I Don't Know How to Talk to You

I'm always grateful when friends and family come and see a show I'm in. It is wonderful to have all their support (especially when the show I'm in is a profit-share endeavor :p) I also think it's great when said friends and family want to stick around after the show to talk to me and the other actors.

The problem is, I don't know how to talk back.

You see, what I REALLY want to hear is that you loved the show and thought I was superb, which is what most people who stick around do. Unfortunately, most of the time, I may think that you are actually saying that because you want to be nice after a show.

However, if you stick around and say nothing about the show (or say the fallback "congratulations" or talk about sets and/or costumes), then I begin to wonder if you hated it. So I awkwardly stand there, desperately wanting to ask you what you thought, but I don't because I don't want to put you on the spot and/or make you feel like you "need" to say something nice. In which case, I forced the pleasantries out of you and that's not very pleasant.

So, if I happen to be fidgety after a performance when you have so graciously stuck around to speak to me, it's simply because I'm coming off a post-show high and I don't know how to deal with you in the real world yet.

BUT! Don't stop sticking around after a show just because I so desperately acted like putting my costume away was the most IMPORTANT thing in the world. Because if I knew you were there and you leave quickly after the curtain call, I start wondering what the hell was so wrong about my performance (and not, you know, that your meter might be running out, because after all the world seems to revolve around me) that you had to leave in a huff.

I believe this is why actors drink after shows.