No longer shall you gaze on't, lest your fancy may think anon it moves.

No longer shall you gaze on't, lest your fancy
May think anon it moves.

Touch it. It's real.

Behold, The Things this week that made me realize that this shit is fo' real.

Transition Step #1:

This past week we began our preview performances. The Blackfriars Playhouse seats 300 people, below you, above you, on stage with you, and a few select lords behind you. We have been running these plays for six weeks, rehearsing scenes and songs in kitchens, living rooms, basements and on stage, but never for more than a couple handfuls of people. We walked on stage and began our acapella version of Big Yellow Taxi as we usually do:  I spit my beat-box while Patrick bum-bu-dee-dee's his bass line to an empty theatre. And then four doors clanged opened and a boisterous crowd of 300 people started filing in. As the seats filled, the volume climbed and climbed to an amazing clatter and hub-bub. My heart raced and I struggled to maintain my interna iambic pentameter while we were struggling to hear each other play on stage. There were a few hilarious instances in a couple of those pre-shows, that, even though we  are standing at max, six feet away from each other, it felt like a singer might be playing in one world while the guy on the kahone (a box with a hole in it that we substitute as a drum set) would be playing in another. <-- Lots of parentheticals there. This solicited impromptu drum solos in new and ...interesting... places, and some improvised versions of a few songs. However, now we know, that if we see a mob coming in, we all cluster together like some hobos around a trashcan on fire.

These previews host the most supportive and loyal of ASC fans it seems. I have heard that one should not use these preview audiences as a prototype of most audiences we will receive. They have been going very well sans a few hiccups here and there. It is thrilling listening from backstage to audiences falling in love with the actors that I have been living with. You always have a completely obtuse perception of what happens in these plays as an actor in it, because you are so used to what everybody does. Certain things that are hilarious to you, are not to the audience. And sometimes you do not realize how BRILLIANT your peers are until they get in front of the audience and you can bear witness to their true gifts.

When we went out for the third curtain call of MidSummer, I felt like a Roman God. But I'm sure that will not be the same case when we are performing for a high school full of English classes required to see the play they probably spark-noted their way thru in class. I been there, kids. Believe me. Most people that do this thing did not pick up their first Shakespeare play and fall in love. This is a point that a lot of the workshops we have been learning to teach emphasize.

Transition Point #2:
We are now taking workshops on teaching workshops. Holy lordy, I wish I could find my middle school English teachers and tell them that I will be teaching Shakespeare, they never would have seen that coming. There seem to be LOTS of teachers in our group, so I have a lot I can learn from. Not to mention I was made by two teachers.

Transition Point #3:
Last night we did our first load in/load out. In the Rain.

THIS was the moment that it all started to feel real. We took apart the entire Tyson Center (essentially the basement of the Blackfriars Playhouse) and loaded all of it into a van. This includes 'Tis Pity furniture, benches, table, Hermione podium, Hippolyta Bower, three bins of props, Laundry, Sewing, Steaming, Repairing, Fixing, Road Supplies and tools, 33 bags of costumes, Merchandise binds, Sound Effects and percussion instruments, 3 guitars, banjo, bass, mandolin, kahone, melodica, a couple ukeleles, the discovery space and pipe and drape system (the stage we build every time we go to a new venue) and 12 suitcases. This crap was scattered across the theatre for six weeks and now fits SOMEHOW into one van in a tetris game that made one-act in high school look like ... well, high school. (Thanks to the Geometretical genius of Jake Mahler, and Daniel 'Iron Tongue of Midnight' Stevens. )

Then. We unpacked it. And put it back where it was. In the rain. Now i have sniffles.

We will be doing this 34974 times. (Hopefully not in the rain)

Transition Point #4:

Cleaning my room. I have yet to do it. But when I do, it'll be weird.

Other Stuff: Half of my face was swollen with pain for four days and three performances as one of my wisdom teeth started doing awful things to my life. It took me four hours Friday morning to get antibiotics and painkillers because there is not a single dentist in the tri-county area apparently works on Friday. And none were on emergency call either because they all were apparently attending the same workshop. Bogus. I went to a walk-in clinic who hooked me up with some prescriptions to tide me over. The swelling has since gone down and the pain has subsided, but when I will get those suckers pulled ... um ... don't ask me about it yet. My sprained thumb is still kind of jacked up, but I can do essentially everything except snap with my left hand.

Patrick has a herniated belly button. This makes him the third of our cast of 11 with a hernia in the past 4 months. The most (unfortunately) amusing part of this, is that in the company accident report, the cause of the incident was somehow attributed to his leather pants. Speaking of which, wait until you see these freakin' sexy 'Tis Pity costumes. They'll change your life. And I want to buy this punk rock military leather jacket like nobody's business.

Happy September 12th.

Love and Drum Solos,
Michael.