Operation Я.A.U.E.: Victory

James here.

Home again, Home again,

Jiggety, jig.

Some things just make you feel like dancing.  A homecoming after a few weeks on the road is one of them.  Another is our review in Timeout Chicago, which heralded I am the Machine Gunner as:

"a darkly fascinating meditation on the allure and reality of extreme violence"

Nice.  You can read the entire review here.

I can't tell you how vindicating it feels to see such praise for this show.  I think that we all felt that the show got stronger on this leg of the journey, and Timeout Chicago's review definitely reaffirms this.  There can be no doubt that we are gathering steam as we head towards California. I only hope the good people of Carlsbad can handle it when we roll in with Operation Golden State.

Out

Operation Я.A.U.E.: The Pressure Spike

James here.

Waking up on the morning after the Chicagoland premiere feeling refreshed and re-energized.  Nothing gives me quite such sweet dreams as raising the blood pressure of 80 people all at the same time.    

I think it’s fair to say that the audience didn’t know what hit them.  Although this first Chicago audience was a quieter bunch than many of the houses we played to in Baltimore, they were still no less engaged with the play.  In fact, they may have been even more receptive to Klavdiev’s work.  

From the very first workshop production to now I’ve developed a pretty special contract with the audience, shooting holes in the Fourth Wall, talking to them directly, even earnestly asking for them to respond to the questions that I ask.  “Almost too real for comfort” is what the Baltimore Sun said.  I don’t know about that, but if the audience feels a little uncomfortable watching this piece, I’m ok with that.  Dave and I talked many times about ways that we can safely “assault the audience”.  This piece is not made for a passive audience.  We want to put you on point.  Dave puts it quite brilliantly in the curtain speech for the show when he says, “lean forward, get ready and enjoy the show.”   

Absolutely.  

This isn’t “sit back and relax” kind of theater.

And looking out at the audience last night I could tell that even though they seemed quiet, they were hanging onto the piece.  And so I adjusted.  The play ran longer than ever last night, clocking in at just over fifty-one minutes.  I guess I figured if they were listening so intently, I might as well take my time as I put the screws to them.  A fifty-one minute spike to the blood pressure.  I guess the Chicagoans who saw the show last night will just have to take it a little easier on the knockwurst this Oktoberfest.

Out

Operation Я.A.U.E.: On your mark . . .

James here.

Photo above:  The marquis above The Raue Center.  With the missing "E" on "Premiere" it now looks like we'll have a special visitor, the Premier of Chicago.

Resting on a day off from the theater in Crystal Lake, IL; the second stop on the westward advance of I am the Machine Gunner.  I arrived two days ago after shooting a television commercial in Spain and have been pushing through the fog of jet lag to get this show back on its feet.  Luckily Dutch, Jamie and Rebecca all arrived a couple of days before me to load the chamber and oil up the works for a smooth run in Chicagoland.

Rebecca and I spent most of today postering Crystal Lake and nearby Woodstock with flyers and postcards, trying to get the word out a bit more before we fire off this weekend.  We shook down more of the same types of joints we postered in Baltimore:  bars, coffee shops, tattoo parlours, etc.  With only two performances, its important we reach out to our audience any way we can.

Operation  Я.A.U.E. drops tomorrow and things look good.  The Raue Center has a beautiful space which we’ve converted a bit to meet our needs.  Instead of playing along the theater’s traditional proscenium, we’re bringing the audience up onto the stage, and by rotating the stage 90⁰, we’ve gotten the intimate black box space we need.

We’re on our mark, set, and ready to go.  Now we’re just waiting for the opening pistol shot to get this thing moving.

Out