Well, as I feared, rain played hell with our opening night. It rained off and on throughout the day, then the skies cleared about an hour before opening, and we were good to go. There was a fundraiser event out in the audience area, called the Tent Dinner, in which a circus tent is erected over the upper portion of the lawn, and a lot of contributers and mucky mucks come for a dinner and auction (I think) and then afterward carry their chairs down to the lower area and watch the show. We got off to a fast start, and things were rocking along. Lots of laughter and applause from the groundlings--we knew we were in for a fun time, when the Athos, Aramis, and Porthos got entrance applause, meaning the moment we burst through the curtain the audience broke out into applause. Lotsa fun, that.
So, we made it to the intermission, and we could hear the winds beginning to roar over the floor mics, and we knew we were screwed. Act Two begins with a montage of swordfighting, and we'd just finished that when the heavens opened up on us, and a steady rain came down, and the show was finished.
So, last night we strapped up again. It was a beautiful day, blue skies and gentle breezes, and while there was no tent dinner, there was a good sized crowd. We were a little off on some timing things, and there were some excellent costume malfunctions to keep us all entertained--Aaron Deuschle, who plays Aramis, had his hat, wig, and doo-rag blow off during a fight. Zach Hartley, who plays Porthos, lost his footing and fell badly. Later, during one of his fights, his opponent got his sword caught on Zach's belt somehow, and so lost that fight even before it began.
During intermission, the winds kicked up suddenly--it was a cold wind of the kind that must have inspired the old wives to tell of ghost winds that blow ill omens. We were a little nervous, as we hadn't done act two in three days, due to rain outs. There were some timing and costume snafus here and there, but we made it to the end of the show to strong applause and cheers.
Afterward, there was a party at Aramis' house, where I was overserved to a profound extent (even though I was serving myself from a jug of Bloody Marys I'd made early in the day). It lasted till 3:30am--at least, that's when I left a front porchful of hardcore partiers, who were still talking and arguing theatre issues as I drove away.
Today, I rehearsed the first Caliban scene in the Tempest, and came home to do a little gardening and pet cuddling before heading back to the park for this evening's performance.
Here's a link to the review which came in while we were at the party last night:
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