Here I Am

This is me on the stage. I'm the one in the middle. The local paper took the photo on the Monday before we opened on Friday night. Two performances down. Four more to go.

Last night was not as good as opening night, but the audience enjoyed itself and that's what really counts. They don't know if we've missed a line or two as long as the play is funny and understandable. One of our stars who has been in many other productions told me that the second night is usually the worst. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. He was worse the second night. I also think our first night audience appreciated the humor a little more.

We have to stand near the exits to shake hands with the theatergoers as they leave and some of the comments I've gotten are wonderful. One lady, upon seeing my other costume (no, I won't be posting a picture of that one)said that it took a lot of nerve to do the show. It does. Another woman smiled and said that she believed I had been rummaging in her closet.

Stars!

We opened last night to a packed house. We were blessed with a wonderful audience who helped us make the show a hit.

We had to be at the theater at 6 PM even though the curtain wasn’t until 8 PM. We used the time to put on our makeup and costumes, to do some voice exercises, get last minute directions from our wonderful director and to try and loosen up. Some of our friends called and left a message on the cell phone that I picked up about an hour before the curtain. They passed the phone around and wished us broken legs. It was wonderful! We were quite touched.

I was not very loose. I was, in fact, a very tight bundle of nerves. The only thing that was loose was my bladder. I had to pee every 5 minutes. I decided to only sip my water when my throat was so dry that I was choking. I used my costume change to pee and was able to make it until the end of the play. Thank goodness there is a toilet in the dressing room!

I had packed some Acetaminophen, Valium® (generic Diazepam), Immodium® and throat lozenges. I was ready for anything!

I make my first entry rather early in the play. I am in what we are calling the Flamingo costume. The local paper took my picture wearing it on Monday and it appeared in Friday’s paper. Here’s a URL http://www.valleymorningstar.com/articles/2006/01/27/rio_living/rio_living1.txt
If it’s not there when you look, I can send you a .pdf file I made of the website.

I was behind the curtains near where I had to stand just before my entrance. My heart was pounding so hard that I was certain the audience could hear it above their laughter. The two characters on stage were doing wonderfully, generating laughs and hitting their lines square on. I was happy, excited, anxious and very, very nervous. I thought about downing a Valium® but nixed the idea. Live or die; I was determined to do it without chemicals.

I made my entrance to laughter. I executed my lines with flair. I didn’t drop any lines and I managed to time the delivery with the audience laughter even though we hadn’t practiced it.

My next appearance is late in Act II and I am in a different costume. It’s a green jump and white print Spandex® suit with bell-bottoms and a halter top. It is tied so tightly that my breasts are pushed up and rounded. Does the word “floozy” bring a picture to your mind? Around my waste is a green sash that I need in a later scene where I enter with beer cans stuffed into the sash. Do the words “boozy floozy” bring a picture to your mind? My earrings are huge loopy things with lots of little, green discs hanging from various parts of them. Outrageous! My hair is still in blue curlers and tied with a piece of pink tulle. I am still wearing the socks with the ruffled tops and the big, pink slippers with the piggie faces that I wore in Act I. I look (and feel) as though I am about to pop out of the costume.

I entered in that costume to hilarity. I had to try really hard to ignore the audience and concentrate on my lines and the action in the play. I did. I said my monolog and it was very funny. No one else missed their lines and I was dead on with mine. By Act III I actually found myself so immersed in the role that I didn’t even have to think of the cues. I just reacted to the action and talk on the stage and my lines were perfect.

On stage, before a real audience, it all came together. The weeks of rehearsals, the changes in the script, the changes in blocking... it all happened and it looked good. We have five more performances and I hope we do as well.

Closing In On Showtime

Hello blog-fans. It’s been a while. We are so busy with rehearsals for the play that I haven’t had time to contribute anything here. We open on Friday night!

I have memorized my lines. I can do them correctly as long as nobody else messes up my cues. If it’s only a slight change, I can roll with it. If it’s a whole line skipped, I’m sunk. Hopefully I’ll get better this week.

I have decided to dedicate my performance to Valium. I will probably need some. My costume in the second act and the rest of the play is skimpy. I’m no “spring chicken” and skimpy is definitely not flattering. I’m being a good sport and wearing it because it’s important to the character and the play.

That said, I will weather the humiliation. My husband has been directed to tell everyone that it’s padded.

Monday night is “Press Night.” We will be photographed (I’m wearing the Act I costume, not the skimpy one) and interviewed. We are not allowed to say anything about the theater. I’m not sure I understand that. I wasn’t planning upon commenting about the theater. It’s a lovely little theater with good acoustics, so why would anyone criticize it?

Rehearsals have been going well. One of the cast has come down with a cold. I made her some chicken soup. I’m hoping it will cure her.

Tell us to “break a leg” and if you are reading this from the Rio Grande Valley, buy a ticket. We are close to being sold out for all 6 performances!

Funny Stuff

It’s good to laugh. It’s even better to laugh at oneself. The other day I was folding laundry. I found one ankle-high sock and one regular sock at the bottom of the basket. My husband was sitting nearby when I complained about missing two socks. He assured me that somewhere I had an identical pair. I did! It had fallen on the floor next to the basket and I hadn’t seen it. I had two pair of socks where one was long and one was short?

We were stopped at a traffic light and I remarked that the gas station on our right was still $2.15 for regular. There was a lot of traffic on the street so we didn’t get far before being stopped at another light. I looked out of the car window and mentioned that this other station was also still $2.15. It was the same station. They had an island on each side of the convenience store in the center and signs on both sides of the property.

One of the actors in the play we are rehearsing for was with me in the prop room. We were looking for flower pots or something. He picked up a wooden cigar box and asked me if I thought there was anything in it. I suggested that he open it. He did. It was empty. I said: “close, but no cigar.” Groaners are funny, too.

Saturday we went dancing at the Ice House at Port of Brownsville. We were dancing to CCRs “Rolling on the River” and I jumped around and said: “I’m Tina Turner!” My husband looked at me and said: “you’re more like “Tiny Tuna”. I love this guy! He’s kept me laughing for twenty years.

Treading The Boards

I’m the kind of person who finds it hard to walk and chew gum at the same time. I am learning my lines for a play at the Harlingen Performing Arts Center. I can recite them perfectly in the shower. I can recite them perfectly in the car. My husband cues me while I am cooking supper and I’ve got them down pretty well. Just when I start to accumulate a little confidence, something called blocking happens.

This play is my first acting experience. I am still not sure which is upstage and which is downstage. I think I can tell stage left from stage right, though usually it’s the other right. This is a very physical production and when I have to recite most of my lines, there are people in my face or holding my clothing while I have to fake moving away.

Aside from blocking and exaggerated movements, I wasn’t prepared for not getting my cues. At the last rehearsal I had to leave out an entire sentence that has importance to the plot because I didn’t get a cue and it was impossible to insert it without it sounding stupid. Something good did happen, though. Everyone decided that part of a scene where I have a lot of lines was silly and did nothing for plot, so it was eliminated. That’s so many less lines to learn!! I’m not at all unhappy.

I will have to wear an unflattering costume. It’s not that it makes me look fat; it actually shows up every single ounce of excess fat on my entire body! I’m being a good sport and I’ll wear it, but I’ve directed my husband, who also has a role in the play, to tell all of our friends that the costume’s been padded.

We are rehearsing almost every day. The other actors are interesting and engaging people. Our director is a talented young woman who just learned that a play she’s written will be produced next season. She’s a dear even if she makes me wear the fat costume. I’m enjoying the rehearsals. The audience should be invited to the rehearsals. Some of what goes on is funnier than the play.