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.