EXTRA CRITICUM

The First Performance of These Crazy Two Months

It is 5:10pm. I am about to go on for my solo show. I have done this show before, but not in this space and have never done the whole show in this space as well.

I go on and the lights come up a second or two later than I would have liked, but it’s too late to dwell. The sound cue is happening. There are about ten people in the audience and I can see my friend Basil assisting the technician, who is named Ronny.

How to Have a Nervous Breakdown Before Your Opening Night

So after realizing that I am producing my solo show a scant two days before the first performance, I had to go into overdrive. I have produced before, but when I am broke, I really don’t prefer it.

One of the theater company’s shows was performing the night before and so I was not able to enter the space and rehearse in it until the night before my show. In a few hours, I would have to rehearse, do my tech and dress rehearsals all in one. To add to my pain, my director booked a gig in London and could not be there at all. So I was doing it alone.

The Craziest 2 Months of my Life!

I am about to embark on the two most maddening, artistically fruitful months of my life. Perhaps I should explain.

I am an actor-writer. In reality, I do a lot of artistic things, just not all at the same time. I often tell people that artistically, "I go where the check clears."