The real nerves

I'm in Toronto. I'm in Toronto! I've been eating a whole lot of ice cream from Ed's Real Scoop in the beaches and not thinking too much about the show. Now Toronto Fringe has suddenly started with a vengeance, and I feel a little taken off-guard. Not that I don't trust that the show is still "in" me - Alison and I have done two line-runs where my unconscious mind rattled the thing off with little incident while my conscious mind listened intently, occasionally surprised at witticisms and plot details that it had forgotten. Tomorrow I will make sure my kinetic mind is good and ready as well. Theatre Passe Muraille has the kind of stage you can fall off of.

So I open tomorrow. And I had nerves TODAY. A day ahead! This is new! So if I feel good about the show, if maybe a little out of it due to too much time off performing - and if flyering is going very, very well (good and big and friendly attentive crowds of real theatregoers) - what am I nervous about?

I think it's that my parents are coming tomorrow. Really. i'm 27, and my parents have come to see SO much of what I've performed since I was 7, or 6, or born and haven't they always loved or at least supported it? Of course! But it was almost all music. The last two and a half years, when I was in Edmonton, my performing life changed. I am an actor/playwright more often than not now. Tomorrow I have to convince my parents of a whole other realm of talent, another kind of tough tough life. This shouldn't be something to worry about, but...I've got nerves worse than opening night in Ottawa!

I'll let you know how the show goes. Alison and I have been flyering non-stop these first two Fringe evenings. There's some talk of us, some confirmed ticket holders, and a lot of folk with free tickets in their hands. See you there.