After The Curtain: The Adding Machine

The show closed last Sunday, the 25th. A friend, Walter, wrote me, and he asked me how it all went. What follows sums up my first-time experience of preparing a role, being on stage, and handling it all . . .

Dear Walter -- The production went well, I thought. As for feedback: the director, at the cast party, told me he thought I did an excellent job (this was after several beers, but I think he was very sincere). Second, I always used the audience's (sensed) reaction, and there I think I was batting about 40%, i.e., I was reasonably pleased with about 3-4 performances, all the 2nd week. However, one performance, I *think*, went quite well: during the 5th show (the start of the 2nd week), my first scene is essentially a long monologue, and it's the first scene after the intermission. I finally started picking up my cues (I now know what that Lynnea meant when she always told you guys to do that) -- it's nothing you can really make happen: the lines at some point just have to become automatic, and when they did, I found I could listen to my partner, "think" as the character, and pay more attention to what was happening in the moment. When the scene ended, the audience clapped, which took me by surprise as I didn't know anyone in the audience, and I had to carry that scene on my own, essentially telling a 10 min story.

All this was quite gratifying because I can't think of too many personal projects where I put in more time and effort over a comparable period of time, and it was a fascinating, frustrating process, especially that first scene. At first, rehearsing/working was fun, but from the middle until after the show opened, I found myself having to really bare down -- sometimes it all felt more 'threatening' than 'challenging' (i.e., a part of me really feared inviting people, but I made myself do it), but no matter how frustrated/scared I got, I resolved not to give up, and everyday I worked, identifying trouble spots, re-thinking my way through sections, carefully re-reading the lines looking for cues, coming up with possible solutions, letting myself be as imaginative as possible, and simply being willing to throw anything away that wasn't working or I didn't like, and I rehearsed that first scene, almost every day, all the way though the run. And -- I still can't quite believe it -- it paid off!

- Cheers,
          Christopher