10/1/04

There is nothing more unexpectantly encouraging than an entire theatre of kids under the age of 20 watching Waiting For Godot and GETTING IT.  Today was the lone student matinee of "Godot" at 10AM.  Very few fell asleep, which is AMAZING to me, and the talkback after the show was super.  I expected it to be a major challenge, but it was fine, and the kids were very well-behaved.  THANK GOD!  I even commented later to Ted, Joe, Robin and Cliff that this was the biggest "Godot" house we had - and everyone was under 20!  They agreed, and thought that was funny. Thank God it went well - because I was SOOOOOOO TIRED this morning, as Mark and I found each other online and talked until 3:30AM PST - and my call was 9AM!  And this turned out to be the LEAST challenging part of my day, actually.

Because of the kids' show, those of us covering it didn't get to the Brown Bag today, but you can't do everything - you know?  (LOL!). 

Ted was in rare form at the talkback, and the kids cheered when he came out - (whether this was because of his character or anything else, I don't know, but I think it was the former, because no one mentioned JCS at all in the talkback, and the kids posed a few questions to Ted as: "The Actor Who Played Lucky", so I don't think most of them knew who he was.)  After the talkback, Ted left to take care of some more LA business, and we cleaned the theatre for the matinee.

We had a performance change today.  The 2PM matinee was supposed to be Rick Cluchey in "Krapp's Last Tape", but he ended up in the ER with a nosebleed.  They didn't cauterize it, which is beyond my comprehension altogether, just told him to pinch his nose and keep his head back (for THIS he had to go to the ER?  You learn THAT from your MOTHER when you're a kid!).  He was talking about doing the show up to an hour before, but it was decided to change the schedule to make sure he was okay.  As it turned out, he's been admitted, because the nosebleed came back.  Last I heard when I left the theatre tonight, Karyl Lynn was with him.  We're all hoping he's just in overnight, but we'll know more in the morning.

Because of Rick's medical emergency, Cliff DeYoung was called upon to do his "In The Collected Works of Beckett" - WITH ONLY AN HOUR'S NOTICE!  He said his wife said to him: "Cliff, you're such a ham, you can do it!"  (LOL!)  So today, Cliff did a 10AM "Godot" student show, a 2PM one-man "Collected Works", and an 8PM "Godot"!  His one-man show includes Lucky's speech (I sat by Ted and watched him watch Cliff do his speech - great perk!), and numerous other wonderful Beckett monologues and selections.  So - he did 6 hours and 25 minutes of Beckett today - and - NO DOUBT - he is totally unconscious at this hour - which I should be if I had a brain in my head!  LOL!  He did do a wonderful job, BTW.  Tomorrow he will do "Collected Works" at 2PM, and Rick will do "Krapp's" at 5:30 (if he can), then "Godot" is at 8PM again.  CRAZY!  Never a dull moment down here!  Ted and I spoke for a little after Cliff's show, which he loved too, and I asked him how he liked hearing Cliff do his speech.  He liked it, said: "Cliff does it better."  I said: "Hey, don't discount yourself.  You do it under duress and standing leaned over for 2 hours in a brace! And you do a very fine job of it too." and he laughed and thanked me, and shortly after he gave me a nice hug and went back to the hotel to take a nap before the evening "Godot".

I did some more pasting of reviews between shows, then did a Subway run for Karyl Lynn and Donna - tonight's House Manager.  It almost feels like I live here - and that's very dangerous for me, because I know I will HATE leaving!

"Godot" went very well again, and we had a good house, despite the debate ending a half-hour before showtime.  (GO GET 'EM KERRY!  - Guess there's no guessing who I'M voting for - is there? BTW - before anyone thinks to ask, we will never know who Ted is voting for - he says no one EVER will know who he votes for in any election - but I digress).

After the show, Ted came out and saw Wanda and me and said: "Haven't I seen you two somewhere before?", and I said:  "Probably, there's no lack of void." (that's a line from "Godot"), and he laughed and we did a group hug. Then we spoke to Ted for a little bit, I helped him get his watch back on (the second time I did that), and he spoke to Leeyan and Tessa and Zach on his cell after the show.  I was glad to see that, since last time we spoke he'd told me he'd only been able to talk to them once since we'd all come down here for the Festival.  So I said: "Good, you finally reached them."  He said: "Yes, but at this hour there isn't much chance for much coherency (Texas is 2 hours later on the clock (Central Time) than LA)."  Ted isn't even planning to sleep tonight until he gets to LA - he drove up right after he left the theatre and will stay there tonight, then come back tomorrow. I asked if he was planning to see "Krapp's", but he said probably not.  We saw the film together Sunday - with John Hurt - and he really enjoyed that, so he said he didn't want to end up doing a comparison.  As it is, him being in LA, his business may overlap later than 5:30, so it's doubtful regardless.  Of course, he will be back for "Godot" at 8, so I'll see him later in the day.  While Wanda and Ted and I talked, I mentioned that I will be a mess on the plane on Monday, and told him I'd had a couple of discussions about jobs at RTC, because I knew I really wouldn't want to go home, and he said: "Yep, it (CA) can get it's hooks into you. Once Zach's out of high school, Leeyan and I would like to come back here."  So - a year from now, who knows.....

After Ted left, Wanda went to find Gunnar, her boyfriend, and I went back into the theatre where Robin, Joe, Cliff, Kathleen, and a friend of Joe's were having a very impromptu "gathering" - which meant that we were all just sitting around talking about Walter (Asmus - Director), "Godot", BeckettFest, etal, with a little wine and cheese.  It was a good discussion.  I love these candid impromptu things, you can learn a lot about theatre that wouldn't normally be talked about.  Cliff took off pretty quickly, since he has 2 shows to do tomorrow, but the rest of us hung out until about 11:30 (show was down at 10:30) before we all took off for home.

Tomorrow will be a long, but fun day for me.  I start out watching 2 hours of "Iguana" rehearsal, then the Brown Bag, Cliff's "Collected Works", possibly Rick's "Krapp's", and then "Godot".  Wanda and I are thinking of asking Ted if he'd like to get a snack after the show (since he never eats before a show) if he isn't too tired - and if that works out, then I may be able to take care of a couple other stray requests (if the time and location is okay) - (a.k.a. Gena, etal) - we'll see. 

More tomorrow.

Love,

Cindi :)

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