best blog title ever: Drama, Improv, and VD

There was so much Drama yesterday, I'm still In shock.

After practice a bunch of us went to Kit Kat for 1/2 priced martinis. We order and get our first drink, consider the menu, talk; you know, we're hanging out. Then a drag show started. Which was a little odd because there wasn't really a stage. So this drag queen just goes from table to table serenading people.

She gets to our table of 8. Ben, Ross, Michael, and Myself turn our attention to the drag queen and enjoy. The rest of our party, however, did not. The kept talking, rather loudly actually.

I smile and pretend to be even more engaged by her performance as to make up for my rude friends. Yeah, they were rude. No, they didn't have to pay attention to her, but they could have lowered their voices a bit. She was right in front of us. Performing.

I'm a performer so I complete understand.

She then, whilst still lip syncing, goes up to my friend James and with a mere hand motion, in a cutesy friendly manner, tells him to shut the fuck up. He ignores her and she continues performing. For some reason, the conversation betwixt the Not-Paying-Any-Attention-To-The-Drag-Queen members of our party becomes even louder. (not on purpose, they just got excited about what they were talking about)

At this point I thought to myself, we're going to get kicked out.

I even wanted to lean over to Michael and tell him, but I didn't because I didn't want to be rude to the queen, because she was still in front of us. Performing.

She then bangs her microphone on our 8 top table three times, Yes, BANGS her mic 3 times, and screams, "I AM PERFORMING!!!!!"

She continues, "I AM PERFORMING. I AM PERFORMING HERE, NO, YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION, BUT YOU COULD AT LEAST KEEP YOUR VOICES DOWN A LITTLE."

Silently, I concur.

James then proceeds to tell the drag queen off. They get into a shouting match, "You need to get the fuck out of my face" "Fuck you mother fucker" "I'm going to get you fired bitch" etc. etc. etc.

Finally, after what seemed like hours to me, some Kit Kat staff came to our table and dragged the drag queen away. It took 3 of them.

At this point the manager and James start arguing. They weren't screaming, but it was still uncomfortable. The manager said, "Sorry, she just takes it personally." James said, "no this is not acceptable, she harassing your costumers" etc. etc. etc.

We decided to leave. Some of the guys said, "We shouldn't even pay, lets just go." To which I said, finally breaking my silence, "Listen, you guys can do whatever you want, but I'm going to pay my portion."

At the end the manager offered to get us all another round, but we were leaving. Then he said, "Okay, don't worry about your bill."

I think everyone was at fault here. Really, the people that weren't listening should have at least lowered their voices. Also, we were all the way in the back in a separated room with only 2 other guys besides us. (they weren't paying much attention to her either) So the drag queen could have easily went back to the main room and not created a scene.

But wait, there's more.

We ended up bar hopping that night. Went to Cocktails, Scarlet and Sidetracks.

At Sidetracks, I'm waiting for the bartender to serve me. I'm in the "glass bar." It's a pretty long bar and the bartender is at the end. He then, rudely, weaves me to come to him. I put up my hands as saying, fuck this, and go to another bar.

I get my drinks and go find my friends. A little later 2 security guys come up to me and say, "You've been reported by a Bartender." They were going to kick me out. I was like, "What? Ohhhhh, okay, I know what you're talking about. " I told them what happened. I said, "There was absolutely no exchanged of words at all. He was so far away from me for us to even argue. Also, I'm the paying costumer here. He needs to come to me."

They agree and say, "Please just do us a favor and stay away from his bar." I agreed, though I probably shouldn't have. I mean, I didn't do anything wrong and this old, needs to put his shirt back on, fag wanted to throw me out because I sought out better service.

What a night.

However, today is Monday and I love Mondays

I'm in the Improv for Actors program at The Second City. I started on Jan 12th. A new year resolution type of thing.

My last class, a week ago today, was by far my favorite class EVER. I was in school for a long time and I don't remember loving a specific day in class as much as I did last Monday.

Our assignment was to make a puppet out of house hold materials and create a character. We sat in front of the class and our puppet took questions from the class. It was hysterical. I had never had so much fun in any a class before.

Everyone did good job. I really love my class. I really really love my classmates. They're so chill, fun, and talented.

It's also nice being in a "class" again. I haven't been in a classroom since 2006. I've always told my acting students you're either auditioning, in a show, or you're in a class. I'm taking my own advice.

(On a side note: Last week I went on 3 auditions; only one of them set up by my Agent. I tried to Audition for Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I sat for 7 hours and didn't get into the audition. They hadn't auditioned in Chicago for a long time they offer a good contract so everyone came out. Literally, every actor in Chicago was there. There was even a waiting list for Equity actors. A lot of people were turned away, including myself after waiting for seven hours. Ahhhhh, Living The Dream.)

My puppet's name was Ricardo. His name was all I pre planned before class. The rest I made up on the spot.

He's 47 years old, works as a cook at TGIFRIDAYS and he's a womanizer. He even sung to a girl in class.

For Valentines day we decided to not give ourselves gifts so we can have a luxurious night in Chicago. We had a romantic and luxurious date at the IHOP.

Nah, I'm just kidding.

We went to dinner at Nick's FishMarket and then to The Baton Lounge for a show. It was a perfect evening. The food was amazing and the show was a lot of fun.