Monday, January 10
The Make-Out Queen is a piece I wrote. I am also the only person who has ever performed it. I’ve been working on it for two years off and on, as a writer…as an actor… When I first started working on it I had no fear or panic about the writing… If I wanted to change something I did. The past two times I’ve put the piece up I have made alterations during the rehearsal process. But this summer those alterations really came to a close. And for this performance, for CONNECT FIVE, my director has allowed me very little room to edit because of the brevity of the rehearsal process. I have not had time to try out a myriad possibilities before finding the one I like best. Because of this I had a really hard time letting go of the writer in me and giving over to the actor because I couldn’t trust that I was saying exactly the best words I could ever possibly choose. Because of this my first run I was really hanging out right above the text…and working really hard…revving a lot in 4th gear…pushing the point instead of just leaning into the writing and being clear…about what I have already written. The thing about The Make-Out Queen is that it shines best when it’s easy- as in the audience has no idea how hard I’m working.
The part that amazes me over and over as an actor is the amount of concentration, energy, focus, sleep, warm up, food, this show takes. I talk non-stop for 37 minutes, and every single performance I re-commit to the importance of what I’m saying. I re-commit by re-investing in the audience. My show does not exist without an audience. They are my dearest, nearest companions without whom I have no quest for magic that needs completion.
With previews up and over, an exhausting mind-numbing tech process complete, I look forward to investigating every performance in a fresh light, and I take these next two weeks of this run as a challenge to completely hang up my hat as a writer and act the living daylights out of The Make-Out Queen. See you out there!!