Sunday, September 06, 2009

The Good People of OB Enjoy The Wedding

Well, there's a slight chance that my career as Dorimene is not over. Just heard from Hannah that I'm on stand-by for tonight in case Rachel hasn't made it back from her cruise. Which is, of course, totally fine. As if I'd complain about getting to wear the wig again. Though I must confess I was sort of relaxed in my mind about the evening and suddenly was seized with stage fright again.

Last night's show was a hoot. And a holler. All kinds of "H" words. We had a nice crowd at the park (including a sleeping homeless guy who was none too pleased to be ousted from his perch, which just happened to be right behind our stage.) I had a bunch of guests--Karol and Joe, who were seeing one of my shows for the first time, a couple Nia students (I must confess their names escape me--rare for me, I know) Grace, Carl and Julianna (the latter amused Jarrah until showtime) and--treat of treats--Bethie! And it was was her birthday! How cool that she chose to spend it watching me in a giant wig. I am certainly honored.

Lindsey and Thomas (my sister and BIL) were supposed to attend, and I peeked between the flats with anguish as 6:00 neared, as I could see they weren't there. Turns out they were stuck in holiday weekend traffic from LA, and missed the show completely. I am ashamed to admit that I wasn't the least bit gracious--quite the contrary, I snarked "Glad you could make it!" when she approached me after the audience meet-and-greet. Oh well. I apologized eventually, and they came to the after-party at Ron's, so that mollified me a bit.

The show was especially high-energy last night--I hope we can keep that momentum going. I felt liberated, somehow, of any vanity, and able to embrace the "BIGGER IS BETTER!" creed we've been living by. And--sure enough--I got way more laughs this way. I could hear them, and I played to it. Always the best feeling in the world, when it's available.

Afterward, I ate some birthday cake with Bethie and her gang in the dark park (Mark was there, with a lark) and then on to Ron's for a feast with the cast. He and his wife, who don't drink, suggested it would be okay for us to BYOB, but they might not have counted on the trunk-sized cooler full of gin, tonic, ice and limes that I (actually, I won't lie--that some of the boys) lugged across their threshold. It wasn't long before we were all shrieking and cackling and playing "the sound game" where everyone around the table reacts to a sound that the person before them made. It was very funny, possibly funnier because of gin. My sister, who is not as much of a showy peacock as her elder, was a good sport about it, which is all I could ask.

This time, we were in Mission Beach (Mission Bay?) which--if you read my comments last time--is never, ever called "MB." After the party, there were fireworks over the bay, and a moon only slightly waning shone on what I termed a "swamp" but which is apparently a "marsh" or "slough." I'm glad I'm getting an education about this great land of ours. Whatever the geography is accurately named, it's lovely, and that's a technical term I am sure about.

5 comments:

erin said...

I went to my grandma's and played cards on Friday night. That was about as exciting as my life gets.

I'm going to fly out to SD (ha) and visit you sometime. Maybe by the time I get enough time to come there Jarrah will be old enough to babysit Elijah...

Caroline said...

[Using her 5-year-old's whinybutt voice]

Awwwwwwww! I want to drink gin and make weird noises, too! :(

Sounds like a lot of fun. :)

Samantha said...

@Erin: Come anytime! I'll show you the sights!

@Caroline: The cooler is still in my drunk--we'll bust out the G&Ts at the park soon. ;)

The Wades said...

If I lived anywhere close, I'd totally be there watching. I'd get butterflies and feel so nervous before you went on, but I'd be watching.

Sound game sounds fun. Reacts to a sound? I don't know that I get it.

Samantha said...

I'm giggling that I wrote "drunk" instead of "trunk." Talk about your Freudian slips! :)

Michelle, the game is not very complicated. Someone makes a random sound, and the next person in the circle reacts to it with another sound, and so on. After a while, it gets pretty funny, but I do think the whole thing is probably greatly enhanced by gin. ;)