Opening Night

We opened "A Picasso" last night with a house of about 20 people. Not too bad in size since we only seat 45, but hopefully we can get a sold-out show at some point.

What surprised me most about last night's show was the amount of laughter the audience gave.  I know the show is witty, but I wasn't expecting to have to hold for laughs as much as we did. In fact, I'm not normally in comedies, so I hope I even did the holding for laughs thing correctly! Uh-oh.

I'm wondering if other nights will have as much laughter, or if it was that particular crowd. My family was there, after all, and they are notorious laughers.

Another thing that surprised and aggravated me was how I stuttered on particularly emotional points in the show. I must have been nervous after all, even though I told myself I wasn't. It's really too bad, since I was sure we'd have a solid opening based on the two run-throughs we did the night before.  In fact, we were so "on par" that Heather said we could go home after the first run-through, but Jag and I opted for another run since it was our first and only night in the actual theater.

I really can't wait to go onstage again for today's matinee. I cannot tell you how much fun it is to play dress-up and be this character that is so unlike me in every way. I was telling Heather that when I put up my hair, put on my garter, seamed stockings and 1930s bra and then look in the mirror, it's so surreal not being able to recognize that girl staring back at me. Add to that the thrill of being onstage and responding boldly to situations I, as Chelsea, would completely shirk away from and you've got an addictive combination (like crack!). Not that I would know.

I'd love to hear what people thought of the show, especially the criticisms.

Well, I guess we'll know soon enough, since our local reviewer was there last night. I don't know how I missed spotting him after the show... my mind must have been in a fog, or I didn't recognize him. Strange. He's like a ninja.