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Community Performance Inc.

June 11, 2008

OK< so some big things, I'll do them in order of coolness.

I'm just back from an inspiring, charged, fun-filled speed through with the cast. Doing double time for the adults was a little mind-blowing at first, and then they found their pacing and started having fun- when they realized 'Hey, I DO know this stuff". The atmosphere was charged, they were easy with their dialogue. They laughed with each other, they got bold, some got outrageous and funny. I love speed-throughs for the ability to allow a cast to cut loose and be risky, take risks in front of each other, it gives permission to have fun. And when they have fun when no one is watching, they remember it, and can have fun when everyone is watching. So that was cool.

I did something else interesting, which I hadn't done before. The kids, age 8-17, didn't do a speed through- they did a slow motion run through, in which they all had to say their lines at s-l-o-w speed. Fascinatingly enough, it sounded like regular speed to everyone else, who CHEERED for the kids, who's speeches we all finally understood. So, kids like Marilyn and Kaitlyn and Evan will be doing them SLOW MOTION tomorrow night at performance, too.

the night got a little crazy in some areas, but I let it ride. The funny man, Jeff, who gets caught where he shouldn't be-- usually he comes running out with a suspender down, while a faceless woman's hand waves a hankie at him. TOnight, he came running out holding hands with Owen, saying "Oh, you're so good Owen" and the cast roared. John, usually the straight man, comes out, and instead of his speech that starts "The electronic age, my grandchildren understand it" He instead came out with "The Viagara Age..." People howled. Normally straight laced people were going for it. Even 91 year old Louise was doing her best to speed through. Tommy Scott drove right through his piece too! We howled. So, that's cool

Genny said at her Board meeting last night, the mayor and the city manager couldn't stop talking about it. Tickets are selling really well, and she said people at the meeting said it's the biggest thing to hit Franklin COunty. When i pulled into the chamber of commerce building today, Vivian was selling tickets ala curb service. She was actually outside with a car that had pulled up to get tickets. People are calling to buy tickets, instead of waiting to get them at the door because the word is out that they might not have any left at the door on the night of the show. So, that was cool.

The coolest thing I found out today, though, was that the "Bump in the road" was the subject of the sermon at church on Sunday, at Kitt's church. She said the ministeer talked about the play. She said he even named me as the playwright- but kept calling me a "he". (My alter ego is a very short frenchman with a moustache who smokes a pipe. That's the other Jules Corriere) Kitt said four ladies in the front row corrected him and said "she, she" every time the preacher called Jules a "he". The bump in the road was the sermon. Margaret said she was in a meeting the other day, fussing about how the trees in her yard got cut down so short, when the powerline people came through, and she said someone in the meeting said 'Oh, Margaret, just get over that bump in the road". The theme and the language of the play is- oh, what's the right word- permeating throughout the community. I wish Richard were still here, he could write about the effects so much more eloquently than I. The best way I know how to say it is that it's seeping in. And--- people are talking about the bumps in the road. They have an access point for dialogue, now. People are talking about the march. People are talking about the economy, people are talking about what is in the play, and what is in their lives right now-- at town meetings, at churches, at home. It's happening. Good googly moogly, it's exciting. I'm so glad i came back this week to feel this sense of awe that is going on through the community. They are standing in awe of what they have created-- what we together have created here. Wish i could say more, but a thunderstorm is starting and the already difficult internet is about to go. More later.

   

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