The March Show

Wow. What a week. Divine Comedy's second show of the semester was this past weekend, and it was one of the hardest weeks I've ever seen the group go through. It's normal to practice every night of a show week, but they probably practiced twice as many hours as they usual do. I'm not really sure why this one was so difficult, but there was a lot of technical stuff to get down (lots of Powerpoint, lots of music, lots of sound cues), and there were a lot of dance numbers or fight scenes or whatever that needed to be choreographed. And, I know this sounds weird, but there were a lot of lines to memorize. So, by dress rehearsal night, things were still pretty rough. It was one of the worst dress rehearsals we've ever had. The positive thing that came from that, though, is that everyone realized how much work still needed to be done, and it united everyone in their efforts. We looked at the show list and made major changes by cutting skits, taking parts out of skits, and changing endings.

This was kind of a momentous show for me, because I actually helped write one of the scripts, so I finally experienced what it's like to have to cut things from my own skit. Usually I get frustrated listening to people argue about making changes to their skits, but now I understand a lot better. Mine didn't get cut entirely from the show, but I had to cut parts, and I spent Thursday morning rewriting it.

I also spent a couple of hours at the booth on campus handing out fliers to advertise for the show. No one likes getting fliers, AND there's added pressure, because people are looking at us expecting comedy. We can't just say, "Hey, here's a flier." We have to BE FUNNY! Some of the techniques used this time were riding on each other's shoulders, posing as statues, and walking up next to someone and whispering, "Psst. Hey...I've got a flier for you." It's not that awesome of a task, and by the end of the week, everyone was tired of it. So, if anyone ever sees us out there, be sure to take our fliers with enthusiasm.

By Friday, everyone was completely exhausted, which is not ideal going into a show weekend. The first show on Friday wasn't awesome. We didn't sell all of our tickets, so the energy in the room was pretty low. My boss came, and my friend BJ came, so I was worried that they wouldn't be impressed, but both reported that they had a good time. The second show that night was much better, and the crowd was much more energized. We usually get to leave everything set up after the Friday shows, but we were changing venues this time, so all the props and costumes had to be packed up, and the stage had to be torn down and loaded up. This is never a fun job. During trash cleanup, I picked up a packet of Trident into which someone had shoved wads of chewed-up gum. People. That is disgusting, and you should be beaten for such barbaric behavior.

On Saturday, we had Panda Express before the show, and I was pretty pumped about that. Saturday's venue was more fun, and we sold out both shows, so the crowds were very energetic. The shows went well, except for the fact that Laurel twisted her ankle during the 7:00 show. This was problematic since she was supposed to dance in the 9:00 show. They rearranged a few things so that she was either sitting in her skits, or her lines were given to another girl. But for the dance number, it just so happened that former cast member Dana, who had choreographed the dance, was in the audience and was able to step in. Crisis averted! Also in the 9:00 show, when Brian was using silly string, he squirted some straight into Natalie's mouth. She couldn't stop laughing, and the audience went crazy. They always love it when cast members break.

I actually got to sit and watch most of the Saturday 9:00 show, and by then I'd seen the skits so many times that the entertainment came from seeing what the audience liked and who laughed at what. For example, when a picture of a MASH game flashed up on the screen, the girls in the room screamed and cheered. When a joke about first-person shooter games was made, the row of guys behind me all guffawed.

It was a long tiring week for the group, but it ended up being a fun show. Thanks to everyone who came and cheered us on!