Here is a shout out to all you TAO (Two and Only) blog readers. Thank you for reading. The Two and Only is a very exhausting show to do. There is the emotional roller coaster I take every night talking about my friend and mentor Art Sieving. The story of receiving Harry O’Shea has always been an exposed emotion in my life. There were times in the early run of this show that I could not get through the telling with out tears.
Comedy is also a very precise explosion. It requires razor thin timing to get the proper results every time. There are no retakes in live theater so there is never any time to rest between laughs or to revamp and reset the fuse. We don’t have an intermission so once I step onto the stage it is a marathon sprint to the finish.
Then there is the ventriloquism aspect of my show. It would be great to have fellow actors on stage to carry some of the show, but there really isn’t any rest for me when my partners are getting laughs. Most of the time I am working hard to make it seem like I am not working.
All of this to say, my job requires me to wind my inter clock very tightly for that moment when the stage lights go up. That clock is wound much tighter than can be unwound in just the time I am on stage. Like a scuba diver you can’t surface too fast or you will hurt yourself. So after a show I am slowly coming back to the real world in shallow increments.
Writing this blog is absolutely the best way to decelerate so I can sleep and start the process all over again the next day. The fact that you are reading it and absorbing it makes that process a lot less lonely.
It was another great night and unique experience. Our first talk back. Thanks to all who came and stayed and asked such wonderful questions. It helps me share more of my unusual art form with people who are interested.
As your were,
Jay
What an appropriate acronym. Does that make of of us blog readers TAOists? I must meditate on this today...
ReplyDeleteBTW - great show last night Jay. It was incredible to be present for the talk-back as well.
-the other one
that was supposed to be "all of us"
ReplyDelete:must read before posting: