Holiday

Well it's the end of the week and the end of the calendar year for MHT . A few meetings and rehearsals will happen between now and Jan. 5 but the theatre is shut down as of 5 pm today until 9 am on Jan. 5. The box office will reopen on January 6 at noon. Most of the MHT staff are heading off to various parts of the country to be with their families over the holidays. Some left town this afternoon headed up to New York and others will leave later in the break.

Wednesday the board meeting was held at the Cochran house and we shared lots of good food and conversation along with the meeting. We addressed some difficult issues the theatre is facing and made some cuts in our budget. We are seeing a drop in contributions and fundraising income from last year and as a result have decided to cut the operating budget by 3% to reflect the drop in income. I was extremely proud of all of the staff. They chose to take a 3% cut in pay in order to keep from laying off anyone. Everyone one of the staff is dedicated to helping the theatre succeed and throughout the year the staff donates supplies and materials paid for out of their own pockets to help keep our expenses down.

Thursday, April and I, treated the staff and their families to dinner at Pizza Inn and then a group of us went ice skating. We had Alexis, Jim, and I were the only staff members brave enough to get on the ice and kids Peggy (Bookkeeper Sandy Harbins daughter), Elisabeth (Jim Keeney's daughter), and Jade (April and my daughter) joined us on the ice. It was a warm evening and we were the only ones on the ice for about 30 minutes which was great fun.

This afternoon the staff traded gag Christmas gifts and I ended up with a key finder that when you whistle it tells you where you left your keys. The rest of the staff thought that was perfect for me. Some of the other gifts were a balloon animal kits, glasses that make Santa's and snowmen appear when looking at Christmas lights, silly calendars, and other fun items.

Other than trading gifts today was spent finishing up odds and ends. Some mailings went out and Jim and I set up the walls for Southern Comforts. Phil Counts the director came down and we talked through the set and we discussed some changes but overall he approved the set for the show.

Auditions for Ramona Quimby, Having our Say, The Sugar Bean Sisters and The Wizard of Oz are set for Jan. 12 & 13. The Kentucky Arts Council grant is due on Jan. 15. The Christmas Murder Mystery for Lone Oak High School has been rescheduled for January17. Lots to do when we get back.

Have a Happy Hanukkah, and a Merry Christmas and we will see you in 2009!

Look for the next directors blog after Jan. 1. Ho Ho Ho and a Happy New Year!!

Wild Winter Ride Post Script

I forgot to add that when April got to Carlisle County they closed the school just as she got there. All she could do was turn around and drive back.

Wild Winter Ride

Yesterday was one of those days that if I had any hair left would have turned it gray!

Monday began with a flat tire on April's car which needed to get to the auto repair shop to remove the large nail in her tire. April took my vehicle to drive to Carlisle County to do classes. She called twice to make sure they were still holding classes and was assured that they were and she drove to the school. While putting on the temporary spare on April's car I received phone calls from the cast of the murder mystery asking me if we were going to cancel that night and what were the roads like in Paducah. I replied that yes the school was still holding the event and it was only raining (I was laying on the wet ground to reach the spare stored under the car at that moment). After dropping April's car off and getting a ride back to the theatre to pick up the theatre van I drove to Rowton sound and rented 4 wireless microphones for the murder mystery event at Lone Oak High School that night. Valerie Pollard and I worked on the trivia event that was a part of the murder mystery that night and then I loaded the van with the rest of the sound equipment. At noon and again at 2:30 pm I called the school to confirm the party. At 3:30 I loaded up the van and drove to Lone Oak High School. I unloaded the sound equipment and then talked with the coordinator who assured me we were doing the event even though the roads were starting to ice up. All during the set up time in the cafeteria cast members kept calling me asking me if we were canceled. One of the cast members hadn't bothered to go get his costume from creatures of habit because he assumed that the event wouldn't happen. As I left the High School to try to run back to get April's car I had to wait 20 minutes to get back on Lone Oak Road due to the heavy traffic leaving town. Just as I got out onto Lone Oak Rd the coordinator from the school called my cell phone and canceled. It took me another 15 minutes to go 5 blocks and turn around to go back to the school to load back up the sound equipment. Meanwhile I was calling the cast on my cellphone trying to get the word to them. I left Lone Oak HS at 4:15 with the sound equipment and it took me until 5:05 to get to the south side to pick up April's car. Purcell Tire waited for me after closing so that I could get there to pick up her car. I finally got the theatre van back at the theatre and drove home in April's car at about 6 pm last night. This morning was spent returning equipment that wasn't used yesterday. I felt badly for the cast who worked hard rehearsing the new show and a couple of the actors spent their own money on purchasing clothing to perform in the murder mystery event.

I doubt that we will do the event because it has a Christmas Theme and really doesn't work well after the Christmas Holiday.

Tonight I'm taking publicity photos of Tom Dolan and Renie Barger for Southern Comforts. Tomorrow is the holiday board meeting at April and my house. Thursday is the staff party at the end of the day. We will be closing Thursday at 4 pm. Friday is the last day we are opened until Jan. 5. The big Kentucky Arts Council grant is due Jan. 15 and that looms large just as everyone starts back up for the new year.

I'm hoping the rest of the week isn't quite as crazy as yesterday.

Greetings After Show

I've just locked the last couple of doors for the night and before I shut down the computer and head home I thought I would share the adventures the last few nights during Greetings. Last night during the show some car was parked just outside the theatre on the side street next to Tribecca. The driver was apparently impatient with someone inside one of the restaurants because they blew the horn on the car for a solid 30 seconds straight. This of course was close to one of the main plot moments in the play. When the car finally stopped blowing the horn some of the people walking on the street started to have a loud conversation. Not only was the conversation extremely loud but it was also laced with lots of profanity. Needless to say everyone in the audience heard the car horn and the loud conversation. Roy Hensel after the show said that if he had thought about for a moment longer he would have added lines about the lousy neighbors who not only don't put their Christmas lights but also blast their car horn.

Tonight the audience responded very positively to the play. But tonight's audience got to listen to a Harley Davidson motorcycle start up and then rev his engine for about a minute before taking off. It seems like things always happen in threes! I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Several audience members went across after the show and joined the cast for some warm wassail with and without rum and brownies and goodies. Tonight was one of the best audience responses of the run so far. They got every joke. Roy had a brief memory lapse during the play when he forgot to ask for the Bible to do his exorcism. The kitchen door on the set is supposed to open as the rest of the cast peeks out to see what is going on. Fortunately for Roy, Fowler was waving the Bible in the door way. Roy dismissed them and turned back to continue what he was doing and then it dawned on him what Fowler was trying to tell him. Roy then immediately went back and picked up the Bible part in the play.

The one thing about live theatre is that every night is different. You never know what will happen next.

We have 2 shows tomorrow and a final matinee on Sunday. We are offering $10 tickets to the matinee for anyone who brings in a non perishable food item to donate to Paducah Cooperative Ministry. Or a $5 ticket to the After Show party tomorrow night if you bring in the food item. That's a savings of 50% and you get that good feeling of helping a good cause.

Tomorrow between shows the murder mystery cast which includes Roy and Audra from Greetings will rehearse for our performance at the Lone Oak High School teachers Christmas party on Monday.

Holiday Blitz

We are in the midst of the pause from Greetings but things are still moving along at a fast pace. Greetings had a good response from the first weekend of performances. Audiences were always surprised by the turn of events in the play. Good seats are still available for the final weekend.

Last night the murder mystery troupe rehearsed getting ready for a performance next Monday at Lone Oak High School Teachers holiday party. We are doing the mystery I’m dreaming of a Red Christmas. This one is a little more improvisational than our usual scripts so the actors are having to learn less dialogue but having to pay closer attention to the flow of the plot than usual. It should be lots of fun. Characters include the Abominable Snowman, Crystal the Snow woman (Frosty’s wife), a host of elves and of course Santa and Mrs. Clause. I’ve left it up to each of the cast to come up with their own costumes and to be creative.

Tonight is play selection. We will continue to narrow down the choices for next season and hopefully have a list by the end of the month. The Holiday Home tour was last Sunday and we had a slightly smaller turnout than last year but the event was still a big success. Everyone who attended seemed to really enjoy the homes.

Today we have to put all of the Story Theatre set and sound back into storage. The tour ended last Friday and we had to rent 2 wireless microphones transmitters and receivers to finish out the tour. Those have to be returned to Rowton Sound today as well.

The Studio theatre is hosting the auditions for The Vagina Monologues. Staff member Marsha Cash is directing the show and helping to raise funds for the prevention of abuse towards women and children. This is not a Market House production and Marsha’s participation is on her own time. The idea of a group raising money for a worthy cause by creating a theatre piece where amateur performers donate their time and talents fits within our mission to help this group by offering them the use of our studio theatre for their auditions.

The studio theatre will get decorated this week for the Greetings After Hours Party on Friday and Saturday night. Wassil with and without rum will be served along with desserts and holiday music.

We are having the December board meeting next week. In addition the theatre staff always has a little holiday get together as well and that will be next week as well. Tentative plans are for dinner and then Ice Skating afterwards for those of us brave enough!

We are preparing the donor campaign letters which will go out after the first of the year. This is the biggest part of our annual fund drive and all of the board members will be writing notes to previous donors asking for their continued support and we will be conducting a new donor campaign drive as well.

Greetings Opening

The cast did a great job last night with an opening night audience just shy of being sold out. Director Phil Counts paced the lobby nervously as the audience filed in. He told me that this is the most difficult part for him. Waiting to see the audience reaction to the play. It is out of his hands now and into the audiences.

I don't outwardly show signs of my nerves but I'm also waiting to see the audience reaction. It doesn't matter how good or bad something is in my mind. It is all up to the audience. I always remember an old saying "You are only as good as your last show." Every time we open a show we have to prove ourselves again. High School Musical was a terrific show. Maybe even Market House Theatre's best ever from a performance standpoint. But that show is now part of the theatre's history and we are here at opening night again having to prove ourselves.

As the Executive Director I often worry about the subject matter of the play. Greetings is a comic drama about family and faith. It is definitely not the Sanders Family Christmas onstage. Greetings is a family portrait drawn with wit and with a tinge of regret and resentment. We will see a very funny segment that it is followed up by a powerful dramatic segment. Tom Dudzick the playwright does this really well. We may be laughing at the dad in the show yelling out the front door calling all the neighbors atheists because they didn't put up Christmas lights, and the next moment we are watching as a young woman recounts the death of her little sister and why she doesn't believe in God or miracles. The playwright brings us back and forth in a discussion of faith and family that hopefully allows us to ask the questions that the main character Andy poses to us -" Are the old ways worth holding onto? Do some ideas deserve rethinking?" Playwright Tom Dudzick comes up with answers for his characters that give us hope along with a miracle or two, but he doesn't let us, as audience members, off the hook from asking ourselves those same questions. Andy goes on to say "Because no matter what we tell our kids, in thirty years they'll be asking the same questions all over again."

In a Christmas season full of shopping we sometimes let the shiny packages blind us and forget to look around us for the miracles of faith and hope and love.

Greetings Tech rehearsal

We've just closed up the theatre and everyone has gone for the night. Today was the technical rehearsal for the show. After the rehearsal a group of volunteers -Renie and Don Barger, Stephanie Young and Dick Holland all treated the cast to chili, cornbread, salad and dessert. The cast was very appreciative of the food.

The show has about 30 light cues and about a dozen sound cues. Susan Odum is running sound. Susan is the mother of Audra Hall and this is her first time to work on the crew for a show. Ann Counts is stage managing the show and this is her first time in that position. Vicky Shelby is running the lights and she has worked dozens of shows on the light board and backstage. Starting the show is always the most difficult. There are 5 light cues to get from the time I finish the curtain speech until the actors first line. In greetings there are 3 sound cues to work with in the sequence as well. Ann and Susan both did a great job for their first time in those positions.

The actors had to stop when the scene changes came because they have to help take off (strike) and bring on (set) the various food and hand props used during the scenes. The cast is supposed to be eating meatloaf during the play. Ann Counts has come up with a substitute for the meatloaf that looks like a dark brown meatloaf but is easier to eat cold. I don't want to give away what she came up with but lets just say the actors love eating it.

At this point in the process we are still working out the details of how things happen and the characters are refining how they react to each other. The hardest thing for an actor to do is find the different emotions that are involved in a scene. Most actors start out by thinking about a scene in two dimensional terms. If they are supposed to get mad in a scene they yell a lot and get angry at the beginning of the scene. If they are supposed to calm someone down they talk in a calm voice and deliver their lines at measured rate of speed. The really good actors understand that a scene can have a dozen different emotions all in the build up and resolution to getting angry or calming someone down. The character may be frustrated, confused, threatened, scared, certain, and finally defensive. That's 6 different emotional levels to play all under the guise of angry. The actor also has to create what is going on as it happens. By that I mean that it always has to feel as if this is the first time they've ever done this. A wonderful quote that I found somewhere says that a characters lines are thinking out loud. As a character speaks it is not just telling someone something but discovering what they are saying at the same time. As the performers work on the last three dress rehearsals before opening it is the directors job to continue to work with the actors to create a sense of discovery. Each character has make it feel as if it is happening for the first time right in front of our eyes. In Doubt I described it to the actors as riding a roller coaster. Each time you get on the ride you discover something new twist or bump about the character or their feelings that you never saw before. A good playwright has sweated over every word choice, every pause in order to communicate something about the character and the plot. Comedies are harder to do than dramas because making someone laugh is often harder than making someone cry. Greetings is a comedy with some serious moments.

The cast of Greetings has worked hard along with Phil Counts the director to ride that roller coaster. Four days from now the show opens. My job as the Artistic Director is to give Phil feedback from a fresh pair of eyes and ears. To tell him when something I see doesn't make sense. It is the primary job of a director to be the audience's eyes and ears. To give the actors feedback that helps them to be believable. Actors and Directors can often get such tunnel vision about a show that they stop seeing what is actually happening because they are so focused on what is supposed to happen. The Greetings cast has been working on the show since the auditions on Sept. 8 & 9.

I can see their hard work paying off. There are some wonderful moments in the play with each character. If the company does its job right then it is the audience who gets to ride the roller coaster along with the cast. My note to the actors- Remember to keep your hands up high in the air at all times during the ride so you feel like you will fly out. Phil the director is there to hang on to you so you don't fly out the seat during the loop de loops. Most of all ... have fun!

Holiday Time and promises

We move into high gear for Greetings and take a break all at the same time. The offices will be closed Thursday and Friday so that most of the staff can spend the holiday with family and friends. Tonight is the last rehearsal for Greetings until Sunday's technical rehearsal. The cast will take a break to spend time with family and friends. There is another tradition however. That tradition is that the a lot of technical work has to get done between now and Sunday's rehearsal. Jim Keeney and I will be working on lights, sound, and set this Friday and Saturday in preparation for Sunday. It never fails that a show goes into tech rehearsal on the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Many theatres put on performances on the Friday after Thanksgiving. I've always struggled with that idea. While from an audience standpoint it might do well, from a volunteer and staff standpoint having everyone give up their holiday to be at the theatre seems to be at odds for me with what community is all about. We are an organization with a mission that talks about community values and relationships.

It seems like at least once a week a decision is called for about scheduling a theatre rental during off hours, or producing a show for a special corporate event outside of our regular season. The first thing that happens in planning any of these extra events is asking volunteers and staff to give additional time to do an event. Balancing the needs of the primary program and mission of the theatre against the additional revenue brought in by additional programs. The majority of the the theatre staff puts in 50-60 hours every week. Performers in a show donate 15-30 hours a week in rehearsal time or performance times. Volunteers are coming in to help with the set construction and painting, running the lights and sound for rehearsals and events.

I often think that trying to find the right balance between income and expenses is easier than deciphering what the costs in terms of time truly are. Most people in the theatre aren't just "donating" their time. It means families are donating time to support the people producing the shows at the theatre too. We all strive to create something really special.

The only thing I know to be true is that everyone at MHT works extremely hard to accomplish so much. Other theatres are always amazed at how many shows, classes, and outreach programs we do in the course of a year. My philosophy is that when we work, we all work very hard, and when it is family time- the focus is on family. I know that I don't always live up to that ideal in my own life but I try.

My mentor in college was a professor who lived at the theatre. He had two daughters who grew up with their father always at the theatre. When I attended the memorial service for my professor, I told them how much their father had been my role model and that I had a young daughter. They both told me they wished their dad had been around a lot more during their childhood. Having a career in the arts for most people blocks out everything else in life. Families tend to suffer the most. When April and I chose to make Paducah our home 25 years ago we did it because we wanted to be part of a community and raise a family. Not because we were driven to do theatre and nothing else in life. April and I love being in theatre and doing what we do. But like all creative people. We lose track of the time involved. So even though it means we have to work that much harder to get ready for Sundays rehearsal. No one is allowed to work on Thanksgiving and the show won't open until Dec. 4. I haven't always been able to keep that promise for myself but I try.

I'll be home tomorrow eating our traditional meal and getting Christmas decorations out to put up even though we open next week. I hope that everyone gets the chance to spend time with family and friends in the true spirit of community!

Greetings will open Thursday Dec. 4 and run until Dec. 14. The theatre will close at the end of the day on Friday Dec. 19 and the staff and volunteers are off until Monday Jan. 5 to focus on family and friends.

wrapping paper

We finished Doubt on Sunday with a good but odd performance weekend. On Sat. night one of the audience members who sat in the front row got up during the show and exited to the lobby. When they returned they happened to pick a moment when Sister Aloysius-Renie Barger, was standing just in front of the door in a tense scene with Jody and Jennifer. The person who came back in tapped Renie on the back and asked her to move so she could get back to her seat. Fortunately Renie kept right on going and a moment later Renie moved as she normally did in the scene to the other side of the office. On Sunday Jody was doing a scene with Jennifer and when he stood up and turned his back towards the audience he had a strip of glow tape firmly attached to the back of his priest robe. I thought for sure that Jennifer would see it. I also prayed that Jennifer would wait until Jody got offstage to tell him about it. Having Sister James grab Father Flynn's backside to grab a piece of glow tape wouldn't have exactly fit into the scene! When Jody returned for the next scene it had been removed. We had a small cast party after the final performance and the entire company felt really good about the production. Some plays you can really sink your teeth into and this was one of those plays. I saw all of the actors do some of their best work during the run. It was a joy to work with all of them. Jennifer started to cry every time one of the actors had to leave from the party.

Monday brought lots of work on a fundraising letter to High School Musical audiences, the final push to get my Thanksgiving cards completed and ready to mail, and play selection. The play selection group had a nice little meeting with each member bringing some food item to share. We feasted on Denise Bristol's Cocoa Crispy treats, Diane Byrd's olive spread and crackers, Valerie Pollard's chocolate dessert squares, Mary Margaret Hoffman's fruit platter, and I provided a bottle of wine along with Valerie. We talked about some of the new plays that we were reading. One of them is by the playwright from Smoke on the Mountain called Wedding Belles. Another play that has had positive reviews this year has been Christmas Belles. Several of us like the play Escanaba in da Moonlight about deer hunters in northern Michigan written by actor and playwright Jeff Daniels. We all joked that if we did Escanaba we would have to find a way to make it Escanaba Belles in da Moonlight.

Jim worked on redoing some of the broken dry wall around the two balcony doors in the large apartment that we are trying to rent out as of Dec. 1. It is the last of the repairs before after having had the outside of the building re-tuck pointed. Marsha was in working on the database for the fundraising letter that Cindy Miller and I have been crafting. It takes at least a week and several re-writes to make the case for support without it being too wordy or too harsh. I always look at what everyone else is doing to see if there are better ways for us to make our case. As I was writing this letter it occurred to me that many people don't know that MHT gives hundreds of tickets a year to other organizations for auctions to raise money for food pantries, school projects, cancer walks, and dozens of other needs in our community. Being a member of this community doesn't just mean that we receive when it comes to donations, we must also give from the theatre to help others in need. We give of our talents and our hard work so that others may benefit.

Maybe it is just because it is Thanksgiving (which is my favorite holiday of the year) but I 've been thinking a lot about community. I think the words community theatre have gotten a bad rap. I know that we often produce plays with as much talent and production quality as professional theatres. But the real thing that makes community theatre special is the cross section of people who come together and create something. These people give of their time and talents to make this a better place for our need to tell stories that matter and create laughter and tears. I received a comment from someone who came to see Doubt that they are always so impressed by how much talent is present in our community. They wished that they had grown up in a place with the opportunities that we have here for theatre, for music, and for art. It is a very special place in which any one of any age can develop and share the talents that have inside with others. That is the real gift of community and community theatre. It is such a gift to be a part of something special like that uplifts our whole community. As I wrote my "Thanks Giving" cards I was moved by the number of people who have supported this little theatre for so many years. They have become not just supporters and patrons but friends.

On behalf of the theatre- Thank you to everyone who gives of themselves in this community to make this a better place to live. For me personally- Thank you to all of the people who have let me be present as you shared your talents with others. It has been a true blessing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

On your mark, get set....

We enter the final weekend of Doubt, next weekend is the tech rehearsal for Greetings, the Designer Home Tour is the following week, and the after show Greetings party and final weekend of performances is the week after. ......Go!

Last night the theatre held its monthly board meeting. We usually meet the 4th Wednesday of the month but because of Thanksgiving we moved this month and next month up a week. The board of directors discussed several fundraisers that are about to happen and some still in the planning stages. Randy Davis has been hard at work getting the houses lined up for the Holiday Designer Home Tour. That happens Dec. 7 from 2-5 pm. The Gault home with designer Laura Kaufmann and In Bloom, the McGinty home with designer Betty Hall of the Green Door, and the Graves home with designer John P. Gust. Board members signed up to volunteer at the different houses during the event to act as guides and ticket sellers. Sarah Bynum echoed the sentiment of everyone wanting to know if she could clone herself to work at all the houses to see all the beautiful decorations. Several board members will all pitch in to decorate and host the Greetings after show party on Dec. 12 & 13. We will serve wassel with rum for those who want and without for those who don't along with lots of sweet holiday goodies to eat. We talked about the planning for the big Wizard of Oz auction on Feb. 13.

Like all organizations the theatre is looking at ways to trim our expenses at this difficult economic time. That is hard to do since we start with a trimmed budget but you have to get creative. We removed telephone lines from the classroom, scene shop and main building since April, Jim and the box office are using cell phones when operating out of those buildings. I've been on an energy hunt replacing most of the light bulbs with incandescent lights. We are changing over thermostats to programmable ones to help keep building heating and cooling more efficient. Everything from how much paper we use to making sure computers are turned off at night instead of leaving them on are all being implemented.

We cancelled the performance of Doubt for Thursday night. Ticket sales for that evening were not enough to cover the cost of the performance. The ticket holders on that night were all able to move to a different performance this weekend where ticket sales are much stronger. This was another cost based decision. The cast will use tonight as a brush up rehearsal instead of a performance. Unfortunately because of keeping costs as low as possible we had no money to purchase advertising for Doubt and have relied solely on press releases and word of mouth. The show is wonderful and you won't want to miss it if you have any chance of coming on this final weekend.

Greetings is moving into its last couple of weeks. It is interesting working with two shows that both have religious ideas at the same time. Both shows are very different but have a couple of things in common. Doubt lets us look at situations where there are multiple truths and nothing is black and white as much as we would like that simplicity. Greetings brings into view a family dynamic that looks at a miracle from different perspectives. Is it truly a miracle? Is it just a bizarre occurrence? Is it imagination? For the faithful it is a sign from God. For the doubting it is a bizarre coincidence. It is up to the audience to make the final decision.

The process of getting to that decision is where the play takes place. Just like the world around us we have to interpret what we see with the limited knowledge that we have. I am in the fourth and final year of a course from Sewanee Theological Seminary. It is a course for lay people to study and deepen their faith. One of the philosophers this year has been Kierkegaard. He made a statement that if God held the ultimate truth in one hand and the search for truth in the other that he would choose the search for truth. Because having the ultimate truth is too difficult for us and only God can comprehend it. Greetings and Doubt both search for the truth, but neither play wraps up everything like a TV sitcom by the final commercial break. We are left to use our minds and our own understanding of faith to move on. The joy of Greetings is that the playwright has looked at this from a humorous point of view. You laugh and have to think about it at the same time!

I have been handwriting Thanksgiving cards every night this week to the donors and sponsors of the theatre. This is very labor intensive but I find that it is really something I enjoy doing. Some of the names have been supporting the theatre since I first began working here. Other names are ones who not only donate to the theatre but are in the audience for every show. Still others are individuals and families who volunteer, attend shows and donate. It feels like writing to lifelong friends. This theatre is blessed by so many wonderful people who give of themselves and believe in sharing the talents of local people with the community. I feel at a loss for words to express my deep gratitude and appreciation of how special all these people are. It truly is a Thanks-giving for me personally and the theatre to have so many people who have made our community a better place and whose presence has blessed me personally.

I feel like I should say Amen to end this!

Highs Lows Pride

Getting to the opening of Doubt has been filled with highs lows and pride.

On Tuesday Todd Hatton of WKMS came and recorded parts of the show to air on the Front Page of WKMS today. He did a nice interview and you can hear it on www.wkms.org and click on the Front Page for Friday Nov. 14. Mary Thorsby also came and took photos and interviewed some of the cast for www.ilistpaducah.com .

Trying to promote this show has been difficult. We have no money in the budget to market the show since it is in the Studio Theatre and the seating is very limited. We rely primarily on word of mouth and all the free sources we can get.

I spent most of yesterday, opening night, working on Greetings, the newsletter, postcards, and banners for the mainstage show. At 6:30 pm I walked into the studio theatre to prepare for the show and Alexis asked me where the programs were. I had completely forgotten to create them. I ran back to my office and pulled together all the information and put it into a format to print. Of course the printer decided to not cooperate and I had to export the program to a pdf file and then print it from that. Needless to say it was 7:10 when the programs were run back down the street to the studio theatre. In the mean time Dvonne Miller knocked on the office door while I was creating the program to remind me she need a purse and Jennifer Carder needed a gold band ring to wear as Sister James. I ran to costume storage and of course couldn't find any of what I was looking for. I ran back to the studio and told Dvonne to just go on without the purse. I was the one who told her the night before that she needed it. I took my wedding ring off and gave it to Jennifer to wear making her promise to give it back to me at the end of the performance. Next Wednesday is April and my 25th Wedding Anniversary. Then I made the tea for the tea scene for the show and called places in time to run out front, do a little curtain speech welcoming the audience and then run sound for the production. I was wiped out before the show started. The cast did a great job and the small audience for opening night was very enthusiastic. Many of the shows more humorous moments came through and had the audience laughing and then riveted by the drama which followed.

As I got my ring back at the end of the show I thought back about other shows I've been in. I've literally given an actor the shoes off my feet so that he could perform. (That night I did the curtain speech in the mainstage in my sock feet- no one noticed.) I've given the shirt I was wearing to a different actor at another time who forgot to bring back in his dress shirt and only had a t-shirt. I've even given my socks for one actor who forgot dark socks and wore white socks. Most of the furniture pieces at our home have been onstage in a set at some point. I remember having one actor who was ill and I grabbed a quick costume out of the costume shop to run over and play the part. This was supposed to be a much younger character. I grabbed a men's wig out of the costume shop as well. I now have an emergency costume and wig in my office just in case. (Black shoes, black pants, white shirt) Hmmmm it strikes me that other business people probably couldn't (or wouldn't) say that.

Last night during the performance of Doubt the actors were exploring their characters in new ways. It is always great to see actors discovering new things about their characters during the run of a show. The really good actors are always finding something new. A new way to say a line that makes more sense. A look or an expression here or there.

Story Theatre is out on tour and on Thursday they did 3 shows- one in South Fulton TN and two in Murray, KY. The cast was exhausted. They left Paducah at 7 am on Thursday morning to start the days tour.

I'm trying to work out the details for a murder mystery show for a local High School in early December. We are also looking at dates and shows for another High School for the class fundraiser. We've done it for them twice before.

I'm spending the rest of today printing more programs for Doubt and replacing incandescent lights with fluorescent lights-trying to save the theatre money on utilities.

Off and running

Story Theatre had its first performance at Clark school last Friday. April is continuing to do some adjusting here and there with how the performers interact with audience in order to minimize the "boot scooting" as April calls it. Times in the show when the kids start to scoot or get unfocused. Sometimes it can be as simple as a big gesture to replace small movements that get the kids attention back. Story theatre performed this morning at Maple Grove Elementary by the Joppa Power plant. This afternoon they performed at St. Marys. April said the few small changes they made after the morning show really made a big difference in the afternoon show.

Jim and I went to the warehouse this afternoon and brought back a couch, dining room table and a couple of flats for the set for Greetings. Tonight was the first night on the main stage with the show. We have set up the basic wall structure and platforms for the show.

Play selection met today and the committee members reviewed several plays under consideration. We are still about a month and a half from selecting the final season. A discussion was held at the meeting about audience members accepting certain shows. It will be critical for the theatre next year to select plays that actors want to audition for as well as audiences want to see.

I recently read an article in drama biz magazine discussing that theatre should have a freedom of expression policy. Some of the questions in this policy would address how we respond to complaints from audience members, the use of warning labels on promotional materials, what criteria the theatre uses to judge whether a play can be presented on our stage. Last year the selection committee looked at several plays that were popular in other community theatres around the country. One of the surprises was that plays like The Full Monty were big hits- even in what was considered conservative areas. Another popular play is Urinetown, a very funny and provocative musical about a water shortage where a local utility company charges people to urinate. One of the big production numbers is "You gotta pay to Pee". Plays like La Cage Aux Folles which has a large list of gay characters (many people know the story as The Birdcage with Robin Williams from the movie adaptation) have been big hits for several years. Avenue Q is available to community theatres now. Avenue Q is a big musical that has puppets like Sesame street but with a definitely adult theme. One of the big opening numbers for Avenue Q is "It sucks to be me!" The age old question is still- do we select a season to sell as a package of shows for season tickets or appeal to single ticket buyers on a show by show basis? With all these questions selecting plays is not something that is taken lightly. We can recover from one or two badly attended shows, but not three or four badly attended shows. Our next meeting is 2 weeks from today.

Doubt had its tech rehearsal last night and its dress rehearsal tonight. The cast has been working hard and doing a good job. We still have several technical details to finish before the show opens Thursday night.

quick turn around

The songs from High School Musical are still running through my head as we prepare for 3 shows in rapid succession. This morning is the final rehearsal for the Fall Story Theatre Tour. Currently the True Story of the Tortoise and the Hare set is on the mainstage. A few step units from High School Musical are still pushed to the back of the stage along with the flats (walls). Greetings moves from the classroom to the main stage tonight. Jim and I spent a couple of hours at the warehouse on Tuesday loading stock doors and their frames into the theatre van to use in Greetings. That means a big push today to get the stage ready for the Greetings cast. In addition I have to move most of the lights back to the studio today along with the sound system to get ready for Tech on Sunday of Doubt. Doubt opens one week from today. Doubt rehearsals have been moving along very well. The rehearsals were put on hold for a week while High School Musical was in its final prep week. The cast for Doubt was getting nervous about the opening. We have been rehearsing from 7 pm - 10 pm each night this past week. Renie and Jennifer have been wearing the rehearsal bonnets the last couple of days. Renie said it is like having blinders on. You can't see to the sides and everything seems to sound different because your head is in a cone. Kind of like a radar that you have to point in certain directions to hear and see. The last couple of nights we have made lots of discoveries with each of the characters. What we thought was the ideas behind certain lines have given way to different ideas and a deeper meaning. A great play is like peeling an onion. It has layers that we keep trying to peel back to get to the very center. (Suddenly the argument in Shrek about layers pops into my head.) Jody worked on the basketball monologue last night. He laughed and said his father would get a big kick out of watching him playing the basketball coach.

It is funny how sometimes things go from one show to the next. I played a basketball coach in the last show and Jody plays Father Flynn who is the basketball coach in this show. We had two sign language interpreters for many years who discovered that in almost every children's show the word chicken was always in it somehow. The one interpreter would always end up flapping her arms to say chicken at some point in every show.

Marsha Cash boxed up all the scripts, music and materials that we rented to produce High School Musical and those will be shipped back to Music Theatre International today. We also boxed up all the unsold Sharpay hats to send back to Heartland Costumes. This past weekend a group from a theatre who will produce High School Musical in about two months came to watch our production. They are interested in renting the tables and benches that we built for the show. Jim has already stored those at the warehouse for future use.

I went to the insurance agent yesterday and worked through all of the details to renew our current policies. Our policies cost the theatre just under $18,000 a year for all the things that we do. Our policy actually went down a little from last year so that is great news! Part of our policy is based on the number of admissions to the theatre. If we have a great year it costs us more in liability insurance. Two years ago was a huge year with Beauty and the Beast. Last year was a little lower so the the cost went down. Success costs!

If you drive by the office building on Kentucky Avenue you will see scaffolds up. A crew is tuck pointing the side of the building. They should be finished by Monday.

The board of directors are working on finalizing the last designer home for the Christmas Tour of homes.

Personal Anniversary

Today marks 25 years to the day that I started at Market House Theatre.

At this moment in my history with MHT I'm currently acting in the show High School Musical as Coach Bolton; I've designed the scenery and the lighting for the show as well; I'm directing Doubt- A Parable which opens Nov. 13 along with designing the sets and lights for that production; I'm designing the sets and lights for the play Greetings which open Dec. 4; and I'm still working up the sound equipment for The True Story of the Tortoise and the Hare which starts touring 3 states Nov. 7.

Yesterday morning as I was pulling the curtains open to start the school matinee performance of High School Musical I was thinking about standing in that corner of the stage next to the same brick wall in the theatre 25 years ago looking at the same broken brick in the wall that hasn't changed. I've changed in many ways. On my first day I was single. I was getting married two weeks later. I had a full head of hair and a full beard. Life was stretched out before me and it was a new adventure in something called community theatre. I planned to stay in Paducah maybe a year or two before taking another theatre job on my way to what I thought was going to be a career in professional theatre.

My first play at MHT was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I designed the costumes, sets, lights, and sound for the production. It was also my first children's theatre production that I had designed. Next March I will have worked on over 400 productions at MHT since that first day.
Those 400 shows have taken a toll in the lines around my eyes and the gray hair in my beard. My back goes out more often than it did when I first started. (It was just out this past Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and just started to feel good again Thursday.) I wear glasses now with bi-focals so that I can see my script and see the stage sitting in the audience. I've lost the extreme high end of my hearing so that very high pitches are unheard by me. My hands and knees ache from arthritis when the weather is changing. After climbing ladders hanging lights I wake up in the night with leg cramps more often than I used to. I can't blame all those things on 400 productions, but they certainly contributed. But despite the aches and pains I still find myself thinking about the same things that I did that first day at MHT on Nov. 1, 1983. How to make Market House Theatre a better place. I also find myself constantly refreshed by the really wonderful people who volunteer at this place. Many of the adults who now participate in the theatre and grew up doing shows at MHT have never known the theatre without April and Michael. Having been here for 25 years now I know that someday April and I will move from making history at MHT to being a part of its history along with all of the others who gave of themselves to make this theatre something special. We will be in good company.

As I mark this anniversary I look back at all the people who I've had the great gift of knowing. Some of those people have passed away and others are young kids just starting out in the world. All I can say is that there have been great times in my life in Paducah as well as really tough times. But through it all it were the people who made this place special. It is only fitting that my first show at MHT was a show with youth acting in it (Jeri Ryan, Patrick Kerr Jr, Glen Denton were all elementary school kids) and this show today has over 30 middle and high school students. I never ceased to be impressed with the talent and dedication of the kids and adults who work on the shows here. Twenty five years ago I thought I was stopping off in Paducah for a brief time before heading off to New York and a professional career. The people who I have had the gift of getting to know at MHT have made my 25 years something more precious to me than any career in professional theatre ever would have given me. With time comes wisdom and that is something I know is true. Thank you to all of you who have given me a life in the theatre and in a community that I am truly grateful for.

Brush up your High School Musical

Tonight is the brush up rehearsal at 5 pm for High School Musical. No lights or costumes but a run through of the show. After being away from the show for a couple of days you lose the groove that has been developed. The show is still together but the timing sometimes has to tightened back up.

At 7 pm tonight is the Doubt rehearsal. Monday we ran the first 4 scenes of the play and last night we ran the last 5 scene. It was the first time off book for the actors so they called for lines when they got stuck and couldn't remember a line. This morning I spent some time researching Doubt. I came across a great interview with the playwright John Patrick Shanley on the Charlie Rose show talking about the play. Here is a link to view that interview-

http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2005/03/14/1/a-conversation-about-the-play-doubt

Shanley's comments are so relevant to the political and cultural discussions of the present. So often people in political discussions or in public are talking at each other to make their points. There is not a dialogue. He used the example of the presidential debates. Candidates try to represent a party or a type of thinking. We never get to hear what the individual thinks. When someone like me says something people think I'm speaking for the theatre. At what point can I speak for myself , express my thoughts and fears without it representing my place of employment or my political party or religious denomination. We have come to a place where Doubt is a sign of weakness. Imagine a candidate or pundit saying- "I struggle with that and I am still not sure what the right answer is."

But that is where the truth is to be found. There is a line in the play where Father Flynn tells Sister James- The truth makes for a bad sermon. It tends to be confusing and have no clear conclusion.

Another great comment from the playwright was about the audience. The audience is always the final act in the play. If a playwright gives away too much then the audience feels cheated. The final act happens after the show at the bar or at the restaurant over dinner or drinks.

Shanley talked of a husband believing one character when they left the theatre and the wife believing the other character. Of people who saw the Broadway show twice. The first time they were convinced of one truth and the second time they were convinced of the exact opposite truth.

It is a joy for me to work on a play like this.

Something that we are also working on is the maintenance of the buildings. The heat was out Monday and Tuesday in the classroom so Greetings cast rehearsed in their coats. It was fixed this morning. The repair man came out and tapped a small fan unit that comes on when the heat first turns on. It unfroze the unit and now works fine. 2 minutes of work = $100. Of course it was something we didn't even know to do. In addition we have water leaking through the brick walls in two buildings. The tuck pointing on the buildings needs to be redone. That will cost us thousands of dollars to repair. Is there a better way to fix the walls? Should we spend the money now even though it was not budgeted and the year is already tight? I realized that each day we all have questions that need answers but we don't always know which path to go down. Maybe that's why Doubt appeals to me. Learning to live with uncertainty that you will never get the full answer to some of lifes questions. You have to learn to live with a certain level of uncertainty.

The continuing water damage will cost even more if we don't fix it. That is what I finally settled on and told the contractor to schedule the tuck pointing work to be done. We need to move forward and to do nothing is also a choice that costs money. It will cost us less now than later even if we don't have the funds. I'm working with the contractor to bill us after June 30, 2009.

I spent some time yesterday designing the set for Greetings and talking it over with Phil Counts the director. Phil is still trying to find someone to stage manage Greetings. Audra Hall and Will Edwards were out sick yesterday. The rest of the cast is hoping that they aren't next with the illness that seems to be going around.

I'm working on a web page for Greetings and Doubt at the present time to go on our website. I will add items like the link to the Charlie Rose show and other articles about the show on the Doubt page.

Monday afternoon

The first weekend of High School Musical is now history. The cast is off for two days before a brush up rehearsal on Wednesday and then back for 6 shows this coming weekend. (Thursday night, Friday morning school matinee, Friday night, Saturday matinee & pep rally, Saturday night, and the closing on Sunday with the matinee. The costumes are being cleaned and most of the staff has the day off. We sold most of the pink Sharpay hats and all of the wildcat pennants in our fundraising efforts during the show. I just placed and order for more for the next weekend. A big thank you goes to Bill Fox who came in and took photos of the final dress rehearsal on Wednesday night before opening. The photos he took will be added to the theatre's archives and cast members can purchase DVDs of all the photos for $10. The proceeds from the sale of photo disks goes toward volunteer appreciation items like food for tech dinners, water for backstage, and cast party food.

One of the chorus performers for High School Musical was out sick on Sunday so April worked through some of the basketball team scenes to make sure that we had his part covered.

Saturday after the performance a small group came to the Studio Theatre and had cake and punch and celebrated the 45th Anniversary of the theatre's founding. Photo albums and newspaper scrap books were spread across several tables and those who attended had a great time looking at past shows and press clippings. Thanks to board members Heather Dorr for getting the cake and punch and for Ann Counts and Jennifer Hughes for helping serve.

Tonight is play selection at 5:30 pm to look at plays for next season. Doubt rehearses at 7 pm in the Studio theatre.

I will upload some of the photos to the website from Bill and put some photos of the Saturday Anniversary Party as well as backstage Sunday on this blog.

Tired

Obviously I'm tired. My mid day post from Thursday was titled Mid Day Monday!!!

Mid day Monday

The school matinee was a big success. The students and teachers loved the show.

Not only are these kids doing a great job of acting but they are also moving set pieces on and off the stage in very short time periods. Many scene changes have 20 seconds to completely change the stage. In addition to the scene changes they are doing multiple costume changes during the show. In one scene they are a brainiac, the next scene they are a jock, and the next scene something else. Katy Miller and Robert Sharkey are outstanding as Troy and Gabrielle. Emily Yocum and Jacob Waid are extremely funny as Sharpay and Ryan. Eileen Doan and Daniel Pearson who play Taylor and Chad are really enjoyable to watch. Caleb Farley has such great energy as Zeke. Emily Hensel and Oscar Bickerstaff really shine as Kelsi and Jack Scott. In almost every number the actors waiting offstage from the leads to the smallest chorus part are singing along with the group onstage to give a big sound.

It has been a joy to work with Jacquelin Jones who plays Darbus. She has the same enthusiasm and energy as the kids. Sometimes we have to band together for sanity as the only adults in the show backstage. That much teen energy gets a little crazy.

We had two minor lighting problems that the audience wasn't aware of this morning but that caused Todd Yocum on lights to panic briefly. The first was at intermission when we switched memories on the light board from Act One to Act Two. The lights went down at the end of the act and Todd inserted a disk and the light board was supposed to erase the first act cues and load the second act cues. Then Todd is supposed to bring up the first cue of act two which is to bring up the lights above the audience for intermission. When Todd pressed the button to load the new memory and it said "Disk Failed" there was a real panic. Fortunately I planned for that and had several additional cues loaded on the first act disk to get us through a problem. I have experienced this problem before. I told Todd over the headset to take out the disk and reinsert it firmly. Sometimes the disk fails because it doesn't have a strong connection. (These aren't normal computer disks.) He did that and everything worked fine. My fear is that the disk really does fail. Then days worth of work will be lost and they will have to make up the cues as we go along for Act Two. This afternoon I'm going to order two additional backup disks just in case. We used to have 4 disks but they eventually stop working. Each disk costs about $100+.

The other lighting trauma was at the end of the show. I programmed in 3 additional cues after the rehearsal last night for the lights to go out and then come back up for one last bow and then go out again. Unfortunately every time we change disks if the act isn't saved to the disk before I remove the disk the additional cue changes are lost. That's what happened this morning. I reprogrammed those cues again and saved them to the Act Two disk. This afternoon we will do the final touch up paint on the set and call it finished.

Make sure that you go to IListPaducah.com and read the great feature Mary Thorsby did on our show. Adam Shull the entertainment writer with the Paducah Sun did a great photo and article for the Paducah Sun Current edition today. WPSD-TV has also helped promote the show during the morning newscast. Without all these community people it would be impossible for us to promote the shows we do. A huge thanks goes out to Mary at IList, Adam at the Paducah Sun, and Jody Smith at WPSD-TV.

Opening!

We open High School Musical this morning at 10 am to a sold out school matinee audience. Wednesday nights rehearsal went well. The actors all focused and had a good final dress rehearsal. Every time we get to this moment I'm always surprised, even after a life time of opening shows. When you start rehearsals opening seems like a long time in the future. Then as you get closer it feels like you are running out of time to get everything done. As the play opens, all the hours of hard work begin to pay off and scenes that only a week ago seemed like they would never work out begin to flow. The music takes on a life of its own and begins to soar. The dance steps that never seemed to mesh now feel like second nature. Then you think- we open tomorrow! It seemed so distant just a few weeks ago and now that moment is here.

This show has been very difficult for me on several levels due to all the hats I'm wearing. Trying to run out from back stage and sit and watch as a scene designer and lighting designer, so I can make notes and fix problems. Running backstage to be the floor manager when all of the big scene changes happen so I can help if we have a problem. Then grabbing my props and walking onstage trying to remember my lines and have some semblance of character as an actor.


The joy at the final dress was to watch as the teen actors came off the stage from a scene and high five each other because they knew it went well. Sitting in the wings watching them perform, watching them take the stage and make this their show. A show as good and sometimes better than the adult shows the theatre produces. Thirty performers dancing to choreography by Mary Kathryn Dorr and Emily Hensel who have done an outstanding job on the dances. It does feel like a music video sometimes. April as always has driven everyone hard to get the best out of them and like a great team they come together and do a great job. Cindy Miller as music director is always pulling and shaping the sound to make it absolutely wonderful.

Curtain is in less than 1 hour so it's time to get my head in the game! Hope you get to see the show. It will definitely be worth the effort.

Monday morning review

We made it through the tech rehearsal yesterday. Saturday we started at 8 am getting ready for to set the light cues that afternoon. I had been working on the lights for 3 days prior to Saturday. We began setting the first cue about 2:30 pm and called it a day without finishing at 10 pm that night. Our light board has a limited internal memory that will only hold up to 120 light cues. We have approx. 140 light cues for the show with still more being added daily. In order to accommodate 140 cues we have to special disks that will store the cues and then load them into the light board. Unfortunately when you switch from the first disk loaded to the second all the lights controlled by the board go black for a second before it brings up the next cue. So if you watch closely at the end of Act One when the curtain closes there will be a blackout. At that moment we will have to switch memories before we can bring the house lights up for the intermission. (The house lights are controlled by the light board as well.) That is a very tense moment for the light board operator and for me as the lighting designer. If it isn't properly accomplished the audience will be left in the dark until we fix the problem.

One of the performers in the show hurt her ankle after the second week of rehearsals and has been on crutches ever since. She assumed that she would be off the crutches in time for opening. She learned this week that will not be the case. So April has incorporated her character into the show on crutches.

When we were discussing the lighting for the show April wanted two follow spots. That is not possible the way our control booth windows are set up . So Saturday during the lighting cue setup Jim cut a larger window into the control booth so two follow spots can sit side by side. This will make the control booth a better space for future shows as well.

We recorded April as the Math teachers voice yesterday. She is layering that with the music so that it is timed out perfectly during the toughest moment in the show. At that moment we have 3 locations on stage simultaneously and the lights and action switches between the three locations. That song alone in the show has about 25 lighting and sound cues.

I arrived at 7:30 am Sunday morning and left at 7:30 pm.

I think I have over 40 lighting notes to work on. The set has been base coated but still has lots of detail painting left to go and that is about a 3 day process. Today will be another long day. Rehearsal starts again at 5 tonight. I'm sure I'll have another 20-30 lighting notes from tonights rehearsal. While the painting continues. Jim is building metal railings today for the tall platforms at the back of the stage.

Tech Sunday

We are in the period traditionally known as "Hell Week". It is a time when 16-18 hour work days are more the norm than the exception. Tomorrow is the cue and level set for High School Musical. I've been working the past few days on hanging and focusing the lights in preparation for cue and level set. Tomorrow afternoon about 1 pm we will begin setting each of the light cues for the show. Every time that a major mood change or location change happens in the show there is generally a lighting cue to help define the new location or a light cue which helps to amplify the mood. Today I divided the stage in 20 acting areas. Each area has at least one light focused on it to provide natural daylight scenes. In addition we have 12 lighting bands of color from the sides of the stage and and 5 lighting bands of color from above the stage. There are special lights only focused on the area that one of the actors stand in when the rest of the stage is dark. Setting the lights for each area, color band, and special on the stage including followspots is a time consuming and challenging job. The Yokum family (Todd, Kim, Emily, and Daniel) have most graciously volunteered to "walk the stage" during the cue and level set. They are filling in for the performers in the different areas. For instance I will ask Kim to walk from Stage right to Stage left so that I can watch the lights on the actors face to make sure it remains consistent. Other times I will have the actors move from one area to another to see which area is the brightest so that we don't pull the audiences focus during an important scene with lots of people. In staging the higher the person is the more dominant they often are. We have a set that at the back the actors head is 10 feet in the air. Jim Keeney is building about a dozen windows made out of shrink wrap weatherizing sheets. We are spray painting these with white flat spray paint and then shining colored lights on the back of them so it can change the mood during the scene. These dozen windows also have to have the light balanced on them so they aren't brighter than the person standing in front of the windows. Musicals are generally much harder than non- musicals. Children's plays which rely on lights of location changes are always harder than adult shows. High School Musical has about 20 location changes in the script and also has music. In designing the lights for a musical each time the songs emotion changes generally the lighting also reflects that. Some musical have taken 15 hours to set lights. Some non-musicals 2 hours.

Today was spent trying to free up dimmers. We have 48 dimmers each able to hold a maximum load of 20 amps or 2400 watts. Since most of our lights are 500 watts, 750 watts, and 1000 watts we can only put so many lights on each dimmer. April needs specials on the school announcer, and various people in different isolated areas for cell phone calls. Since I can only put one 500-750 watt light in each special that means I have a limited number of dimmers to work with for my color bands, and for the main acting light on each area. I spent part of the day trying to put two areas together onto one dimmer instead of two to free up a dimmer to be used for a special.

Our current lighting system was bought approx. 20 years ago. The technology has changed a lot since that purchase. Many of the lights I used today were purchased used when the theatre was founded 45 years ago. The stage lighting industry is slowly moving towards more LED lighting instruments that are far more energy efficient and much easier to handle while running since a lot of the energy isn't transformed into heat. A single 500 watt light puts out so much heat that you have to wear gloves just to touch the metal housing for each light. Last years electric bill for the theatre was almost $20,000.

So tomorrow Kim, Todd, Emily and Daniel will we spending lots of time sitting in the dark while April and I work out what the design will be. We add lights for the first of 4 dress rehearsals. Wish us luck!

Happy Birthday!!!

Today is the 45th Birthday of MHT. I never know what the correct term is- Anniversary or Birthday. The first meeting of a group of local residents was held on this date in 1963 to form the Market House Theatre. A few of the founding members are still audience members like JC Dudley. JC's wife Wilhelmina was the first president of the theatre. Several prominent community doctors, lawyers, business owners and homemakers all came together and gave birth to what is now Kentucky's largest community theatre (by budget size). Tonight at the City commission meeting the commission will recognize MHT's Birthday. As I look over the minutes from the first year some items never change. The need for volunteers, the need for performers to audition for plays, and the need to raise funds to support the organization while keeping ticket prices affordable for everyone who wants to attend.

The selection of plays is surprising in many ways to see how much our community has changed since those early days. Plays where almost everyone on stage drinks and smokes were very common. The first play was the Male Animal produced at the IBEW union hall in April of 1964 since the Market House building wasn't ready yet. The second play was the Seven Year Itch in June of 1964 (the movie version was the one that made Marilyn Monroe famous for standing over a subway grate). The first full season of plays included Dial M for Murder in November of 1964, The Curious Savage in March of 1965, and Picnic in May of 1965. From there the did 5 plays in the next season. For several years after that the theatre generally produced between 4-5 plays as a season. Some years there were as many as 7 plays. This continued until 1973 when a fire destroyed a large portion of the the Market House building. I've heard many different stories as to the cause. The most often told is that the center part of the Market House Building was still used as a Market and it was in that area that the fire started. The 1973-74 season only had one play in Feb. of 74- How the Other Half Loves. Starting in the fall of 74 the theatre rebuilt the program. Local physician and playwright Ben Bradford contributed several of his plays for production at the theatre and directed and acted in dozens of shows. In 1982 the theatre saw a major renovation of the audience and lobby areas. The 100th production produced by the Market House Theatre was in June of 1983- A Midsummer Nights Dream. Less than 10 years later in 1992 the theatre had produced it 200th show - an original script from our National Playwriting competition called Dub. Only 7 years later in 1999 the theatre produced it's 300th production Rumpelstiltskin for the story theatre tour. Only 4 years later the theatre produced its 400th production- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. This March MHT will produce its 500th production with the show Ramona Quimby. Productions ranged from 1 play during the 1973 season up to a high of of 22 separate shows in 1999/2000 Season.

MHT's first employee was a part time technical director/custodian who was hired in the late 70's. The first Executive Director Paul Meier was hired in Dec. of 1979 and oversaw the administrative and artistic duties until his departure in 1985. April Cochran was hired as Executive Director to replace Paul Meier and oversaw the theatre's growth for 10 years until 1995 when she left for 2 years to work as a Youth Minister for Grace Episcopal Church. She returned in her current position as Education Director in 1997. Marsha Cash has been with the theatre for over 13 years in a variety of administrative positions that have kept everything organized and accessible (when I can't find information on something I ask Marsha!) Alexis Davis and Jim Keeney joined the staff two years ago. Janice Peterson has been with the theatre for almost 20 years primarily as the volunteer costume designer and within the past 10 years as the part time Costume Coordinator.

My history starts on Nov. 1, 1983 when I was hired as the Technical Director/Designer (that included costumes too!) to replace Donna Booth who moved to Paducah Community College as their new technical director. In 1995 when April stepped down as the Executive Director I took over that position and have been the current Executive Director up to the present. This is a special year for me because November 1st, will be my 25th anniversary as an employee of the Market House Theatre. Beginning this season I have worked on over 400 productions for MHT in every capacity.

MHT is a truly a unique place and has become a treasured part of Paducah's cultural history. Hundreds of thousands of people have passed through the doors and watched plays or had an experience created by MHT. Thousands of performers and technicians have made magic at the theatre. In some cases we have 3 generations of family members who have been onstage in an MHT production and we are starting the 4th generation in some cases! Story Theatre and Footlights classes passed the 20 year mark a couple of seasons ago. All that wouldn't have happened if a small group of people hadn't decided to take a risk and step outside their comfort zone on that night of October 14, 1963. That story is the same 45 years later. None of our programming would be possible without the thousands of people each year who support the theatre and the hundreds who step onstage each year.

Happy Birthday MHT! Join us Saturday Oct. 25 between 5:30-7pm for a piece of birthday cake, a glass of punch and a chance to share your favorite story of this incredible history.

stick to the status quo

That is the song running in my head while working on several projects. One project is a spreadsheet of all the scenes in HSM (High School Musical) which the cast was rehearsing as I sat with April this afternoon to get my set change list confirmed. Tonight is the first run through off book (no scripts in hand). The performers are rehearsing from 2-4 pm on dance, taking an hour break and returning at 5 pm for the run through rehearsal.

I just finished reading an article in the Louisviller Courier Journal about arts groups trying to maximize their season by pushing all of their programs into a Sept. - November time slot. One company does 4 productions in 8-10 weeks. They are dealing with the issues that after the first production or concert then ticket holders tend to fall off during the rest of the season since we all tend to put one of our big shows at the beginning to kick the season off with a bang. For MHT generally we start and end with a musical. That is our big kickoff. I've worked summer stock repitorie theatre where you have 3 shows running at the same time. Each night is a different production for approximately a month. It takes a dedicated team of actors, technicians, and adminstrative people to pull that off. (It's something I have toyed with trying at MHT in my more insane moments!)

Like Actors Theatre in Louisville we have moved some of our more challenging plays to our studio theatre which allows smaller dramas to play to more intimate audiences without feeling like you are sitting in an empty theatre. When you think of our 243 seat theatre compared to the Carson Centers 1800 seat theatre it seems like a small theatre. But 243 seats can feel just as empty if you only have 20-30 people in attendance. On the other hand out studio theatre is over 1/2 full with 25 people-50 is a sellout! I believe there is an audience for dramas and "risk" plays but it is a much smaller audience segment. Most people state that they like comedies and musicals more often than dramas.

I've just finished the billboard for Greetings and am working on the television commercial for HSM. When April finishes with the performers in the hour break today, she and I will tape out the floor for all the scenery with different color spike tape to make things flow smoother tonight.
Oops April is finished and I gotta run. Back to the status quo!

Fall Break

I apologize for my lack of posts this week as I have been in out of town trying to get some family time in during fall break. Today was back at the office working on several items. During the morning it was time to catch up on all the correspondence and emails that piled up during the last two days that I was out of the office. Unfortunately the Internet hub in the corner building wasn't working. My job description includes being the IT guy at times so I went around checking transmitters and hubs and Sonic Walls and all those fun things. Finally we called in Computerland. They were able to diagnose the problem quickly. However they don't have a new hub in stock so that had to be ordered.

It was then off to Rotary. After Rotary was proofing the newsletter that is going to press this week and a postcard sent out to a mailing list in Paducah that we use for publicity. April was in my office worried about ticket sales for High School Musical. We had an article in the paper today but it was heavily edited from the Press release we had submitted. We discussed some of the ways to try to promote the show beyond our usual marketing. It is very difficult when you don't have money to buy advertising.

This afternoon was spent in a mix of looking at the apartments mht has and trying to get those ready for new tenants and working on the drawings for the last couple of pieces of scenery for High School Musical. Jim has been after me for days to pick the paint colors but nothing was "speaking" to me. Tomorrow I'll have to select the colors and live with it. Tomorrow is also the return of High School Musical rehearsals. They've been off for 3 days during fall break. The actors are coming in on their own from 2-4 pm to work on dance Thursday and Friday. Then taking a break and starting rehearsals at 5 pm. Doubt is on hiatus until Monday. Greetings has been meeting during the week. Greetings director Phil Counts is still waiting on a set design from me to start staging his show.

We had 3 out of 4 crew people drop out of consideration for High School musical. Marsha is trying to locate new crew people. We need two follow spot operators, a light board operator and 2 stage running crew persons. So far we have 1 crew person and the show opens in less than 2 weeks.

I've been trying to read scripts early in the mornings and late at nights to look for some ideas for next season. I read a Christmas show script yesterday which was funny but seemed like I had already done this show in other variations. It is harder and harder for me to find scripts that I really like after having worked on so many Christmas shows. I often find myself thinking that one script is similar to another script. Like doing A Christmas Carol with any number of variations on who is visited by ghosts to change their life. It seems to get harder to find new ideas each year without taking a risk on totally unknown plays that may not do as well at the box office. This year's play Greetings is a different kind of "holiday" play. It has a spiritual element to it that really asks audience members to think about what the holiday means to them.

If anyone has any plays they would like us to consider hit the comment button at the end of this blog entry and I'll see if we can locate a script to look at.

3 ring circus

Tomorrow is the final day for us to enter our information in the Economic Impact Study being conducted by the Americans for the Arts in Paducah. I wanted to share some of our data as well as talk about what's going on in the 3 shows now in rehearsal.

Here are some of the statistics about MHT based on our audit for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2007-

Number of artistic volunteers (performers,technical crews, designers,) 287
Number of volunteers: 486
Number of volunteer hours: 13,000+
Average hours per volunteer per year: 26.75

Full time staff: 5
Part time staff: 3
Independent contractors: 12

Total Revenues: $654,923
Total Expenses: $652,369 (Approx. 90% of all expenses are paid to local individuals and businesses that are located or reside in Paducah and McCracken County)
Net: $2,554

Net Assets as of June 30, 2007 $1,091,400 (A large portion of the net assets are the buildings and equipment owned by MHT)

High School Musical- Before we started rehearsal last night the "jocks" and the cheerleaders got into the costumes which just arrived yesterday and we went outside against the wall of the old Finkles to take some publicity photos for the television commercial and the newspaper. It's tough to photograph that many people and to get very close. We all then went back inside and April staged the big scene last night which is set in the gym, a science classroom, and the high school stage all at the same time. All 33 cast members are onstage or in the audience including me playing Coach Bolton. I had to leave rehearsal 15 minutes early to run across the street to the studio theatre to switch gears and be the director for Doubt.

For High School Musical we are going to have to do some structural work on our control booth to accommodate two follow spots. The sound system will still operate out of the back row of the auditorium. We looked at building follow spot platforms outside of the control booth above the audience entrances but the ceiling fan light fixtures above the audience obstruct the follow spots. We've used two follow spots before with one in the back row of the auditorium sitting on a platform but with our two current follow spots the cooling fans make too much noise to do that.

We are looking at how to build the special walls that move around the stage and the translucent walls at the back of the set that can change color with the mood of the show.

Doubt- we staged 3 scenes with Renie and Jennifer on Tuesday night. We spent a great deal of time probing and talking about how the characters react to each other and what they are saying. Last night Jody and I worked on his 3 sermons and staged those. It is a little harder to stage a sermon but we did find opportunities to put some movement in. Just standing behind a podium for long periods of time is not visually interesting no mater how powerful the language. Tonight we will stage the only scene in the play that Dvonne is in. Dvonne plays the mother of a young black student who is the center of the struggle between the Principal Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn. Then we are off until Monday Oct. 13 because of fall break. There are only 2 scenes left to stage in the play. The two scenes are the confrontation scenes between Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn.

Greetings- had its first read through with an entire cast last night while H.S. Musical and Doubt were in rehearsals. The cast is composed of Roy Hensel and Susan Anderson as the parents, Fowler Black and Audra Hall as the son and his fiancee and Will Edwards as the younger brother of Fowler.

first quarter

As the theatre ends its first quarter we have already produced 3 shows and 4 shows are in rehearsal now for the second quarter. Last night was the first play selection meeting to look at next season. We discussed several shows and the possibility of their being produced on our stage.

Some shows are not available because they are touring professionally while other shows are available even though they are out on tour. Amateur rights are available for Market House Theatre to produce several musicals on tour including Sweeney Todd, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Producers, Avenue Q, South Pacific (which is the hit on Broadway at the moment), and many others. We are waiting on rights to become available in the next year or so for Hairspray, Mamma Mia, and a couple of other big touring show hits.

Looking at comedies and dramas there are several new plays which are available but most of our audience members have never heard of them.

One of the major challenges for the theatre is to select plays which attract not only audiences to buy tickets but actors to audition for the plays. A example that is a huge hit in most community theatres in larger cities is The Full Monty. We seriously looked at it last year but felt that most of our actors who were age appropriate would not audition because they are teachers and couldn't risk doing a show where they was even any hint of nudity. Part of the problem also stems from the lack of actors in their 20's to 30's . Today's world places a lot of demands on people in that age bracket. Jobs generally require 50 hour work weeks, family life is jammed into smaller time periods for many in that age group, gas prices are up and the commitment necessary to do a play isn't easy.

When I started at the theatre in the early 80's a group of 20-30 yearolds were the core of our acting pool. They came to the theatre as they moved to town and found it an easy way to make friends. They still socialize years after the plays they were in finished. Some of those friendships are still as strong today as they were 20 years ago. Performers who married and now their kids are acting in plays. Families of that early group that still go out to dinner together and some even go on vacations together.

As those actors are now in their late 40's and 50's we aren't seeing a new group replace them. We have a tremendous amount of talented young performers in grade school through high school. As soon as they hit college age they leave or they go to work in jobs that prevent them from rehearsing nights. Very few move back to Paducah after college and resume performing. Theatre's constantly lament the aging of the audience as it is harder and harder to get that 20's to 30's group to buy tickets. We are seeing that happen on the other side of the stage as well.

We are extremely fortunate to have a couple of very talented actors in their 20's-30's. You see their faces in quite a few shows. The challenge for the play selection group is to program plays that will allow opportunities for performers in that age group while not depending solely on the few performers we have to fill all those roles.

If you are in that age group I can promise that you will make life long friendships and experiences that you will remember for the rest of your life. I understand it requires a significant commitment of time and hard work, but the payoff is well worth it!

what light through yonder high school breaks

The setting is not a balcony with the early morning light but a rooftop garden used by the horticultural club on top of a high school. But the words still float in the air.

I could not help but see the eternal story of young lovers repeated in a new form as I watched the scene from Disney's High School musical where our two star crossed lovers steal away from the world for a moment alone. The fact that a life size poster of William Shakespeare was on the wall next to Robert Sharkey(playing Troy) and Katy Miller (playing Gabriella) probably had some influence on my thoughts. In this case it is the friends that conspire against the young couple to keep them apart. However as with all things Disney this isn't to be a tale of tragedy and woe but a happy ending where our romantic couple are able to sing the song Breaking Free. Robert and Katy have beautiful voices and their acting is very believable in the scene.

I was also watching the scene as a designer who has to create this rooftop garden out of thin air. I had originally designed the space to be played on an isolated platform six feet above the stage floor at the back of the set. On Tuesday I had just spent the past hour and a half drawing on paper and taping out the stage floor in the main theatre to figure out this isolated platform in the air. I left Jim Keeney with a basic idea of what my design was so he could start working on the masking that had to be changed above the stage before we blocked it off and then went to tape out the space in the rehearsal room for April.

As I talked with April about the platform and taped out the space she didn't like the distance or the confined feel of the isolated platform. She wanted to really play the intimacy of the scene close to the audience. April and I discussed several options and we finally put the scene on the floor level at the front of the stage with some "magical scenery" that will create this rooftop garden location. April often uses the word magic in her requests for scenery and lighting as in "I need you to create something magic to happen here." My typical response is to reply "yeah, I'll just pull out my magic wand and wave it" then presto we have scenery or lighting that will make the audience go ooohh or aaaah... (There is an old theatre joke about sending a novice theatre student to go get the sky hook to hang a piece of scenery. Many a naive freshman has walked in the scene shop and asked where to find the sky hook. This hook would hang a piece of 500 pound scenery in mid air without any support.)

The way "my magic" works is for me to put some themes and feelings and words about what we want to do into a magic cauldron I have simmering in my head for about a day before a visual image slowly emerges. I then translate that image into a piece of scenery or a light color and shadow.

I left April and walked back across the street to tell Jim that we had just totally changed what I had designed and taped out not 30 minutes earlier. As I told Jim a little about the change he immediately started thinking of how to build something magical. The difference between a designer and a technical director is that the technical director will immediately start thinking of how to build something without looking at what it is we are trying to accomplish emotionally or visually in relation to the actor with the piece of scenery. I told Jim that I would let him know when I was ready to explore the possibilities after I simmered my ideas for awhile. I wasn't there yet. What he could do was start working on the much simpler build for the platforming at the back of the stage.

The deadline for us to build these platforms is tomorrow (Friday) at 4 pm. At 5 pm April has rehearsal on the main stage for the first time with the platforms.

I have a photo in my office taken by the cast of Oklahoma with me standing at the front of the stage with my head down looking into what seems like the floor. In reality that is me looking at all of the visual images or ideas swirling around in my brain trying to distill a direction or an image that will lead me forward from that point. Even as I write this my mind returns to that balcony scene I wrote about at the beginning of this blog and thoughts are bubbling up about making the rooftop garden using elements of a balcony reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet. I can feel my mind already shifting into the creative brain mode to work on this.

Doubt

I've been working on Doubt and the preface to play written at the beginning of the script is something I find so interesting that I'm going to put it as my blog for today. I spend a great deal of time dealing with income and expenses, marketing plays, writing grants and promoting the theatre. But many times the real joy of my job is to work with the ideas and themes in a play. How that impacts us on a personal level. What questions it forces me personally to confront and how I can bring those questions to our community in a way that allows us as a community to explore these questions in a deeper way.

Here is an excerpt from the Preface to play Doubt written in the front of the script by playwright John Patrick Shanley.

What's under a play? What holds it up? You might as well ask what's under me? On what am I built? There's something silent under every person and under every play. There is something unsaid under any given society as well.

There's a symptom apparent in America right now. It's evident in political talk shows, in entertainment coverage, in artistic criticism of every kind, in religious discussion. we are living in a courtroom culture. We were living in a celebrity culture, but that's dead. Now we're only interested in celebrities if they're in court. We are living in a culture of extreme advocacy, of confrontation, of judgment, and of verdict. Discussion has given way to debate. communication has become a contest of wills. Public talking has become obnoxious and insincere. Why? Maybe it's because deep down under the chatter we have come to a place where we know that we don't know...anything. But no body's willing to say that.

Let me ask you. Have you ever held a position in an argument past the point of comfort? Have you Have you ever defended a way of life you were on the verge of exhausting? Have you ever ever given service to a creed you no longer utterly believed? Have you ever told a girl you loved her and felt the faint nausea of eroding conviction? I have. That's an interesting moment. for a playwright, it's the beginning of an idea. I saw a piece of real estate on which I might build a play, a play that sat on something silent in my life and in my time. I started with the title: Doubt.

What is Doubt? Each of us is like a planet. There's the crust, which seems eternal. We are confident about who we are. If you ask, we can readily describe our current state. I know my answers to so many questions, as do you. What was your father like? Do you believe in God? Who's your best friend? What do you want? Your answers are your current topography, seemingly permanent, but deceptively so. Because under that face of easy response, there is another You. And this wordless Being moves just as the instant moves; it presses upward without explanation, fluid and wordless, until the resisting consciousness has no choice but to give way.

It is Doubt (so often experienced initially as weakness) that changes things. When a man feels unsteady, when he falters, when hard-won knowledge evaporates before his eyes, he's on the verge of growth. The subtle or violent reconciliation of the outer person and the inner core often seems at first like a mistake, like you've gone the wrong way and you're lost. but this is just emotion longing for the familiar. Life happens when the tectonic power of your speechless soul breaks through the dead habits of the mind. Doubt is nothing less than an opportunity to reenter the Present.

The first rehearsal for Doubt is tonight.