Tour-de-force

I wrote a blog last week, but it was too long, and I felt like I had to keep writing in code so as not to give away anything in the play.  So, here's a quick tl;dr:

-Thought the other shoe fell when we lost our set builder and Stage Manager just before tech.

-Suzanne Dean texted me that she was coming down to get our set built. When I read that, I knew how Moses must have felt getting the commandments. 

-We opened on time with a lot of help from the company; the show is great!

-I didn't win best supporting performer at that awards thingy. More shocking is that Jackie didn't. 

-We need to fight to save theatre with everything we have. We can't just hope it goes back to normal. It won't. If you are into technical theatre, the world is your oyster. If you are a young theatre artist, we need you!

Anyway, that was the gist of last week's blog that wasn't. But here's where I am tonight:

Driving to the show yesterday (Mothers' Day) I was struck with a couple of thoughts. First of all, I was thinking about how much I miss my mom. I feel that every day, but holidays are the hardest. Not to mention that this show reminds me so much of her, and that's all I can really say about that, because I'm sworn to secrecy concerning the plot of this play. But she has been very present in my thoughts throughout the process, and yesterday doubly so.

The other thing I was thinking about is the idea of a tour-de-force performance. This generally gets thrown around in reviews by over-enthusiastic critics who want their quotes to be used in press for shows. But I have witnessed a few in my day, and I may have even been responsible for one or two. Then I was thinking about what has to exist for a tour-de-force performance to happen. For a performance to be classified as a tour-de-force (or a "feat or display of strength, skill or ingenuity") to occur, in my opinion, the following things have to be in place. First of all, the casting has to be extraordinary. The actor is so aligned with the character that it is hard to separate the two. The director is in tune with the writer's vision and able to communicate that and remain in harmony with the actor giving said performance. Finally, the other actors are living believably in the world which has been created and elevating the play into something more than just a play. If all of those things are in place, then a very talented actor can step onto the stage and deliver a performance that simply can't be denied. We have such a performance in this play. Amanda Karr is giving one of the finest performances I've ever seen, and I get to be in the room for it. When I say we get a standing ovation every night, what I mean is that she gets a standing ovation, and they stay on their feet for us too. She is phenomenal in this, and you really don't want to miss it. The rest of us are doing great work too, but really what she has accomplished is tremendous. Please come and see it.

And maybe it was because I was having these two thoughts on the way to the show yesterday, that I lost myself in the play to an extent that it rare for me. I felt like my mom was with me. I also felt like I was living in the world of the play in a way I rarely do until I close a show. One of those rare performances where you are just living moment to moment and not judging or thinking about what might come next. I felt worthy of calling myself an actor and sharing the stage with my castmates yesterday. I don't know if I'll be visited with such inspiration again in our final three shows, but it's worth coming down to check out whether I do or not.