We ended up going to Couch House Theatre to run the show on our feet without costumes. Which was helpful, but not the same as running it on the actual set. Up to now, we've had to rehearse at 2 other indoor theaters. I'm glad OSF is so well connected!
Opening went well. My first entrance was like .002 seconds late because there was a curtain in my way that had never been there, my hands are full, and the actor before me missed my cue. At curtain call, when the other comic servant and I take our bow the audience gets loud and on Sunday they even screamed for us.
I feel bad though because the female and male leads who bow after us haven't been getting that kind of reception.
After the show I also managed to completely fuck my costume up. There was a small reception and I went to grab a "glass" of wine (cheap plastic). When I lifted this generous glass of red wine up to my mouth it broke....all over my costume. RED WINE. Then when I got to the actor housing, which is also the dressing rooms. My hat fell in a puddle of mud and water.
The costume people and director just laughed. If this would have been any other organization this situation would have been terrible for me, but they JUST LAUGHED!!! Why? Because the number one rule of Ohio Shakespeare Festival is no assholes in the company. Which by the way....big news....I am now officially a company member!!! Yay (and if you interested in knowing they fixed my costume and it's all fine with not stains)
Luckily, the weather held up this first week of runs. Unluckily, the forecast was terrible which probably kept the audiences away. Usually the houses were about about 100 people and we're use to playing to 200 plus.
The Sunday night audience was the smallest, but the best. They eat everything up and laughed a lot. They laughed at places that never had gotten laughs before. It was awesome. After my first scene Lara said, "Ernie, they love you, what a great birthday present!" Oh yeah, and Sunday was also my birthday.
My day was great. My family and many best friends, both which I hadn't talked to in a while, called me. So I was on the phone most of the day. For the dinner I made some of my world famous jambalaya and some people came over before our 7:30pm call to eat. I opened presents.
Ben got me the soundtracks to In The Hieghts and The South Pacific Revival.
Andy, my housemate, got me one of my favorite movies ever The Three Amigos.
Tess gave me a 30 dollar gift certificate for the Caribou
Andrew got me a card with a half naked black guy on it and 2 dollars inside.
Tim got me a card and a picture album,
Christina, from Chicago who's visiting, got me, shot glasses, a gay pride bear, flag, and lay.
Lara got me a grab bag with a nicotine patch, some foot rubs, some cake mix, and a book called "Coffee Break with God..."
The show went fantastic for me that night and after, we went to The Square, a gay club. Ohhh, I also wore a new outfit that I had bought this week at Banana Republic. The pants were a 34. By the end of the night I kept kicking up my leg saying "34 Bitch" "34"
I was so amazed at how many people came out. When I was leaving the actor-housing with Jordan to go the bar with everyone I was like, "Oh my god, are these many people really coming out tonight?" I was expecting 3 maybe 4, including me.
Roll Call:
Andy,
Andrew,
Amy,
Christina,
Chris,
Jordan,
Richard,
Tim,
Jonathan,
Terry,
Tess,
Ryan,
Katy,
Inga,
Jeff, whom I'm in love with, and his fiancee,
Lara, whom I hate
I had such a great time. We took over the bar, it was awesome. For the most part we sat in the Wii Room and played bowling, but there was also pool and dancing. Terry B. danced!!!!!
I have to say that it was an absolutly fantastic day. Someone asked how I feel and I honestly answered:
"I don't feel old, now I just feel immature"
Here are a few photos from the evening, I took 74!
Today a review came out in the Akron Beacon Journal and it was very positive. I didn't get a huge mention, but it was good:
"As Valentine, Andy Nagraj had a solid, imperturbable presence, in comical contrast to his stage-stealing servant, Speed (Ernie Gonzalez)"
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