352 - That Scary Thing

The auditions for Sugar Bean Sisters were this afternoon at ABET.  I've said it before and I'll say it again - auditions are much more nerve wracking than performances. 

Monday update:  There had to be close to 30 people auditioning; competition was tough. No dice, this time.  Maybe next.  It's ok, though, as my self esteem doesn't live or die by being cast in shows.  Still very involved in theatre projects.

TTFN!

106 - Tissues Needed

Rehearsal today was great.  Musically, we worked on the two "big" numbers in Act 1.  Even though my character is only in Act 2, I'm in "the crowd" (chorus) for these songs.  I don't want to give away too much of the show, but in both of these, the actors had tears in their eyes by the end of the song.  Our comments afterwards were that we think ABET needs to strategically place small boxes of tissues in each row.  Don't get me wrong - these are not "sad" songs, per se.  They are, however, touching and emotional.  And while it's no longer 1942, we still face similar issues and on some level can relate to this part of the story.

I must have not been listening at some point, or maybe it was left to just figure out ... one of our actors is the granddaughter of Teddy, the main character in the show.  I knew that she knew Frances (playwright) and Wendy (choreographer), but didn't know how.  Today I asked her, "How long have you known Frances?"  She was a little at a loss for words when she answered, "Well, she's my mom."  And Wendy?  She's her sister.  Now, how cool is that?  We're putting on a show about a real family who lives here in Jacksonville, and not only are some of the characters we're portraying coming to see the show, their "youngins" are actually involved in it.

I still hope and pray we can do this show justice for the Key family.  So far, it's sounding good.

TTFN!

99 - Final Bow

It was an incredibly awesome run, selling out 5 of our 7 shows, but After the Murders: The Quest of Lizzie Borden took its final bow Saturday night.  Our closing night audience was as good as our opening night audience.  They fed us lots of energy, were 'into' the play.  The cast left it all on the stage, giving what I think was probably our best performance - I know it was mine.

Sometimes it's hard to close a show, to put a character away.  I had a lot of character development for Emma, and it feels in some ways like a friend has left.  Emma was overshadowed by the psycho Lizzie, so I had to show her turmoil through facial expressions and body language more than through my lines.  I felt this character grow through each show, and it seemed that just as we were finding our grove, we took our last bow.  That's the lot of community theatre.

As I've said throughout the rehearsal and run of this show, we had a remarkable cast.  Jack cast each role perfectly, in my opinion.  Only one of my cast mates had I worked with before, so my theatre family has grown again.  There are a couple that, without a doubt, I will keep in touch with even if we never walk the boards together again.

Another shout out to all of my friends and colleagues who came to see After the Murders.  You humble me with your patronage of the shows I'm in, and I appreciate more than I can say your support of me and of our community theatres.

ABET is dark now until December 4th when we open Aussie Song.  Emma fades as Mama Key starts to take hold.  It is good know that I'm stepping right into my next theatre project.  I hope to see all of you when the house lights come up again.

TTFN!

85 - Publicity

We have GREAT publicity in this weekends edition of the "Beaches Leader".  Upper left corner of the FRONT PAGE, the lead-in about the article, complete with photo of Karen and I.  Front of the Weekend section, big photo of Karen and I followed by an article about the show.  Finally, back page of the Weekend section, nice photo of two of our handsome young men, Kyle and Thomas.  Top caption is the Lizzie Borden jump rope rhyme.

Saturday's audience was tough, and I was struggling through this cold and losing my voice.  Not our best performance.  We will pick it up for Sunday's matinee.

The reviewer for the Florida Time Union was in the audience Opening Night; last night, Dick, the reviewer for Entertainment U was there.  Those should be posted this week.

TTFN!

23 - Magic

For a long time I've said that the theatre is magic, but I've said that as a member of the audience. You step into another world when you witness live theatre. Well, it's also magic on the other side of that 4th wall. For me tonight, it was healing. All day long, I've dealt with stomach issues, and slept most of the day away. Was feeling horrible as I was getting ready to go to ABET to perform one of the songs from Aussie Song. Well, by the time I got to Atlantic Beach, my stomach was settling, and by the time the evening started, all the symptoms were gone. Magic, I'm telling you!

I wish, however, the magic had worked on my lyric memorization. I did get the opening monolog correct, but drew a completely blank on one of the lyric lines. Even driving home, I could not remember it. It's as if someone took an eraser and took it out of my memory. Fortunately, I thought on my feet, stayed in character, and managed to pull it off. It does help when your character (Mama Key) actually wrote the song and you're accompanying yourself.

It was also really nice to see my friends at ABET. I love that little theatre!

Support your local theatres -- they're magical places!

TTFN!