Opening Weekend

 Tartuffe opened on Thursday evening to a small but enthusiastic crowd.  It was alot of fun to sit backstage and listen to the audience enjoy the performances of the cast.

It is amazing to think of how far we have come from rehearsing on an empty stage with five chairs in street clothes.

Throughout the weekend we enjoyed performing the show and sharing it with our audience.

On Sunday, judges from the Tournament of Plays (TOPPER - military theater equivalent of the Tonys) came to see our production.  Of course Murphy's Law was in full effect.  One of the wall planters fell off the wall when a door slammed and the table that I lean backward over (alot) broke.  Fortunately the table did not fall apart completely but it forced us as a cast to reblock the end of the second act as we went along.

The judges were complimentary of the production overall.  They said they enjoyed it and laughed throughout.  They appreciated our work as an ensemble.

The two comments they made specifically about my performance were that I wore my dress well - I looked natural moving around in it (and believe me I do move in this dress - walk, run, up and down steps, bending over forward and backward) - and that my Southern accent was believable.  One of the judges even asked a fellow cast member if I was from the South.

The comments from the judges were nice but in the general scheme of things unimportant.  I think I am most pleased that our director has enjoyed our performances and so have the audiences.

I have two evenings off now before we do a run though on Wednesday and then begin our closing weekend.