(Nasty Attic) Inspector Hound

Flying by the seat of our pants!

Our first few shows had done well enough. We’d kept down expenses to a minimum. So that we were able to cover our small costs and still pass on monies to local people and causes. Tom and I enjoyed the freedom to be ourselves or ‘Being Nasty’ as we coined it over drinks one night. I was determined to have artistic freedom, but this came at a price. That of not having a theatre to call our home. So, I had to come up with an answer. We did a benefit tour of Rockland County. For a young man who was very sick called Paul Sidoti. This ‘Tour for Paul’ was a steep learning curve, as each venue was a completely different place. So, ‘blocking’ became, by necessity, more fluid. But we found, if you used your lines as an anchor, you could adapt to the space. But one thing you could not overcome was the ambient noise which comes from the restaurant’s ice makers and fridges! Which swallowed the actors’ voices like a fog in a Victorian murder mystery. LOL! 

Larry Jacobs joined us around this time, writing music for the shows and also bringing his talent and energy to the company. Access to computers was still in its early days, and Larry had an Apple. Which had some fancy new fonts and images which you could print out. So, I got him to make paper copies of these and I’d literally cut and paste them with ‘real world scissors and glue’. Making an original which Mel could print from. It was a handmade theatre at its best. Made with love and passion. Tom and I were covering a lot of the depts and jobs ourselves. So, we started to make up pseudonyms so as not to keep putting our names more than once. Something our fans looked for at each new show.