On the Dark Side of Twilight: Olde Towne Hall Theatre

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

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

That was crazy.

I think we may have set an attendance record for the outreach tour at Olde Towne Hall tonight. Over 70 people turned out! And what an incredible mix, kids and teens and adults young and old, it was incredible. And they were excited for an evening of vampire fun, let me tell you.

I don't know who started it, them or us, but there was a silly energy in the air. When I start "hypnotizing" Maria in the second arc, Emily got all sleepy and bedroom-eyed and I almost lost it.

During the Nosferatu segment, I actually drooled blood down my chin.

And Dusten was on freaky-fire, his timing was great all night but by the final scene, he was just milking it, and I mean that in the best way possible. He's never had so much sex in his voice when he's telling Lucy how much he wants to cut her and drink her blood. He's also never sounded so stupid in the final scene.

I don't know if we are giddy with all the touring or if we are finally relaxing into our performances. I think each of us are trying to get everything we can out of this show before it closes on Thursday.

Dynamite crowd, great discussion afterward. We ask (sometimes) why the vampire remains a compelling figure, and several times, including tonight, the "bad boy" thing comes up. But there was also some discussion after we all broke for punch and cookies about theology.

Someone at LAK had asked why there was so much talk about God in the third arc.  And then, of course, Michael was asking about comparisons to the Eucharist on Sunday (thanks for that, Michael.)

Today I had a nice talk with a man following the show who wanted to know if I were a person of faith; if I were Christian, to be specific. What happened on stage tonight made him feel as though I were. The way issues of faith were handled, he assumed I was. This comes to me as a relief, because though this is a satire, I am not really comfortable with denigrating or demeaning anyone's faith. Anyone's.

It's almost embarrassing the amount of help we have received lately, loading out the set. But I am grateful for it. We had GLTF company members, and students from Elyria Catholic who returned to see the show again, helping us lug everything down the big staircase. I am too wrung out and sore to say no.

Wow. This tour has been so much fun, I can't tell you. Did I mention we were performing on the set of Oklahoma?

Double Heart: Olde Towne Hall Theatre

Backstage!

Last night it was Olde Towne Hall Theatre in North Ridgeville. We love this space, all of us, you can read previous accounts of experiences here, here and here. Last night, however, was one for the record books. Literally, we will consult the record books and find that we had the largest turnout ever last night at Olde Towne Hall, a charming venue that looks like a classic Midwestern opera house.

Deb Wentz went out of her way to really push the show this year, and as our visit fell neatly within a run of Kiss Me Kate she was able to educate their regular audience about the tour before every performance. There was also a class from Baldwin Wallace and also -- very special for us -- company members from Great Lakes Theater's upcoming production of Much Ado About Nothing!

 

Post-show talkback

There was a giddy energy last night, excitement spreading from the crowd to us and back to the crowd. Emily's boyfriend Benjamin was on hand, and reflected what many who have seen the show earlier in the tour have said, that it has improved since the show has opened, and that is definitely true. There are many, many moments which were impossible to create in our dinky rehearsal hall, without an audience. We close in two days, and as they say, by then we should be ready to open.

Steven, Annie and Katelyn
Actor-teachers unite!

Styles: Olde Town Hall Theatre

Michael last performed the outreach tour in 2009, three years ago, but remembered correctly that it is 26 steps up from the ground floor to the auditorium at Olde Town Hall Theatre in North Ridgeville.

It is however, worth the climb (and they now have an ADA compliant chair lift) to visit this intimate hall for a performance, and always one of my favorite stops on the tour because of it. There were more pleasant surprises, as they have expanded the width of their stage and the entire set of The Bells Are Ringing -- now playing -- had been packed away for our performance.

Turnout, again, was very high, much higher than we expect at this venue, and plenty stayed afterward for the talkback. Dame Agatha has fans everywhere, it seems, and Olde Town Hall was full of them tonight. The show went very well, the audience was quite vocal in their appreciation and the post-show discussion felt very relaxed and comfortable. Tonight seemed to be the first night the discussion was largely about Christie, Poirot, issues relating to the stagecraft involved in a mystery play, and differences between this adaptation and the original book.

Students who already saw the show at Elyria Catholic brought friends who had not, and many young people were on hand to help us load the set back down those 26 steps. It was another highly enjoyable evening in Lorain County.

Tomorrow we visit our first venue in Summit County this year, the Cuyahoga Valley Art Center. Last year was our first at this site. CVAC is a small space, which features art instruction and appreciation and its own gallery. When we arrived last year, one class was wrapping up and as we departed another had begun! There were only about forty seats, but they were mostly filled and by a very appreciative audience. I am curious as to how many will be with us this year, now that word has hopefully spread about the Great Lakes outreach tour and this production in particular.

Here's something awesome -- in anticipation of the production, CVAC is featuring a collection of works inspired by mystery titles, which will be on display at the center all this month! The performance at CVAC begins at 5:30 PM tomorrow, Wednesday, February 22 and is free and open to the public. Please join us!