The audience will be integral to this process as well. Everyone in attendance will have a chance to provide feedback on what elements of the performance worked and what needs further attention. We are interested in what moved the audience and what left them still wanting. I hope to see you in the house that night and look forward to your feedback.
I'm kind of in love with the process. I have been up 'til the wee hours editing sound, writing scripts and illustration lists and press releases, directing for stage and film, working with some top notch artists who work in realms in which I almost never get to play, and hiring a boatload of local artists.
One of my main joys each week has been to work with actors who come from a dance background. I never realized the differences in vulnerabilities to each craft. I come from a theater background. Dancers, due to the nature of their art, are more comfortable with body contact than most actors. I'm not talking body image but actually coming in contact with others in performance and rehearsal. Eventually dancers have to touch each other in vulnerable ways to achieve a certain look or to properly execute a lift. Throughout dance training the teacher focuses on how much you are tightening your butt. So you get used to that early on. But ask one dancer to look another in the eye and share a moment and they go all squirrelly. It's crazy. In Theater, the only time it is acceptable to avoid the eyes is if it is a specific choice. We learn that early on, or at least those of us who are worth watching do. But have two actors who've never met grope each other in a scene and you get into the "is it ok if I touch you like this" moments and sometimes things don't progress into a comfort zone. That can be death to a performance. (Yikes! how many times have I seen a bad stage kiss. I don't know which I like least that or someone who doesn't know how to smoke a cigarette.) We could learn this from the dancers. Or from Europeans, for that matter.
But I am giving these dancers a gift they won't normally get in a dance degree. We work one eye contact and intention and the subtlety of movement. I get to take them to the next level. Make storytellers out of them. 'Cause let's face it, no one wants to watch a dancer just dance. You come to the performance to experience the journey with them. And if they aren't experiencing it, what chance do we in the audience have?
That's why I chose the photo above for this entry. Casey is so invested in that face. It tells a story. And so does The Agreeable Husband. I hope you come and share it with us next Friday, April 3rd at 7:30pm on the mainstage at HCC Ybor Performing Arts Building. Tickets are cheap and go directly to support the growth of this Tampa-grown performance.
