What can I say about last night? The actors were awesome, the show pretty darn good, the audience slightly less so. They were decidedly not a terribly responsive group. They seemed to be in large part an older crowd, Conservative types that pronounce theatre with three syllables. Perhaps not the show they were expecting, and not their cup of Earl Grey.
Certainly not big laughers, and not big supporters of independent publishing.* That’s for sure.
Still the actors rose to the occasion, really stepping it up in an effort to break down what I would call ‘response-resistance’ but which one of the actors called ‘a wall of hate’. (I think I’m missing the backstory on that.)
The middle set was good again. The audience seemed to enjoy the teenager monologue quite a bit, even if nobody put up their hands for any of the direct questions at the beginning: (How many of you have teenagers? How many of you had teenagers?)
Judging by the average age, at least a few people should’ve been in the ‘yes’ camp for at least one of those questions.
Also, there’s a new musical mime, a talented girl with a couple of fresh pieces. The first one I didn’t understand as well, but the second quite funny and charming. (And easy for me to follow!) I mispronounced her name alot.
She (and our stage manager and lighting guy) joined us for an extended round of freeze tag during the improv set. The improv was fun, the group was able to relax and have fun. Even the audience seemed to have fun. In their way.
I reminded the group (all newbies) that this opportunity to perform short form improv in front of a theatre crowd 5 nights in a row is an excellent way to get some chops, and in front of an iffy crowd is part of that experience. Anyway, it was good, we had fun, nobody got hurt, and I really enjoyed the extended freeze tag it had a clubby, party good-time atmosphere to the end of the show.
* Copies of play sold: 1 (improved autograph technique) Total: 14
