from BJ Jones

Opening nights are always fraught. The critics are coldly professional and involved in their jobs assessing the work, the audience is overreacting and the adrenaline factor is incredibly high, threatening to tear the delicate fabric of the work.

We’ve had two sort of opening nights with a full house on Wednesday of students and twenty-somethings who loved the play and knew it by reputation. It was like a rock concert with screams of laughter and shrieks louder than anything I have ever heard in our theatre.

Last night, the official opening, was more subdued. The audience got completely involved in the story of the play, laughed uproariously when it was appropriate and listened intently when the story and characters unfolded. One of my favorite moments is the quiet little love scene among all the carnage. And shortly there after, the strange sad rendition of “The Patriot Game” filled with disappointment and loss, sung by Mairead. Haunting and heartbreaking, the end of the play asks that we feel these emotions along with her.  I know some in our audience are turned off by the pyrotechnics of the play, but that is the key – it is a play, and it is only foam rubber and corn syrup.

As my friend and frequent Northlight performer Patrick Clear wrote me this morning, “I honestly can’t remember the last time I came out of a theatre feeling so totally jazzed. Like stepping off a roller coaster, part of me was thinking “Wow, I can breathe again,” and another part is thinking, “I can’t wait to do it again.”

I am so proud of our cast, crew, creative team and our Board, who have supported what is a real risk for a mainstream theatre like Northlight with a largely suburban audience.

I hope you can join us for the wild ride.  We’ve been Jeff-recommended!