What A Caterwauling!

One weekend of shows down! And one to go. (Come see us on September 4th and 5th at 6:00 at Liberty Station!)

A really nice weekend and a good experience with the audience. Saturday we showed up three hours early for rehearsal and run-throughs (which, to quote Caleb in The Hot Seat, "we totally needed") and that really sharpened us up. By 5:00, an adorable contingent of camp-chair-bearing folks descended on our little courtyard behind Trader Joes with copious picnic foods. By 6:00, I had around 20 people to see me in the audience (none last night, alas) which added to the excitement. Having been running around and singing (read: sweating) all afternoon, my stage makeup was besmirched and I had to go fix it in the Trader Joes bathroom.

One exciting bit is how much the kids seem to be liking the show. I mean, there are shenanigans, and fools, and singing, but even the straight-up Shakespeare bits seem to appeal. It probably helps that the show is only 30 minutes long--less if we hit all our cues. Really, I can't think of a nicer way to spend a summer evening than showing up with some chairs and a greasy bag of Five Guys and watching some kooks in white costumes emote as the sun goes down (hint!)

Sunday's show was similar, but maybe even a bit more high-energy. We are getting quite adept at freezing when an airplane goes by and Hannah clicks her castanets two times (though it also tempts me to whisper "There's no place like home...") I almost wish there were more airplanes because some of the freeze moments are quite amusing. The niece of one of my castmates told me I was the funniest, which made my day, and a man I didn't know grinned knowingly and said "Interesting take on Maria." Not sure what that meant, but I guess I'll choose to be complimented that he thought I had a "take" at all.

Last night we had a cast dinner at Tender Greens after the show, which was yummy though a little scattered since everyone had to wait in a long line for food and that sort of spoiled the mood a bit (or mine, at least.) But I loved that our whole cast (and groupies) pretty much fit around the big wooden "family table" on their patio--something Shakespearean about that. If only we'd had goblets of mead.

Now to regroup for next weekend, though we have a rehearsal on Thursday. To quote Sir Toby, "Tis too late to go to bed--let's go burn some sack!"