Where the HELL is the stage? (In my dream.)

May 16, 2008

I took Tylenol PM last night because I hurt my leg doing something stupid. (Bounding up the stairs, my foot got caught on a stair and I came crashing down. Graceful, no?)

Anyway, Tylenol PM destroys me for some reason…

I dreamt that I was doing a standup comedy routine in a large theater – like the Fillmore, only about double or triple that size – that was packed with people. People were having a good time and laughing at what I was saying, but I was just sort of reacting to my ridiculous situation. Nothing was working for me about the performance, but I just kept rolling with it, sharing my thoughts as they came to me.

I’ve had these kinds of “performing for a crowd dreams” before. They almost always share these themes:

1) The crowd is relaxed and having a great time. The venue is totally packed. Kind of the perfect crowd/gig.
2) During the course of the dream, I get more and more stressed at the situation I’m in – there are always barriers being put between me and the audience. In this dream, the stage was filled with so many boxes that I couldn’t see over them to the audience and they couldn’t see me. Then I would move to try and find a better location and a curtain would be in the way... or light rigging... or a door would be locked. No matter where I looked or what I tried, I couldn’t get a clean and clear line of site to the audience.
3) There are always bored, semi-rude stagehand types (think stereotypical east coast union guys - sorry for the stereotype) directing / misdirecting me around the back of the theater. “Yeh, go down that hall, turn left, then go through your 3rd door, then turn right, then up the stairs, around the corner and through that gray door to the stage.”
4) The net effect of the above means that I end up performing for the audience with only my voice, since they can’t see me.
5) During this frustrating process of me moving around the theater/performing space, trying to maneuver into a spot to actually do my thing, I start getting more and more stressed because I can feel that I’m losing the crowd.

I woke from this morning’s dream as I was (finally) standing on a small stretch of stage, but the microphone stand was ridiculously complicated, hard-wired and set up in such a way that the microphone was literally 14 feet off the ground above my head. So there I was trying to do my show while I was pulling down the mic stand, disassembling this claptrap microphone contraption, literally taking it a part. I just ended up using my frustration as part of my routine.

Then I woke up.

...

Yes... I think I know what this dream is about. (Frustration with the life of being an independent artist... Awww, poor baby. I know.)

No need to comment on its obviousness. Unless you feel an overwhelming urge. It's just a recurring dream.