Parenthetically speaking (of course)

Saturday matinee: We managed to, as a group, keep some of that speed in the lines that we discovered helps the reactions of the audience for this show. And it helped. I got some great reactions and even got the back of the house on my side at one point (not sure how I did that, though). The back of the house generally seems to dig on me. Maybe I'm a fan of the folks who either see the show but aren't there for the buffet beforehand or they sneak in. Either way, I'm the favorite of the cheapskates. I'll take it.

Saturday evening: Well, after the show actually began, I had to give up hope that we would be able to cancel it. Hello, Captain Obvious! My body reacted by allowing me to develop some heat exhaustion halfway through Act I. I was getting a little woozy and suddenly I got MAJOR stomach cramps...a classic sign. I finished the act but not before essentially ending it doubled over and using whatever was around (the bar, the couch, JF) to help get myself as upright as possible. At intermission I went outside into the 70+ degree weather to cool off (!!!) and managed to finish the show with little issue.

So I've now stepped up my request to keep the air conditioning on during shows. It took me a few weeks to get the ceiling fans going (because at least that'll circulate the air) so I hope it doesn't take me as long to get the A/C on. We're all just crazy hot up there. The lights are within touching distance (for me, anyway), the wool jacket I wear through the better portion of the show, the fact that I'm all tense and jittery and running around almost all of Act I...they all just lead to an unexceptable situation for a "professional" theater.

Anyway...the van was gassed up and ready to go so after the show SP and I jumped inside and hit the road. Three hours later (just past midnight Central Time) he was dropping me off at home.

Sunday: Did some much-needed laundry and got a much-needed haircut (in the hopes that less hair will be cooler for the show). Then the party at the Duncks' place, which was great. I won't go too much into it (the less said the better, methinks) but I had a great time. Saw a bunch of good friends and a few new ones.

Monday: My day of recovery. Tried to clean a bit and pack up for the trip back to the BC. A nice day to kind of try to recharge the proverbial battery. Took a walk, took a nap...I'm a party animal, I tells ya! Then Monday night SP and I took the long quiet ride back to the Delta House.

This afternoon we have the usual Tuesday matinee pick-up performance which is never our best effort of the week. Turkeyville should really charge a little less for the Tuesday matinee. Especially with this show. It's never a good one. But I plan on taking the things I learned from last week (primarily the "speed it all up" aspect of the show) and putting them back into use. We'll see how it goes.