First off, a partial explanation for my prolonged absence. Over the last few weeks now, I’ve been focusing my attention on a play called Everybody Loves Opal, my third show with Expressions Theater here in Lakeville. I played Matt in Mind Over Matt a few years ago and my duties with Wage Warfare this spring included creative consultant (giving the director suggestions he’d usually reject), swing (filling other actors’ roles for rehearsals when they were absent) and “Smoke Machine Guy.” Yep, I got to operate the smoke machine backstage. And I was GOOD at it!
But now we’re preparing the summer show and things haven’t been moving quite as smoothly, in part because people are taking a break from acting for the summer. We didn’t have enough people audition, so we didn’t have a full cast when rehearsals started. I was supposed to be an assistant director for this show, but since we were short on male actors, I ended up being a swing again right away. No big deal, right?
Except we finished the first week of rehearsals and still suffered from a distinct lack of a male actor to fill a major role. I wasn’t really comfortable doing it because this upcoming Thursday, I’ll be heading to summer camp for a week.
Missing a week of rehearsals… not really comfortable.
Having no one to fill that major male role… even less comfortable.
There’ll still be a few weeks between my getting home and opening night, so I guess the kids will have to deal with me occasionally trying to learn my lines during free time at camp. (The fact that I’ve already been reading that role as the swing means I’ve got a head start!)
The other actors seem pretty awesome and it should be a good overall production. However, there’s a little bit of scar tissue in my memory banks because I’ve seen other actors who seemed pretty awesome, but they thought they were more awesome than they actually were. They thought they were more awesome than the script, the other actors, the director… those people drive me nuts.
(Note to the Grammar Police: Yes, I know I’m about to use the plural forms “their” and “they” to refer to a single individual, but it seems like the easiest way to conceal that individual’s gender. Or I’m doing it because I’m lazy, take your pick.)
The most recent example I saw was when an actor got some terrible news on the phone, then dropped their head on the table and cried out, “WHY ME?!?!” Three lines later, that actor provided the answer. When I mentioned it afterward, they replied, “Oh, that’s not so bad.” HEARING THAT MADE ME AN UNHAPPY CAMPER.
For those of you who have read this blog in the past, you’ll know that I’m very particular about how I phrase things, the words I use, etc. If you read an entry just after it’s posted, then refresh the screen half an hour later, you may notice some changes. I’m nitpicky like that, which means the Grammar Police might be even more pissed off at me for what I just did.
Being a playwright isn’t much different than writing blog posts. Well, aside from their needing to develop a plot. And characters. And making sure it doesn’t suck. Okay, so maybe it’s pretty different. However, there’s one thing that holds true for them as it does for me: they choose their words carefully. They are particular and nitpicky because what actors say onstage affects how the audience perceives their characters. If someone screws up a line or two, hey, shit happens. I can accept that. If the actor starts changing lines intentionally, IT MAKES ME AN UNHAPPY CAMPER.
And that’s what brought about the title of this blog post. When people are overacting and adding extra lines or even just “y’know” and “or something” to the ends of their sentences, yes, they get to say more and draw more attention to themselves. They also add chaff to the script. Shitty little bits and pieces of dialogue that would get wiped out by a halfway decent playwright. It rarely adds anything beneficial to the production and could potentially harm it (even if the actor thinks “that’s not so bad”), which makes me want to stab that person in the brain.
I don’t expect that scar tissue to affect our play. The fact that no one got overly anxious and demanded that we find someone when that major role wasn’t filled yet probably indicates that everyone wants to make it a good show (i.e., chaff-free). If that’s not the case, I don’t care what the title of the play is, Opal COULD MAKE ME AN UNHAPPY CAMPER.
