Kitefliers update 4/8

Don’t forget our buy one, get one free offer for today’s 4pm show! Does half-price sound better to you? It’s the same thing, but whatever we gotta say to get you into the theater to see the phenomenal The March of the Kitefliers today! Just mention promo code MOTK when you call 813.229.STAR or visit the TBPAC Ticket Office.

Last night’s show was a very-close-to-capacity crowd, a very welcome change for this second weekend, and incredibly diverse in just about every sense. It was so nice to see young faces and old, regulars and new folks, new friends and old. Especially after I basically had my “where ya at?” moment in the blog yesterday. We have to kick and scream a little, that’s business, and just about the only way to stay top of mind with people when you don’t have tens of thousands of dollars to spend on ads.

Speaking of ads – anyone seen the TV spot? Any feedback? We tried going to the whole rom-com route to see if we could grab some new faces. I’m always interested in hearing how you think we’re doing.

Everyone agrees the show is just a completely different animal when the house is full. It felt great. From just my standpoint, if only the first four rows are full – I only play to the first four rows. If the house is full, I’m playing all the way to the back. Everything is then different – size of choices, energy, you name it. It’s bound to be a different experience for my every night as the audience – my biggest scene partner – is going to get back what they give. It’s one of the special things about live theater.

I have to admit, considering how well I can see the first two rows on both sides of the house, I end up picking out both touchstones (very friendly faces who give me a lot) and “projects” (those who pull the whole “I’m going to be stone-faced and not give you any eye contact”) in every audience and come back to them as often as necessary through the show. I’ve usually got at least two of each by the end of my first monologue alone. Good times.

Last night was also another standing ovation – we’re two in a row now. that’s cewrtainly never a given, nor a scientific gauge of the strength of a show, but it’s still a great gesture and a humbling thing as a performer – no matter how many times you see it.

Though we’ve had a rougher weekend than we wanted in regards to filling the house up for every show (maybe we add Easter weekend to the growing list of dead zones?), we’re having great audiences who all love the experience, and I have a very positive feeling about going out strong in week three. After all, we’re already full Thursday night thanks to a student group. So just three more to concentrate on after that. that’s nice after basically pooping our pants a little earlier this week with the way this weekend was going.

We’re also very excited to see a lot of people taking info on our 0708 season from the table out front, buying t-shirts, and getting on our waiting list for info on 0708 tickets.

I still hold we may end up surprised with the size of the house today – and at the very least it’s going to be an incredibly friendly audience full of people we know. Should be a special show no matter what.

Next week I’ll be posting the last of the Dreamers interviews and a final video podcast, featuring some interviews with cast and crew interspersed with some groovy kite footage we got at picnic island. Soliciting feedback again: Did any of you regular readers find those interviews or videos interesting? Anything you’d like to see us do more often?

Happy Easter, Happy Pesach, Happy Rama Navani, Happy Birthday Muhammed, Happy Souramana Yougadi et al …