Sunday, January 23, 2005
Extreme theater: week one
Here is what my left leg has paid for all the fun of the first week of Point Break LIVE! Inner:
Outer:
My right leg looks about the same as the left, with the addition of a gross strawberry on the knee, which I will spare you.
We had not tried creating the indoor monsoon or used any other actual liquids in rehearsal. On opening night, we found the area of interlocking mats in the to cushion falls scatters all over when the stage is wet with beer, water, and fake blood. We fixed the change in physics by putting a rug below the mats and taping everything down at the edges.
Notable unexpected danger we've experienced,
- The fan clamped to the piano (think: the propeller of the airplane) fell, sending up a shower of real electrical sparks and leaving a live wire on the wet stage.
- The pit of the stage was a lot closer than I thought once, so the audience was treated to an extra fall into the laps of the front row patrons at the end of a roll.
- Something went wrong with my harness while suspended from the ceiling (read: while I was skydiving) and I ended up suspended with only one shoulder strap.
- During the same performance I had my "harness malfunction", I saw an expression on the Keanu's face that could only mean one thing: his harness' strap around his crotch was making his "family jewels" excruciatingly uncomfortable. The other actors tried to get me down first that night as everybody but me is worried the harness and wire - which in my estimation could hold a couple tons - will break. I was motioning to get the Keanu down as I don't think anybody saw that hews in pain except for me. He lived through it, it just took him a while to compose himself by gasping for air. I improvised through the dialogue until the poor soul regained the composure to read off the cue cards. He was a champ!
// posted by Erik @ 1/23/2005 09:34:00 AM
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