Bat Boy

Wow, I'm a giant idiot. I wrote this paper last weekend and printed it out and brought it to class today, then found out it was a blog assignment. Just woke up out of a dead sleep and realized i never posted it. S***************t. Oh well, here it is anyways.

James Zern

Dramatic Appreciation

04_SP11

Bat Boy

                Amongst a sea of color and lights I searched for a single car in the lot. A red Ford Ranger, extended with a dive flag sticker on the back. This truck’s owner and I have an appointment. Finally after passing what seemed like an endless mob of vehicles I spot it, and with luck the driver is still inside. As I stop in front of his truck my good friend Brian put down his magazine, got out and approached my window, “Wow, you look like s#*t,” he half laughs, “I’ll meet you in the lobby.” Now for the fun part of trying to find a parking spot myself. Up and down every isle and nothing, I guess that’s what I get for running late. So I bit the bullet and decided to forget the lot and park on the street in front of the theater. Unfortunately this was full as well, and the closest I could park was a block and a half away. As I finally approached my friend in the lobby, out of breath from running, his query was, “WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?”

                You see my experience that night was quite unique due to events that unfolded earlier that day. It started in the morning as I woke to my alarm clock blinking 12:00, a sure sign I was late for work. Sure enough as I checked the time on my frantic drive I was already a half hour late. Ten hours later I was released from my servitudes and, although already exhausted, found the motivation to go to the gym where I proceeded to torture myself for an hour or so. Getting back in my car after the gym I checked my few messages and found one that made my heart pound even faster than my workout. Brian had called and reminded me that the play we have to see started at 7:30 and not to be late. So I put the pedal to the floor and speed from New Smyrna to Daytona, only to arrive late for a second time that day.

                Brian already had my ticket when I found him and we rushed through the empty lobby to the theater. As we entered we found that the cast were just going into the first musical number, hold me bat boy. As we looked for seats I noticed that there were quite a few people in the theater. Luckily we grabbed two seats close to the door, sat and began to relax. I glanced around to see who all was there and was surprised by the turn out. In the area I was in it was mostly students, most I assumed were either there as a requirement of a humanities class like Brian and myself, or were friends or family of some of the cast. I re focused on the stage to turn my attention to the horror comedic drama unfolding. Soon the exhaustion took me and I was out, only to be awoken by an outburst of laughter from Brian during one of the songs. Fight as I would to stay awake, I eventually drifted off again, only to be awakened again by Brian giggling and poking me saying, “this reminds me of you,” during the “whatcha wanna” do number.  This cycle kept repeating itself throughout the first act.

                At intermission I was awoken by a crash of applause. We exited quickly as I told my companion I needed some caffeine. We rushed to his truck and blasted to the 7 11 to get a low carb Monster, and Brian filled me in on what I had missed during my periodic blackouts. Rushing back we were pleased to find our parking spot un molested and available. Pounding the monster on the walk in I suddenly filled with an all too familiar energy. We resumed our seats and waited for the second act. Now I could see more of the audience as they reentered. Like my section, most were younger students, there were a few faces I’d seen around campus, but there were also some “older”(relative term as I and Brian are 30 and considered older to most who were there) audience members. The lights darkened signaling the beginning of Act II. Now, a bit more awake, albeit a bit confused do to lack of bits of information from the first act, I fell into the story. I don’t know if it was just my strange personality, but I found most of this play to be comedic, through its use of hokey slash horror (I always laughed at the Friday the 13^TH movies). I guess I wasn’t the only one because I could hear periodic chuckles fro several members of the audience. But for the most part the audience behaved as one would expect a modern western audience to behave. They were quite and respectful for the most part, and gave appropriate responses to humor and appreciation after particular songs. The content made some, like myself laugh, and others were just quiet. By the end I found this to be an enjoyable play, even though I really wasn’t looking forward to it. I kind of wish I could re watch the first act again, I know I missed out on some interesting things.

                As we left I got the impression that most people enjoyed the play, and my suspicions were confirmed as I heard many a conversation about having to watch this as part of a humanities assignment. But regardless of their reasons for coming, I heard many people shared my experience of expecting to be bored but were actually entertained and excited. Also there was a consensus that the second act was much better than the first. Brian and I left the parking lot and decided to go grab a drink at an Irish pub that we frequent often. As we were sipping on our pints we overheard a trio of girls down the bar discussing “Bat Boy.” Being the outgoing Gents that we are we decided to join in their conversation. It struck me funny to hear how they felt pity for Edgar an Shelley. I expressed my view that I saw it all as a Halloween sitcom kind of comedy, but I guess they weren’t as like minded as Brian. We finished our beers and said good night to “Bat Boy” and made the long journey home.