We had an intimate, receptive audience last night. Is that putting too nice of a spin on it? Yes, the audience was small, and what followed began more as a reception than as a party. My old high school drama coach, Mr. Siller and his wife were there, which was very nice - he hasn’t seen anything I have produced since I graduated high school. Someone came from somewhere between here and Toledo. Christine’s folks came.
Now, after 9:30 the party crowd came rolling in. And the games Nick had put together were just amazing. I had my doubts. Why? Because I am a stick in the mud. But he went around, signing people up, I don’t know how many arms he twisted, but every game had a lot of participants.
Nick is one of those delightful people who have no shame. Nick kept the energy up, got every one real excited about playing “Pin the Hair on Hansen” (a poster-sized, cartoon headshot of me, drawn by a friend of ours, with a variety of hairstyles to pin on it - mohawk, Klingon head, Marge Simpson, Jesus Christ) as well as the Marathon “Twister” game. There was also the “Siñata” which was a large high-heel shoe with toys and candy and condoms and small bottles of liquor in it.
Ever since the “
Sin” benefit in 1999, Nick has been invaluable at the benefits. He turned our gag phone sex line into a real one. In 2001, at the Mardi Gras benefit, it was his idea to sell the beads for money (don’t ask me why this was a sticking point) and raised hundreds of dollars on his own, charging around the place, sporting a massive racks of fake tits, getting everyone to buy far more beads than they might have otherwise.
It was a great party last night, there was more than enough food - good food, too - and alcohol. I didn’t drink much at all, but I was up later than I have been for perhaps a year, getting in around two.
What was most disappointing was that Toni could not attend. Z. has not been very helpful when it comes to taking naps during the day lately, and so Toni needed to stay home with them. This is also going to be an issue in Minnesota, I am sure.
When I got home, Barry was still up - we have a few house guests this weekend, Barry, Harris, his new girlfriend Elizabeth who is simply wonderful, they all came to see the show last night. What I hadn’t noticed was that the show left Barry almost entirely destroyed. He says he spent large parts of it just weeping, I didn’t notice this, in spite of the fact that he was sitting in the front row. I think I thought he was laughing or something.
So I was exhausted, but he is a nocturnal creature, the kind of guy who can sit up coding until four in the morning. And he has always been more of Toni’s friend, anyway, though I like him just great. We had a super conversation in the kitchen for about a half-hour. He says my play is one of the best plays ever written - I just kind of laughed uncomfortably for a few moments saying, “Well, geez, ah,” and then just said thanks. Just so you understand, Barry reads a lot, a whole lot - more than you, I can guarantee it - so I was not underwhelmed by such a statement. As he says, he can hack apart Chekhov and Shakespeare, so I shouldn’t have felt too bad when he gave me some criticism of the show.
And I didn’t. He said some very good things, things others had not bothered to mention yet, like the transition from “Cloisters” into “Nurse Evil 2” - it rings false, he said, and last night, more than any other night, I agreed. I need to change that sound cue - in my defense, I never thought it fit anywhere in the show, but Tom and Dennis wanted to keep it in. He was also taken aback by the “Members of different clubs” line ... for all of the aforementioned reasons (see
July 17.)
I finally had the opportunity to ask how he has been doing through his divorce - after all this business about pointing fingers at people who do not inquire about others’ emotional well-being, I really needed to do this before the weekend is over. That was a large part of the reason he found the play so hard to take. It reminded me of my bit about 9/11 - new traumas revive old traumas.
Anyway ... Jesus, so much to do and not very much time left. We have today and tomorrow to pack everything, pick up the house, and well, that’s enough, isn’t it? My work here is done. The show is more than ready. I am more than ready. It’s onto the Fringe.
From my sister-in-law ...
