Visitors

It's the first show of the run.  The place is packed.  We've got our typical crowd for the first night, subscribers, bargain hunters, etc.

But mingled in the crowed are also some patients from a drug treatment facility.

And some folks from a domestic violence shelter.  We comp both groups tickets.

As they come in to the theatre they are visibily nervous.  It's a new experience for most of them.

They take their seats, they are oddly quiet.  Not talking to eachother and flipping through the program like most, but basically just taking it all in.

Thw show starts.  It's a solid performance, but not great.  As person who has seen a lot of stuff, my eyes and ears start naturally finding the thing that need improvement over the run.

But the audience, is having a great time so whatever, I'm sure the work will improve as it goes along.  It always does.

Show's over.  The cast comes out for the curtain call.  And our specially invited guests, the ones who have had life experiences that I can't imagine, they kick off the standing ovation.

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I don't want you to see what just happened as some sort of real big deal.  The place I work at makes a lot of money, they should be giving away some tix every once in a while.

The point is that these people, who if you (or I) would have passed in the street would have assumed had never seen some "art" in their life, ending up really enjoying the experience when they did.

And this wasn't some candy cane level stuff, it was a complex plot with multiple storylines, and they still had a good time.

Don't underestimate people's capacity to enjoy your art.

 

Comments

[Nick Keenan]

I had a couple great conversations with some of these guys during the run last night... just getting their reactions, listening to their reactions. They're some of my favorite kind of people to create theater for - people who have a pure, visceral reaction to each choice in a story that they identify with.