Ping Pong Diplomacy

Ping Pong Diplomacy is the title of the play that I just did the reading of yesterday, part of Reverie Productions's new play contest (now in its second year). As I indicated previously, I had some misgivings about the script, but it's sort of grown on me, probably at least partially helped by the audience (such as it was; probably about 10-12 people) reaction to the reading. It really is quite a cute script, though perhaps a touch long (the reading was about 2 hours), but some of that could be tightened through staging. The winner of Reverie's contest will be announced on June 8th or so, at which time they're also going to be reading new plays by Tony Kushner (Angels in America) and Greg Kotis (Urinetown), which I would LOVE to make it to but I think I'll be out of town and getting ready for my trip to Asia.

The reading itself went pretty well; I was actually quite pleased with my own performance. As I said, audience reaction was fantastic, and there was only one real hiccup, when one of the actors completely broke down in a scene with a case of the giggles. The audience was laughing, and he just started laughing too, and as anyone who's ever been in that situation can testify, it's pretty much impossible to stop once you've started, sort of like "I Love to Laugh" in Mary Poppins. Of course, then the question becomes, what do you do when you're one of the other actors in the scene (which I was). I mean, we're not on stage - we're reading off scripts, and people understand (or they should, at least) that it's not a performance. And yet, there is an element of professionalism which should be maintained, I feel. So, I kept character and just tried to wait it out. The other actor struggled through the scene and his giggles as best he could, losing it a few more times, but eventually making it through. In any event, it was a great experience and another chance to make connections with another production company, and I certainly wish the best of luck to the playwright, Joe Basque.

I'm trying very hard not to get caught up in the Episode 3 (Star Wars) hype. I'll probably go see it in theaters, but I'm trying to avoid information about it as much as possible. I really want to try to just watch it and enjoy it as best I can. I don't even really think about it all that much, and I seem to somehow magically be able to avoid the brunt of the media campaign for it - I see more Batman Begins (which I'm also looking forward to) ads than I see Episode 3 ads.

And the shower just opened up, so I need to run in there and do my hair really fast.