Saturday, August 16, 2008

Morning Has Broken

Blackbird has spoken.  And the blackbird said, "BOMB-DIGGITY!"  

Ha.  I'm such a dork.  But we had a great day today.  Our show had a huge audience who really seemed to enjoy it, and boy did we need that.  We also got some really lovely, genuine comments from a performer friends of ours, Quincy, who came to see the show and that felt really great to hear after the week we've had.  It's nice to feel back in the saddle again.

And it wasn't magic either.  It was because after two crappy shows and one okay show, we put our heads together yesterday and tried to figure out what we could do with it.  We debated a couple differing approaches -- do we tighten things up and quicken the pace?  do we loosen up even further and allow room for laughter?  and how to do it all organically? -- and ended up with a good compromise.  Namely, to raise the stakes, which ratchets up the conflict between the characters, which feeds a quick pace in the dialogue and keeps things moving.  Then when we come to a punch line, we hit it hard, and make sure we have a non-verbal reaction to the punch line ready, so we can leave room for laughter but not have dead time on stage.

There's probably some comedy expert among you thinking, "DUH."  But for us it's been a winding path, a swinging pendulum, for all of us to arrive at this place at the same time.  Hopefully we can keep it up.

After the show Anne and I had more QT (that's Quality Time), once again over burgers and beers, this time at the Pear Tree beer garden.  Once again lovely to feel human and non-Fringey.  Very important I'm finding.

Tonight we're seeing Quincy's show and then putting in some face time at the Loft Bar.  Should be a good night!

Hope you're all having great mornings and nights where you are too!

No comments: