IMFourPlay

Another Killer Show: Performance Number Eleven

There was definitely a darkness in the air this weekend, as Saturday's performance shared some of the zany edge of Friday's! Though the body count was considerably less, the stakes were equally high and as a company we had an awful lot of fun with our audience. My father, who has been visiting from New Zealand, has seen about half of the performances to date, and noted that he can see the form maturing. I'm inclined to agree.

Charles, pictured right, was our first audience character of the night, playing Matt, a "barrel technician" or refuse collector. Much to the disgust of his colleagues, Jim and Jill, Matt found himself slowly pulled into the web of Mrs. Witherspoon, a recent "divorcee" whose intentions seemed less than pure. Darren played the role of Jason, a head-over-heels in love young man who fought to keep the object of his love, Julie, away from her ex-boyfriend and former best friend, Tyler. Jason's former foreign pen pal, Gaston, shook things up even further when he advised Jason to think twice about Julie's love (to the tune of the Beetles "Michelle" thanks to the ever playful Jim Rhinehart.) Then came Kate as Marie, a counselor at Camp Idawile (sp?). Bob, an entertainer from AC Ducy, and a native American greeter, Joe, spiced up her world, along with a hyper-active six-year-old Jimmy, who sought a more positive parental model. Finally, I was Charles, a young man in transition starting out his college life in a ridiculously small studio apartment with Jerry, an online D&D buddy, whose domineering girlfriend, Marva, only made life more difficult for everyone. Only the girl next door, Marla, offered him any potential for happiness.

The show followed Matt into the second act, and Charles rocked the house with his great rock 'n' roll stylings, with strong help, as always, from Jim and Keith--our boys in the band! Darren's Marva was revealed to be Mrs Witherspoon's daughter from one of her (many) earlier marriages, and both women announced their plans to continue their legacies as black widows. (I did my best to channel Sharon Stone from Basic Instinct throughout.) Charles and Kate also put me through the ringer a little! When my hyper character, Jimmy, reappeared in a scene and stole a little(?) focus, Charles revealed the "statue" of his wife that he had carved and made me pose on stage for what felt like an eternity! As the act continued, Charles' Matt had more and more narrow escapes from his new wife's plots, until the show climaxed with another bloodbath (partially thanks to Matt Cross with his trigger finger in the booth!) Charles gave a great musical ending as he forgave Mrs. Witherspoon for her mistakes while she died in his arms. Very musical theatre indeed!

In a sign that the show is clearly finding its grove, notes were done in about 10 minutes (which must be some kind of a record). I personally had a lot of fun with my colleagues tonight. I came into the show with a stressed voice, and while I had pushed a little last night, I felt that tonight I was able to still make strong energetic offers without over singing--a trap I sometimes fall into. Jim and Keith were particularly helpful in the pit, leading me into slightly gentler numbers when I had solos. I like to bat them out of the park with big vocal endings, but it was an excellent lesson in restraint for me. I'm trying to emulate some of the excellent singers in our company in this regard. I felt that there was a lot of good supporting and listening onstage, and we pulled the show into the gate with time to boot!

Speaking of restraint, we had a somewhat over eager audience member tonight who, for much of the first act, decided to loudly vocalize his own punchlines and color commentary. I don't think it was intended to be unruly and, thankfully, wasn't obscene in nature, but it was very reminiscent of a stand-up club heckler, and definitely disturbed others (including the performers). I thought he would stop when he noticed that others weren't behaving in a similar fashion, but when we passed the halfway point of the first act, I needed to address it from the stage as my Frenchman, Gaston. Taking a page out of Robyn's book, I walked to the downstage edge and closed a window, commenting on how rude the neighbors were. The audience understood my true agenda and applauded, and it seemed to do the trick. The overly-participatory gentlemen calmed down and I'm told, stayed for the duration of the show, so I think he got the message. That was definitely a FourPlay first.

I've just wrapped up my improv show at Rollins as well today. I'm slightly amazed that I've made it through this weekend. Not sure what was fueling me, especially since I don't drink coffee any more!

We starting a list of crappy rhyme set ups: up, him, now... Any of your own to add?

Your by-the-seat-of-his-pants Director, David C.