WHAT A RUSH! I have never felt so physically nervous onstage as I did this night. I could actually feel my torso shaking when I first tried to say my lines.
I think it was due to a lot of factors:
But the show must go on, and away we went! We had a lot of tech problems. The sound didn't work right at times, the projector's connection went funny and as a result the screen turned purple, there were bungled lines, messed up cues, but despite all of that, I can say with confidence that 'Ithaca' went really, really well.
This sounds horrible to say, but people liked it more than I thought they would. When people clapped and hollered at the end, it took me by surprise.
When my classmates rushed the stage and surrounded us with hugs and so much support, I was even more shocked. A few of them were in tears!I guess I had just let my fears convince me that we had made the weirdest show ever known to man and that our curtain call would be met with nothing more than a confused silence. Silly Shannon.
Once the dust settled, something amazing happened. Richard Demarco (the Fringe founder) said, "Well, that was genius! This is in the top 20 pieces of theatre to have ever been at the Festival."
And before I had a chance to pick my jaw up off of the floor, Demarco walked up to me, held my face in his hands and said, "And YOU! Your voice! Your perfect voice came floating up from the stage and I thought 'BY GOD' it's HER. It's her from last year!" (In other words, he hadn't until just now remembered that I was in The Grind Show.)
So the Great Richard Demarco says this to me, all while holding my face very close to his, and then he - no joke - kisses me on the lips. SMACK!My eyes pretty much popped out of my head. Yeah. It was one of those nights that I won't be able to forget, even if I wanted to.
I'm so proud of all your hard work, Shannon. I think about those phone calls where you would be so convinced your acting was terrible, your German accent was garbage, and as a whole you doubted yourself. Well, I knew you could do it, and I truly wish I could've seen your performance. From the twin who watched "I Remember Mama" three days in a row, I'm proud of you. :)
ReplyDeleteOH THANKS PATTY! I wish you could have seen it as well. Funny enough, we ended up ditching the accents in the last few weeks of rehearsals, to my great joy. That helped a lot with my confidence, because the show turned into something I felt I could do well. I had this monologue where I walked up the stairs into the audience and looked right into the faces of my friends, Lucy, my teachers, and strangers. I don't know how I would have done that in an accent.
ReplyDeleteThanks for being my number one fan. I love you, Patty.