Opening Night and Beyond

Well here we are the day after strike. All the actors have said their goodbyes and are now finishing up finals and making summer plans. The dressing room and make-up rooms are inexplicably clean and all the furniture is back downstairs, and the shows are a not-so-distant memory. Reflecting on opening  night to closing there are so many things that go though my head. The fist night I was nervous, but happy because I was around friends, waiting how everyone would receive  this goofy play. My first thought was that they'd all hate it and not get any of the jokes, but when I heard that first chuckle when Isaac slammed the floor I knew we'd be okay and I eased up and just watched the show. That has been the hardest part for me, just letting it go. I'm so proud of the wonderful actors and Teri who made it as funny and cute as it was, I just have issues I guess. Having something you wrote up there, with your name attached to every line is scary! Night after night I found myself blending more with the audience than with a self-critic though. I enjoyed cheering on everyone else's play, why not my own? It was good and I'm proud of how it turned out. So I left my inhibitions on the ladder to the catwalk and just started to have fun. I even remember Thursday night when all the prop issues went on, cups wen missing or lids gone, the mustache never worked, but it was all sort of funny because I got to see how the actors dealt with it.

Sold out last show (this is our set!)

 Every night had something different to bring, and wether I watched from the catwalk or the audience I felt very privileged to be a part of this process. I thank Teri and the cast for dealing with my neuroticism.