Wrap-up

[lillibet]

For whatever reason, I can't sleep, so I'm up and reading everyone's closing comments on the show and figured I should throw in my thoughts while they're still fresh. If experience serves, I will be re-thinking and re-evaluating my own experience with this production at least until I get fully engrossed by the next one, but these are the things that are floating to the top now.

- With this show I really feel as though Theatre@First managed to truly become integrated with other aspects of my personal community and to feel much more like "community theatre" to me. Having members of First Church in the cast and involved in the preparation made a real difference, as did being up in the sanctuary. It also meant a great deal to me that several of my friends came out to play with us. I've never been one of those people who compartmentalizes their lives--I want all the cool people to know each other! Getting to spend so much time with old friends was an added bonus on this one.

- I continue to be impressed by the quality of people that our group attracts. Not only were my cast talented, they were also dedicated. They turned out for the work days. They handed out flyers on the street. They asked for extra rehearsals. They stayed until strike was over. Our staff was equally diligent, creative and supportive--making the impossible possible on a nightly basis. Several of the newcomers to the group commented on how few personality conflicts and diva behaviors we have and how great our group is to work with. I couldn't agree more.

- This was an incredibly challenging text--moreso than I realized when I first dug into it. Everyone involved struggled with it and brought their talent and imagination and brute force to bear on it. I am incredibly grateful for the degree of contribution and collaboration that I was able to achieve with many of my actors and incredibly proud of them for the performances they developed. That several of them were first-time actors made it even more amazing.

- We appear to have more than broken even. We still haven't crunched the final numbers, but it looks like there will be at least a little money once we've reimbursed all of our expenses. This was a hard sell--it's not the piece for everyone, and I really didn't know how audiences would react. I am very grateful to everyone who came out to be in our audience. Not only do you make it worth doing, but you make it possible to continue doing it.

- My parents liked it! We spent much of this evening discussing various aspects of the play, the language and ideas and topicality of it. I am fairly shocked--they never really like my plays, although they are always very good at finding things to enjoy and praise. My mother--who is not the most reflective person--said that she will be thinking this one over for a long time. And they were not alone. I got a lot of very enthusiastic comments from people and I was particularly proud of how many people complimented the Chorus--it's an incredibly tricky role, especially the way I broke it up, and my Poor Women worked their guts out to give me what I had envisioned they could be. I'm also gratified by how many people enjoyed Jason's performance--casting my husband, I'm always aware that I open us to accusations of nepotism, but I'm also confident that people will only think that until they see him perform. We got very good comments from several people whose opinions I respect, including the person I was imagining as my "intended audience." I'm hoping to pull together some of the comments I've received by email and get permission to post them on our website.

- Besides the praise, I've also received a fair amount of negative critical feedback--moreso than with past productions. To me that says that I'm accomplishing my goal of creating work that creates strong opinions, that doesn't leave people saying "oh, it was fine." I've listened and read what people have had to say and I will be taking their thoughts into account as I approach future productions.

- I learned a lot on this show. About people, about directing, about leading, about collaborating, about language, about theology (personal and theoretical), and about the electrical system at the church. I got to know some new people, and some old people in new ways. I had a huge amount of fun, put in a vast amount of work, and wouldn't trade a minute of it.

- And now, for something completely different... I'm very excited that my next show is (barring unforeseen objections on the part of the Steering Committee) going to be a two-person romantic comedy. Having all twenty-three cast-members and a dozen or more crew around has been very stimulating, but it will be nice to be able to use a narrower focus. And while I still love Eliot, getting to have lines in my head that have neither rhyme nor meter will be a pleasant change.

- A last thank you to everyone reading this who had any part in the show, whether as cast, crew, staff, volunteer, or audience member. This was a vast and rich experience and I am very grateful to all of you for weaving yourselves into it.

Comments

[bacall.livejournal.com]

Thank YOU for your vision, and for bringing us all together. This production was a joy. oxox

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

it was a great show!

what are you planning to do next?

[guxx.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes! Joy is an accurate description. We felt joy when initially reading the script together, we shared joy every week perfecting our lines and routines, and we expressed joy during those seven shows. As others expressed, there were moments in that final show Saturday night when we, in our own ways, tried to BECOME joy.

Thanks!

[tcb.livejournal.com]

I will say once more, thank you for giving me, and all of us, the opportunity to create such a wonderful work of collaborative art. it was a joy to be a part of, and was a great new experience for me, that has only sparked the desire to see what other roles I could play.

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

It's not so much that you cast your husband as that you married your star actor.