Erasing the "Tape"

Well, folks, I just wrapped up working on a new playshop festival, where I was in a show called The Sex Tape Play. (Don't try to google anything for it, unless you are absolutely sure that your safe-search function is turned solidly to "ON.") Over five weeks, we worked with the director and playwright on a script that was constantly in-progress, going from the original draft all the way through version 9.1. Along the way, we did three public performances of the play, each time going out with our scripts in hand and performing the show as if it were something of a finished piece. A Q-and-A followed after each show, and the conversations resulted in the playwright making some changes and coming in with new scripts at the next rehearsal, based largely or only in part on the comments made by the audience.

I had worked with this playwright in January, where we I had a lot of fun working on Golden Ladder. In that show, we hardly ever had an "audience," and the work each week was only for the people involved in the play. We did have two semi-public readings of it, but they emerged almost as afterthoughts. With Sex Tape, however, those public performances were always in mind. As much as we would try not to focus on the upcoming shows, an element of them always worked its way into our rehearsals and discussions. Going into the first show, I actually felt over-rehearsed. I'm one of the only actors who will usually admit to such a thing, but I will always prefer to rehearse too little than too much. Now, the right of amount of rehearsal is even better, and I want to make that clear.

The shows themselves were a lot of fun, but I almost wish that this process would have been more focused on putting up a final version of the show. That line of thought was present throughout the process, but everyone insisted that it wasn't about the product. Interesting work, a good time, and I'm glad that I took the opportunity. But this time wasn't quite as satisfying as the same process earlier in the year with Golden Ladder.