End of a theater run.

G'day Everyone.


What a busy week I had! From the heart break of last Tuesday, especially on Thursday night, nobody in the deaf community showed up. Not even the interpreter for the deaf! Boy they missed out on all the visual gags that were planned on that Thursday night show. Well, we left some gags in the show and took out the rest. With Thursday's show: we had about 75 error free. Friday: We went to 85-90 percent error free. Saturday: it was 90 percent error free show. By Sunday, the last show: it was a 99 percent error free show of bloopers. But gosh! We all worked together as a team!! We banded as one cast, one performance. It didn't matter if everyone was hearing and I was the only deaf person there. We worked great!

Ever enjoyed the meet and greet of the theater goers? It was quite fun. Made a few friends. After the last show and the meet/greet was over, I look up my infamous line of "Let's get him!" and said "Let's get the set destroyed!". We all made a mad dash to the green room where we changed out of our costumes and then ran back up to the stage. "Death to the DRAGON set" was the chant. I was amazed to see that a Stage set that took a few days to construct and build came down within an hour of working together! WOW!! That was fast. Every thing was put away. The stage was cleaned up.

In the end I was told to formally close the set. Because I was a newbie in the theater group, I was told to just go to the center and say: "The show's over. Lights down please." So I stood in the spotlight. Rather than saying it alone in voice, I did it in voice and sign. I said: "The dragon has flown. The story has returned to the book. It's time to close. I ask the lights be down please". Believe it or not, that was a better choice of words.

So we celebrated the end with balloons, flowers, and cards among our selves. Afterwards, we gathered at the home of the Stage Manager (a tradition I found out) for the cast party. It was a nice time. Including when it came to the time to cut the cake, Alec (Ulrick, the young boy) and I (as Charles), used our favorite lines: "off with the dragon's head!" And of course, the head of the dragon's cake was dramatically cut off! :-)

Well, as it's Monday, I'm asking myself of what's my next future in theater? Truth is, depends on when I can get into my next audition soon. It's been an amazing experience for me. Now that I know how hearing theater works as well as Deaf Theater, there's one thing I will say: Deaf theater is a lot more fun and some day I hope to be on a stage where I can use sign language as well as my voice.

Enjoy the week. I'm getting back into the blog world. There's postings to be done.

Till next post, Semper FI.

P.S. I earned a nick name now. It's not just "Sherlock" among my deaf friends, but now "Charles" among my hearing friends. And believe me, that M*A*S*H* 4077 character I often look up to is Charles Emerson Winchester III! He and I have the same bald spot but almost the same personality. We both love wine and classical music. :-)

Laters!

I've posted my pictures of the show on facebook for my friends to read. As I take the experience of working with the hearing community, I'm going to be intending to audition for another show and try again.