So, Stick Fly had its final dress rehearsal last night, with an audience of forty or fifty subscribers, guests, and McCarter staff members. Overall, it was a great show. Naturally still some of the technical hiccups you expect at this point in the process, but in general things were impressively smooth. It was lots of fun to finally see the show in all the glory of its set, lights, sound, and costumes. Not to mention the massive amounts of props. But I think my favorite addition of last night was the audience itself.

It was so wonderful to be there as many of these people experienced the characters and the story for the very first time. At this point I’ve seen so many iterations of the script, popped in on so many rehearsals at so many different points in the process, that it’s sometimes hard to remember the moments of surprise and delight I experienced as the play first unfolded before me. But I recalled them afresh as I heard and felt the audience members around me gasp, cluck, laugh, and sigh their way through the developing relationships and gradually revealed secrets of Lydia Diamond’s Stick Fly.

We had an especially vocal crowd last night, perhaps in part because the audience consisted largely of close friends and long-time patrons who felt especially comfortable in the space. But it was wonderful to witness such an engaged and supportive interaction between cast and spectators. It really revealed the power and personal resonance of the characters Lydia has created, and Shirley Jo and all the actors have so dynamically brought to life. They are so alive, so authentic, that those of us watching them live out these three days on Martha’s Vineyard connect to them not just as interesting people to observe, but as friends to react and respond to. “Did I just say that out loud?” Taylor’s character asks herself at one point in the play. “Oh, yes, you did!” several audience members called back in confirmation. The LeVay family, which over the course of the play wrestles with opening itself to welcome in a few newcomers despite it own internal struggles and disconnections, expanded even further to encompass last night’s audience members as well. As I am sure it will continue to do with each subsequent performance.

See also:

• Long Day’s Journey
• Fly on the Wall
• The Literary Office

Posted by Elizabeth Edwards, Literary Intern at McCarter Theatre.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 6th, 2007 at 6:14 pm and is filed under Get Connected, Stick Fly. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.