The cold that I've been fighting off since tech week seems to have finally settled in for real. Ugh. But we have strike tonight, so I'm going to try to go and be useful without infecting anyone. At least I didn't have to go to work! I could use a few days of sleeping it off, I think.

There was a moment yesterday when I was standing in the wings (actual wings! not a church hallway!) waiting to go on, hearing my friends laughing in the audience, and I had to stop and savor the moment and make sure to remember it. Such an amazing thing -- two years ago, I would never in a million years have believed I could have been standing there. It felt better than I can express.

ironpoet and I had told everyone that we had a lot of friends coming yesterday, but I don't think they understood what we meant by "a lot". I have a fun little appearance as a cowgirl in one scene -- only about 5 seconds on stage, with my one line in the show -- and usually the audience seems to enjoy it, but it doesn't get much response. This time there was laughing and clapping and cheering and I'm pretty sure I heard at least one "Yee-ha!". I went down to the green room to change to my next costume, and everyone asked me what had happened, what I had done differently. "Nothing," I said. "I just have a *lot* of friends out there."

The cast party was very nice. It was partially catered, supplemented by one of the cast members who enjoys cooking. He knows about kashrut through some in-laws, so he went out of his way to make me kosher meat, and to make sure there were parve side dishes and dessert. So thoughtful.

There were some speeches and some little gifts -- cast members got devil duckies presented as "Pucky Duckies", because of Puck's horns, a cd of dress rehearsal photos (which I'll post online soon), and one of the crew made everyone little gold star magnets with our names on them and the show info. We gave the crew plants with red and yellow flowers, plus a gift certificate to a restaurant for the director.

One of the cast members' mother had died the day before we opened. No one, including the director, had any idea that she had even been sick, but apparently he had been spending the days with her up in Maine, driving two hours to get to rehearsal, and then going back. He went on with the performance as planned, and the cast was not informed until after the first weekend's performances. He's such a great guy, always has a smile and a kind word for everyone. We all wanted to do something to let him know we cared, so I found an online obit that said the family was suggesting donations to the American Cancer Society, took up a collection among the cast and crew, and we ended up making a $250 donation. I got to be the one to tell him about it at the cast party, and he was so touched. It was a really nice moment.

The party didn't last long -- started around 7, and everyone was leaving by 9:30 -- but it was still nice. I hope to work with some of those people again, and we're working on getting a couple of them to Movie Night.

And of course tomorrow I have rehearsal for the radio show! Good thing I have days free, I don't think I have another free evening until... November 6.

( The Arlington Advocate wrote a nice review of our show. )
Four more chances to see it -- tonight at 8, Saturday at 2 and 8, and Sunday at 4. Hope to see you there!

Whew! 225 posts back, and I think I'm mostly caught up from the past two days. Thank goodness this was the last of the two-day Jewish holidays this month.

Opening weekend of my show went very well. I had people come to see me both nights, which I always love, and everyone seemed to enjoy the show a lot. All of my bits went smoothly, and I even got a few laughs. It'll be really nice to have the week off, but weird not to see everyone every day -- I really like my cast. It is nice not to have to change my clothes nine times in two hours for another few days, though. I was telling bex77 today -- usually, whatever I wear for a show, I have a tendency to wring the opposite direction in my off time between performances. If I'm playing a guy, I dress more feminine. If my costume is formal, I go extra casual. But in this show, I have such a range of costumes, I don't know what I want to not be now!

Got to see The Margaret Ghost this afternoon, and it was even better than I expected. Which is saying quite a lot, considering how much I loved the script, and how much I know to expect from all the people involved. Quite possibly the best show T@F has done so far, I think.

We're looking for some stagehands for Shakespeare in Hollywood to help out with the set changes. Ideally we're hoping to find 4 to 6 people who'd learn the set changes and then take turns during rehearsals and the 6 performances. Performances are October 13, 14, 20th at 8:00 pm; October 21st at 2:00 and 8:00 pm; October 22nd at 4:00 pm. Let me know if you're interested or know anyone else who might be. Thanks!