On the Dark Side of Twilight: Kendal at Oberlin

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Man. That was the longest load out we've done. The three of us have gotten load-out to a science, and with assistance we can get it done in about an hour. Tonight I think we clocked in a 1:45. Just taking it easy. Because honestly, and just between the two of us, we're a little tired.

Tonight we were hosted by Kendal at Oberlin, and thank you, Kendal! We had a sizable crowd, apparently there are those of a certain age who have been turned off by the promotional materials, not just here but at other retirement communities. This is a good thing, I think, because I'd rather people knew what they were in for.

However, there were a larger than normal number of people who came from the surrounding community to attend the show. You know who I mean. TEENAGERS!!!

Or maybe college students. Fans of Twilight. There was one guy there who raised his hand admitting he'd read the book. I was proud of him.

And the table lives! Life is good. We even got dinner, ordered from a menu! Thanks again, Kendal.

Tomorrow: A high school!

Double Heart: The Kendal

Kendal at Oberlin is one of my favorite stops on the tour. For one, I get to see old family friends. Joanne and Don took us "out" for dinner ... as it happened, all four of us arrived, without even discussing it, an full hour before call. So we had time to set up, and then relax, prior to the performance. As I was saying, Joanne was right there waiting for us when we arrived, she and my mother grew up together as little girls in Lakewood and it is a treat having family to receive you after a long drive.

One other thing I like about touring there is that this is Oberlin. There's a certain tribe that congregates in that community, and the residents at the Kendal are well-educated, many of them big fans of Shakespeare ... and they are opinionated. People can comment on the script all they want, and I am ordinarily prepared, I have confidence in the work. Here I am often caught off-guard.

The feedback in general, was not just high, but extraordinarily so. Men who profess to adore Shakespeare were very happy with the words and the meter, and told us so. There was a general appreciation for all of the fun, the action, the passion present in the play ... the mentioned passion on Sunday at Clague, too. Not sure I can take credit for that, the most of the really intense bits have few words, it's up to Emily and James to sell it.

But hey, there was that one kid who came up to us after the performance while we were packing the van at ECHS who had to ask if that kiss was for real. Because it looked real. Like they really meant it. I had to excuse myself and leave James on his own to sheepishly mutter it out.

One woman last night, asked why I chose to provide all the "low" characters with working class English accents, and wasn't I making some negative comment about class. She called Pene a "dirty old man" and I hate myself now for not protesting that "he's very clean." I also regret not mentioning Spartacus. I regret a lot of things. I did say, "Some of my best friends are English," but immediately regretted it.

Lisa has been beginning the discussions by asking whether or not Double Heart works as a believable prequel to Much Ado, which is all well can good when the answer is a resounding "yes."  But I could see one attendee shaking her head quite resolutely. When asked why she did not believe so, she said that the Beatrice in my play is certainly not the Beatrice from Shakespeare, however, she refused to elaborate.

I can guess why. Emily is not sure she agrees with me. My wife is absolutely sure I am correct. You will have to come see a performance and decide for yourself.

Tonight we travel to Lakewood Public Library, performance at 7:00 PM. Please join us.

Styles: Kendal at Oberlin

The tour is a week old tonight. Six performances in seven days. Yesterday, prior to the Clague performance I took the opportunity to use touch-up paint provided by Terry to hide dings in the fireplace, and on the wallpaper. The fireplace is made of foam, so when it gets scratched or scarped, the scar is a bright BLUE.

Adding these corrections has to be done before a show, because that is when it the set is available -- all other times it is stacked up in the van -- so it can dry during the show, and not go back into the van wet. Tonight a small chunk of the moulding was chipped off, so I immediately got a bottle of wood glue and some tape so that could dry and be ready for tomorrow.

Tonight was another extremely pleasant visit to Oberlin. They have a relatively shallow stage, but we used our extra pipe to post the drapes to either side of the stage for costumes and props and sound, and leave the space behind the doors entirely bare. And it worked very well! I am very happy to have a company of five that can discuss a production issue like this one and come to an easy consensus. It actually felt like we had more room tonight than we have in several performances.

And once more, there was not an available seat in the house. We went right up to the fire code without going over. A warm, appreciative audience which is what we have come to expect from Kendal at Oberlin.

Tomorrow evening we will present at one of my favorite venues, Olde Town Hall Theatre in North Ridgeville. It is an awesome little space, on the second floor of this charming, historic, former town hall. Holds maybe 150 or so people. Perhaps some of the folks turned away from Clauge will come and join us.

The Olde Town Hall performance will begin at 7 PM, and is free and open to the public. Please join us!