by Catherine Weingarten. @sarahkaneisssexy.
NEW YORK, NY - Local playwright Caitlin Moon Wassersmith informed The Broadway Beat this morning that she is thrilled for theater to come back, because now audiences can be silent in in reaction to her work in person and not just muted on zoom, the ecstatic scribe confirmed.
“As an indie playwright, I have been waiting so long for audiences to return to the theater and see my original plays about why my mom sucked and how that relates to milk shortages in the US,” noted Wassersmith, who has a trophy on her fridge with the words, “27th Place in Ryan’s Off Off Off Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival. “On Zoom, I so missed hearing that organic silence of people not sure whether it was a comedy or tragedy and awkwardly staring at me or the director. Now, I will get real life audience reactions like pitch perfect silence, booing, or milk thrown at me.”
Hampton Smite, a director and performer who once played milk in one of Cailtin’s plays, expressed a similar reaction.
“During the pandemic, Caitlin created over 15 original Zoom theatre pieces and we literally have no clue how they went because we muted everyone and disabled the comment stream,” said Smite, who had a “Shakespeare Best Of” DVD enthusiastically clutched in one of his hands. “I cannot wait to see my best friend’s work again and not laugh at the right moments and mostly just stare awkwardly at the actors when they reenact Caitlin’s mom hooking up with a local mailman when she was supposed to be at Cailtin’s 4th grade bumblebee themed dance recital. It will make things feel normal again.”
Sandra Peebody Christianson, a representative for the Dramatist Guild who sometimes suffers from “zoom fatigue,” a condition not recognized by the national board of physicians or the association of community theaters, is very excited for Caitlin.
“In order to grow as a playwright, one must see her work live and hear real live audiences act like they do not care and would rather be at TGI Fridays,” said Christianson, mid-bite as she was chowing down on a quesadilla burger. “During the pandemic, artists could mute audience reactions, but now they have to be ready for all the wild reactions audiences can have, like laughing tepidly, silent, very silent, or horny but silent.”
At press time, Caitlin told The Broadway Beat that her most recent play reading and the resulting light boredom on people’s faces brought tears to her eyes, reminding her of why she got into this business in the first place.