Weekend two is done

We are down to our last two performances of OP4P - Friday, April 4, and Saturday, April 5. Come see it if you haven't yet.

I've been concerned about lack of advertising leading to small crowds. I didn't go to the show this past Fri.-Sun., but I hear crowds were OK, still on the small side. I'm told Saturday had amazing energy in the first half and then became a tear-stained emotion fest at the end. After all that burned off, I'm told Sunday was an off night. It happens. Kind of wish I'd seen the super-charged Saturday show.

However, I did attend last night's special free beer Monday night show. Since most theaters are dark on Monday (stemming from an Equity rule), the idea is to have a night open to working actors who otherwise wouldn't be able to come. It was a surprisingly good-sized crowd, and a receptive crowd. It was fun for me to see the show again after a week off. It's definitely gotten looser over time. That's not to say that it's sloppy (well, a few parts were on Monday), but it feels very natural and almost like improv at this point, which is good. It should feel like that, because that's how real conversations are. Also, the spilled beer moment was the grandest it's ever been, with the beer bottle actually flying halfway across the stage and hitting the wall. I always like when the audience thinks it's a legitimate accident at first.

The cool thing is ... we got reviewed! I didn't think any reviewers were coming to our small venue, but we did get one, and the review was absolutely glowing. Read it here. You might have to scroll down a bit.

My hope for the actors is that this review pumps up the crowds for the last weekend. Their good work deserves to be seen. They deserve to go out with a bang.

Open for business

Prime opened on Friday night. I attended both Friday and Saturday's performances, but skipped the Sunday show in favor of walking the dog then collapsing in the absolute and utterly pathetic fatigue that comes from pregnancy.

Did I mention I announced to the world that I'm pregnant after the opening? More on that later.

Both Fri. and Sat.'s shows were very well performed, but sparsely attended. Which I assume is a function of not a ton of advertising. Which is a little frustrating because the cast is doing such a phenomenal job, I want people to see them. The comments I got after the show were mostly variations on this: "I thought it was just going to be funny. I didn't know it was going to be so sad."

But I also heard many really insightful comments about the development of the characters, the flow of the dialogue, and the architecture of the whole play that showed me people were really engaged and paying very close attention. And pretty much all of those comments were positive, which of course made me happy.

I has great fun buying Transformers comic books for the cast before opening night, too. Apparently, Sarah's comic, titled "Game over, Optimus Prime," is one of the most popular.

And then I told everyone I was all knocked up. About 12 weeks along, due October 8. Kelly cried a little, Marian was emotional, and both offered to knit things. Sarah actually said that while most babies disgust her, she is certain ours will not look like an alien, which is high praise. When Josh complained that the guys in the bar were referred to as "boys," Matt reminded him that we now all have proof he's a man.

The next night Jay gave us a card saying our news made him so happy, he was even inclined to like the French, a group he usually abhors with fiery passion. So that's a big deal!

Talking 'bout my generation

Last night was what I guess you would call final dress. There's no rehearsal tonight to give all the sick, tired, overworked actors a break, and tomorrow is preview. Whatever you call it, rehearsal is over, and it's time for show.

After the run last night (which finished at a tight, fast hour fifteen), Jenna said she felt ready to open, even noting that she just wouldn't know what to do with another week of rehearsal if we had it. The actors all seemed to agree. Josh noted that it was the first run in which he didn't worry about "what was going to come out of my mouth." Aubrey made the comment that she only had one beer for the whole show, whereas usually her character has time to go back to the bar for a second beer. I found that to be a very telling comment whether she realized it or not: she was too focused and too busy being Steph and dealing with Steph's issues to need the crutch of the prop beer or to fill space with a trip to the bar. You can see a sharper rhythm and very natural flow in a lot of scenes that used to feel choppier - Sierra, Matt and Steph at the bar pops to mind. They're overlapping and intercutting their lines without losing the intent or the clarity, which is how I was hoping it would end up.

I really think Jenna's right. They're ready.

At this point, my only concern would be some tech stuff, and honestly, I'm actually not even that worried. Justin is finishing the set dressing tonight while we're gone, and there were a few minor cue snafus last night, but I'm not feeling much in the way of angst about either of those things. I just kind of want to open!

Last night after rehearsal, the topic of "who will get this play" came up again. It's always been one of my biggest concerns and the issue I focused on most at the talkback after the Little Box reading. OP4P is clearly a generational play. It appeals to our narrow little cohort of ... I don't know what you call us ... geeks who grew up in 80s? At readings to date, older audience members have said that it was still relatable for them because the fact that this character likes X-Men and that character references Thundercats doesn't matter to the core story. People have told me that the characters' reasons for why they reference certain cartoons or hide behind certain geek jokes are what matter, and that's clear, they say, whether you get all the references or not. (Plus, people reminded me, all ages get Batman and Superman.)

But last night, they brought up something I'd never worried about before ... are people younger than us going to get it. As we all shared stories of 20-year-old siblings, coworkers or friends who have never seen the Original Holy Trilogy or Indiana Jones and who grew up with childhood cartoons like Rugrats, I wondered if they might be harder pressed to find a connection than people our parents' age and older. Not only will they have a disconnect with some of the references, they might not care about the issues the characters are facing because they haven't yet faced enough of post-college world themselves to realize how hard is to make new friends, find your niche and maintain who you are. 

We shall see.

Good questions

I swung by OP4P rehearsal last night just in time to catch the full run of the show with costumes, props and tech. (Before I got there, they were working certain scenes and cues.) It's fun to see the set almost all together; it's just missing a little bit of set dressing. Lighting cues are all programmed, just now need the timing honed. There was music, chicken wings ... everything you need for a real show.

The top half is still flowing with more ease than the bottom half, but it's obvious Jenna has been working with the actors on certain key serious scenes (Steph and Sierra in the bathroom, Steph and Matt at the bar) because they've grown by leaps and bounds as far as energy and intent.

Last night Stuart (the actor) brought the cast lollipops ... because his character Matt, a pediatrician, talks several times about giving young patients lollipops. I love that.

Another thing I love ... while onstage but not in focus, Josh, Sarah and Shawn have developed a massive debate for their semi-pantomimed conversation. The topic: who would win in a fight between vampire ninjas (Vampjas) and werewolf cyborgs (Wereborgs). Now, there's a debate that could truly go either way.

I've been very tickled throughout the process by the questions the cast has asked me about the script. Some of them I have no answer to (like why Steph dismisses Superman as being ineligible for president for being an alien when Prime is an alien too. Which is true. He is an alien, but in my head, that's his least prominent identity after robot and truck.).

Among my favorites: Aubrey asked me about Kevin and Steph's past and relationship prior to the play, particularly their break up. The weird thing is, I've never specifically outlined what that was, I've just always sort of known or had a sense of what it was without scripting it. So, when I tried to offer a brief, general response, I ended up with paragraphs and paragraphs on my "guesses" as to what their relationship was like. 

Aubrey also asked me what kind of beer Steph would drink, and truthfully, I'd never thought about it. In the script, we know Stuey drinks Eliot Ness and Killian's at different points and that Sierra is ridiculed for drinking Coors. I never thought about Steph's beer preferences. Together, we figured, it would probably be something from Great Lakes. Like I told Aubrey, I totally see Steph as that girl who returned to college after spring break with a case of Great Lakes beer, Peterson's peanuts, Malley's chocolates, and Bertman's Stadium mustard. Because she's a Cleveland girl.

Josh astutely noticed that Kevin rarely drops the F-bomb, only if he really wants to piss people off. Rather, he often says "frickin'" as a substitute.  Josh asked if that was intentional, which it is. I just don't have a reason for it. In the very first draft, it was just my natural instinct to have Kevin use the word a lot ... and no one else. Once I noticed that inclination, I intentionally cultivated it, but there's no deep reason behind it. It's just how Kevin sounds to me. Josh thought he might devise for himself a reason.

And of course Sarah asked me why Sierra is only character that doesn't have a "What I want to be when I grow up" monologue as themselves at age 9. I get that question a lot. And there are two reasons. One: she does have a monologue. She tells Matt she wanted to be an astronaut, and tells him why. It's just that she says it within dialogue in the here and now, not in the past and alone in light delivered to the audience. Two: the reason Sierra can deliver her childhood dream in real conversation rather than in nostalgic fantasy is that she doesn't cling to her childhood like the others. She's very comfortable with herself as an adult; she's not afraid of letting go of some of that past to move forward. The others would all go back to being kids in a second if they could, pain, awkwardness and all. She would not. Thus, no monologue ... at least not in the traditional sense.

OP4P rehearsal: Awards

Presenting the winners of OP4P's Wednesday night rehearsal awards.

The award for Best Comedic Moment (planned) goes to ... Nate!

We all fully expect Nate's virtuoso solo dance performance to "SexyBack" to be one of the show's funniest moments. But it became even funnier Wed. night when Jenna asked him to (after his full-body opening flourish) tone it down and just find some sort of crotch-focused repetitive movement he could do in Josh's face until driving Josh to shout "Will you stop that, you freak!" Somehow his subtle groin grinding was unbelievably hysterical and even funnier than much wilder dances he's tried in the past. I suppose this award could also go to Jenna for wisely making the call for restraint.

The award for Best Comedic Moment (unplanned) goes to ... Robby!

Our hardworking stage manager Robby has the difficult task of calling cues from on stage. The board will be behind the bar on set, and Robby doubles as both stage manager and bartender. Generally, he doesn't interact much with the cast other than handing them beers, but in a fabulous moment in rehearsal, he made Josh and I laugh so hard we almost fell out of our chairs. As Stuart, Nate has to complain about how long it's taking the bar to make and serve the wings he ordered. (Spicy garlic wings to be exact, a reference in homage to the cast of "The Gulf" at Dobama's Night Kitchen in 2001.) So, naturally, now that he has a bartender on stage with him, Nate directed his anger toward Robby, who looked up from his script with great disdain and gave Nate a slightly annoyed, shrugging, "what?" gesture. Perfect.

The award for Cutest "Awwwwww" Moment goes to ... Shawnikins and Joshikins!

After the failed fight scene between Jeremy (Shawn) and Kevin (Josh), the two best friends sort of resolve their differences and return to the bar. At Wednesday's rehearsal when Josh asked Shawn "Are you still going to be my best man?" Shawn responded with such adorable sincerity and handed Josh his baseball cap, which had come off in the fight. They exited together with such tentative sweetness (the way only guys who are trying to be manly when they want to be sensitive can be) that Jenna actually turned around to look at me, and we totally cooed "Awwwww!" at each other. Precious.

The Award for Best Use of Bar Props goes to ... Stuart!

The entire cast has become quite comfortable gesturing and interacting with beer bottles in hand (because they never do that in real life). But Stuart gets props (hah!) for embracing all props including plastic forks, bar peanuts (which he tossed into Nate's mouth with great expertise), and napkins, which he turned into a shroud for Sierra's dead beer. Classic.

The award for Best Line Flub goes to ... Sarah!

She asked Stuart H., "Are you and your kids thinking of having wives?" Now, that's an entirely different play! Strike that; reverse it.

Everyone was in partial costume Wednesday night too, which was great fun to see. The top half of the show is pretty sharp, but it's clear they haven't spent as much time working the back half. It was slower and there was more hesitation with lines. But the whole shape is there. Last night, Jenna was planning on working some of the more serious moments, and this weekend tech begins. We're getting close.

OP4P rehearsal: Smurfy?

I forgot to write a blog post on Tuesday about Monday's rehearsal because I was all busy and tired and cranky. Forgive me.

Anyway - real quick because I've got to get to tonight's rehearsal - Monday was off-book with line calling working the first several sections of the show: the opening discussion/ Sierra's entrance/ beer spilling, Matt's monologue, the start of the presidential debate/ Kevin offends everyone, and ending at the beginning of Jeremy's monologue.

It's very encouraging to see how natural everyone is. I've said it before, but if the dialogue isn't conversational, the whole play doesn't work. There was so much natural humor in the presidential debate section. Great moments of improv with Josh burping in Sarah's face and Shawn blowing into his empty beer bottle. When Steph announces her idea of Optimus Prime for president, since it is the title after all, it has to stand out. I really enjoyed what Aubrey and the boys did with it. They had, at this point, totally isolated Sarah on stage right as punishment for her character (Sierra)'s blatant faux pas of daring to bring up the Smurfs. They were in their own world, their own element, talking in a way that made you feel like this group of friends always talks this way, and then she confidently dropped the bomb on them, knowing her idea was best. It really worked.

I really haven't gotten to see anyone do their monologues yet, except for Stuart doing Matt's monologue once on Monday. I'd really like to see them. Maybe tonight depending on what Jenna's got planned. I know she wants to start by taking some pictures of us all, so I better get moving. More soon ...

Op4P rehearsal: You were doing it too, jackass!

It's been more than a week since I went to OP4P rehearsal. It was fun to get back there last night. Jenna had the cast work the opening scene through Stuart (the character) "killing" Sierra's beer over and over, setting more specific blocking along the way. Many of the cast are off-book or close to it. The six of them seem to have really gelled (not like several of them weren't friends or hadn't worked together before ... but it's nice to see them all functioning as a unit.)

There's definitely illness in the air. Stuart (the actor) is struggling with a coldy/fluey thing and did seem less energetic than he usually is on stage last night. Sarah has virtually no voice, so she was doing her lines very quietly and very high-pitched, which I guess was the only way she could get any sound out. At times it was quite funny to hear, and I'll admit I laughed at my Sarah Pants, but then I felt really bad and just wanted her to go home and get in bed and sleep in luxurious comfy covers for days with Nate bringing her hot tea and pie until she was better.

But back to the show ... this is the first time I've ever seen any of it off-book, since all other productions have been on-book readings. And it was really cool. I was actually shocked at how close to word-perfect the off-bookers were. Really shocked. I guess I just assume that with a writer as wordy and talky as me, actors are bound to paraphrase a lot. We all do it. But they were very true to the words, which makes me wonder did I somehow find that magic alchemy of dialogue that sticks and makes sense so it's easy to memorize or are they just really thorough about their memorization (or both)?

Josh has really keyed into the right stuff as Kevin. I bring him up specifically even though I was really happy with everyone's work last night because Kevin is a character I worry about. The wrong actor would play Kevin as dick and not look for anything deeper there. But both Josh and Jenna understand that Kevin protects himself with dickishness and trying to be the leader. But people like Steph and Stuey wouldn't stick around if he didn't care for his friends underneath it (Jeremy might). Last night, Josh's Kevin was appealing and displayed flashes of warmth. His dickishness and surly self-importance was just how he rolled, it wasn't overstated or in anybody's face. In the blocking Josh frequently occupies the same chair, and Jenna noted that she now feels very protective that that's Kevin's chair and no one else should sit in it. (She also said she's got a bit of a crush on Kevin. But of course, girls like bad boys.)

Another thing Jenna's found that I like is with the Stuey character. She and Nate (the actor, not Sarah's real-life boyfriend, too many same names!) have developed a bunch of little moments where tension starts to creep up between characters, usually involving Steph, and Stuart breaks it up with a joke. Now that's in the script, sure. But they've added some nice touches where after he breaks the tension, you can see on his face that he's worried, that he's intervened with humor intentionally, and that he knows everything's not OK. It's great. It's so perfect for the character, and it's very true to what people like us do. We don't air the laundry, we cover up the smell with the Febreeze of humor until it goes away. (Horribly awful metaphor, isn't it? I love it.)

Tonight, Jenna's working just with Sarah, Aubrey and Stuart on their more intimate, serious scenes and Aubrey's monologue. I probably won't be back to rehearsal til Monday. Very excited to see how things progress.