Betsey and I agreed (actually, asked) to guest-curate an episode of 12 Minutes Max for a number of reasons, most reducing to the unvarnished fun of the evenings. We were curious to see some new work by new faces, and we had some ideas for artists to invite to audition. The result of the audition is four or five artists who've never trod On the Boards, some favorites from seasons and festivals past trying out new work (under new names), and one ringer--I'll get to all that in later posts. We're hotly anticipating Sunday and Monday nights, hoping they're as magic as they look to us on paper, and I'm busy right now shooting down Betsey's awesome ideas for our introduction to the performances--singing the intro; hiding audience gifts under certain seats and asking people to look for them. I'm probably being a big bore, but I'm also thinking that we have a jampacked evening and we should maybe stay out of the spotlight a bit, just say hi and a few words and get out of the way. Until Sunday night show's over, that is. Because then, we're all going down to Ozzie's to take over the front karaoke room, and I'm hollering some Journey. -Eric