Day Off

I am looking forward to a day off from the show. It is an odd feeling. There is nothing I like better than doing this show, but it does take more energy than I am willing to admit. I do need to recharge after a while. It is nice to come to a day off, especially since it has been a very stressful week. However, after a little rest, I am sure I will miss it tomorrow about eight o'clock.
The theatre is a hybrid cabaret/theatre. It requires a different energy than what is needed in a regular theatre. I am trying to figure out why, and probably will by the end of the run. All I know is that the room and the audience is like a psychic sponge soaking up every vibration of energy I put into it and seems to give little in return. The audience is enjoying the show and they exit very happy and thrilled, but I exit drained and exhausted. They take it all and give little.
I am happy to say that the last show for the week, a matinee on a Sunday, was especially good. With no technical glitches it was the first show that we have done that felt like we were settling into a run. Unless there are more problems that follow us next week, we should be able to gain some momentum.
One of the writer/producers of SOAP lives in Rochester, Stu Silver, and he has been to the show now twice. After the performance today he took me, John and our assistant stage manager out to dinner. It was very nice of him and we did not expect it... we were willing to chip in our per diem to have a nice meal to end the week. Stu is one of the nicer people who populated SOAP. He wrote some of my funniest lines and went on to run the show for several other series, as well as scripting a couple of movies. We remembered those days and tried not to recall how long ago it really was.
I am sorry that this is not a comedy club where I could capitalize on the "ruptured rapture" of May 21st. There is no way to incorporate that event into my show. If you know the Two and Only you might see the humor in this idea: It was my suggestion to John that I open up SQUEAKY'S case last night to find him missing as he would be the only one of the cast worthy of being taken up in the final days. Like I said it is not a comedy club and we can not riff on current events so the idea only became fodder for a post show laugh.
The blogs and feature writers had a field day this morning joking about the predictions of Harold Camping and his followers. I feel very sorry for the people who were duped into selling their things and spending their money on promoting this non-event. On the one hand I wonder how gullible they could have been, and with the same thought wonder if I would have been as dedicated as they were to bet my life savings on a belief. It is easy to sit back and say... "I told you so" and make light of those who believed that the end was yesterday, but most of us would not have had the balls to put our life where our belief is. I see it as more of a courageous endeavor than a blind following. Most of us are just following the masses of common acceptance. We don't make waves, and try not to stand out lest we be the subject of the ridicule of not fitting in. How many of us would bet our lives on something we feel strongly about to the point we would subject ourselves to be demeaned by the masses for that belief? Yeah, we have our beliefs but we keep them to ourselves.
So, let's not sell these people short. They may have been victims of following the wrong leader, but we really can not challenge the sincerity of their conviction. If these people were the evangelists of a cause that everyone thought was correct they would be exalted as heroes.
As you were,
Jay