Tag: theater

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You Better Watch Out

I went to see an Expressions show tonight in downtown Lakeville, mostly because three of the actors in this play were also in Mind Over Matt. I had a good time, it was cool seeing the guys again and a bunch of us had fun chatting at Applebee’s afterward. However, I had a question for the director about the end of one scene that took him completely by surprise.

It took place on Christmas Eve at a bed and breakfast with a handful of people staying there, one of whom was Santa Claus. The owners had invited her father for the holiday, he had turned into a big old grouch when his wife died and Santa wanted to instill the Christmas spirit back into him. During the first act, we see the wife and her dad continue a family tradition of lighting candles, putting them on the mantle of the fireplace, then letting them burn until they go out on their own.

An actual tradition I’ve never heard of before—the director told me about it at Applebee’s—is turning down the lights before blowing out candles on a birthday cake. Thus, at the end of a scene (after the candle lighting), one guy looks around, turns down the lights, starts quietly singing “Merry Christmas To Me” to the tune of “Happy Birthday”, then blows out the candles and leaves the room.

A very important note about the stage setup: the light switch is behind the coat tree. To turn the lights down so he could blow out the candles, he had to reach through a bunch of coats. When he did, one of them moved. Then he walked away from the coats singing “Merry Christmas To Me”. Basically, what I saw was this guy singing because he just gave himself a Christmas present: a wallet that was in someone’s jacket pocket. And boy, if that was Santa’s jacket, you’re damn right you better watch out.

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Mind Over Matt, post-production party

I’m not sure if that’s the proper title for tonight’s party, but I thought the alliteration sounded cool, so I ran with it. Anyway, it’s now two weeks since we wrapped, so most of us got together to watch ourselves on DVD. (Unfortunately, two people couldn’t make it because they’ve got “higher priorities” like “family”… lame excuses, if you ask me.)

We met up at someone’s apartment in Minneapolis, ate, drank, played games and watched the first Sunday’s performance from start to finish. Minus the breaks between scenes and the intermissions, of course. No one needed 15 minutes to grab food or use the bathroom. Well, sorta didn’t need it for the bathroom—it was out of commission for a while when the toilet got plugged up and there was no plunger in the apartment. Incidentally, if you ever need to borrow a plunger from a neighbor, don’t be surprised if they tell you you don’t need to bring it back.

Turns out that the performance went really well, everyone nailed their lines and they looked good doing it. Okay, I think we looked good doing it. It was a shame that we didn’t have a bigger audience that afternoon, but as the director pointed out when giving her introductory speech, people had to do a lot of shoveling before coming to the show.

The only regret I have about the party? Sure, there’s the sad “I don’t know if or when I’ll see any of these people again with whom I’ve had so much fun” stuff, but during the course of the play, Matt mentions having Cheetos and Sprite in his kitchen. Tonight? No Cheetos or Sprite. I felt so dirty…

So that’s it. We’re wrapped, no more stories about the future of the play. There are a handful of stories I’ve yet to tell due to a lack of blog entries for the last three or four months, but I’ve got until the last day of the year to write stuff—I should be able to fill in one or two blanks during that time. Whether I’ll be able to fill the void that came about due to the lack of Cheetos and Sprite tonight… maybe it’s not that bad and I just need to straighten out my priorities. Maybe all I need to do is spend some time with my “family.”

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Stuntmen are for sissies.

I know, it’s been about a week and a half since Mind Over Matt closed shop and I never reported anything about how things went from the second weekend of performances. Truth is, it all ran pretty well. I had a few word gaffes on Friday (much like the previous week), but aside from that, no harms or fouls. On second thought, scratch that: I suffered several harms that were caused by yours truly. Continue reading “Stuntmen are for sissies.”

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“Mind Over Matt”, opening weekend

Yeah, I probably could have written an entry after each performance, but I didn’t realize how drained I’d feel afterward. We all went out to dinner on Friday and Saturday night—when I got home, I didn’t feel like doing much beyond crawling into bed. Consequently… opening weekend instead of opening night.

If you’re curious, here’s the play’s official plot summary (in case you can’t tell, it’s a comedy):
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Ever argue with yourself? Ever said, “I don’t know what got into me?” This is the story of Matthew Lane. Matt is a successful illustrator with a couple of deadlines and several squabbling inner personalities who do weird and wonderful things. As Matt tries to gather up enough nerve to ask out the girl of his dreams, Matt’s egos, who all have their own hang-ups, lead him in one too many directions. When Matt’s overworked boss comes to believe that Matt has a crush on her, the conflicted egos manage to make a bad situation much, much worse.
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So I was indeed fidgety slightly past the point when the lights came up on Friday night, but things went pretty well. A few word slip-ups here and there, but the two times that I briefly forgot a line, I was already supposed to be flustered versus delivering an extended monologue, so no major flubs (I almost forgot to put my watch on, which is a pretty important prop… got lucky on that one).

Now that I think about it, we were uncomfortably close to a serious catastrophe. I have to make a few costume changes between scenes and there’s a limited time to do it. A few people are backstage and hold out the clothes for me, but when I was trying to change pants, my zipper got stuck. As I kept pulling on it and panic was welling up inside me—I’m not kidding, I was starting to freak out—I was wondering how much effort it would take to just tear my khakis off so I could put on my jeans. Thankfully, tugging the zipper up and back down got it loose, so I didn’t have to resort to any extreme measures. (I think I’ve popped a couple stitches as well, so whether the khakis will be functional after the final performance is up in the air.)

Saturday flowed even smoother than opening night, though at one point, Ashley (the girl of my dreams… but not really, since she has a boyfriend and Matt isn’t the kind of guy who would kill for love) is sitting on a stool and jumps backward suddenly. Somehow, her shoe went flying off the stage. And I mean flying. It reached the wall about 15 feet behind where she was sitting. Thankfully, there were stairs down to the floor on that side of the stage, so she simply walked down and retrieved it as we kept talking through that part of the scene. (As you would expect, the audience loved it.)

Sunday afternoon, she lost the shoe again, but it stayed on the stage this time. Overall, things have been improving every show, but that’s coming from my perspective. For all I know, some of the other cast members might be thrilled about the invention of adult diapers.

Along the lines of perspective, I can’t say much about the audience—it’s my first show in that theater, so if someone says it’s larger or smaller, if they’re louder or quieter, if they throw more stuff at the stage than usual… I have to take their word for it. Apparently, Friday was good, Saturday was small because the weather was really crummy and Sunday was okay, but the crowd wasn’t very responsive. Given how long it’s been since I’ve played for an audience, I thought they were all just fine.

Oh, and before I wrap this up, I’d like to give some kudos to my 93-year-old grandma. She came to the Sunday matinee and everyone in the cast and crew who met her thought she was adorable. Consider: when she bought her ticket, she asked, “Am I allowed to boo if the show is bad?” I love my grandma.

So that’s the scoop. We’re done with Weekend #1 and have three shows left next weekend. If you’re interested in seeing one of those performances, ticket presale info is still on the poster two entries ago. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry (assuming you laugh so hard that you cry, anyway) and we’re pretty sure you won’t ask for your money back. If you’re still on the fence, I’ll just point out that Grandma never felt the need to boo.

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Wherefore doesn’t “wherefore” mean “where”?

Someone pointed out to me that “wherefore” in old English actually means “why.” That’s not to say that Juliet is asking about Romeo’s parents picking out such a silly name (versus Hamlet, Othello, Lear, etc.). She’s a member of the Capulet family and is bemoaning that he’s a Montague—if Juliet’s family caught them during a romantic encounter, they’d lock her in a closet and gut Romeo like a trout. Wherefore, you might ask? Wherefore not?

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Wherefore art thou, Romeo?

Ye Gods, it’s been a long time since I’ve written anything in here. Helps explain the title for this blog entry, doesn’t it? Plus it’s more poetic than “Where the hell have you been, douchebag?!” And as an added bonus, it also hints at the answer:

I’ve fallen in love with a teenage girl.

Wait… nope, wrong answer. It’s because I got involved with the local community theater and I’ve been spending more time thinking about the lines I’ll be speaking onstage rather than the lines I write on my blog. Is that a bad thing? Well, yeah, so I’ll try to make up for it soon. I wanted to do it now, but I’m a little distracted considering that opening night is… a couple hours from now.

Here’s a poster with all of the relevant info in case some of you want to come see the show:

Mind Over Matt

The local paper also wrote an article that you might enjoy.

I know there’s plenty of background to write—why I auditioned, interesting plot twists here and there—but I’m too busy trying to stay relaxed. (Results currently mixed, will get back to you later with future reports.) Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.