Do You Have the Time to Listen to Me Whine?

Performing is odd when you are playing a comic scene towards an audience. The reality of your character is that no one is there but the other character(s). The reality for the actor is that there are all these shadows that belong to people that paid you to make them laugh.

Sometimes it hard to stay in the scene. It is difficult to stay focused purely on your partner. Still the audience cannot be totally ignored. You have to consider them in your physical presence. You have to "cheat out" to the audience. You have to project your voice to the last row.

Last night, I think I found a good balance. I played the scenes using the audience as environment. I imagined the laughter they admitted was like the wind blowing. Sometimes it would be still and other times it would blow furiously. I imagined their shadows to be like buildings, trees, and posters. It worked.

The Ya-Yas were in the audience last night. For those unfamiliar, the Ya-Yas are a group of friends that I know through a long time friend, Greer. Greer and I were both understudies with the original Schoolhouse Rock Live! cast. We first bonded while getting high at an awards ceremony. In my twenties I could drink three martinis and smoke pot every night. If I did it today, I would drop like a rock.

I remember the first time I hung out with them. About three years ago, Greer took me to an Academy Awards party at the home of one of the Ya-Yas. She introduced me to the whitest gaggle of chicks. I mean whiiiiight. Like the kind you find in a chick flick only snarkier. As it turns out they are some coolest and realest people that I have ever met. Some o the Ya-Yas live in LA now, one is lost in a red state, but most are still around Chicago. And last night they all came to my show. I was so glad to see them. It is so wonderful to have friends support your work. I never want to ask my friends or family to pay to see me perform. The fact they put up with me in "real life" is enough for me.

After the show we had drinks and were joined by Rebecca and a friend of hers I had one drink too many and took a taxi back to Roz place.