First performance! Auditorium Theatre! The Dark Knight! Batman and Robin! Popcorn spilled! Harley and Joker! Jaws dropping! Roaming acrobatics! Applause! Bows taken!
All good? Yes? Good.
So we left off with the end of our first (EVER) performance prior to The Dark Knight showing but that was not our only performance that night. Normally we would take our time and enjoy the moment but we had places to be. That place just happened to be Links Hall annual THAW event at Block 37 in downtown Chicago. THAW, for anyone who has never attended, is a five hour event featuring acts on multiple stages featuring performances of all different types.
This was my first time attending so I didn't know what to expect when we arrived. Bryan and Tosha had been there earlier in the day for a tech run and setup. What is a tech run? It's making sure props and equipment will fit on the stage, marking the positions with tape, and giving the sound engineers a chance to find the music queues. Considering what the act involved, it was super-ultra-mega important those tape lines be there.
(Yes, that is foreshadowing. Keep reading.)
After making a mad dash through traffic to make sure we arrived in time for our performers to touch up make-up (how on earth does the Joker keep his makeup from smearing all over, well, EVERYTHING when he's moving about?) and stretch, I had a bit of time to watch all the other acts.
They were different, varied, and oh so very random. A man wearing a diaper sitting on a toilet in the Thinking Man pose for 10 minutes? Yep. I found out later that was the Performance Art stage. Elsewhere I heard screaming. Lots of screaming. In a separate room they had Scream Therapy happening. That's what the sign said and I was perfectly content to trust the sign and not make sure for myself. On the main stage there was a large dance troupe performing a choreographed set with more on the way.
I am happy to say that THAW is a fantastic event that showcases all different types of performers here in the Chicago area. And our act? Was probably the most unique in terms of people having no idea what to expect.
Our time slot was 9:01pm. Having spent a long time with performers of all types I always assume that assigned times are more like guidelines and never actually line up. At exactly 9pm the act before us finished and we were up. I was stunned in place for a few seconds before being jerked back to reality. We had just 60 seconds to get everything set up on stage. In reality, it was only two items. One was a chair. The other was a giant knife board painted to look like a playing card.
Remember the foreshadowing earlier? Well when we were setting up the knife board to align with the marked pieces of tape Bryan whispers, "The other throwing lines are gone!" I'm already pale to begin with so when I say I turned seven shades of pale you can picture someone going transparent. This is where I am happy to say we have some amazing professionals who can adapt and overcome any issue. There was no chance to fix this and they would just have to improvise.
Slinking back to join the rest of the audience I had a chance to understand what must have been going through their minds. So I am going to describe the act in a way that probably matches what people were thinking:
"Oh, it's the Joker. Is this going to be another dance number? He has a bag with a big dollar sign on it and the music only plays when he opens it up... oh, he's juggling! Those are some really amazing moves so I'm going to clap now. This is different and, wait, is that Harley skipping on stage with a giant hammer? It is! HOLY CRAP she just jumped into his arms, did the splits, and he's spinning her around like it's nothing. How on earth is he holding her above his head like that? I'm just going to start clapping more now that I realized I need to close my jaw. Joker seems to be using the chair to relax and watch as Harley does HOW IS SHE ABLE TO BEND HER BODY LIKE THAT?! Is it possible for a spinal cord to bend that far backwards? And how exactly is she lifting her body up with just one hand and turn around? Going to just keep clapping at this point. Joker keeps shaking his head in disapproval and is pulling her over to sit in the chair. Right in front of the big wooden playing card. Are those knives in his hand? *THUNK*THUNK*THUNK* HE'S THROWING KNIVES! ALL AROUND HER! And now Harley has knives and she's throwing them at him while he flips and does handstands! Back to Joker doing the same while she does the splits?!? I think my hands are bruised from the clapping but I'm just going to keep doing that because holy hells that was amazing!"
Those throwing lines they removed? They marked the places where they would be throwing knives at the other person so they would THUNK into the board with perfect accuracy. Without those lines they were forced to wing it and make best guesses. There was never any danger of them hitting one another but they wanted to make sure every throw went into the board. As a testament to their abilities, 90% of the throws hit their mark.
Meanwhile (AT THE LEGION OF DOOM... er, in the audience!) I had a chance to watch how the crowd was reacting. Initially the crowd was spread all about the area watching all the stages. After that first round of applause, people started to come over. Once they saw Harley being held aloft in the air by Joker? People came /running/ from around the room to get a better look. When it was all said and done, the applause were loud and sustained. The act following was two Drag Queens who started their act by saying, "How the hell are we supposed to follow that?"
Personal aside: I am very happy that the crowd was so entertained by our performance. Their applause during the act and the people who came up afterwards to heap praise made it all worth while for Bryan and Tosha.
For me, it was confirmation that the ideas we all came up with as a group were on the mark. Something unique, different, and entertaining all at once. This was our first night of performances and it made me certain of one thing: We have just begun and I am now certain fans everywhere are going to love the show.
Stay tuned and if you have a chance? Come enjoy the show!
Quite expressive and unveiling article.Your way of defining all the subjects is really impressive and unique.Thank you very much for sharing.Keep posting.
ReplyDelete