Piccolo Spoleto, Day 9
Well last night was just demoralizing.
We sold eight tickets. Two of those were to people who saw us do a preview in the park yesterday afternoon and clearly liked what they saw there better than what they saw onstage. Three of those were to friends of someone whom we got to do one of our pieces. They work the festival and have seen us before. So, they're sort of on our side by default. Two of those were to a former board member of Mill Mountiain Theatre (our host theatre) and her husband. She was not into us and suggested that we might want to play coffeehouses or bars as opposed to theaters. That leaves one audience member who presumably just heard about us and came to see us. She seemed to enjoy herself, but when you're doing personal pieces that involve you humping the floor and chirping like a cricket (someone else, not me) you tend to want the support of more than one person.
One of the critics for the local paper has given us a poor review, criticizing us for being so loose, which is what we are and what we never claimed to be anything but, so he's basically criticizing us for being us. Feels like my parents. I have not shared this with anyone, but I despair for furture audiences. In Piccolo Spoleto we're going up against the Second City Touring troupe, the kings of sketch comedy, and two improv groups, one of which is Chicago's Baby Wants Candy, which is becoming nationally known. Though we have good pieces and people giving their all, I fear for how we look in comparison. Will people hook in with us or will they, like the critic, sit back and say, "How come they haven't memorized their pieces?"
One of our performers is sick and not coming, so Todd has been spending hours redoing the orders to try to either cover the pieces she was going to be in or replace the stuff only she could do. There're accidents on the highway down from Roanoke so the two families who are joining us for the weekend are running late. There seem to not be a lot of people at Piccolo this year anyway and I'm done.
I came. I saw. I did some pieces. I tried to network, and I feel conquered. I'm ready to go home and we still have five performances left. Strangely enough, these two weeks here are harder than two months in Oregon. In Oregon I had my own car and my own computer and tons of my own music. I have none of that here, so it's just living by the seat of your suitcase for days. We're all really nice people but the last few days have been rough without the three who left after last weekend. Now there are eight of us, and the social groups don't work out as well. Todd works on the orders and stresses. John, my roommate, disappears to sightsee Charleston. That leaves just six of us, and if Trent and Nelson go off somewhere together and Rob hangs with the woman/women he's hooked up with, as they are wont to do, then it's just three of us hovering around each other for company. Now, I'm a pretty solitary creature by habit and can go days without interacting with others and find it soothing. Others are not this way being prone to lonliness and boredom.
On the plus side my assistant director called last night to inform me that our ten minute play opened well. So that's a bit of good news. And last night, I did get to hear my first ever No Shame piece done well ...
... and oh look, 9 year old Keith has finally arrived next door. People have been trying to console me saying that he probably will spend most of his time with his family, but if the last five minutes is any indication, he'll hang here and our suite will become an extension of their family suite across the hall. I predict I'll be spending a lot of time outside of the suite in the next couple of days. And he has a guitar. I bet on top of everything he's better than me. [Sigh]
We sold eight tickets. Two of those were to people who saw us do a preview in the park yesterday afternoon and clearly liked what they saw there better than what they saw onstage. Three of those were to friends of someone whom we got to do one of our pieces. They work the festival and have seen us before. So, they're sort of on our side by default. Two of those were to a former board member of Mill Mountiain Theatre (our host theatre) and her husband. She was not into us and suggested that we might want to play coffeehouses or bars as opposed to theaters. That leaves one audience member who presumably just heard about us and came to see us. She seemed to enjoy herself, but when you're doing personal pieces that involve you humping the floor and chirping like a cricket (someone else, not me) you tend to want the support of more than one person.
One of the critics for the local paper has given us a poor review, criticizing us for being so loose, which is what we are and what we never claimed to be anything but, so he's basically criticizing us for being us. Feels like my parents. I have not shared this with anyone, but I despair for furture audiences. In Piccolo Spoleto we're going up against the Second City Touring troupe, the kings of sketch comedy, and two improv groups, one of which is Chicago's Baby Wants Candy, which is becoming nationally known. Though we have good pieces and people giving their all, I fear for how we look in comparison. Will people hook in with us or will they, like the critic, sit back and say, "How come they haven't memorized their pieces?"
One of our performers is sick and not coming, so Todd has been spending hours redoing the orders to try to either cover the pieces she was going to be in or replace the stuff only she could do. There're accidents on the highway down from Roanoke so the two families who are joining us for the weekend are running late. There seem to not be a lot of people at Piccolo this year anyway and I'm done.
I came. I saw. I did some pieces. I tried to network, and I feel conquered. I'm ready to go home and we still have five performances left. Strangely enough, these two weeks here are harder than two months in Oregon. In Oregon I had my own car and my own computer and tons of my own music. I have none of that here, so it's just living by the seat of your suitcase for days. We're all really nice people but the last few days have been rough without the three who left after last weekend. Now there are eight of us, and the social groups don't work out as well. Todd works on the orders and stresses. John, my roommate, disappears to sightsee Charleston. That leaves just six of us, and if Trent and Nelson go off somewhere together and Rob hangs with the woman/women he's hooked up with, as they are wont to do, then it's just three of us hovering around each other for company. Now, I'm a pretty solitary creature by habit and can go days without interacting with others and find it soothing. Others are not this way being prone to lonliness and boredom.
On the plus side my assistant director called last night to inform me that our ten minute play opened well. So that's a bit of good news. And last night, I did get to hear my first ever No Shame piece done well ...
... and oh look, 9 year old Keith has finally arrived next door. People have been trying to console me saying that he probably will spend most of his time with his family, but if the last five minutes is any indication, he'll hang here and our suite will become an extension of their family suite across the hall. I predict I'll be spending a lot of time outside of the suite in the next couple of days. And he has a guitar. I bet on top of everything he's better than me. [Sigh]
posted by - caj at 6:20 PM
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