On Saturday the Bride of Simian Showcase closed. It couldn’t have gone better (well, other than a couple of minor hitches along the way but the sort that come along with every theatre show). I was there for every performance and never once got sick of it. The audiences were fantastic, the plays were solid, and Errol ate a microphone. For serious.

But by now…I’m sure you’re not all that surprised.

I have to say, it was a different and weird and wonderful experience watching my play being performed. I haven’t been writing long, but up until now everything I have written has always been performed by myself in some capacity. This time though, after spending time crafting the characters, hearing them in my head, and imagining the look of the play, I was handing off my script to a group of people to make their own.

It was kind of surreal watching other people bring my words to life up on that tiny little stage. They found things that I had not thought of. They had interpretations of their own and lines that I had heard a certain way in my head were suddenly completely turned upside down in the best way possible. It wasn’t just my script any longer.

Erin is awesome. When she learned her character was based on Errol she totally embraced that.

As I said, I was there for every performance. I probably wouldn’t have been had it not been for my co-producer status but I’m glad I was. It was amazing to see how the performances evolved, how the audience and their reactions shaped the performance as much as the actors did. It was surprising and thrilling to hear people actually laugh at my jokes, remembering that what was so familiar to me could still be surprising to someone who hadn’t seen it.

These are things I already knew as an actor. After all, I had performed other writers’ works. I knew that what I thought of the character I was playing would be different than what the writer envisioned. But now I was on the other side. It was weird…really weird.

The guy playing Jason is named Tim. He did an amazing job not noticing the girls acting around him as ghosts.

Thankfully, the director and actors entrusted to putting the show on are some extremely talented people and they surpassed my expectations of how it went. They made the characters their own and it was hilarious and awesome. Sure, there were lines I wrote upon hearing out loud I wanted to tweak and make better, but that’s the nitpick in me and that was my own fault, not the actors.

I wrote Haunting in two days. Part of it was because I was sad there were no comedic ghost stories, part of it was to distract myself from my NaNoWriMo project but it was also because I really wanted to tell this story of friendship and perfectionism.

Of course I am talking about a silly ten minute script about two ghost girls arguing over a penny, but hey, art is art!

Leslie was the one sort of based on me. She did a great job delivering “ohhh muffins” convincingly :D. Also, this scene is my favourite part.

I didn’t expect to even be doing this show. I told myself I didn’t have time. Then somehow I was reading script submissions, producing and then writing a script. I am glad I did it. I could not have predicted how amazing the experience would be. There are many people to thank. I have done so once already. So I am copying this from my facebook post:

Since I haven’t had time yet to thank some very awesome people, I will do so here because I am feeling mushy: Leeman and Lisa for giving me SO many opportunities and for pulling off a pretty darned fantastic show, Luke for pushing and shoving his way to get to my script and for doing such a great job bringing it to life (and the actors…I don’t have them as friends), Errol for being not only a huge creative inspiration but for being a rock during ALL the insecure times and whom I owe a huge debt of chips to, Kelsey for holding my hand opening night, Kari for forgoing Ad Astra to do our little show, entertaining the masses and giving me a level of awesomeness to aim for, Debs for Make It So, seriously you kill it, Mieke for being the hostess with the mostest, D.J., Marty, Linn, Chris, Tim at Monkeyman for giving me this chance and for your guidance through the insane process, all of the playwrights, actors and directors who worked to make some hilarious shows and of course everyone who showed your support, shared my links, and came out to the show. This was awesome. Here’s to more.

And now for rest…for a little while…there is so much packing to do. And possibly a play to expand :D. Oh yes. That might be happening :D.