VDay Day 3 - Saturday (The Performance)

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Categories: Diary • Actress • Vagina Monologues • Live and In Person

V Day has arrived! After my long rest from yesterday, I was ready to get going. Today was the day, so I took my script down to the lobby to get some coffee. Once again, I was duped into being gouged by the “suck the traveler dry” system I’m coming to loathe more with every day on the road… A girl behind the counter in the lobby was setting out coffee and bagel fixins, and I enquired about coffee. “It’s free, just help yourself.” The way she said it, I thought she meant both things she was setting out were free, so I got coffee and a bagel. She said nothing as I stood next to her toasting it, and I sat down, ate it, studied my script and then Leslie called so I got up to go meet her. “Ma’am, that bagel was $3.00” the girl said. Gotten again! I think I’m just going to have to ask “what does this cost?” every time I sit down to eat or touch anything, no matter what the server has said to me or even if it was free the day before. I’m really not a dummy or an easy mark when people are trying to fast talk me, but the new tactic seems to be setting up a situation that looks a certain way and just keeping quiet until I fall into the trap. Over the last three weeks, I’ve been to Ohio, London and New Orleans, and I have been gouged to the core mercilessly the whole time on every little thing possible.

But back to what this is really about… Leslie and I had until 1:15pm to do whatever, so we walked over to a little Greek place that served a good old Southern style grill breakfast (?!?) of things like fried eggs, biscuits pre-drenched in butter, hash browns, bacon and coffee. At least, that’s what I had. Then we went back and ran lines for a few hours until it got really close to 1:15pm - time to get ready.

(Click READ MORE to read the rest! More to come!)

I flat ironed my hair, applied one swipe of mascara and dusted on a tiny bit of FABULOUS Mary Kay mineral foundation and bronzer, sent to me by the delightful Derek (check out his Mary Kay page, I honestly love the mineral foundation with brush, bronzer and microderm scrub). It is so quick to apply, and looks so natural. I knew they would he doing our mugs later at the Super Dome, so I just did the minimum. I packed up some beauty supplies and my outfit for the night, a heavy long pink skirt made from an Indian wedding sari and a peacock blue camisole with low gold heels. Soon our car was ready to pick us up and we were off to the Super Dome.

I had been worrying that we wouldn’t get to socialize much with the incredible women performing alongside us, but once we walked into the green room, everyone was there. Unfortunately, Oprah was suddenly taken ill and called out, and Glen Close was also unable to come. But everyone else was there… I normally don’t do name checks for the events we go to (if you only knew the things I leave out of this blog for Hollywood events we attend!), but for this I will:

In the intimate and cozy green room, we chatted about this ‘n that with always-smiling Rosario Dawson. We talked transsexuality with Kerry Washington. I commiserated jet lag with Doris Roberts, who had flown in from New Zealand just for this event, and would be going back right after. I didn’t bother Ali Larter, who was stunning in white and very Hollywood, doing a million things at once while having conversations with some other young women in the room. I’m a “Heroes” fan, which made me worried that I’d say a stupid fan thing, so I was cautious about talking to her. I got to sit and have an extended conversation with Christine Lahti, who had come to our VDay LA 2004 performance, and she said that ours had been the most affecting she and her husband had seen. Then Didi Conn joined in! You may know her from a little movie called “Grease”. She was very sunny and sweet, and ended up spending a lot of time with me, later even bringing me a glass of champagne after the play in the VIP after party room. Jennifer Beales, Ilene Chaiken, Alexandra Hedison and Daniela Sea (all from “The L Word") were there, all very friendly.

Jennifer Hudson would read “I am an emotional creature” and sing “Respect”, but we never saw her before or after the play. Faith Hill would be gorgeous on stage when she came on to sing several songs (she sounds great live), but unfortunately we didn’t get to see her before or after either.

Once we had all been prettified and got dressed, we went to take some photos. They put the tallest girls on the top steps of the stage, which left me pretty well in view for lots of shots by the big throng of clicking camera people, but they continued taking pictures as more people filed in, and I may end up being obscured by Jennifer Beales, depending on which photo they choose. Sigh!

Soon, we got 20 minute call, then 5 minute call and then it was time. We all lined up two by two, mixed in with some amazing African singers and some international activists, and filed in to sit on either side of the stage. Music was playing, singers were singing and we took our places in front of a sold-out crowd of 14,000 people.

14,000 people.

Once we were in position around the oval-shaped (vagina-shaped) stage, we pulled giant overlapping panels of pink silk apart to reveal Eve Ensler laying in the middle of the stage. It had begun!

Everything went wonderfully. The audience was supportive and responsive to everyone. Leslie and I were 10th in the lineup, about halfway through. I felt remarkably fine going up on stage… Charged up and excited as I always do before doing any performance, but very ready and eager to get up there and do it. Performing is just SO fun! Bringng your own personal quirks and ideas to a piece is wonderful. We seemed to do well, but the last section has me talking about Barry’s murder, which is such a complex and painful topic for me that I was worried I had pulled back too much and left the ending with less power than it should have had. After almost 10 years, I think I’m just all used up when it comes to that topic. So of course, as I made my way back to my seat, I was castigating (look it up) myself and worrying that I had underwhelmed. I also ended up doing the whole monologue in a very husky, breathy voice due to nerves. Ahhhhhhhh! I’ll never know outside my own judgement if I was horible or not,, because everyone was very complimentary (as is polite to do no matter what).

More to come, with video!