October 10, 2009
We gave our 6th performance last night, and it keeps getting better and better. The cast seems comfortable enough in their lines to ad lib and add facial expressions or body language, which enhance the whole.
We had a prop failure in one performance. The scene calls for a very pregnant Violet (Ashley) to scoot across the stage in a lawn chair to get into her position for the wedding. In that one performance, the chair collapsed, tumbling Violet to the floor. Both Mildred (Laura) and Faye (Olivia) never skipped a beat, but appropriately helped Violet back into her chair and made remarks and consoling motions, and the play went on as though nothing happened. Very impressive.
In one of the first performances, the pre-recorded ambulance siren failed to play and Laura immediately mimicked the sound of a siren, the other cast members made comments to validate the sound and the play went on. She now does it each performance.
After all the rehearsals, I wondered how performing in front of an audience would affect me. But much to my surprise, I found it much easier than anticipated. The audience response and laughter tied everything together. One of the other cast members asked if I got nervous before going onstage. He’s been doing it for years, and still gets nervous. I don’t think I have enough lines to get nervous about. I suppose it’s relative. He has the main male lead role. I’m just Ruthann Barnes.
Another show tonight at 7:30 p.m. and then a matinee tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. Then 5 more performances and my acting “career” comes to a close.
Even though we’re still in production, the high school seniors, Ashley and Olivia are excitedly talking about college theatre auditions this weekend, Laura Nelson will be directing “Willy Wonka,” and Erin Mays will be playing the German mother—already very convincing German accent (she speaks German) and they start rehearsing next week (before "Faith County" ends!) Larrin Weidenaar said he’s been in nine (9) consecutive productions and is looking for a little break, although there’s buzz that he might be pulled into doing something in “Willy Wonka.” TEN consecutive productions???? That is a passion for theater!
We had a prop failure in one performance. The scene calls for a very pregnant Violet (Ashley) to scoot across the stage in a lawn chair to get into her position for the wedding. In that one performance, the chair collapsed, tumbling Violet to the floor. Both Mildred (Laura) and Faye (Olivia) never skipped a beat, but appropriately helped Violet back into her chair and made remarks and consoling motions, and the play went on as though nothing happened. Very impressive.
In one of the first performances, the pre-recorded ambulance siren failed to play and Laura immediately mimicked the sound of a siren, the other cast members made comments to validate the sound and the play went on. She now does it each performance.
After all the rehearsals, I wondered how performing in front of an audience would affect me. But much to my surprise, I found it much easier than anticipated. The audience response and laughter tied everything together. One of the other cast members asked if I got nervous before going onstage. He’s been doing it for years, and still gets nervous. I don’t think I have enough lines to get nervous about. I suppose it’s relative. He has the main male lead role. I’m just Ruthann Barnes.
Another show tonight at 7:30 p.m. and then a matinee tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. Then 5 more performances and my acting “career” comes to a close.
Even though we’re still in production, the high school seniors, Ashley and Olivia are excitedly talking about college theatre auditions this weekend, Laura Nelson will be directing “Willy Wonka,” and Erin Mays will be playing the German mother—already very convincing German accent (she speaks German) and they start rehearsing next week (before "Faith County" ends!) Larrin Weidenaar said he’s been in nine (9) consecutive productions and is looking for a little break, although there’s buzz that he might be pulled into doing something in “Willy Wonka.” TEN consecutive productions???? That is a passion for theater!
1 comment:
kay...I never knew you were a closet thespian! JOY! BEAUTY! COURAGE!
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