When Two Worlds Collide

I'm a bit of an open book. I can't hide too many things in my life - especially Christmas presents from my kids, but that's a different story. I have certain areas in my life that I try to keep separate from others. Not out of deceit or purpose, it's just easier that way. Less to explain. For example, I don't want to have to explain to parents at my kids schools what it is that I do for a living. Not trying to be coy or elusive, just keeping it simple. I don't go into detail at work (a bastion of liberal thinking!) that I'm Catholic and go to church (nearly) every week and send my kids to Catholic schools. Way too much explaining to do.
So imagine my terror when my hockey buddies, a group not known for it's finesse or theatrical savvy, found out what I do and where I do it:
"Mamma Mia? Dude, that's awesome! We gotta come see it so we can make fun of you."
Hockey is a world of its own; a brethren, a fraternity with it's own language - "Bert, throw it to the middle next time and stop playing like you read it in a book!" - and a level of communication that is both brutally competitive (and utterly impossible to repeat here) and darkly loving. We talk in a coarse and rough way; it's rude and inconsiderate and downright mean - and we love it. We call each other every name in the book, degrading each others sexual preference, be it for person or animal, and ridicule job and life choices (Though spouses and children are generally off limits; girlfriends, not so much.)
Theater, of course, is my life's devotion. The nuance, the commitment, the disappointments. There is so much that goes into the life of an actor, and so much acceptance and tolerance that is expected and welcome. It's how we, as artists, grow. We love the unexpected, the different, the inappropriate. It brings freshness to a performance and is the life blood of creativity - and seems, in so many ways, the exact opposite of the hockey culture.
Friday night saw the terrifying collision of these two seeming disparate worlds as the first of my many hockey buddies (this time it was Scotty and his girlfriend Linda) came to the theater and experienced, firsthand, their own "Minut" and "OC" (my aforementioned nicknames) singing and dancing to Swedish Pop songs! The terror was all mine, I'm sure, as I know they only expected a fun night out at the theater, while I, on the other hand, had very different expectations.
I can stand in front of 1500 people on a nightly basis, sometimes with family or industry people in the audience, and perform unfazed. But cross my hockey world with my theater life? I literally broke out in a cold sweat:
"Oh man, I can' believe Scotty is out there?!"
I found myself nervous and preoccupied. I laughed at my folly, that I would be more disturbed that a hockey player was in the audience than a casting director or producer. Or my mother! Ahh, the power of the hockey brethren!
In the end, Scotty & Linda had a wonderful time, topped off by pictures in the back of the theater with us 3 "spandex clad" dads.(Yes, we're STILL fundraising for BC/EFA.) Now I've got some blackmail material if Scotty starts to give me a hard time!

In general, the show is going very well these days. I find myself very interested in audience size and response, as so much of our performance seems based on this. But it's an intriguing equation to contemplate. This past Wednesday proved to be the smallest house (audience) the show has had in 8 years! Dreadful, and tough to get the energy up for and to play to. Then Wednesday night? SRO! Great house, lots of energy!
You never can tell. But the show continues to be a blast to perform.