elfs | Kouryou-chan's first performance (Reply)

Omaha and I arrived early at the theater, as directed by the director, and helped Kouryou-chan get into her clothes and prepare for the play. As it turned out, the play was delayed by a lighting problem. While we were waiting, however, the indescribably delicious

desiraes showed up. I was very happy to see her, and surprised, although I suppose I shouldn't have been; it had been her invitation that had resulted in Kouryou-chan's getting in touch with UPAC and this part in the first place. She looked delightful in her, um, cleavage.

The play was quick-- only about 45 minutes long-- and the kids did pretty good. We had been concerned during rehearsals that the boy playing Dizzy would not be loud enough, but as it turned out he was fine. I'm not sure where that loud voice suddenly came from, but I'm glad it did.

Equally surprising was the "bully" character, Brute; the boy who plays him is, to be gentle, swishy. He's just into puberty, but he's very big for his age, yet he minces, he camps, and he knows he does and he can't turn it off. How the hell is he going to play the bully? And yet, he managed to find the princox within himself and pull off a nasty, lisping bully. It was great.

Kouryou-chan remembered all of her lines, but she blinked a lot on stage. Even worse, she has this nasty habit of sticking her tongue out like a lizard when she's nervous, and she couldn't get it under control last night. The two scenes where she had a major role, though, she did quite well, keeping in character. When it wasn't her turn, she would sometimes glance at the audience.

I supposed all three of the younger kids did it, and Kouryou-chan was the strongest of the three. The director even recommended to her that we send Kouryou-chan to a summer camp for budding actors, since she had the chops for it.

We hung around afterward; I met some of the others. A few were actual honest-to-gods muni theater fans who'd come to see what UPAC had on offer. It was indeed very cool.

Afterward we went to The Cheesecake Factory where we all drowned our successes in way too much sweets. Only I finished mine, and I ordered a small slice of cake. Kouryou-chan actually stopped halfway through her slice, saying it was too rich and too much for her. That's quite a statement for a little girl.

And there are ads in the Cheesecake Factory menu! WTF? They're for hotels, luggage, town car service-- traveller details. And there was one that read, "We invite you to enjoy these ads again... online." Uh, I didn't enjoy them the first time, you eeediots.

And I've had better cheesecake. In fact, as I told the kids, I've made better cheesecake. And now they want me to prove it.