O Night Divine - 12/25/05

Staunton, VA - This has been a most unusual Christmas season. I have been struggling with playing one of the most well-known literary characters in western literature. I did not experience the end-of-semester rush and the release of semester break. I have seen no TV since Thanksgiving, and therefore no Christmas commercials. I did my share of the shopping for the family online, and so went to few stores other than for normal shopping. I wrote the family Christmas newsletter while here and sent it back home to be printed and mailed out. Today I talked with my family back in Dunkirk and my parents back in Massapequa. The snow has all but vanished. So all in all it hardly ever felt like Christmas time to me. Yet here I've been for more than three weeks engaged in telling a timeless Christmas classic to over a thousand people, wishing them a Merry Christmas after each show, and saying "Merry Christmas" over and over again (with still 6 more performances to go - sort of anticlimactic). And all day today I've felt displaced, with really nothing to do until I went to dinner at 605 Bev (the actor's house). I went for a ride in the car to get outside and walk through some mountains or by a lake, but the day was wet and rainy and not conducive to being outdoors for very long.

While all these things were unusual, they were, for the most part, not unwelcome. The difference was good. I liked being mostly alone all day on Christmas Day. It has been my tradition for many years to find a few hours for myself each Christmas Day, whether a walk on the beach when I am visiting my parents, or a walk in the woods when I am home. Winter is my most meditative season, and especially during this dark time of year. So to have the entire day free was different, but welcome at the same time. And not being bombarded with Christmas commercialism through the media was a great relief. I only wish I had had the forethought to find some place where I might have served a meal to the displaced or poor, that's all. I did not think of that in time, and I regret that.

In lieu of family celebrations we have been having company celebrations. Before the Christmas Eve performance there was much gift-giving going on. I gave everyone a $5 "Bean Buck" for coffee at the Daily Grind. I got a "Baaa Humbug" jelly bean dispenser, one where a sheep dispenses jelly beans out his butt when you press him towards the floor. I also got some sparkling cider from the Plump Sister (Andrew), who passed out Christmas goodies to one and all. and I got a lump of charcoal from Santa. The, following that performance, the Koogler family, whose father, Sam, is the company techie, gave us a Victorian England feast, complete with turkey, ham, raisin sauce, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, wassail, egg nog, squash casserole, mashed potatoes, pecan, apple and pumpkin pie with Cool Whip, plum pudding (which he lit up). There was much mirth and merriment had by all. I ate far too much, ruining my fat intake with the egg nog alone. Then today we once again gathered together for a meal at 605. Another turkey was cooked, the leftovers from yesterday came over to the house, and we ate again! We also lit two Hannukah candles in a small hannukiah that Andrew had with him, while Jessica said the Hannukah prayer. She also made some delicious latkes. I wanted to have two, but I limited myself to one, with sour cream and applesauce. So good! And the highlight of the evening was frying the homemade donuts that Andrew had prepared. I put my old graduate school skills to use once more to fry the donuts (which was what I did while emplyed at Dippy Dounts in Lincoln NE during my first year of graduate school), and Andrew made a vailant effort to fill them with raspberry jam. Carie brought her mom and dad while the entire Bowles family was also there. So not a bad time at all.

The company, I think, is ready for a break. While onstage I am sure we look as fresh and vigorous as ever, backstage the talk is how to keep things alive and fresh and interesting for us. I think at this point I have finally found some freedom with Scrooge, and that's been a big help for me. Just letting him get onstage and go. I found that the first week I was just sort of boxing in the character, just trying to make sure I was getting the mechanics correct. But there was one matinee performance where I felt the character finally open up, where I felt I could play the role and not think about the role. That was a mini-breakthrough for me, and since then I think I've been more free with letting the character have more space inside me. But nonetheless, the show does become repetitive and rote, and i think we're all fighting against that in some fashion. One thing that keeps it fresh is audience contact, especially with children. There have been children sitting on the stools onstage, and when you get one or two who are really into the show, it's fun to play with them a little. Tyler, Greg and I were reminiscing about some of those incidents tonight at dinner. One little girl on Christmas Eve was quite into the whole thing, covering her eyes during the Marley sequence, asking questions during Tiny Tim's wake scene, talking to Tyler as narrator. When you can contact the audience like that it makes it more interesting from moment to moment and show to show. The last few audiences have been most receptive to the show, and of course that helps to keep things alive and actors motivated. But doing the show night after night does become monotonous, and really points out the value of rep playing. I'm also getting a taste of what a long Broadway run might be like as well. Same show, 8 times a week, for week after week. I certainly think I'd get bored.

Many people during this past week have had family or significant others down to visit. It's fun when all these people come, as if the family has been extended. Tyler, Daniel, Andrew and Chris and Sarah each had their respective girlfriends/boyfriend down for extended stays. Kevin, Carie and Sarah have their family members visiting with them. All this visiting is making people pretty ready to head wherever for their respective breaks. My parents as well as Ann Marie and the boys will be coming down later in the week, and I will caravan up home with my crew on New Year's Eve for my two weeks off. I am sure the next five days will go by pretty fast.

And now the night has descended, and another Christmas has come and gone. Soon the troupe will scatter for their vacations, to refresh and renew during the New Year's beginning, and then back at it again towards the end of January. Just about half over, but I can't help feeling the sensation that it should all be over. My own rhythms of the year and season have been very displaced in this process, and I am sure I am in for more of the same during the winter leg. Actually, I long now to get back to the road, where each day brought something new in a different place. I'm going to enjoy resting up, but this being in one place and doing one show is becoming, well - work. Come the spring, when we are working in rep, it won't be as bad as this, when you're doing a different show every night. But on the road, a different show in a different place is where the fun is at. Endings and beginnings - just what this time of year is all about. -TWL