Editor’s note: Elvin Clark, one of the actors in Tryon Little Theater’s production of “Knock, Knock,” has been writing a blog about the experience. The Bulletin has recently published some of his posts to give insight into the process of creating a community theater production. This is his final blog.
Last performance. This was the first hot(ish) day of the year and we’re performing a matinee in a tin can.  The general procedure is that we try to cool the venue down before the show and then turn the AC off during act 1, restart AC during intermission and then off again in act 2. On this day, the plan didn’t work.
As act 1 went on, the cool generated by the AC quickly dissipated and the heat increased exponentially.  The actors were hot, especially Nancy in her armor. I don’t really know how she did it. But actors are always hot under lights so that’s not an issue. We were, however, increasingly aware of the audience and how hot they must be. The printed programs increasingly became fans and we became more and more concerned for their well-being.
Common sense prevailed at intermission and the AC was left on for act 2. One thing this cast has in common is that we are loud. And I say that with love. We were heard over a torrential rain storm so talking over AC is not a problem. Audiences also tend to be more responsive when they’re not dying.
Act 2 went very well and the audience response was wonderful. The only issue was when Nancy had her last monologue as she was ascending to… wherever she ascends to. Lavin and I (and the audience) watched in horror as a wasp landed on her shoulder and slowly walked down her arm. Fortunately, she never knew what happened and the interloper obviously flew away inflicting no harm.
When told about it later she only said that it was a good thing it wasn’t a spider.