BarProv

So last night I did my one man improv show at a bar in Little 5 points (Atlanta GA) to support a friend of mine who was hit by a car and does not have insurance. Before I go into what happened during the show, let me say that Jillian Fratkin did amazing job organizing this fundraiser and it did bring in $800 in one night! I think people enjoyed themselves and the evening itself should be seen as a success!

It was more or less what I expected as far as floor layout goes... a bar with a stage at the other end of the room and a bunch of tables and chairs set up throughout. I was pretty determined to make talking into a microphone work for the show (there was no way possible my voice would carry enough to make it work without one)... What I didn't count on was 3 small but vital details...

1. The show MixTape revolves solely around me using music as a scene partner. When I got on stage for the show itself I realized they had cut all of the monitors and speakers that were directed toward me. So there I stood on the stage... and I couldn't hear my scene partner. I made out a word or two here or there but the actual song was coming to me as if through 10 inches of whale blubber. For those of you trained in spontaneous theatre I was now without a scene partner and without a source of information to inform the scenes.

2. As I stood up on the stage to introduce the night I realized that the entire crowd was talking with the exception of maybe 10 people who were listening intently. My brain said "What? Aren't they here for a show?" to which I answered myself "No dummy, they are here to support a fundraiser for their friend Michael McReynolds. Some of them just walked through the door 2 minutes ago and what they WANT is to be left along to drink and talk to each other."

3. The lights were brought up right before the show started and unlike the pictures I saw on the bar's website, all of the lights were red. Not gelled red, but actual RED BULBS. If you don't know, red is perceived as evil, pain or blood when placed on top of theatre. Nuff said there.

As the show started, saw the 4'X4' area I would be performing, saw the microphone I would be leashed to, saw the crowd talking, felt the moisture from my mouth completely drain away, realized I don't have a bottle of water, realized the red lights remove any evidence of physicality, realized I can't hear my music and think... ok man... you gotta do this show... No backing out now. So I did... I justifed that all of the characters I was playing were all literally speaking into microphones (with the exception of trying to do a police officer pulling someone over.) My brain went crazy and since I couldn't hear the music I used the transition time to try to figure out how to make the situation better... trying to see how I could improve the show... I tried changing the mics, sitting at 2 different mics, holding both mics at once, standing closer to the audience and talking TO the audience. None of these really changed much about the situation and so I went ahead and bowed out after what I think was probably 7 songs.

When it was all over I headed over with Houston to the bar... He wanted to buy me a beer but I desperately needed about 30 glasses of water instead. I reeled as people came up to me and said "I'm so glad I FINALLY got to see your show MixTape." My brain screamed "That wasn't it! Don't judge me by that show please!!!" but I nodded politely and tried not to be down about the show. When things feel off for me and I have no concept of my show I lose the ability to decide if people are being polite or if they really liked something. So all in all, not the worst experience ever, but I certainly won't put myself back in a Bar atmosphere again to do improv (especially long-form... and especially a one man long-form.)

It did the job so I am happy... we raised $800 for Michael and will continue to take donations for him throughout the year. I'm glad that my performance helped. Now I want to create a scripted show that is done on microphone that is designed to be done in a bar for just this kind of occasion.