When entering the J.M. Goddard Theatre I kind of had an inkling of what to expect from the room itself, I believe I saw a play many years ago there. The large room was set up into three sections of seating. The three separate sitting bleachers were laid out in an almost crescent shape with 10 foot gaps between them giving the audience right, frontal, and left stage views (I sat on the right stage side). The seats weren’t the most comfortable things, plush but warn faux velvet collapsing theatre seats with some pattern on them.
I noticed the lights all above and the sound/lighting booth in the wall to my right. As I sat down I surveyed the audience from the right to left and I saw all walks of life. I saw different ethnicities, and ages all around. I also noticed a couple that brought a 3 year old and an infant sitting in the bleachers parallel to me. Everyone seemed in good spirits, girlfriends whispering to boyfriends, or girlfriends to girlfriends the atmosphere felt light.
Once I was able to take in the audience and the general layout I looked at the set and stage. Set up like an old cigar factory with all the wood finished to look like it had been used for a long time. A raised platform that ran along a huge wall with four archways made up the main backdrop. To the right side of the platform a little balcony with a wooden chair jutted out over the main stage area. This really had me curious as to what its purpose was, but I’ll mention that later. The main floor of the stage area was either empty or fitted with cigar desks and crates for the actors to sit at. On top of each cigar desk was fake tobacco and half and whole cigars.
Once the lights went down the audience immediately became quiet. A crackling of old time Spanish music filled the air and the play began. Because there were two scenes going on at once, the first being between Santiago
Throughout the first 30 minutes the audience was a distraction. First the baby cried, then at the 20 minute mark 10 people came in late very loudly, and finally the door woman’s phone started to ring despite everyone being told to quiet their phones. Luckily none of this fazed the actors or the audience really. The actors performances were strong enough to drag us back in. Throughout the performance we laughed as a unit at all the places where the jokes were put, and we also clapped in the appropriate times, like when the lights would go out after each scene. I definitely would say we were in a community on this night.
Thoughtful and well done.
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