The Play's the Thing

For the third time, in two years, a stage play of mine has been produced.

One night only, with paid actors, and every time, the difference between being read, performed and heard, rocks me.

Every time.

The first time felt so weird to me. I was used to writing and sending the piece into the ether as a contest entry or query letter. Written feedback, acknowledged or ignored was de rigueur. A live audience was a new experience. It made me nervous.

The second time, with the same play, DRIVER’S ED, I learned, how the actors generated some of the laughs and the script did the rest. I lamented (only to myself) that the most important line got lost in the laugh previous. Interesting. But the audience started laughing at the first line and didn’t stop, so nerves be gone, and honey, that was WAY COOL.

This last time was different. The short play, titled ACTIVE SHOOTER, was not funny at all. It is about sexism and how we react to violence.

How, I wondered, would I be able to tell if they liked it?

They leaned in.

Not as quantifiable as a laugh, but a work on its feet is a different animal.