live from hollywood, it's The Trade!

I just got back from Monogram Sweater, but thanks to the magic of Typepad's post-it-in-the-future thingy, this won't publish until I'm in Las Vegas on Friday. Cool.

I was very nervous on the way to the theater, more nervous than I've been before a performance in a long time. It didn't make sense to me that I felt that way, because I was performing material I'm very familiar with, which I've performed several times before. On the way there, I puzzled it out, and came to the conclusion that I had a perfect storm of pre-trip anxiety, separation anxiety, and poker tournament anxiety, magnified by holy-shit-it's-almost-the-holidays* anxiety. Once I realized what was actually going on, I calmed down a little bit, and I was grateful for the opportunity to take the stage and perform.

See, when I'm acting on stage, that's the only thing going on in my entire world at that moment. I honestly forget about everything else in the universe while I'm in a scene. Even though I enjoy writing, I don't get that same total escape when I'm doing it like I do with acting. I love that escape so much, I don't think I'll ever completely lose that thing which makes me an actor.

So the show was great. The other writers created hilarious stories (if you ever get a chance to see James Judd perform "James and the Momo Sisterhood," do it) and though the house was small, they were a very receptive and supportive group. I think they had a good time.

I took my iRiver with me to record my bit in the show. I stupidly put it on the music stand, next to my book, so the audio is pretty lousy . . . but I'm here it is anyway, for those of you who are forgiving and just want to sort of hear what it was like in the theatre. It blows out at the beginning, and again around the 5 minute mark for a bit. Right near the end you can hear my cell phone ring in my pocket, because Anne was calling me. Yeah, I thought I'd turned it to silent mode, but I guess it got nudged back into "ring while Wil is on the stage" mode. I don't think anyone in the audience heard it, but it's clearly there on the recording.

So, with the understanding that the audio is far from perfect, please pretend you are in a tiny little theatre in Hollywood, and you've just seen two brilliant performaces as I walk onto the stage . . . and enjoy The Trade: Download TheTradeLive (5.7 MB -14:14 Min).mp3

*(Normally, I'd just say Christmas, but I'm trying to make Bill O'Reilly's enemies list.)