This way, the audience gets its meal as part of the show, rather than stopping the show in order to serve food. If this show does well, a lot of people are going to see my name as the author, which could lead to more writing gigs. Plus, I'll get part of the door every time it is performed, so it's a nice bit of extra cash. It was then time to start setting props for Mildred Wild. The day had been unusually hot and humid, and the theater doesn't have air-conditioning, so we were in for a long night.
Audiences are a lot less prone to laugh when they're sitting in a puddle of their own sweat.
I was still feeling lousy, and kept lying down between scene changes. Steve the Hairdresser came over and put his hand against my forehead to see if I had a fever. There are some advantages to illness. As I suspected, the audience's reaction to the show was tepid, but they gave a great deal of applause to the cast during the curtain call. I suppose they were impressed that they didn't all pass out from heat exposure.