A Packed House, A Silent House

Tonight was a fun, odd evening of shows. There was a great crowd for Schwa because it was a new team's first show- Sonis. They had a good show, it was nice to see my friends Ryan and Ben on the cab stage, although it was a tad nerve infused as new shows tend to be.

There was nine of us for Schwa and because someone started saying "nine!" in a German accent we decided to do something German inspired. I flippantly suggested German expressionism, one of my favorite theater styles I studied in college, and everyone jumped on it even though it seemed Jeff and I were the only ones who actually knew what it was.

Our set was very weird and presentational. Lots of melodramatic pronouncements directed at the audience interspersed with scenes about death and futility. We at one point went through the nine lives of Danny's wheelchair bound character Donny ending with a chess game with Death. It was a lot of fun and a nice challenge to play within a certain genre. The audience dug it I think, they seemed on board and into all the bizarre transitions and content.

The Prime show afterwards was a different story. There were only about 8-12 people in the audience, not unheard of but relatively rare for our slot, small crowds have never really bothered me especially if I'm playing with people I love. We almost always win over small or reticent crowds because we play with an energy and volume that fills the room. Tonight was a rare exception.

After the first minute or so of the show we started ramping things up and gaining speed, doing fun physicals and playing multiple characters. I was having a blast and noticed laughs from time to time, not a lot of them, but I didn't think anything of it. When the lights went out and our show ended there was a thunderous silence. A good five seconds of no applause, no nothing. It felt like a full minute. Shock hit me in the face. Eventually there was a smattering of pained applause, we took our bow and got the hell out of there.

I found it kind of absurdly amusing. It was not as if the show was bad, it was in fact good, we put a lot of energy in it, so it was just the night or the crowd or the cold front that settled in. It was a nice reminder that most things are out of my control. I had a great time with my friends and that is all I can do, no sense in dwelling on it, just an interesting anomaly, another experience. Brett was the most bothered by it I think. He's one of those guys that is just so naturally funny, that audiences just inherently love, that he's use to getting laughs all the time so when he doesn't he's mystified.

It was a great night that ran the gambit, from energetic excitement to aggressive muteness.