Off to a rollicking start

We made it! Our first day of performance is over and we all survived. In fact, we did more than survive--we excelled. Well, okay so maybe excelled is a little over the top, but considering it was our first show, we had suffered through a truncated rehearsal and tech process, and we were performing in a space that is really too damn small for the show (we had to cut part of the set and put all our props and costumes in the hallways) I'd say we held together extremely well. Even kicking one of our stage mics over during a dance in Sleepy Hollow couldn't throw us. Or our Katrina running into a flat during an exit. Or me being unable to find my way offstage during a blackout right before Monkey's Paw. Or our curtains popping loose from the tracks...well, you get the idea. In fact, we did so well that after the show Spring came backstage and took the time to tell each and every once of us how much she loved the show, and what a good group of people we had. She actually used the word "lovely" multiple times. And I was hugely relieved to be told by her how much she really liked Tell Tale, and how well she thinks I do with it. Talk about a weight off my mind. I will admit the entire conversation took me by surprise. So much so that I didn't have time to truly reflect on how weird it was that I was talking to Spring Sirkin in the hallway of the Berklee College of music in my underwear as I was gathering up my costumes. I'd like to say stranger things have happened, but not recently. 

So we're all feeling very good about ourselves right now. And Chamber was nice enough to spring for dinner for all of us tonight--pizza and beer! Whoo-hoo! We have no idea how Pat liked the show, but Levitt and Flo sat near her during the show and she definitely had notes for them. But then, I'm convinced we could do everything exactly the way Pat wanted us to, and she'd still have notes. The only down part of the day was having to load out of the space during an annoying snowstorm. Load out still took too long, but we're still figuring out where everything goes, and it took everyone else a long time to get the set and lights packed up, so I am confident it'll take less time on Thursday. At least it better, since we're in a school that day and I'm sure we're going to have issues with buses on our way in. Don't know about the way out, but the less time it takes to throw everything onto that truck, the better. And please, I am begging you, nature, no more snow. Is that really so much to ask?

So dinner was fun. It's good to know that we all have the same inappropriate sense of humor, since that will make hanging out with each other a lot more enjoyable. Levitt is the closest thing to a wet blanket we have, and she's not really all that bad, she just has a lower tolerance for blatantly off-color remarks. So I have resigned myself to the fact that I will be on the receiving end of MANY withering looks over the course of the next few months. Everything else so far has been running smoothly. I mean hell, you've gotta love a group where everyone is completely comfortable making fun of the sullen Korean girl who was charged with guarding the stage door today during the show. In fact, that is how we all refer to her--as Sullen Korean Girl.  Sort of like a melancholy Super Friend. It does fit her. All she did was sit in the hallway where we kept the costumes and props and did everything she could to be as much in the way as possible, and then look at us as if we were kicking a puppy whenever we asked her to move. I believe the only thing any of us heard her say was "There's no room to do homework." I'm thinking that since Sullen Korean Girl is her Super Friend name, I need to give her a secret identity. I think Kim Chee is perfect. So there you have it By night, she is mild mannered Kim Chee, but when dawn breaks, she becomes Sullen Korean Girl, enemy and obstacle of traveling theatre troupes (and certain animal acts) everywhere! I must start on the graphic novel immediately!

So the article I wanted to talk about tonight is one I read where certain gay-rights groups in California are compiling a list of all people who made donations to the campaign to get Proposition 8 passed. Prop 8, as you may recall, was a proposition to institute a state constitutional ban on gay marriage. Now, donation lists are public domain, as they should be, since people should know where groups of any kind are getting their funding. That's okay. But these gay-rights groups are taking that info and disseminating it on the web, posting the names and addresses and phone numbers of donors to Prop 8, and this has resulted, according to a number of the donors involved, in death threats and harassment. Now let me make myself clear here--I do not agree with banning gay marriage. i think it's stupid that this is still a freaking issue. Letting gay people marry will in no way affect heterosexual marriage. I mean, would someone PLEASE tell me what possible negative effect it would have? Besides the "marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman" bullshit. Because guess what, people? The whole sacred thing about marriage is a sheen put on it to justify procreating. Marriage was for most of history a business proposition. And since the church was the most powerful political organization for much of history (pick your church, it really doesn't matter) the only way to enjoy the fruits of that proposition was to have it okayed by the church. ANd the church wanted people to have to have their matrimonial treaties okayed by them because it reinforced he power the church had over the the people who belonged to it. So this whole romantic notion of marriage is very new, and the idea that there is some inherent sanctity in it is merely a gloss put on it in order to help the church keep its grip on the populace. So I have no patience with people who for some reason insist that gay marriage will destroy the entire concept of marriage. They are, in a word, idiots.

BUT--they are also entitled to their opinion, and for this country to be truly free, and for people to be equal, ALL people must be able to express those opinions. Now, all these people did was contribute money to get the word out about a proposition on a ballot. As far as I know, goon squads were not hired to keep gay-friendly people away from the polls, there weren't legal hoops people who were voting against the proposition had to jump through, and no-one trying to get the word out in opposition to the proposition ended up dead or disappeared. So we may assume that the money was not used in any way that was illegal. So the fact that these people are now having their private information plastered all over the web on opposition websites is, I believe, wrong. The argument give by the people doing this is that if you are willing to support something, you should be willing to stand by that decision of yours and not be afraid to have it out in the open. That's all fine and good, but there's a difference between having your name listed as a donor to a group and having your contact information put up on an enemies list, resulting in threatening phone calls. How would gay-right people feel if someone who was against the concept of gay marriage started their own list of people who had contributed to the opposition of prop 8 and plastered it on the web on an anti-gay website, and then THOSE people had been harassed or received death threats? There'd be a huge outcry. It's wrong to target people like that. You're never going to change people's minds if you act that way. All behavior like this will do is drive away the moderate fence-sitters from supporting your movement. And remember--if you want to be equal, then you have to let everyone else be equal too. So stop making lists of your enemies and making people scared to vice their opinions and follow their convictions. Or i swear by all that's holy, I'll sick Sullen Korean Girl on you...