OHIO/CINNKY: then after water

(re some of my photo's lately, I've been having problems lugging my nice camera around lately, so I've been using my camera phone. many apologies.)

Spent some time at New Stage Collective this weekend as part of the Fringe festival. See, I'm impoverished at the moment, so I am falling back on "old habits" -- volunteering to peddle my way into a good show.

I had emailed Erica over @ NSC to beg to usher for Jerry Springer the Opera, blogged about once and twice before, and she asked if I would be interested in helping out with this.

I did, and I have to say this about the play I say, then after water... the best way to ruin a great festival, excellent acting, and an amazing location is to put this show on. My major problem with the play was not that it was poorly written or poorly executed. Rather, since I knew nothing about the back story walking in, I spent the entire show trying to find out what was going on. Oh, I finally got to say in the final 5 minutes of the show, that's why everyone's sad. I know I can be slow, but I really tried to figure out who had died, or maybe been kidnapped, the whole time. Knowing what I know, it would be nice to go back and watch it and see if it was worth it. But I don't want to risk falling asleep again.

There will be people that say you should know something about what you are going to see before you go. I disagree with that because I don't think I should already know the end of the play before it begins. It's like journalism: give us the point first, and then work from there. Don't start me off in the middle of the story.

From the Cincy Fringe Festival flyer:

Available Light, "Columbus's own theatrical force of nature" (Columbus Alive)
presents then after water by Jennifer Fawcett. Inspired by real events, this
60-minute drama is an amazing love story about an act of violence that shatters
five lives at once. Moving in time between 1979, 1980, and 1999, then after
water tells the story of Ana and Ben, a young couple, who are suddenly
separated while driving home from a party, and David, the couple's son, who
still struggles with the consequences of that night, 20 years later.

Having read that, I really wish I'd liked it because it could have made for such a great psychological piece, and a really good drama. The acting was pretty good (the trucker was a little too much at times, but Ben and Ana were cute as a couple). I liked the three car setting, though I think they got a little "trigger happy" with how many times they could move them there in the last 20 minutes or so. But it and I were not meant to be, and I have to say that I'm glad I didn't pay for it.

On the bright side, it was my first time in NSC's AMAZING space, and the people that work there were great. And, of course, cutie-patootie Tom (one of the Stage Managers of this season) was a real DOLL. I would go back just to hang out with him :-)

PS If you were there, that was me behind the concessions counter. Although it was a poorly attended play. I am curious to know how the rest of the festival is going, and not just the bar things. But this was my first time participating in the festival, and next year I'm volunteering for something that involves half-naked men.