a bit and wait for Melissa, who was stuck in traffic. I glowered for awhile. I HATE to cancel shows. HATE IT. I don't put in all that time for rehearsal so I can cancel. I want to perform. I have an insanely strong work ethic about shows--when I worked at Adventure World, we were doing 6 shows a day with gymnastics and everything--we were required to start a show even if there was no one in the audience and I would do full choreography, I didn't mark anything, not even cartwheels. I was also annoyed because of some carping from a (very) few cast members--yes, I understand it's not comfortable. But it's outdoor theater. You knew what you were getting into. Your being cold is not cause to cancel the show.* There are two factors that make me cancel a show--1) safety, and 2) the audience. My glowering continued until some skanky homeless hippie dude came over and started asking really stupid questions about Midsummer which Chris was patiently trying to answer. SHHD was asking "Where does this take place" ("Athens.") SHHD: "Is that like--romantic Athens or...Athens of like..." And then after he'd heard the plot points: "That doesn't sound like Shakespeare--is that one of his later plays?" Okay, dude--you clearly know nothing about Shakespeare or Midsummer. Stop trying to make what you think are incisive thought-provoking questions. To get away from him, I went over to the two adorable little girls and their dads, who had also adjourned to the overhang. They were showing off (adorably) on their scooters, and asked me "How old do you have to be to get a job like that?" (meaning, be in our show). I said "It's not how old you have to be, it's whether or not we need children for our plays. We didn't need children for this play but we might in the future."
*The show where Tracy and I first met, the second Shakespeare's Women with Julie, did a run at one of Chatterton's spaces in Midtown in the absolute dead of January, when it was literally 10 degrees out. The backstage was not insulated at all and I am not exaggerating when I say it was something like 55 degrees there. Naturally my first scene had me in that skimpy flame-edged red suede top, so I had to spend a half-hour backstage FREEZING. My fingers and lips were blue, and at one point I thought "I don't know if I can actually say the words" because my teeth were chattering so much. I went on. Tracy went on. The show goes on.
Eventually Chris, Jason and I went off to Flaherty's where we joined Carrie, Paul, Katie, Sami, Silas, Mickey, Duncan, Anita, Alex, Don and Dana. That place is fun--a cozy Irish pub. I've been there before; Peter and I have had drinks there before his shows when he was in Annie Get Your Gun. I was still somewhat gloomy but hanging out with the cast was a lot of fun. I did "These are the forgeries of jealousy..." for Carrie, Mickey and some others, and hugged Carrie and told her how great she was. She totally wants to work with Holla Holla again. Silas and I played pool, and we all ordered lots to drink and eat. I had the seafood gumbo pie which was delish. Around 3:15 I called the second show--even if the rain had stopped, at that point the ground would've been a morass of mud and not safe for the actors. ARRGH.
So it was a disappointing ending, but...it was a glorious run nonetheless. I had a GREAT time with this, and as I told Jason,
we walked down a path and passed a space where there was nothing. Instead of continuing past it, leaving it the way it was, we changed that space, and we left behind something good, a cairn of glittery, light-suffused magic. We left behind a good strong show, we left behind some new actors and connections that we'll work with again, we left behind good memories for the audience, we left behind a budding Shakespearian actor (Paul), we left behind roles that people can list on their resume. Something is better than nothing. We created.
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..dang lullaby song stuck in muh head...
Date: 2006-08-28 06:49 pm (UTC)I'm going to miss hanging out and working on this with you guys.
Even though I came in later in the process, It was nice to be part of it.
Warm regards! ;-)
Re: ..dang lullaby song stuck in muh head...
Date: 2006-08-28 07:44 pm (UTC)We'll start a new show soon. This show was so successful, I feel as though I can do anything. I really want to produce something else like NOW, and Duncan and I are looking to produce the Midsummer sequel this winter.