Today was a rather long and taxing day, and a testimony to the power of on stage catharsis and the simple joy of performing. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?
Perhaps against my better judgement, I actually sought a posting on Craigslist for an Emerson student shooting a scene from the Spike Lee film the 25th Hour (which if you haven't seen, do so, it's pretty great) mainly for the reason that I knew the material would be good, and it's going to be in a directing class on Emerson's big fancy sound stage. I've never shot anything on a sound stage, so I wanted the experience and I looked at the date and figured "I'm not doing anything that day, why not". So, today the film student, another film student also acting in the scene and I met to rehearse. I'd really preferred to meet during the week, but he wanted to meet today, so I consented despite having an audition at 1:30 (relatively nearby mind you, at Improv Asylum in the North End) and a performance tonight. The rehearsal was fine. Getting there wasn't my worst T riding experience ever (that would come later in the day and I'll get to it) although the Red Line was sluggish and I was like five minutes late but whatever. The rehearsal was fine. Lots of film student mumbo jumbo but it's a good scene, and hey maybe some of the material will maybe be usable we'll see.
After that was my audition for Improv Aslyum. I've never studied at IA but I know people who have, and have performed with troupes who came out of there, and by that testimony it seems like a solid if corporate minded operation. Also I thought "what the heck" so when the audition notice went out, I responded thinking "also I'm pretty good at improv, I think". Still, I went in with low expectations and they were met. I thought I did OK. Six people, twenty minutes, a bunch of short scenes. One thing I took away from it, it's especially important in an audition to really focus on fundamentals. The first few scenes, everybody was really nervous and all over the place, as you might expect and the scenes were extra not good. So, the auditors stopped us and said "OK let the nerves out and slow down, actually take your scene partner in before you start" and when my next scene started, I did that. I stepped out and created an environment, some one came into the space and we acknowledged each other and it went pretty well until I felt like I zigged when I could have and should have zagged, that is to say I could have "yes and"-ed one of their suggestions better than I did and when I didn't the scene kind of crashed. I wasn't called back, oh well.
Coming home, my transportation woes began. One of my pet peeves are stupid and/or inconsiderate people on the T, or just anytime anyone is in my way while I'm riding the T. Usually, my commutes are well plotted in terms of where I get on and how I get off the train to get to a given destination, usually a rehearsal, audition or performance since that's my life right now. People gawking, standing around, blocking stair ways or entrances, etc, that's what I'm talking about. The T was chock full of those kinds of people today. Stupid, drunken suburbanites who either don't know how to take public transit (this is my assumption), are just utterly inconsiderate, don't have any sense of the space around them or some combination of the above. As an actor, I'm hyper aware of my personal space, what is around me, and how to navigate around it. In large part I developed that skill taking the train a lot. I'm also very considerate, I try to let people off or on as appropriate and make way for people coming off or on a mode of transit, etc. The people I dealt with all day today coming and going from my performance were not. Multiple times I saw people just standing in the path of an exit for example, or barging past people trying to exit a train. People of Boston, this is not how you conduct yourselves!
You see, in addition to it being St Patricks day, there was a Bruins game, so my god the Bostonians and it's adjoining suburbanites were out in FORCE making me ANGRY and causing me to MUTTER OBSCENITIES UNDER MY BREATH IN THEIR DIRECTION. In addition to those factors, the Newbury/Rockport line which I take to Salem is shuttle bussing on weekends due to construction. This made my commute to tonight's show, so, so frustrating. As you would know if you read my Facebook page at all today.
When I got to the theatre, first I got a coffee and a chocolate from the Starbucks nearby to help myself relax. Then as I started to decompress, it came time for the Shark and I to run our dance sequence (yes we have one and it is amazing SEE THIS SHOW) partly out of necessity and at the behest of our cast mates who wanted some entertainment. So we did, and we entertained them, and it felt great! It was the beginning of a cathartic night of doing theatre, and a testament for me to it's power. It's interesting because the past few shows I've felt less "in the moment" than I could be, but tonight I was all about the moment, my scene partner, the audience, all of it except my shitty time getting there. And I felt really good about the show. And I came home having not chemically inebriated myself on St Patty's day, although I will have a beer or two before bed, the adrenaline and endorphins I felt performing were all the chemicals I need.
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