Adults are People, Too: Theatre Anecdotes involving Adults
Prompters
We had a whole boatload of prompters...literally. We were performing onboard the Willamette Queen Sternwheeler and the audience member who played “Russell” was having a great time, but he just didn’t seem to notice his cue-line. Everyone else figured it out quick enough and whenever they heard us use the word “generous,” the audience would look at him and whisper, “Russell.” The audience was rather quick through the whole show actually because they helped our audience-played character “Zach,” with his lines. So Russell had the audience telling him when to talk and Zach had the audience telling him his lines. It worked out beautifully!
Mud Men
Christopher has delivered a lot of singing telegrams to women as the nerd. He is--unfortunately?--really good at it. He comes in as if he’s the blind date, the admirerer from long ago. He sings with gusto, shares the little details that were given to him previously and then to get out of the date and knowing they are, he asks, “You’re not married, are you?” The answer is affirmative. Chris responds, “You are? Where he is? What’s his name?” The answer is often “His name is Mud.” The words after are a little frightening: she looks at her husband and says, “You are DEAD!”
Birthday Party
The man on the phone asked about prices for a clown. He asked what the clown does. He asked about a date availability. He asked if we knew a DJ. That seemed odd. “How old are the children at the party?” we asked. “It’s for me. I’m turning 50.” It was a great party.
Intimidating
One of the audience–played characters for Done In Down Under is Robert Vendetti, a croc skin buyer. This particular show had a group of people who were “game” and they were having a lot of fun. Our Mr. Vendetti was a tall man, quiet, but not shy. His group was having fun with him which must have spurred him on. The character’s only line to any question was “I don’t have to answer that.” Marian as Detective Tommie was questioning him about the crime. With each answer he got more assertive, until finally he stood up, towering over Marian, to say his line emphatically. Marian, not to be intimidated, stood on the only chair that was empty: the one he had just vacated.
Changing Voices
It’s happened more than once: one of our male audience members was playing a part but he would forget to say his line. A quick jab in the arm by his date would remind him to call out his line. One poor man’s arm had to have a good–sized bruise halfway through a show. But the best was when his date, too impatient to wait for him to say his line, called it out herself. We played up on the “ventriloquist” trick.
We had a whole boatload of prompters...literally. We were performing onboard the Willamette Queen Sternwheeler and the audience member who played “Russell” was having a great time, but he just didn’t seem to notice his cue-line. Everyone else figured it out quick enough and whenever they heard us use the word “generous,” the audience would look at him and whisper, “Russell.” The audience was rather quick through the whole show actually because they helped our audience-played character “Zach,” with his lines. So Russell had the audience telling him when to talk and Zach had the audience telling him his lines. It worked out beautifully!
Mud Men
Christopher has delivered a lot of singing telegrams to women as the nerd. He is--unfortunately?--really good at it. He comes in as if he’s the blind date, the admirerer from long ago. He sings with gusto, shares the little details that were given to him previously and then to get out of the date and knowing they are, he asks, “You’re not married, are you?” The answer is affirmative. Chris responds, “You are? Where he is? What’s his name?” The answer is often “His name is Mud.” The words after are a little frightening: she looks at her husband and says, “You are DEAD!”
Birthday Party
The man on the phone asked about prices for a clown. He asked what the clown does. He asked about a date availability. He asked if we knew a DJ. That seemed odd. “How old are the children at the party?” we asked. “It’s for me. I’m turning 50.” It was a great party.
Intimidating
One of the audience–played characters for Done In Down Under is Robert Vendetti, a croc skin buyer. This particular show had a group of people who were “game” and they were having a lot of fun. Our Mr. Vendetti was a tall man, quiet, but not shy. His group was having fun with him which must have spurred him on. The character’s only line to any question was “I don’t have to answer that.” Marian as Detective Tommie was questioning him about the crime. With each answer he got more assertive, until finally he stood up, towering over Marian, to say his line emphatically. Marian, not to be intimidated, stood on the only chair that was empty: the one he had just vacated.
Changing Voices
It’s happened more than once: one of our male audience members was playing a part but he would forget to say his line. A quick jab in the arm by his date would remind him to call out his line. One poor man’s arm had to have a good–sized bruise halfway through a show. But the best was when his date, too impatient to wait for him to say his line, called it out herself. We played up on the “ventriloquist” trick.