Sunday, September 16, 2012

Actors hitting their groove


We opened in J.B. (podcast with principals Steve Lebens, Bruce Alan Rauscher, and Julie Roundtree available here.)  The  Preview had a few technical glitches and dropped lines.  Opening night we were technically correct, if a little safe.  Last night, the third performance, I think we hit our groove.  Spontaneous applause, laughter (and tears) from the audience.  Everyone in the cast pumped with adrenaline.

It’s not easy being an actor and working a day job too.  I drove into the theater parking lot Friday night feeling dog tired from a week of dress/technical rehearsals every night and writing contract proposals and ad copy every the day.  Up at 5 a.m., in bed by midnight., again and again. But the minute I walked into the dressing room I felt a rush that lasted through the performance and a couple of hours after.  There is nothing else like it in the world.

I read once that Sir Laurence Olivier, late in his career, was often seen shaky and doddering in the theater wings before a play, every bit the picture of an old man in his declining years.  And yet the minute he got his cue to go on he was suddenly erect, with a spring in his step, striding onto the stage.  It’s a lovely story, and I believe it absolutely.  There is something that keeps actors at it, even when fame is secure and they no longer need the money.  Acting is exciting.  It’s fun.  It gives you a sense of creating something from within yourself that is…well...wonderful!

Opening night fellow actors Bob and Roberta Chaves stopped by to see the play and brought me a bouquet of yellow roses, my very favorite.  They open in a few weeks in  To Gillian on her 37th Birthday at Theater on the Run and What I Did Last Summer at the Alden Theatre respectively.  I will be there with hugs, and flowers, and cheering them on.

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