The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly... Baby

I wasn't too sure how a production blog goes after a show opens. "This good review made me feel good! This bad one made me feel bad!"
Or,
"This show was okay, this one I messed up a line..."

But perhaps I can use this as a place to respond to some of the questions that come up- from reviewers, or from people who watched the show. (I woke up to appreciative emails from strangers!)

"Over-Sharing": Even the EYE, which gave me a good review, used the term, saying the show "Makes over-sharing seem like a great idea." Can I just say... I left a lot of awkward details out! I realize what I put in is a bit-wow- but I was careful to make sure that it was integral to the story. I dunno- the question remains- do I have more garbage than the average person, or am I just over-willing to talk about some things? I don't know!

I think "sharing" is an issue with many disenfranchised people, and what causes a lot of social awkwardness- a vicious cycle. The people who come to my show know what they're in for, and also are free to walk away loving it or hating it.
But for someone in the thick of it, it's socially difficult to communicate and find a willing listener. A "how are you" gets a muffled "fine" when really the true answer may be, "My boss yelled at me and it's the 5th time this week and I think I may lose my job, and I honest to goodness have nowhere to go and I'm constantly in pain but I'm afraid to tell my boss because maybe he'll think I'm even less reliable and- and- and- and..." It's hard to keep conversations at a superficial, positive level when you're carrying around all these concerns and questions and secrets. Life demands a certain amount of A-O-K.

So, I just wanted to communicate, in a palatable-funny-entertaining way, what it's like for a person who feels disenfranchised. Because it's next to impossible to be charming AND desperate. So now that I'm not desperate, I'll tell the story as best I can, in an A-O-K way.

Both the emails I got this morning asked, "Why did I do this?"
I credit Aislinn my director (then dramaturg) a lot with pushing me to get into the meatier stuff. My original intention was just to do something close to a weight loss seminar. ("Weight loss", I think, has been cut down to 2 paragraphs in this show?)

The real answer is that I felt I was living a lie and it was a "coming out" play. Trying to pass off as "normal" as opposed to truly being comfortable. I transformed physically so much that people would see me and not recognize me. (Which was weird.) And everyone started treating me better because I looked better- particularity guys. (Which was also weird.) I had a lot of anger for a long time. Despite "fitting in" I still felt separate because of my experiences. And felt that if people knew the truth, they may not be as nice. So here I am: here's a picture of me looking super ugly. Here's the fact that I had OCD, here are the experiences that make me less likely to be happy-go-lucky and blindly trust those around me.

And how liberating to know that people treat me the same, and on MY end, just way more confidence in feeling like I have nothing to hide. On top of that, there's the people that the play "speaks to." I know when I was going through my own changes, this play would have helped me so much.
By the nature of "disenfranchised" it's only going to truly speak to a small number of people- not a huge general audience. I just hope that a good cross section of people see it and just get a glimpse of the POV.
Hell, I just hope people come, because there's a lot of empty seats!

And speaking of which, I'm off to the Annex to do some carding and promo!