Okay, so it's not a miracle on the order of say, turning water into wine, but apparently we did manage make silk out of a sows ear with our play.

The combination of fear, positive energy from the audience, sheer repetition and a little magic/gift from the theater gods led us to a couple of pretty good shows this weekend.

As bad as we were on Wednesday and Thursday were, I wouldn't have thought it possible for us to have the kind of show we did on Friday. The audience was *electric*--filled mostly with actors, friends, family and ardent supporters of the Center Stage theater. Definitely lots of love in the air, and as an actor, you can really feel a connection with an audience (or not), ESPECIALLY with a comedy.

This was definitely a case where the performers were helped out by the audience, although, to our credit, as a cast we were a lot tighter with our cues so the show really 'popped' and came to life.

Sarah thought the show was very funny and really didn't understand why I had such reservations about the show--she describes herself as a tough audience, especially with comedies, and reports that she laughed out loud several times. I'll have her write a review for this blog to give y'all a relatively impartial review of the show.

Our second show was a typical second night show. BTW--here's a tip if you're not a regular theater patron: never see the second performance of a show. Inevitably, the energy level of the cast is a little low and the performance usually suffers a bit.

Almost every show opens with the final two weeks being a very hectic series of dress rehearsals, moving from the rehearsal hall to the actual set, tech rehearsals, previews and finally, Opening Night.

It's a mad dash to the finish line (Opening Night), even though it's really the *start* of the run. There's a lot of adrenaline on Opening Night, and there is usually something of a let-down for the second show. Add in that the second night audience is usually a 'regular' audience (ie: not stocked with family, friends and other well-wishers), so you have work a little harder to earn their energy.

Every audience wants you to do well--after all, they paid good money for a ticket, so they are going to give the performers the benefit of the doubt. But the second night audience is more judgmental than the Opening Night one, and for a comedy, they will laugh in different places and generally not be as enthusiastic as the first night crowd.

For the performers, this alters your sense of timing. It's natural (although a very bad habit to be avoided) to expect to get a laugh that you got on a particular line last night. So you build in a little pause after the 'funny' line--only you don't get the laugh.

So then, the actor panics a little, thinking "oh no, they laughed at this LAST night, why aren't they laughing tonight?" And then doubt creeps in...the actor starts to press to be funny...and of course...nothing is quite as UNfunny as someone TRYING to be funny...

...and thus starts a downward spiral. The actor tries to be funny, and the audience is less likely to find him(her) so.

And of course, the audience will then find some things funny on the second night that the Opening Night crowd didn't, which further alters the actor's timing.

The remedy for the actor, of course, is to always play 'in the moment', play their character's objectives in the scene, not expect laughs at any time, but be sensitive enough to the connection with the audience to adjust accordingly as needed.

In the professional theater world, this is less of an issue. Folks have more skills. In the amateur theater (such as this play), it's more of a problem.

Still, our second show went well. Not as spectacularly well as Opening, but the response from the audience was positive, there were lots of heartfelt laughs and folks were genuinely appreciative of the show.

As an actor...especially in a comedy....that's all you can ask for. I just want folks to laugh, have a good time and feel like going to the theater was worth the effort and that they would come back again.

And now...it's time for some well-deserved time off. I've been ill for the past 3 days with a flu or cold, and it's taken every bit of energy I've had to focus on the show. It's time to veg out for a few days, enjoy Thanksgiving and come back to the show next week.

Thanks to everyone who came to the show and laughed!

Oh...btw...show information:

"Squabbles"
San Jose Center Stage Theater
Plays: Nov. 28,29,30, Dec. 4,5,6
Tickets: $15, $12 Students/Seniors

There is a Pay What You Can performance on Dec. 4.

I'll post links to any reviews that I come across, and have asked Sarah to write one for this blog. Now it's time to watch some football!