The new roomies have all arrived!

In the late morning yesterday, the first of our new roommates showed up. "Micheal" and his parents drove up from Kansas (14 hours!) and SP and I helped to shuttle him and his stuff up to his room. Lucky Room #7. They were here for about 30 minutes, mouths agape at the wonder that is the Delta House, and then they all hopped back in the care to get the parents to the airport for their flight back. His assigned room didn't have a bed but did have three box fans and a few other pieces of furniture that had sort of been ditched there by previous Delta Housers. So we had to grab a bed from a room that had two (not mine, though...oh, no way!) and move that in there and push the random furniture around so there was room for the bed and...it was a hassle. Anyway...he's a quiet kid, I wouldn't peg him at any more than 30, and probably feels out-of-place. Everyone else in the House knows at least one other person from a previous gig except for him.

Early evening brought "Heidi", who is also doubling up as the Musical Director for the big show (which, in case I hadn't mentioned it earlier, is called "Midlife Crisis: The Musical"). She has worked here before, about two years ago, and after chillin' with us for a while, accepted our offer to go get some dinner. SP and I had decided earlier that it would be kinda cool to get everyone together for a burger and a few beers on their first night. But by the time we were hungry, "Heidi" was the only one here. "Scott" was off doing something by himself and "Micheal" was still dealing with the airport. Anyway, it was cool. "Heidi" is nice and assigned to the room next to mine...Room #4.

Around 10PM we got "Crystal" who had worked with "Scott" before and spent the rest of the evening catching up with him. She was supposed to go to some room but opted instead to take Room #6, the other room next to mine. So I'm sort of staying in the female wing of the Delta House now. Eh...could be worse, I guess.

They all went off to rehearsal this morning where they were met by "Jonathan", the last piece of this crazy puzzle, who seems like a decent enough guy. I've only really just met him so I have nothing more to report on him.

There hasn't been a lot of time to hang out with them. When they are not at rehearsal during the day, SP and I are doing the big show. So when they get home tonight after their evening rehearsal, maybe some of the "gettin' to know you" stuff will happen. We'll see...

So yesterday's show was a crazy event. The audience absolutely loved us. We had to hold longer than ever for laughs and some of the more subtle stuff was getting huge laughs. It was amazing. And a great thing to have for a Tuesday matinee. After my big monologue towards the end of the show, I got such a monsterous response that we all just had to essentially freeze while they calmed down. But as they did, I would give a little look or make a little noise or something and it would all start all over again. SP has the next line and he, ever the pro, just let it happen. It was pretty cool.

But then today was that audience's polar opposite. They laughed at practically nothing, weren't into the show at all, and even held down loud and looooooong conversations with each other in the middle of the show. It was incredible. I noticed before I entered for the first time in the show that they were quiet and I gave them opportunity to get into it once I enetered but they didn't take and so a couple of pages in, I just decided to get this thing over with. Some of the folks were holding for laughs after lines and getting nothing and it was just becoming painful. So I just started trying to go as fast as I could...putting into effect the lessons we had learned from earlier in the run...and SP and JF (to their credits) caught on immediately to what I was doing and joined in. But that still left SH and HM (and, in his cameo role, DM...who was suffering from a Migraine). They didn't seem too aware that we were dying out there and so they kept the show at the same pace they always do it...which can sometimes be painfully slow. So while half of us were on Rain Pace, we were only really able to cut 10 minutes off of the show. But whatever.

I just don't understand how people who supposedly go see lots of theater can be so completely inconsiderate when it comes to things like not talking during the show. I mean, these people travel in busses to these things and they go all the time...has nobody told them that if they can hear us than we can hear them? I find it hard to believe. But wow were they rude.

So far, we don't have any cancelled shows this week. That means that tomorrow's show will be our first Thursday matinee in three weeks. It also means that we could potentially have a 7-show week for the first time in that same span which will, I'm thinking, test our collective stamina. It's not hard to put 2 or 3 shows together without a day off, but 7 is a marathon...especially with this exhausting show.

So we'll see how that all goes, as well.

The countdown is on...12 scheduled shows to go.