Keeping It Fresh

After the thrill of opening dwindles and the winter weather causes audiences to dwindle, how do you keep the energy of the company from dwindling? It's hard to get through eight shows a week (especially 3 hour epics like Les Mis) with the same passion and intensity we created and fostered back in November.

Many things affect 'energy', one of which is that theater is a collaborative art, and part of that collaboration is with the audience. Every audience is different and we feed off their energy. We've been lucky to only have a few shows where the audience was sparse. But man, there is a huge difference performing on a sleeting, gray winter Wednesday matinee with hundreds of seats left empty vs. performing on a clear Friday night when we're sold out.

The challenge, and part of our jobs is to give that Wednesday MAT audience a show just as good as the one we give that Friday EVE crowd. Ok, so how?

Well, energy in the theater is a pretty tangible thing. The whole company can feel it change. And after a 100 or so performances, I kind of have a sense memory of the energy flow of my character. Where my energy needs to be for each scene and how to give more or give less depending on the energy exchange with the audience.

How do I maintain my energy to be consistently "energetic" show to show? Sleep, eat right, work out right, physical therapy, massage, alexander technique...those are some ongoing practices. Also during the show I drink vitamin water with lots of Vitamin B, and coconut water with lots of potassium. There's always Emergen-C (in an emergency), and snacks. So that provides my body with the energy it needs to act.

Add to that my character's energy source...I often refer back to the novel before going on stage to, I find inspiration in every day events, and there's the constant inspiration I feel every time I watch/read the news about our men and women fighting, dying, and getting injured in Iraq. (Anyone catch ABC's Bob Woodruff Special? Dept. of Defense lying about numbers of wounded/treated soldiers and issuing gag orders on anyone wanting to tell the truth?!!!)

It's a challenge that all companies work on constantly. Tonight for example, with a smaller Tuesday night crowd and slower tempos, the energy backstage was dragging. So we rallied as a company, talked about it, and rose to the challenge. We inspire each other. Ah the rush of LIVE theater!