Well, it was an interesting last night. The crowd was relatively large in size compared to some nights (although not as large as Friday night), but was not nearly as responsive. Several people, including yours truly, made the kind of line mistakes which actors kick themselves over but which the audience never even notices. In my case, I said one of my lines too early and then had to repeat it (“…like I was saying earlier, I wish he worked for me so I could fire him!”) at the appropriate point.

But then the weird thing was that, near the end of the play, our leading lady — the talented teenage girl who played our lead actor’s girlfriend — got a nosebleed while waiting backstage. She apparently gets them from time to time, and had gotten one a couple of weeks ago on the night we first practiced curtain call.

She was supposed to appear in the last scene of the play, a group scene in which the main character’s friends and family are all congratulating him on his success. The scene had to go on without her — it worked OK, but didn’t give the audience the closure of knowing for sure that the romance was going to work out after all. And of course she wasn’t part of curtain call or greeting the audience after the play.

I feel just terrible for her to have to end the experience in this way, especially because she did such a fantastic job in the part.

My sister Elecia was at the play tonight — she made a special trip, two hours drive each way, just to see it, and I really, really appreciate that. My mother, who’d seen the play last weekend, came with her.

Also at the play were Gail Drake and Kylene McDonald from LEAMIS, and it was great to have them there too.

I will not miss the grueling schedule of play rehearsals, but I will miss being in the play, and being around this cast, which was one of the most amiable groups with which I’ve performed.

Remember a few hours ago, when I was complaining that none of my family or friends would be at the play tonight?

Well, I’m glad. My performance wasn’t a disaster, but it wasn’t all that good either. Our phone problem was fixed, but that didn’t stop me from starting to reach for the telephone a half a second before it rang. Later, in my big scene, I correctly referred to my daughter’s two children — and then, a second later, to her three children. I caught myself and made a joke about it.

But more than that, my timing was just off all night. Nothing disastrous, and thankfully nothing like a missed cue which would have made my fellow performers look bad, but I just didn’t feel like I did very well tonight, and I’m kind of glad that none of my friends and family were there.

We had a small crowd today — just under 40, so fewer than half the opening night crowd.

Sunday matinees are often the least-responsive crowds for comedies, because they tend to skew older. But several people, including me, seem to be expecting friends or family tomorrow, so maybe that will run counter to the trend.

Well, I had no one in the audience last night, but tonight I expected to have 1) my parents and 2) my friends from LEAMIS.

1) My parents, who just got back from Pigeon Forge this morning, have decided to come tomorrow instead, and

2) My LEAMIS friends have gotten a last minute catering job and just e-mailed me that they will come next weekend instead.

So I’ve got nobody in the audience (that I know of) again tonight, which is a little depressing. I know everyone will be there eventually, but it’s nice to have a familiar face in the meet-and-greet line afterward.

My sister is trying to work around her kids’ athletic schedules this weekend, and it’s possible she might be there tonight, but I think tomorrow afternoon is more likely. My editor may also come tomorrow.

“Enter Laughing” begins with my character, Mr. Foreman, alone on stage, and the first thing that happens is I receive a telephone call.

At least, that’s what’s supposed to happen.

Tonight, I was tinkering with the lone machine in my machine shop, waiting for the phone to ring. The telephone ringer had only been set up on Thursday, and apparently tonight there were problems with it. I waited what I thought was a reasonable amount of time, pretending to tinker with the machine, and then I weighed my options. Finally, I just answered the phone as if it had rung, and moved on with the scene.

A few moments later, the phone was supposed to ring again, and it did — right on cue. But then in a later scene, it was also nowhere to be heard. In that case, our lead actor, Ben Reeves, covered beautifully. He came up with an excuse to make the call instead of receiving it. (That particular gambit would not have worked in my case, since I didn’t know the person who was supposedly calling me.)

In retrospect, I might have started making a call, picked up the phone and then been “surprised” to find someone already on the line. But hindsight is always 20/20.

Other than that, tonight’s performance went swimmingly. The crowd wasn’t huge but it was appreciative. (Many of Community Playhouse’s season ticket holders opt for opening night tickets, so the opening night crowds tend to be savvy and drama-friendly.) Ben Reeves, who is in every scene and is on stage for almost the entire play, nailed his performance. He has grown so much since our first rehearsals. I knew Ben was in high school but I didn’t realize until tonight that he was only 16. (He’s the tallest person in the cast by far.) His mother, my co-worker Mary Reeves, and his father and younger brother were justifiably proud.

Everyone else in the cast was terrific tonight as well. I waited in the wings during some scenes when I could have slipped away backstage just because I wanted to hear the performances and revel in the crowd’s laughter.

There were a few senior citizens from Shelbyville there who knew me, but no one I could really count as friends or family. Just as well — I wolfed down a plate at the opening-night reception and then headed on home. It’s been a long, busy and stressful week, for a number of reasons, only some of which I’ve been able to discuss here. The past few days, I’ve had to get up earlier than normal because of my editor’s illness, and then I’ve been staying up late with rehearsals every night. I’m tired, and thankfully I will get to sleep in tomorrow.

We have performances tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon. Then we have Friday and Saturday performances next weekend. I should have several friends and family in attendance tomorrow night, and I hope we can give them another performance like the one we gave tonight.

Well, I’m about to head to Tullahoma. As far as I know, I won’t have any particular friends or family in the audience tonight. My parents are in Gatlinburg, expected to return tomorrow, and will see me tomorrow night or Sunday. My LEAMIS friends are coming tomorrow night. My co-workers were planning to come tonight but that was disrupted a little by my editor’s recent hospital stay, so now I’m not sure when they’re coming.

Of course, I will have one co-worker in the audience tonight: Mary Reeves. But she’s there to see her son, the lead in the play. And she’s already seen bits and pieces at rehearsal.

The silver lining, I guess, is that I don’t have as much pressure tonight. But I will kind of miss having someone there for the opening night reception that follows the play.

Click for a larger view:

Top row, from left: John Carney (Mr. Foreman), Jo Anne Gilley (Miss B.), David Butner (Roger), Glendale Swann (Don Baxter), Allen Craig (Harrison Marlowe), Jamie Lamb (Angela Marlowe), Robert Allen (Pike). Front row: Ben Ferrell (Marvin / Waiter), Rex Brown (Father), Janet Veeneman (Mother) and Ben Reeves (David). Not pictured: Sara Hall (Wanda). (Photo by Suzanne Oliver)