The European Premiere of Peter Powers

Cast B had its time to shine onstage today in our premiere! We arrived at the Surgeon's Hall venue in heavy rain, though no company member was deterred! We smiled as we heard stories of Conor and Dan running up to busses and slapping the wet flyers on the windows so they would stick. Our near flawless load in of the set - cleaning the house, hanging the blinds/AC unit, setting up the furniture and table props - gave us more confidence. As the rest of Cast B and I waited backstage, we heard the audience pour in. For an early morning show on a rainy day, 88 butts is great!! With the backing of a 4 star review, we headed on stage. Though we had some line problems, the show drew many laughs from the audience. Nick Muoio almost made everyone on stage break character when he "whispered" to Nicole's Russian after a rant "Go back to Nicaragua!" We'll be ready for you next time, Nick. And sorry, Sabrina, for slapping your ass. My character was in the moment.

From our performance, I loaded the bus back to Pollock Halls, changed and headed out to lunch with Abby, Nicole, and Hunt along with others. I ended up immensely enjoying my Subway sandwich in an ally to escape the downpour!

We then shared a taxi to Hitler! The Musical with Kalyn. Unfortunately, they were sold out, and only Abby, Nick Banks, Thomas and I had the pleasure of viewing one of the funniest shows I've seen. The show starred 14 women and one man who all worked as actors putting on an autobiographical musical, with direction, of course from Hitler (played by a woman). Whenever someone on stage was Hitler, they would put on the 'moustache' and do their bit, which ranged from Hitler's memories of his self-concious hairless, pre-pubecent self, to his rejection from Art School, to his rejection in the army. In the end, he couldn't remember anything that happened from around 1939-1946 (Weird, huh?). Turns out, before he killed himself, the Art School made a mistake, and he went on to paint the greatest works of art the world knows!

Abby then took me to a show called What it Feels Like, which involved a sub-concious journey through a man's mind after he has been involved in a car crash. Though I thought the writing was extremely poor, the two main actors were great.

Quick dinner back at Pollock Halls, and then we were off to the other side of town to see a South Carolina high school's production of "Leader of the Pack," a jukebox musical featuring pop songs from the 1960's. As a whole, we really enjoyed it, and it was a major change from the other shows we've seen. We shared a bus on the way back to Pollock Halls and gave them our flyers (which some of them left on the bus...)

OH! Earlier, I saw the actress from the show Bash handing out flyers for her show. Abby and I told her how much everyone was blown away by their show. She wanted a flyer to our show, also! It's really great how in this community of performers, everyone will take the time to come (or at least try) to see each other's shows. Lots of performers get in for free, which confirms that the Fringe festival is not about turning a profit (and most shows don't), but about sharing your love of theater and what you have to offer to the world.

I also recounted the entire trailer of The Rise of the Planet of the Apes for the bus as a warm up.

I think the other groups thought I was insane...