Man, I stunk it up last night in class.

Not sure what happened. I was doing a scene from Tony Kushner's play, Angels in America. I was Joseph (Joe) Porter Pitt, a Mormon who's a closet homosexual, and the scene was a new job offer conflict with my valium-addicted, paranoid Mormon wife.

Everything should have worked. My four years at Utah State University more than prepared by for the culture. We brought great set dressing (Brigham Young University diploma wtih Joe's name on it, a picture of the Salt Lake City Mormon temple), a Book of Mormon (their religious book in addition to the Bible), scrapbooking stuff). My job sucks, and I'd be stoked to get a new job offer, so I connected with Joe's excitement about the possible move, and frustration with his wife not wanting to move. My scene partner was even named Karrie (I once dated a Mormon named Carrie).

So what happened?

Karrie and I couldn't get connected.

Maybe I was too confident in my background, workshopping, and set dressing. Maybe it was doing the blocking and shooting the night of, and getting one take to naturally move and talk around the camera. Maybe it was the first line not landing for me, and everything downhill from there.

Maybe it had something to do with the whole vibe being off for me Monday night. It's wonky, but the evening felt "wrong" from start to finish. Vibe's important.

Dunno. Anyway, for whatever reason, I was off last night. And though I'm dreading seeing the film next week, I am curious to see if plays better on screen than in person ...