One Down Can't Wait for the Rest

Last night's show was a blast. It was for Mt. Desert Island Medical Group employee appreciation. Even though they had bought out the entire theater apparently they didn't appreciate as many people as the house sat so it wasn't completely sold out with people. No whoop. Those that were there were loving it, and we were loving them.

The format of the show was about 1/2 hour of short form games with more emphasis on scenic games than line games. Everyone gets a turn to host one of the games and the actors rotate in and out of the game lineup. We played a "Moving Bodies/Audience Moves Us" game that was fantastic. We got a middle aged woman volunteer who was almost as active as Portland's own Andrew Berkowitz and the scene between Rance and Mike ended up with them dancing and Rance being dipped. Hilarious.

We ended the first half with Larrance's choice, my personal favorite game. Doing any kind of singing with Larrance is like wearing a canola oil body suit, sliding down a butter hill...so, so easy. He's able to lead and follow the singer so well that at times you can't tell who's doing what. Such a talent. Both of them are. Jen is a joy to be on stage with, willing to take lots of risks and commits to everything. I feel so lucky to be here.

After a brief intermission, we came back with "The Dream". We had a great volunteer who's a local actor so she was fantastic on stage and gave us a ton to play with, including the fact that she worked at The Breast Center. I got to portray her and ended up singing how I was going to save all the breasts on the island.

Then we ended the show with a 15 minute longform segment. Again great fun, it's awesome to look across the stage and know that you trust everyone around you and no matter what happens it's going to be okay.

I think Larrance and Jen were really happy. Last year their cast was handpicked from people they had worked with in the past. And while Abby and Mike fall in that category for this first cast, they only knew me and Rance from the audition process. Sometimes that can be a total crap shoot. I know lots of people who don't audition well but are fantastic in front of an audience and those that can hold it together really well in an audition but can't consistently do it on stage.

After the show we hung out at the theater for a little bit for drinks and dessert. Then headed back to the house for our first game night. We busted out Apples to Apples which Rance won both times. And then tried playing Murder, which I was horrible at. I have a terrible poker face and of course the first time I was the murder. Rance accused me immediately and Jen quickly followed, as the accused I then had to defend myself and all I could do was sputter and giggle. Oiy vey, and I call myself an actor. Then the very next round I was the inspector and when I had to identify myself in secrecy I couldn't do it and broke down in a laughing fit. Everyone thought I was the murderer and they quickly accused me again and had me wrongfully executed. Hah!! That will have to live on their consciences for the rest of their lives.

Tonight is the official opening night and it's expected to be a sold out house. Lots of local fans who came to shows last year will be in the audience so we're going to go in early and learn some new games.

Before the show I'm hoping to take a drive over to the NE Harbor and drive through Somes Sound the only natural fiord in North America. The NE Harbor is where all the richie rich live. Martha Sterwart used to have a house there as do some other well known folks that I've of course forgotten.

Thanks to everyone who have sent notes letting me know they're enjoying the blog. It's been fun for me to write. If you're at work at want some more humor in your day check out our friend Tara D's blog at http://alaughaminute.blogspot.com/ or track down the writings of the soon to be famous humorist Emily Wilson, she's funny.