mckay and hattie

i promised jamie dawn that i would post a picture of me in my old age makeup. i tried to get a good picture while on stage with the lights, but the playwright didn't get a good shot. i guess he needs to stick with the pen (or keyboard) and leave the camera to others.

i'm glad i got to do the show, but there were some frustrating times dealing with the diva and nonexistent audiences. let me say that i will (probably) never do another production for this theatre. if we can donate our time and energy to put on a show then the theatre company should do some advertising and promotion to fill the house. there was one night when the only people in the audience were friends of the cast - six people. the dad of a cast member was rather old and not feeling well, so he and his family left after her show was over (remember, this was an evening of two 1-hour one-acts). so after intermission ended, there was a grand total of one person in the audience - a friend of the diva's. i hadn't heard that the audience number had dribbled down one sole soul until i was in places, ready to go on stage in one minute. the diva comes trotting up to me saying, "there's only one person in the audience and he's my friend. he can come see me another night, so we're going to cancel the show."

this is the first time i've ever heard of an actress canceling a performance. *rolls eyes* whatever. three other cast members thought canceling the performance was a great idea. i wanted to do the show, just as a pick up rehearsal, since due to the diva hardly ever showing up to rehearsal, opening night had been our fist runthrough with everyone present. no luck. the show got canceled that night. like i said, i won't do another show for a place that can't do their job and sell some tickets. as much as i like to act, i really prefer there be some people in the audience.

what i liked most about doing the performance was getting to create a believable older character for the fist time. in the past i've played ingenues and character comedy roles. i bonded with my character, hattie. hattie was my grandmother's real nickname and my mom's middle name was harriet, so i felt a bit of a spiritual bond with the ol' gal. okay, okay, that's my story. here's a recent picture of me and a backstage picture of my character, hattie. my apologies for the picture not being under the theatre lights, which would make the old age makeup a bit more realistic.