Reneé O'Connor in Macbeth


My Friday Night Experience - 6/28/02:

Ok folks... I got there... and I sit here... trying to find the words... The woman knocks my socks off!! No, no that's too... I don't know... She blows me away! ... She is the actor personified! She is the most gorgeous and sweet and humble and funny and intense and, and, and, and...WOW!!!!!!!

You may all bow before me, now, for I have talked face to face with the goddess herself. Here's the text:

S- You are AMAZING!
R- So you liked it, huh? (she says in the sweetest, simplest way, with a smile)
S- Oh yeah!
R- Well, we certainly have fun up there.
S- I can tell.
R- (she laughs) Oh, you can? Well, good.

For anyone reading this who is not from The Tavern Wall I should explain something: Members of the TW collectively sent in money to Shakespeare By The Sea in honor of Reneé. Lisa Coffi, the artistic producer I emailed with, generously put in the program a black box - directly under ROC's pix and bio! - that reads The Tavern Wall Salutes Renee O'Connor! I introduced myself to Lisa at intermission and she gave me a program to show me what she had done. I thanked her muchly!

As for the play itself, it was quite good... for an amateur production. Reneé, of course, was the best thing about the whole show. The guy playing Malcolm, the prince, is great. I saw him in a production of The Elephant Man earlier this year as the doctor. I got to talk to him after the show and he was thrilled that I had seen him in that too, and was really gracious to me. I mentioned that I was an actor and he told me to check out the place where he studies. He was very encouraging. The actor playing Macb was also very good. I liked what he did with the part. He and ROC worked very well together. I talked to him a bit afterwards too. Very nice guy.

The atmosphere was very casual. Many of the actors were all roaming about before the show (I was there a good hour beforehand), working on the set, playing catch... (not ROC though). The audience was mostly locals and regulars, I think, with maybe a 3rd of us Xenites in the mix. We may have been half but I'm not sure. A far cry from the intense convention crowds. Nice change of pace. Everyone was very respectful. Sharon Delaney was there. I talked with her a bit at intermission and she's hoping to put together something about the show and Reneé's experience in the newsletter... or something. She has a few ideas cooking, she said. She hopes Reneé will agree to them. Me too. I told her I'd really love to hear/read what Renee has to say about this summer.

About 30 mins before "curtain," a group of actors came out in SBTS t-shirts and jeans and announced the raffle they are having at each performance for various prizes - tickets being $5, which they proceeded to go around selling (I bought one, of course). Then another group, including Reneé, came out - dressed in t-shirts and jeans too (OH My Good Gods! ROC looks sooooo fabulous! And soooo thin!! - in a good way. She's a very tiny woman. But such stage presence!) Anyway, they came out and did this little shouting contest with the audience to "warm" us up. The wind was pretty cold. I shivered all evening. (But did I care, or even notice? Nope! A lot of it was excitement, too. ) Four actors took sections of the audience and gave each of them a line from the play to shout as loud as we could. ROC and two of the witches judged. They chose "Out damn spot!" Big surprise there... It's HER line after all.

Then she and her witchy cohorts gave us the low down on the superstition surrounding the play and why you're not suppose to say the name of the play. Well, ROC was the one who first mentions it, and in doing so, she said the name. LOL! The other two girls (as well as the crew who were standing off to the side of the audience) got all excited telling her she had to break the curse she'd just put on the show. ROC suggested that the cure is to spin around, spit, and walk backwards around the theatre building. But the girls disagreed. SBTS has their own cure. The "shake your booty" dance. (They have another name for it, but I forget it.) Naturally, the idea of ROC doing a booty dance was highly appealing to the audience. Soooo, with the girls providing the sound affects, ROC did this highly affective and thoroughly entertaining RAP with words about saying the word Mac-bee and having to shake your boot-ee... hand gestures and booty shaking included. Too too funny! Later on in their spiel the other two each said "the word" as well, so they had to do the dance too. However, they didn't do it half as well as ROC did. For them it was like old hat... not much effort given. ROC did it full out. It was great! Anyhoo, the point to their talk was basically a PG warning about all the blood and violence that would be portrayed in the play. But really, I'd seen much worse on XWP.

Then at the end of the play, after the curtain calls, Lisa Coffi got up and thanked their sponsors. They had the nightly raffle, took a picture with the winner standing among the entire cast, and finally Lisa announced that the actors were doing this show - 6 wks of rehearsals and 9 wks of performances - without pay. Therefore, any donations given would go to pay for food and gas for the actors.

Then the cast went off to the side of the stage for a meet and greet with the audience. Naturally, a long line developed to get ROC's autograph, which she did very graciously. She talked with everyone... people were taking pictures as she signed, etc. She even had a 'bodyguard' (this very large, tall man) and a 'helper,' but neither of them got in the way or anything. They just kind of helped form the line and were very nice. The audience too was really respectful and just sincerely glad to be there and to have their moment with her - which she was humbly generous to give. The woman is truly divine!

Behind the ROC line, the rest of the cast were all lined up and talking to people and signing their autographs as well. Nevertheless, there was definitely a separation. ROC and then... the rest of the cast. But nobody seemed to mind or even care. It was like... expected. Just the natural state of things with no one giving it a second thought. Quite awesome, actually. Reneé and her fans were taken care of and the rest of the cast did the usual meet and greet thang that is typically done after a show. No fuss, no bother, lots of sincere praise and gratitude shared by all.

I had a funny feeling of bonding with ROC this evening. I mean, there she was on this make-shift stage on this home-made looking set (very simplistic and "cheep," but functional), in these lovely, yet simple costumes, pouring her heart and soul into this character, playing among the various levels of talent and experience of the cast... doing her art for simply the love of her craft. I sat there thinking, she's doing what I've been doing for 15 years... both of us loving it for arts sake and for the sake of the audience, with no monetary reward in site. How wonderful is that?!

Did I mention how amazing she was? Every word, every gesture, every expression... total perfection! I can't even begin to describe it, which is why I haven't elaborated on her performance through this whole babble-fest. I have not the words to recapture the splendor, the magnificence, the sheer brilliance of her work. (Though I have tried to share her performance here.)

She knocked my socks off!

Copyright - Sarah Mears, 6/28/02; Edited: 7/1/02


Saturday Night - 6/29/02:

I met up with a woman, Deb, I had met at the PasCon in Feb, who came from NJ for the weekend. She went opening night and tonight. Thurs she took some wonderful shots of ROC during the pre-show, which she had developed on Friday. So she gave me a few of the duplicates. She even got one of Sir Miles being held by grandma. Very cute! Steve, ROC's folks and Miles (asleep and covered up in his stroller) were there tonight.

I talked to Renee again after the show (this time getting a SBTS t-shirt signed) and I mentioned the Tavern Wall:

S - My friends at the Tavern Wall say hello. They'd kill me if I didn't say something to you. (hee hee)
R - Oh yeah, thanks. I got the card*. That was very sweet. Thank you.
S - Oh good. I'm glad. Thank you.
[And away I went, leaving her to the rest of the long line of greedy fans. ]
(*For you non-TW readers: One of our members, Mezzo, designed a card with our names in it and sent it to ROC for opening night.)

I got a bit of the skinny from Deb that SBTS really had no clue who they had cast in their show, so they initially were not prepared for the idea of having security. Obviously, they got educated. I got to chat with the 'bodyguard' while I was in line tonight, and he commented about some woman who wanted to take all of these pictures of ROC, so she got all pissed off at him for moving her along. And as he was instructing the crowd (which was even bigger tonight) to stay in a line so that the process could go faster, he looked at me and described the typical half circle of fans all cramming around her for an autograph. I smiled and nodded my head, "Yeah, not good." He said, "Yeah, but she's really cool about it all. She doesn't mind." I thought that was great of him to say that. Not that I expected anything less from the goddess, but that he understood and appreciated the situation and ROC's graciousness, which was translated into the way he did his job. Very cool.

I should also explain that the main reason for the need for swiftness with ROC's signing is that the cast is only suppose to meet and greet for 15 mins, then they are required to help tare down the set. So... that's why. It's not ROC's doing.

~Sarah

Copyright - Sarah Mears, 6/30/02; Edited: 7/1/02
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