I had the awesome opportunity to be part of a very silly random night of theater, that reminded me why I love this art so much. There used to be a group of artists that got together and wrote, rehearsed, threw together a night of theater/music pretty much in a couple of days. This turned into an annual Adults Only Xmas Pageant. Well, its been a few years since they have done one and one of the crew decided to do it again and give the proceeds to MWC that is dark for a few months. Since it was the day before Valentine’s Day, it was centered around that. We got together a couple of times and threw around some ideas, then read some possible choices. We had an extremely energetic amazing director and the guy putting this together was nothing but eager and positive the whole time. The crew of actors are some of the much more seasoned actors of the OC Theater scene, and I was flattered to be among them. I was equally flattered when word got out about all that was involved and that made the buzz even greater and the comments going around like “Amazing cast!” “Best actors in OC” “What an talented group!”. Blushing, I realized I was one of them. We sort of had a rehearsal or two, but not really…then we all arrived early yesterday to get the thing together. The director arrived with the gaudiest of V-day décor and one of our writers/singers waltzed in with probably about 30-40 heart balloons. With the help of our faboo friends running the board and house the décor went up, a cue to cue was run, the musicians practiced and us actors were scurrying around trying to make costumes, props and hair all work together. Nerves and excitement were high. The house began to fill up, more rows were added – all the way up to the stage. Lets just say one couple got a very nice up close and personal view of my pasties. The musicians started the pre-show and the scurrying, excitement and energy blew up backstage. We all nailed our hilarious sketches, laughter filled the house. Our show probably ran 20 minutes longer due to the constant holding for uproarious laughter. We laughed our way through Fuck Family, my Palin monologue was a hit. The other bits were fantastic and funny and offensive and fun. The musicians were great and fun as well. The night ended with all of us at the curtains waiting for the final curtain call like ending. I looked around in the cramped room at all these talented people, drinking beers and wine, smiling and listening to one of our own playing guitar and singing to the heavens. I felt we were all one for just a minute, all happy, exhausted and ever so slightly moving to the music – and magic. That was the moment. This is why I love this. Especially this way, with these people. It was one of the funnest days of my life. We walked out onstage singing “All you need is Love” to cheers and applause. I couldn’t stop smiling. The evening ended on as good of a note when my bro and his wife, the roomie and a couple other actors landed at the Irish Pub across the way listening to an Irish Duo pretty much doing what I just finished. Silly, talented musicians (and adorable as all hell) singing to a mostly empty bar but you could tell they loved every moment. And earlier on this day, my prior blog explains how my day started.
February 13th, 2011 was a good day.
