Claude Wampler: I loved it. The performance is not the performance.

The last Claude Wampler run is tonight, and I'm thinking about going for a second time. It's a tricky one not to spoil, so I'll try not to by saying that this was the most personal show I've seen yet. I'm not entirely sure, but of the 8 people I talked to while waiting or seated, I think only two were not involved in the show. I felt at times like I was the only audience member, and that's something that no piece has done for me before. I got kissed on the forehead during last year's Nature Theater piece, but that was the closest I've come to the eerie feeling that I am a part of the show.

Or maybe I am the show. Remember that Jim Carey movie The Truman Show? Where he's the only real person in a world of actors? I couldn't shake that feeling at Claude Wampler's show, and I didn't want to. It's an amazing way to see the world.

I'd been tipped with roughly that much information beforehand, and I think that's all you need to be in the right mindset. For the 15 minutes I waited in line I kept thinking, "has it started yet? Is this person in on it? Has it started now?" Then the same thing for another 15 minutes after the show--"has it ended yet? Is it really over? Are they all still here watching me?" Has it? Is it? Are they?

--Carissa Wodehouse
Blogger, member, enthusiast