It's warm and bright here in late afternoon, as I sit in my apartment, windows open, waiting to head to the theater. Tonight is my first doubleheader: I have to do the show at 7pm and again at 9:30. I've done other solo shows twice in a row, but this is the first time I've tried it with 21 DOG YEARS, and I'm nervous while I try to conserve my energy.
I saw this afternoon that MISCmedia has a small review of 21 DOG YEARS, the book...it's the top of the currently featured items in the right hand nav bar. Clark Humphrey, who is the site's proprietor, is a fine fellow whom I've never met in person, so it is exciting to have my first book review out, even a brief one...I haven't given the book to a lot of people I know, so I honestly haven't gotten that much feedback from people other than my illustrious editor.
In his small review Humphrey is unhappy with my decision to leave Seattle, and I can understand that--I miss the Northwest at times myself. But they don't have Off-Broadway theaters there, and in the end I wanted a change after Amazon and five years of Seattle fringe theater life...it was time. I'm glad I'm missed, I have to admit.
I strained my throat somewhat on Thursday doing the photo call, which otherwise went well: Melanie, the photographer, was fantastic and goaded me into a lot of good pictures, but that generally involved being loud and energetic over and over, which took its toll.
Last night would have been hard, with my throat strained, but the audience was so spectacular that it made it easy as pie...a full house, which was delightful and very moving at the same time. It's a bit like riding an enormous bull: you can't dictate what the audience wants or likes, but you ride them and learn them through the show, and track their responses...you learn from them. I think we all had a really good time.
My throat is much better today, after rest and a lot of tea...I feel like a grown-up actor, the way I obsess over my intonations and do warm-ups again. I'm looking forward to tonight quite a lot.
One more thing: I had an interview last night with a reporter, and we were talking about the nature of work. He laughed, then revealed that while he works at night for a very reputable news organization, during the day he's a copy editor at PENTHOUSE. As I shook his hand, I thought,
This is the guy who edits all the 'Dear Penthouse' letters, ensuring that the three-way sex orgies happen in the right tense. Whoa.
4:44 PM
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