First Preview

Exciting for so many reasons...


First...I was in a spectacle in my spectacles.


The stage is soooo dry (we were warned in Arizona...not here) and the dressing rooms soooo dry (boiler broke so we have space heaters or else it's 50 degrees) that my eyeballs dried out, became inflamed and I lost vision.  This happened last year so I know the drill and we high-tailed it over to a clinic.  The doc gave me a hard time and I wondered, "Do you think I'm ocular drug-seeking?  Yes...give me those morphine drops.  I wanna see the pretty colors."


I got my gooey bacitracin and high-tailed it back to the theater where I was told "Wear the glasses.  We can't afford to lose you."


So, I did.  I still couldn't see but he audience seemed to forget they were there.  YAY!


The audience may not have forgotten that actors could not get on or offstage at times because we're two people down on the crew and shit just weren't right.


At least the only railroad spike fly moment was during the five-hour afternoon rehearsal.  The one where we all yelled, "Whoah..."  All of us...because we were all onstage.  Near it.


What I (me, myself) couldn't forget was the unfortunate "pep"-talk by the Artistic Director. I question the wisdom of anyone who accuses the cast of not giving as much as they did in the first city (where he saw our first preview that was run on a potent concoction of adrenaline and sheer fear).  I question the wisdom of an Artistic Director who singles me out for a lack of energy.  


#1  Singling ANYONE out.  Scapegoaterie does not suit the situation.


#2  Singling me out because...well...if my energy is down I'm still pretty much at 95%.  My nickname is 110%.


I was supposedly quite gracious about it.  


Best part?  My colleagues were more offended than I was.  My lips took the brunt of it though.  Two cold sores.  One immediate.


And then he caps the evening by keeping us waiting (during their tech meeting) AFTER the performance.  After we've been there 10 hours.  We finally went out onstage with our coats and bags after 20 minutes.  His response?


"Good start."


Not like we haven't been doing the show 21 weeks.


Bite my ever-expanding ass, Artistic Director Man.