Do you think it hurts to die?

I'm not being morose, that's a line from Vivien. Which closed on Sunday. It's so funny. There are some show you can't stand from the first rehearsal and can't wait for them to close, there are some shows you're completely indifferent about, there are some shows that you love from the first rehearsal and are devastated when they close and then there are other shows you don't know how you feel about until you get into the run and realize that it's really, really grown on you.


Such was the case with Vivien. Since we didn't rehearse it here, I didn't "bond" with it like I do most shows... and by "bond", I mean stare at the script in the rehearsal room until the words "swim off the page" and become nonsense, no matter how beautifully written they are.


Vivien the show grew on me by watching it during our performances, and Vivien the actress grew on me as I got to know the lovely and talented Janis Stevens. I'll miss them both, but mostly I'll miss what the audience doesn't see: Janis offering us champagne chocolates, Janis getting excited about her "little red balls" (the cue lights) Janis not realizing that there was haze in the show until the closing weekend, Janis sharing pug stories with us, Janis complaining about the shopping bags that patrons rustled through. I really enjoyed working with Janis and hope we get to do so again in the future.

"Beginners, Vivien!"


Oh, yeah, and our closing night also happened to be Super Bowl Sunday. Of course we missed the game, but we had to stop into Coco's for a Closing Night/Everybody-else-is-drinking-because-it's-Super-Bowl drink.


Angela was excited about a Giants win. Amanda was still recovering from the previous night's festivities.

Ask Amanda sometime why her face is so red.