I had the pleasure of hanging with the actors for a bit while they ran lines in a classroom. Brigid must have liquid meth coursing through her veins. She was just as energetic during the read through as she is on stage.
Backstage was pretty miserable. Heavy air and a pitiful fan trying to move the air. We didn't spend much time hanging out there.
The theater felt slightly better than backstage, but then lights went up and it was steamy in the theater, too. The lights even dimmed a couple times during the opening dance montage, as if we were about to lose power. Not to worry, though. We had a great crowd last night with several familiar faces (friends, family, frenemies, etc.) who helped us power through. (Well, I didn't do much of anything. I just sat there and took notes, but I felt the audience's energy and took those notes with gusto and precision as a result.)
Laura's masterpiece of a terrible date (based on a true story) once again got us off on the right foot. Who can't laugh at vomit and a date that refuses to die? It's really cool to see the way Andy mixes it up in this sketch and in Ben's western sketch each week. He doesn't rely on the same actions each week, and he always gets laughs. For somebody who dabbles in acting here and there, it's really instructive to watch him.
Speaking of watching something instructive, Dave gets a big shout out for the wonderful work he's been doing in Dan's "hand sketch." Without giving away the premise of the sketch, Dave has the difficult task of delivering his lines with one emotion while one of hands behaves in a manner that is completely contrary. It's fun to watch, and Dave's told me about the research he's done into puppeteers while doing this role. (Presumably, he wasn't into puppets as a hobby before this show. If he was, he's weird.)
Getting back to our great crowd last night. It seemed to me that this crowd was more into the show's darkest sketch -- Shane's "Crossroads." (Which is personally my favorite sketch. There, I said it.) The sketch makes light of serious subject matter. The crowd definitely laughed last week, but this week it was more robust. Having this sketch in the middle of the show is great because its the only sketch that makes extensive use of music, which helps to raise the energy in the theatre. This was particularly welcome in a muggy and dark room.
We had a special treat during Brian's messing with the audience sketch, "The Big Dance." Colleen, one of our former classmates was chosen as the audience member who was the object of Andy's affection. She did a super job, and was kind enough not to steal the scene. (I hate when audience members try to do that.) Likewise, another former classmate, Amanda, was chosen to be the audience member for Mark's messing with the audience piece, "Earthwads." She was a great choice, and Brigid and Michelle had particular fun messing with her. It showed.
Another personal highlight from yesterday was in Laura's "Original Jewish Mother" sketch. Janna plays the mother and she added all these great motherly mutterings to the end of the scripted lines that complemented her actions on stage. It worked really well.
We then had the house brought down with Detroit Angie's "End of Civilization." Nope, I'm not sharing details, but anarchy reigns supreme on the stage as the actors scurry about being wonderfully vulgar. The ending is worth the price of admission.
We're clicking right along, and we're halfway through our run. Damn, don't want it to end.
If you haven't done so: BUY A FRICKIN' TICKET, ALREADY.
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| Always telling us what to do. |
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| Take that! |
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| Wait for it.... |
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| Uh, this is awkward. Right? |
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| DRINKING! |
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| Dave attempting to roofie himself. |
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| We were near the Golden Tee machine. We felt the power of the douche. |
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