December 4th: Show 1
This show was directly after I worked all night at the sleep center, so I was running on an hour of sleep. I arrived thirty minutes before show time to discover that the curtain had moved up a half hour, so as I walked in, it was time to perform. Furthermore, the show is directed and staged in the round, but this particular venue was proscenium. In the end, everything worked out fine. I really enjoyed the challenges presented by figuring out how to move through the audience and where to find things that were usually right in front of me. There was a great moment when I was unable to see a child dressed as a tree standing right in front of me.
December 5th: Show 2
Working on a full night of sleep and actually prepared for what confronted me, I had a fleeting moment of, "I'm about to make a fool of myself and fail horribly." That however, only lasted until the show began. I was odd though, I have rarely thought about any type of stage fright or performance anxiety in the past few years, I don't know what brought it on. These shows went well.
I have two more dates scheduled this year with The Nutcracker. I was talking with Jenny, the director and fellow actor, and realized that there are too few performances of the show each year. Just when I start to be able to anticipate the audience's desire and reaction, the run ends, and by the following year, all the tastes have changed.
