Imaginary friends

I think that it was during the day on Thursday that I received a friend request on Facebook from a lady named Doris Miller. By the time that I saw the request she already had four mutual friends (if I remember correctly) and I will admit that I had to stop and think for a few moments whether I knew anyone called Doris Miller (I quite literally didn't recall the name). Of course as soon as the penny dropped, I clicked on the add button, despite knowing that I would never meet the lady in person.
What a stroke of brilliance this proved to be for the whole Copa family from the amazing Richard Poole. It proved to be a topic of discussion from the moment that people arrived in the evening, with everyone trying to work out who Doris really was and having a wonderful time discussing who it may really be. Richard was honest throughout and found some great ways of avoiding either lying or telling the whole truth!
For those that are still not quite with the plot, Doris Miller is referred to repeatedly throughout the script in Copa. She is the missing showgirl that Lola is recruited to replace early on and we later discover that she disappeared from the Copa not long after an earlier visit by the gorgeously masterful Rico. With support from the passionately sexy Conchita, Rico does explain that she had an unfortunate accident after trying to clean his revolver: one can only assume that she had insufficient experience and it shot off in her face.
It proved to be a lovely distraction and a real community builder for us all in talking about Doris, who became a mysterious company member and a real topic of conversation.
It was an added bonus for us all therefore when we found a review from Doris posted to the wall of the men's dressing room (and general Rah, Rah, there's a performance coming up room - thanks for those Jen and Amy!). Richard has denied having written this particular review and given his evasive honesty at the start, I rather think he's telling the truth there. So whoever was Doris for this, thank you. I've posted it here on the blog as one of our web pages, so that you can all read a review that seems to have been written by someone who actually attended the show, took the time to really consider the parts that people had played and the effort that had been put into them, and generally recognised the whole team who came together.
For now I would just like to say a huge congratulations to Richard for coming up with the idea to create Doris Miller and for following that through with action. On stage and off stage you're a star!
And to everyone else who friended Doris - what are you like! Now get on with adding Richard instead.
See you all soon,
Rico
(PS the asterisked comment on the Doris Miller about meanings of incredible is all thanks to the villainous aspect of Rico - let me know if you want it removed!)