2012 24:00:00 Xtreme Theatre Smackdown II
Well. Lookit me be so far behind in my journaling!
So! The Smackdown was epic fun. The people combined with the common elements to create a really solid group of plays. There was only one that I really didn't like. That seems like a good ROI to me.
It's been said elsewhere, and, to squeeze my own accordion, I agree: viajes's and my piece made excellent use of the line of dialogue. ("Consistency's a hobgoblin. It'll steal your pants.") This was partly our doing and partly because of the comic genius that is Tyler Martin. For those of you who don't know Tyler, he is a fearless man who gives 115% to any role and has Silly String where the rest of us have bones.
If "The Water's Fine" was my act of atonement for Renee Werbowski, "Lessons of the Woods" does the same for Martin, who was forced to endure the nightmare that was A 'Shroom of One's Own. He played all the monsters brilliantly (foiled time and again by Nicole Joy Frethem as baffled Shelley and Megan Volkman-Wilson as iron-willed Agnes). And I honestly thought I was going to fall off my chair when he entered as the hobgoblin Consistency, wearing his cape covered with pants.
To justify the "Xtreme Smackdown" name, we all took xtreme fighter names (mine was "Death Merchant of Venice"), and contests were held between plays. I'd been leery; what happened to the dignity of the theater? But, you know; dignity, schmignity. Watching playwrights and directors arm-wrestling and rock-paper-scissoring onstage was hilarious and gave us a chance to stop taking ourselves So Freaking Seriously.
Then it was my turn. I was braced for trouble because, when Stacey Poirier asked if I'd be willing to come onstage for a competition, I looked her in the eye and deadpanned, "I'm in this for the elevation of our artform, Stacey." She scribbled on her clipboard and said, "Abject humiliation. Check." So when she declared a dance-off, I was ready. I'm not a great dancer, but I'm an enthusiastic one. I would lose, but I would go down fighting. (I also liked telling my opponent that I was going to "Shuffle [him] off this mortal coil.")
Ben Tallen is a ringer. The instant the music started, he dropped to the stage and started doing the Worm. The Worm! No way I could beat that. In fact, I was laughing so hard I couldn't move, let alone dance. So I lost that bit spectacularly.
In spite of this, I somehow managed to win the Fan Favorite Heavyweight Belt. As discussed elsewhere, I have no idea how I did this, but I'm stupidly excited about it anyway. Seriously, the belt is super-cool, and now I have a luchador mask. CONvergence costume ahoy!