It’s Tuesday and I will have to seriously fight the urge to leave my house this evening and head to either a rehearsal space or theatre. For the past four months I have worked with a group of immensely talented and hard-working people to build/present “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” but, as of Saturday night, that is all wrapped up.
After every play I’ve been a part of there has been a period of mild depression while life returns to normal. Granted, doing stand-up comedy in small towns isn’t most people’s idea of normal – but it certainly is for me. The “mourning period” for this show will most likely be slightly longer than usual. Getting to play and experiment every night for 17 shows (18 if you count our preview, which I do) was a true joy and will not soon be forgotten.
Special thanks go to Alice Nelson and Matt Dewald, our director and assistant director respectively, who did a tremendous job of creating an eccentric world fitting of Steve Martin (the play’s author). It was a delight to go to each and every rehearsal where we all not only created something great but, I think, learned a lot too.
This is my first ever full-out community theatre project (past plays I’ve been in have always lived in a gray area between community and professional) but it never felt that way during the rehearsal process. It is easy to say, “it’s just community theatre,” and lower your own expectations to match that of the audience’s. Ironically, only once you do that does the production truly become “community.” Not one of the directors or my fellow actors ever had this attitude. We all committed fully to the show and, I think, that was clear to each of our 17 audiences (really 18).
Here’s a photo (credit: Janet St. Germain) which I will cherish for months and years to come, along with a slough of memories and laughs (on stage and off):
In an attempt to get “back to normal” I’m starting to head back out on the road for comedy shows. Before I leave the city, however, I’m appearing on KABOOM! tomorrow night (February 1) at Yuk Yuk’s Calgary. I’ll be involved in one of the sketches and doing a bit of magic (as in the past they have introduced me as a magician and I’ve never done any magic on the show). After that, it’s off to Regina on February 18 then Saskatoon on February 24 and 25. Details on those shows can be found on the links on my “Upcoming” page.