Search This Blog

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Lord, what fools these mortals be!

The first show was wonderful. A few glitches, but everything was handled with the grace and professionalism I hoped for. I loved watching everyone's characters really come to life once they realized there was an audience out there.

"You did a great job holding it together when the audience laughed at your slapping Theseus," I told one girl.
"That wasn't me," she said with genuine wonder, "it was like it was Hippolyta doing all the work."

Students who had been mumbling now projected. Students who had been phoning it in really hammed it up. "They loved it when I got into it!" exclaimed the actress who played Helena. She had been too self conscious to act "dumb," in rehearsals, but once she got her first big laugh began flipping her hair and rolling her eyes to beat the band.

Eliciting laughter from a crowd is like magic, or like a drug. Once you realize you can do it you become hooked. This is always part of my dream for my students: that they understand how they can effect people with art (and specifically comedy), and that they strive to find new and interesting ways of doing it.

We're doing the show again Monday night at 6:30pm. You are all sincerely invited. That's how proud of this I am.

No comments: