OK, OK. I've been away from my blog for a while. But I have a good excuse! The community theatre production of My Favorite Year which I was in is OVER! And here are the spoils: mountains upon mountains of flowers and (not pictured) chocolates. Do professional actors get such goodies as their reward? Who needs a paycheck when you can live in a florist's shop for 2 weeks?? Truthfully, the flowers are fading as the show closed on Saturday, but as I am not the spring chicken I once was, two solid weeks of late nights and
adrenaline rushes has not been kind to my body, and so I haven't been able to post about it.
I've said this before, but I'll say it again - I love being a part of a production. Being backstage allows you to know a show and its actors intimately and you get to see all the mess-ups and recoveries from near-disasters. Andrew is an athlete and is not afraid of competitive sports. Me? In high school I played lacrosse to earn my sports credit. I LOVED the practices and absolutely LOATHED the games. Suddenly I was asked to stand next to someone who didn't know me but was intent upon doing nothing but getting past me, whatever the cost. I just never really wanted the ball that bad, I guess. But in theatre, it's different. I love to consider the interplay between actors, musicians, and crew members. Everyone has very specific jobs to do at very precise times. If everything works as planned, each person's effort is coordinated to become entertainment. One of my favorite moments during the show this year was after a big smoochy love scene that I had. When the scene ends, a comedy sketch act begins and the stage transforms into something completely different. I enjoyed watching the comedy act on the
monitor backstage thinking that just a moment ago, I was playing out a sweet love scene and what was going on now couldn't be more different. It struck me that this is where I am happy to be on a team. There is no specific goal, really...just to create as solid a production as we can and to not let anyone down. No one is my enemy (except during auditions which are about the most horrible thing anyone can go through, ever) and everyone is willing to do whatever is needed to make a show run smoothly.
And here, from my view from the wings, is what it all turns into. A big burst of energy that takes months to put together, two weekends to maintain, and a day to dissolve back into an empty stage. Sigh.
OK, OK. I've been away from my blog for a while. But I have a good excuse! The community theatre production of My Favorite Year which I was in is OVER! And here are the spoils: mountains upon mountains of flowers and (not pictured) chocolates. Do professional actors get such goodies as their reward? Who needs a paycheck when you can live in a florist's shop for 2 weeks?? Truthfully, the flowers are fading as the show closed on Saturday, but as I am not the spring chicken I once was, two solid weeks of late nights and adrenaline rushes has not been kind to my body, and so I haven't been able to post about it.
I've said this before, but I'll say it again - I love being a part of a production. Being backstage allows you to know a show and its actors intimately and you get to see all the mess-ups and recoveries from near-disasters. Andrew is an athlete and is not afraid of competitive sports. Me? In high school I played lacrosse to earn my sports credit. I LOVED the practices and absolutely LOATHED the games. Suddenly I was asked to stand next to someone who didn't know me but was intent upon doing nothing but getting past me, whatever the cost. I just never really wanted the ball that bad, I guess. But in theatre, it's different. I love to consider the interplay between actors, musicians, and crew members. Everyone has very specific jobs to do at very precise times. If everything works as planned, each person's effort is coordinated to become entertainment. One of my favorite moments during the show this year was after a big smoochy love scene that I had. When the scene ends, a comedy sketch act begins and the stage transforms into something completely different. I enjoyed watching the comedy act on the monitor backstage thinking that just a moment ago, I was playing out a sweet love scene and what was going on now couldn't be more different. It struck me that this is where I am happy to be on a team. There is no specific goal, really...just to create as solid a production as we can and to not let anyone down. No one is my enemy (except during auditions which are about the most horrible thing anyone can go through, ever) and everyone is willing to do whatever is needed to make a show run smoothly.
And here, from my view from the wings, is what it all turns into. A big burst of energy that takes months to put together, two weekends to maintain, and a day to dissolve back into an empty stage. Sigh.
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