Recap: The Self

I wish I had a copy of that damn Lisa Frank Van Gogh slide….

Week two was our most personal show, “Oh Mirror, You Always Know What to Say!”  Another full house with people content to sit in the bleachers and loft.  For Friday’s show we asked every willing member of our cast to prepare a personal monologue around two minutes in length.  With such loose instructions, I was genuinely amazed at how well these monologues developed.  Our cast had so much fun with their stories, presentations, and anecdotes that the two minutes invariably ballooned into 3-5.  Our show ended up running 1:20, but I don’t think we overstayed our welcome.  My friends and colleagues took some big risks out there, alone with the audience, and reaped the rewards. 

Another one of my goals for The Wasteland, accomplished: create a safe space for sincerity.  With all our silliness and satire it’s easy to distance ourselves from our material.  Putting the “i” in “comidy” could have been tough for our particular cast because we aren’t practiced stand-ups or monologists; we often rely on characters and hilarious scenarios to sell our ideas.  But we rose to the occasion, and shared some pieces of ourselves amidst the bits and jokes.  I hope the rest of the shows are able to occasionally pull this off, but it’s not their stated goal.

This Friday’s show, “Love the Ones You’re With Whom You Are,” is going to be exciting.  It’s a perfect blend between film and stage material, and we bounce between touching and raunchy like your favorite pinball game.  If you haven’t already, consider buying yourself some tickets....

Edit: a clip from The Self: