Donna Lucia: Opening Night

February 18, 2000 (the day after)

It was going to be a great night, I could tell as soon as I walked into the dressing room and saw a gorgeous black petticoat perched on a hanger. Kathy had come to my rescue. The lovely sweet Amy, a.k.a. Natalie Ramsey, made cards for all of us scribed with charming sentiments. Sir Francis a.k.a. Dale had sprinkled a handful of candies on our dressing tables and people were receiving flowers. It was opening night and we were there two hours before curtain time. We needed every minute of it.

What did I learn from the disastrous previous night and how did I prepare myself? Well, first off I ran to the store and bought a special beige bra for the show! Things get a little weird in the dressing room and believe me, my bragging about a new bra had little impact. Actors were reciting lines back and forth. Usually in the most outrageous voices, which actually can and does stimulate one to find other ways of delivering lines. Jack a.k.a. Patrick does a wonderful English version of Forest Gump which had the lovely Kitty a.k.a. Melissa responding in a chipmunk imitation made more amusing by bouncing her head, flopping the hot rollers in her hair.

Melissa brought us all together, doing a couple of bonding games using name associations. Being a school teacher in real life, we all indulged her, but then truly thanked her. It helped release some of the nervous energy. The stage manager and director came for their pep talks. Don said we had people in the audience! Lots of people, not a full house, but it sure looked like it. Oh goodie!

Less than ten minutes to curtain and the stage manager came to get us. We trooped down three flights of stairs, holding our long skirts high, bowler hats bobbing, and nervous giggles echoing in the stairwells. The house, the theatre, was dark, and we had to make our way from the front door all the way through the packed theatre to the stage door. We quietly walked on tip toe past the last riser of seats, our dresses swishing the audience hushed in nervous anticipation.

Back stage I quickly made my way to the curtained window and listened to Jack's opening lines. I was transfixed. He delivery was nothing I had ever heard before. Sweet, sensitive, sufficiently frustrated...this man not only knew his lines, his acting was flawless, an incredible talent! Later we would stand behind the curtain and listen to Ella confessing her love and longing to her disguised lover with the same awe. The actors were pumped, excited, the energy level was palpable. The first laughs were tentative and as the scenes developed the audience began laughing in all the right places. They were enjoying themselves and really getting into the play. Actors came on and off, punching the sky with joy and then quickly grabbing their scripts for a little refresher...we weren't all off book that long yet!

The worst thing for Ella and me was having to wait backstage for the entire first act and through intermission before we make our entrance in Act II. Time seemed to fly though. A few huge laughs from the audience and a quick peek from behind the curtain during intermission showed that we did indeed have a big audience.

Since I've begun acting the comment I most often hear is, "How could you possibly get up there in front of all those people, remember your lines and actually say them?!?" I've met people that work in the theatre, costume designers, publicity people; they said...I could never get up there on stage. That's what I love about acting, the audience. I'm...we're doing it for them. The bigger the audience the more excited we get. The better the audience response, the more the actors feed on it. It's the excitement of entertaining, amusing, suspending belief and eliciting emotions from the audience. It's the audience, the people, that we want to charm, or shock, or amuse. It's a magic act, we make you believe that you're in another place, and involve you in someone else's story. I know it's only an amusing little farce we're doing, but this audience has turned off their televisions sets and come out to see people in their own community suddenly become 19th century characters right before their eyes. We pulled them into the story, made them laugh, chuckle and suspend their belief. You're right I love getting out there in front of that audience!

When the real Donna Lucia and Ella finally make their appearance, it's a bit of a surprise. All this funny play stuff going on with these college gents. Striding on stage as Donna Lucia, I felt very proud, chin in air. The audience rustling stopped cold. What's this? I heard someone quietly say, "Uh, oh!" Yes, those boys are in trouble now. Amazingly I felt my shoulders doing back just a fraction more. Yep, this is the real Donna Lucia, folks. Now let the fun really begin.

It was great. Not my best performance, but awfully good! All those weeks,  months of rehearsals, and for the first time we heard real laughs, ahhs, oohs, and sighs. The gestures, and words, and flashing eyes really were communicating to the audience! Responses!!! What a great feeling.

The play went great. We were into Act III before we knew it. We do an extremely fast costume change backstage. I was just putting on my last pieces of jewelry went our cue came. As with most comedy, pacing and timing is very important. We knocked almost seven minutes off our best rehearsal time. It was flowing fast and furious and the laughs were coming. I thought the laughter of the audience might throw me off, but it didn't, I just played off of it. I was especially worried about my final scene where I would usually start cracking up with laughter during rehearsals, but I played it to the hilt without a hint of a giggle.

Go to black. End of performance. Curtain calls. Flowers for some, (not for moi, she said in a pout!) And then milling with the audience. Friends and acquaintances were all smiles and giggles. It was fun. Took me a couple of hours to unwind. But guess what??!!! We get to do it again tonight! How I love this stuff!

Yours still flying high,
Suzanne & Cassis (I also told her she was great when she finally came home!)

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