About 9:45 EST my segueway into the world of "QuickTime" began (clearly I demand they rename this program!! That, should be protested..) I visited the lorbooks site to use the handy link and found myself swiftly carried towards the lafco site. That was fine. I noticed that the live event was being broadcast using QuickTime, and knowing I didn't have that program installed decided in the heat of the moment maybe I should because I didn't want any problems (Make a plan, right? Well someone somewhere is laughing at me..) So I whipped over to quicktime.com (or something) and installed the software. YES, it claimed Qt was indeed properly installed and accessible. I gleefully went back to lafco site. I also tried the "Real" links , because I like RealOne ...arg nothing. Anyway Qt was okay ... the live webcast started. The stage set up was a row of chairs, faded carpets (red, oriental? tapestries..) and there were two large paintings in the back-- A "Lysistrata" inspiration of a woman with an open toga and tiny briefs with a keyhole on them. hmm. The other painting was of a Trojan warrior with a shield. A few people staggered in and sat down. I had no audio but assumed it would start at some point when the show did & only minutely freaked out. At about 7:15PST Eric darted in. He breathed in, opened his blue soft covered copy of the play -- perused it, ruffled the pages. Then he looked lost and darted away again. Eric's seat was right under the Trojan. That's nice. As if I'm InStyle magazine here I'll insert he was attired in a camel colored coat with pockets, jeans and maybe brown shoes. Later I noticed a sweater with a blue shirt beneath that sticking out. Nice duds. He looked very "yoko ono video", or maybe Robert Yeats. He actually could have used a little "product". Anyway....
The camera was now focused on the off white ceiling and yah I had audio!! But sadly nothing else. Tragic. At this point Qt died without even a chug chug to warn me. The nerve. I revived it about 7:40PST to find empty seats and people scattered. Christine Lahti shot into the scene in a bit (good another face I knew, sort of). She stopped at Eric (who came back from wherever he was ) and Eric shook her hand. The camera whipped away to a group of women holed up in a corner. The audience was coming in and a few people seemed to have hot pink sheets in their hands (programs?) Then everyone seemed to be seated. All the men on the left side (my left as a viewer) and the woman on the right. These green pipes or steel things divided them also (but maybe that's just the stage?) ... I had a snap of audio -- then nothing! Well, okay. Eric talked to the man on his left, other people talked. Then one gentleman got up and spoke for about 5-10mins. I wish I knew what he said because he was right in front of Eric, and judging from Eric's face it looked interesting. I wanted to know what the man was saying!! Then..Blackout!! Literally.
First on the stage the lights went out, then my Qt. I scrambled a few eggs and reloaded the Qt. The play seemed to begin.... It was all a silent film to ME, but I was trying to understand it all so... Two women were talking, then all these other women joined in. I think there must have been music because someone seated was swaying. A while later, the men rose (but not Eric, or the man next to him who I will call "Eric's friend".) Now the women are up again. The men all fly their arms up in the air (not the seated men, Eric and friend..) Eric's "friend" rises. Women harass ES's friend. Qt disconnects! Where did my Qt go? haaaa. Thinking calm meditative thoughts .... I spent 18mins trying to reconnect. YAH..Now I have both Volume/Audio and the play!!! I'm so happy I swing my chair back with its rollers and hoist my legs onto a nearby piece of furniture, because I wanted to get comfortable to watch. The guy from "The Nanny" is talking. This is great!!! A few women start pointing and I hear "Aphrodite", then one woman says something like he's over there on that stair. She points and says "a real man! ... who is he! who is.."
Camera swoops. Eric is standing heroically posed and then he adjusts himself. There is some excitement by the women and my Qt freezes on Eric's face. Aaaaah. Lots of Eric but no audio!! I'm disconnected again..NoooOOO. Then later I'm back... The 4 men and a woman are jabbering and Eric is seated. I have no audio and never will it seems. All the men stand. Eric is sort of touching himself and then Qt goes weird.... All the women stand. Suddenly I notice one man has a long blond wig on... and I'm kicked out again!! This whole process has taken about 1hr30min...I close all non-responding Qts , reload and hold my breath. No audio. But I have the play, I watch the last 20-30mins not daring to move an inch .... It seems like a good play, I'll give my own reading of THE SCRIPT!! Greek translation or whatever later..since I will never know what anybody said. I'm sure bongos are playing or something.
The line of standing actors is wiggling side to side, the women sway more than the men but Eric is moving his head at least (good job!) The actors and audience (I'm sure!) applaud and I'm disconnected. I reconnect 5mins later to find the tail end of the women and the men that were trapped in the raised wings of the stages forming a congo line and dancing off the stage. I close Qt. You can also visualize a lot of green plaid screens (really! what the --**?) and frozen images of various scenes, one point Eric was frozen behind his friend for like 8mins... the horrors at different points..midway through I gave up making notes in frustration. I only started notes because I had NO audio (I tried playing with every option and command on that Qt) But ...really you know, in truth ..it wasn't all that bad and you could still get that in the end all the actors (particularly a few women, C. Lahti especially were very happy about the performance and I was happy for them). It was an interesting thing to do and I applaud them all. Also at various points I checked my clock and pondered how Andy's version was and if she'd be on stage now too. :)) My experience as a "live webcast viewer" really was its own Greek drama, because I'm sure to my loss, I missed learning a really valuable lesson and seeing a good play.