IMFourPlay

Taking the Training Wheels Off: Rehearsal Number Twenty-Four

Our first paying audience tonight, and it was a good one. Last year, the show suffered a little from sections of our initial audiences not expecting to see a show of this style upon arriving at the theatre (if you're in the mood for Duel of Fools, FourPlay can be quite a sell - some people will do anything to avoid a musical, let alone an improvised one.) While this is perhaps uncontrollable, I was heartened to find, upon arriving at the theatre, that many people had specifically asked for our show when they booked their tickets. A good sign.

While Darren and I returned to the stage tonight, this was really Kate and Chase's first foray into this new and improved version of the show before an audience consisting of more than their fellow company members. (I only have photos from the SAK preview at the moment, so that's last night's company looking a little devilish on the right!) We had a really fun array of storylines emerge. Chase was a half-keyboard operating computer programmer sharing a tiny office space with Gunther, a Germanic perfectionist. Darren was a newly-married bar-tender with an overly suspicious wife and suspicion-generating co-working waitress. Kate was a van-residing mother with a penchant for Walmart, a rambunctious daughter and a potentially villainous benefactor. I was a community-college dropout with adulterous desires for my former professor's recently divorced wife. It was one of those nights that any chosen character could have resulted in a fun-filled second act.

Jim and Keith have really ramped up the challenge-level coming from the pit, with multiple parodies and style pieces this evening. These numbers are clear audience favorites. I particularly enjoyed a parody of "The Sound of Silence (Stalking)" with Kate where our secret rendezvous was interrupted by her ex-husband and his dialect-shifting lackey. The play level is definitely strong--getting stronger every show to date, and I so enjoyed my fellow company members' work. It's easy with a show that is as structurally complex as FourPlay to fall into a work ethic, but as Dave Russell aptly noted to me in a conversation this afternoon, the sense of playful discovery is crucial to the audience's involvement and enjoyment.

Our act one ran a little long today, as did our intermission due to more sound and microphone issues (there's that guy Mike again...), so we wrapped up around 11:50, although our actual run time was reasonably close to the ballpark. Most musicals are easily in excess of two hours, but SAK audiences have been acclimatized to expect 90-100 minute shows, so we're diligently striving to move the show into this range without making it feel rushed or incomplete. (Perhaps it's worthy of noting that now that we have an audience, their laughter and applause adds a little time too!) I'm chatting (digitally) with Ron about trimming some of the intro narration now as well. Last year, we had such issues with the sound levels of the narration that many didn't hear them and, consequentially, they didn't really slow the flow of the show. When we re-recorded them again, sticking basically to the same script, I took them a little slower to allow for this. Now that this component of the sound system is less problematic, several have commented that they feel a little slow (cause they do!) We really twice-solved the problem in a round about way. I've offered Ron some possible edits as an interim fix. He's done so much generous work on the slide show (which is brilliant) that I feel awkward asking for tweaks at this stage, but this is also why we're not officially opening until next weekend so that we have an opportunity to play with the unknowns.

We had another microphone go out during the run. This is becoming the bane of the production, but is out of my control and area of expertise. I believe SAK is investigating some new possibilities. Keep your fingers crossed for us. Running a show of this nature without a backup mic is just plain scary.

I hope that Kate, Darren and Chase had at least half the fun I did with them tonight as I had a hoot!

Your sound-of-mind-and-body-but-microphonically-challenged Director, David C.