07 April 2013
Opening Night
07/04/13 09:16
The play has started. After dress rehearsals on Easter Sunday and Tuesday we opened on Thursday, April 4. From then on things have become a bit of a blur. The shows are Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoon. On top of that I’m working at my “real” job Monday through Friday. Little things like eating and sleeping seem to be getting lost in the shuffle. April will go by fast and I’m not likely to remember the details. The good news is that now I can say “I’m not a Doctor but I played one on stage in a local production.” Should come in handy for commercials and such.
I have been amazed by how much of a team sport acting is. We strive to be word-perfect. We work and study to be able to recite every word, and pause and period exactly as the author wrote it. In the real world though, that doesn’t happen. We’re human. No matter how solid we are, there will be slips of the tongue. This just means that we need to know our part, and everyone else’s part, and the play, so well that if someone misses a line we can adjust. Sometimes it’s a single word and we just let it go, Sometimes a line gets missed so we need to jump forward in the script ourselves to catch up. Sometimes it’s an important line so it means ad libbing a critical bit of information that was missed. The important thing is to keep the flow of the play going. To keep the story going. To make sure it all makes sense. To make sure it doesn’t look awkward. All so the audience doesn’t notice any discontinuity. Acting is a sport and the cast and crew are the team. We all support each other. They know I’ll have their back if they have a problem. I know they’ll have mine if I mess up. There’s an amazing amount of trust among all of us. Amazing for me at least. With my background (IT, teaching, and comedy) where you work alone without a net, this feels wonderful. That is what is so exhilarating about being on stage.
Site for the play: http://www.echoplayers.ca/WebPages/production4.htm
Page for Cast: http://www.echoplayers.ca/WebPages/production4cast.htm
But I know what you’ve been wondering. What does the play look like? You’re in luck. Marsha took (with permission) a camera to the second dress rehearsal.
Doug is doing great in the play as are the other actors. I have seen it twice now and will see it again today. Aunt Barbara, cousin Mike and another friend Hannah are coming with me to the play. (Marsha)
Here's Mary, the main character and Vi, her (dead) mother. Mary reconciling with the ghost/memory of her mother is a central thread of the play. The most amazing transition happens with Vi. The first two times she appears she looks like this, middle aged vibrant, flirty even. The last time she's suddenly thirty to forty years older and wracked with Alzheimer's. The transition is amazing. Actually I have to say all the actors I'm working with are amazing. They make me push all the harder.
Mary, Teresa (in front), and Catherine (by the window) on the set. You can get a good feel for the slightly abstract quality of the set. It's like it was torn from a faded photograph and we're seeing what happened here 17 years ago.
My entrance. I may look like a mad axe murderer but actually I'm Mike, an upper crust doctor that's having an affair with Mary. I've just slogged a mile through snow after the cab got stuck and at this point I'm half frozen. Shortly after this I climb in through the window. I may be old but I'm not too old for physical comedy.
I'm trying to warm up a bit. Catherine, who's a bit needy, and really doesn't get the idea of personal space, is chatting on about all sorts of things while smoking a joint, much to Mike's discomfort.
Sorting out Mum's clothing on the bed. The three girls are getting very stoned and crazy, much to Mike's consternation.
End of Act 1. Packing Mum's clothing has devolved into trying on Mum's clothing and they want a picture taken.
Act 2: About a third of the way through Mike makes his entrance. He's just out of the shower, wearing only a towel and socks, and expecting to get dressed but to his surprise the bedroom is not empty. He gets trapped on the bed while another emotional free for all erupts around him.
Teresa is getting increasingly drunk and confrontational. That's Frank, Teresa's husband, in the chair. Shortly after this he gets up and catches Teresa as she steps/falls off the bed. At this point Mike just wants to find a dignified way to get the heck out of there.
The last scene. Teresa had arranged for the body of her mother to spend her last night in her own room. This is just before Frank and Mike haul the casket out the door. Shortly after that Mike and Mary have a final talk, she departs and the play ends. Marsha has pointed out that I do clean up pretty well. In case you were wondering, the actor that play's Vi is not actually IN the coffin.
I have been amazed by how much of a team sport acting is. We strive to be word-perfect. We work and study to be able to recite every word, and pause and period exactly as the author wrote it. In the real world though, that doesn’t happen. We’re human. No matter how solid we are, there will be slips of the tongue. This just means that we need to know our part, and everyone else’s part, and the play, so well that if someone misses a line we can adjust. Sometimes it’s a single word and we just let it go, Sometimes a line gets missed so we need to jump forward in the script ourselves to catch up. Sometimes it’s an important line so it means ad libbing a critical bit of information that was missed. The important thing is to keep the flow of the play going. To keep the story going. To make sure it all makes sense. To make sure it doesn’t look awkward. All so the audience doesn’t notice any discontinuity. Acting is a sport and the cast and crew are the team. We all support each other. They know I’ll have their back if they have a problem. I know they’ll have mine if I mess up. There’s an amazing amount of trust among all of us. Amazing for me at least. With my background (IT, teaching, and comedy) where you work alone without a net, this feels wonderful. That is what is so exhilarating about being on stage.
Site for the play: http://www.echoplayers.ca/WebPages/production4.htm
Page for Cast: http://www.echoplayers.ca/WebPages/production4cast.htm
But I know what you’ve been wondering. What does the play look like? You’re in luck. Marsha took (with permission) a camera to the second dress rehearsal.
Doug is doing great in the play as are the other actors. I have seen it twice now and will see it again today. Aunt Barbara, cousin Mike and another friend Hannah are coming with me to the play. (Marsha)
Here's Mary, the main character and Vi, her (dead) mother. Mary reconciling with the ghost/memory of her mother is a central thread of the play. The most amazing transition happens with Vi. The first two times she appears she looks like this, middle aged vibrant, flirty even. The last time she's suddenly thirty to forty years older and wracked with Alzheimer's. The transition is amazing. Actually I have to say all the actors I'm working with are amazing. They make me push all the harder.
Mary, Teresa (in front), and Catherine (by the window) on the set. You can get a good feel for the slightly abstract quality of the set. It's like it was torn from a faded photograph and we're seeing what happened here 17 years ago.
My entrance. I may look like a mad axe murderer but actually I'm Mike, an upper crust doctor that's having an affair with Mary. I've just slogged a mile through snow after the cab got stuck and at this point I'm half frozen. Shortly after this I climb in through the window. I may be old but I'm not too old for physical comedy.
I'm trying to warm up a bit. Catherine, who's a bit needy, and really doesn't get the idea of personal space, is chatting on about all sorts of things while smoking a joint, much to Mike's discomfort.
Sorting out Mum's clothing on the bed. The three girls are getting very stoned and crazy, much to Mike's consternation.
End of Act 1. Packing Mum's clothing has devolved into trying on Mum's clothing and they want a picture taken.
Act 2: About a third of the way through Mike makes his entrance. He's just out of the shower, wearing only a towel and socks, and expecting to get dressed but to his surprise the bedroom is not empty. He gets trapped on the bed while another emotional free for all erupts around him.
Teresa is getting increasingly drunk and confrontational. That's Frank, Teresa's husband, in the chair. Shortly after this he gets up and catches Teresa as she steps/falls off the bed. At this point Mike just wants to find a dignified way to get the heck out of there.
The last scene. Teresa had arranged for the body of her mother to spend her last night in her own room. This is just before Frank and Mike haul the casket out the door. Shortly after that Mike and Mary have a final talk, she departs and the play ends. Marsha has pointed out that I do clean up pretty well. In case you were wondering, the actor that play's Vi is not actually IN the coffin.