A Fighting Chance Is Better Than No Chance At All

Last Friday, I got to perform in The Next Big Improv Show.
Before I say anymore, let me direct you to my friend Chris's blog entry from Thursday September 23 that actually tells about what The Next Big Improv Show is.
It's okay, I'll wait.
Ho-Hum-Ho-Hum...
You read it? You're up to date? Okay then.
Anyway, one of the performers wasn't able to perform that night. John knew about way way in advanced. There have been some performers who haven't been able to make it and they have been cut on elimination nights because of this. But 2 performers, 1 of which already had a back up, told John months ago that they couldn't make it. The one I performed in the place of was going to his wife's graduation.
John sent an e-mail out about it back on Monday, the 6th. I was tempted to say something. But I didn't want to perform if the situation was that the guy who was getting filled in for would be eliminated if we were voted off. It's one thing to get voted off under your own merrit. It's something else to get voted off because somebody else sucked. By the time I went to rehearsal Thursday night, nobody still didn't fill in.
Early Friday morning, I sent an e-mail to John saying I would go ahead and fill in. Because of what I said in the above paragraph and the fact that the challenge was an emotion challenge...something that hasn't always been my strong point and I've only really recently gotten better at (in my opinion anyway) I said I would fill in until John found someone he considered to be better at emotional work than I was. Well, show time came and he didn't find anyone else so I wound up performing. Fortunately for me, I got to perform in the R I Spectacular show just before that due to someone else being ill.
I had an all day panic attack over it because of the possability that if I got cut, the guy would be eliminated. But if nobody stepped in, he would have more than likely been eliminted anyway because that's how it works. I had basically decided that a fighting chance was better than no chance at all.
At the end of the show, I wound up in the middle 3 (out of 9 contestants). So the good news was that the person I stepped in for would get to perform in the next one. The top 3 were judged and a winner picked and the bottom 3 were judged and the one sent home was picked. The two of us that filled in for somebody made it into the top 6. So both of our people will be coming back to the next show.
Getting to perform in the R I show before that did a world for my nerves because in that, I was playing on my own merrit. And my personal highlight was that part of the show where I did a historical interprative dance as George Washington at Valley Forge to the music of QUEEN!