Taking The Good, the Bad, and the Monkey to my hometown was a success on all fronts! I’m still so touched and overwhelmed by the number of people that came out to see my show. There are about 140 seats in the lovely Bunbury Theatre and I was hoping to fill half of them. So I was delightfully surprised when we were just a few seats shy of selling out last weekend! I felt very good about the performance.
Since this is a one-woman show about being single (involving sock monkeys, no less), I recognize that some folks may not be exactly expecting great theatre. Many, many folks came up to me after the show remarking with great surprise, “Wow. That was really good! I mean, you’re really good!”* I am most flattered, however, when audience members tell me that they saw a lot of themselves in the show. Not only is it a splendid co-validation (Cool, neither of us are crazy or alternately, Cool, we’re both crazy in the same way), it’s what I’m always after in my theatre–being awkwardly, vulnerably, unmistakably real, and connecting to that “real” in everyone else. Isn’t that where true tragedy–and therefore comedy–reside? Following the performance, the splendid folks at the Bunbury invited me back and I’ll definitely take them up on it. Hooray!
Now, I’m getting my monkeys in a row for our three Philly shows next month! I’ll perform the show multiple times in one weekend (and two will be on the same day)! I’ve performed three or four ensemble shows in a row before–and even over thirty hours straight in an improv-a-thon (although admittedly, that particular situation ended with me on stage in a sombrero laughing and creating a dance to honor the bosom). But performing my solo show multiple times in one weekend is something new to me. It’s such an energetic and emotional journey to perform the show…I’ll have to make sure to take my vitamins when I’m in Philly.
*The monkeys insist that audience members who have high expectations will still enjoy the show.