Backstage Pass

In theory, it is crucial for a performer to have a properly set up performance space. In our experience, the same is true, provided you replace “crucial” with “a chimera.” ("a horrible or unreal creature of the imagination; a vain or idle fancy")

Mayb we'd be better prepared for acting in the real world if there were fewer theater classes like “Improvisational Movement” and more like “How Not To Cry Because So Few People Came To Your Show In Pittsburgh and It’s Cold Out.”

Then again, we didn't take theater classes. And that’s a good thing, because we don’t get to perform in very many theaters. Frequently, we'll show up for a gig only to find that the “auditorium” is not only a cafeteria, but just a corner of it, the rest of it being roped off for cleaning. During our show.

Our most recent “backstage” was made from mostly empty bookshelves, wheeled together. There I found this text. Judging from the font size, who do you think Kenneth Branagh thinks is more important: Kenneth Branagh or William Shakespeare?



Seeing this book I couldn't help but think how much less impressive the Ghost of Hamlet's Father would have been crawling out from behind the salad bar.