On Saturday, seven members of WriteOn Joliet performed our original writings in a radio-style show at the downtown branch of the Joliet Public Library using nearly the same scripts as the first show at the Bicentennial Park Theatre in Joliet.
I say "nearly" because each performance is unique unto itself with parts of it specific to the venue, author availability, and up coming events.
And, of course, we learned a few things this time around.
1. We learned that we can adapt our readings to the cast. Two members had family medical emergencies, so we pulled one of my sons into the emcee role. That left an vacant spot for "rigor and mortis." So we pulled a family friend into that role. We dropped the sound effects. And then we divided up the other parts, moving from an eight-person show to a seven-person show.
2. We learned that practice really does make perfect, especially with my niece (who has a strong theater background) coaching the practices.. We easily adapted to a new space with less technology and only needed one rehearsal to do it (and a third member couldn't make even that). We were slightly less polished on show day, perhaps, but the delivery was still bordering on excellent.
3. We also rewrote quite a bit of the emcee script for the venue and the commercials to update events and circumstances.
4. We learned that the show has an audience, even if (for now) that audience is small while we struggle to get the word out. Barbara Eberhard of "Stories R Us" came out twice (in April and on Saturday). And David Kump, who spontaneously took photos during Act 2, praised the quality of the show during intermission, even stressing that praise by adding, "You are better than you think you are."
"You are better than you think you are."
Those words will ring in our ears for a long, long, long time.
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