The play I am currently in opened up last Saturday and on Monday morning, a review of the production was on the front page of the Arts Section in the San Francisco Chronicle. We went from a cast of 13 performing previews to an audience less than our cast count to now, consistently sold out shows. As we literally have invested blood, sweat and tears into this production, this is a big payoff.
It is quite a high energy show. I myself get raped, get killed, kill my baby, and get my baby killed. I also sing and have sex with my brother on stage. Every night holds a new layer of depth and every night, a new layer of superficial skin gets ripped off somewhere on my body due to the intensity of the fight scenes. We run fight calls every night before show time but to no avail. Last night I slammed my hand so hard on the floor, a single line of blood clots developed on top of my pinkie. My left contact also shot out of my eye after my face crashed into the back of an actor during the rape scene and I was left to perform the rest of the three hour plus show half blind. I have really, really bad vision.
The show has been extended a week and will run until the 27th of July. The best thing about theatre is the opportunity to work on so many different projects with so many different people but when the play is good and the cast is truly an ensemble led by a strong director, it is such a lesson in the impermanence of authentically good moments in your life.
Here are some links to recent reviews of the show
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/14/DDHF11MJSU.DTL
http://ebar.com/arts/art_article.php?sec=theatre&article=417
http://www.examiner.com/x-428-SF-Theater-Examiner~y2008m7d18-Blood-shame-and-history-fill-Fishers-Ishi