March 11

I'm working from home today just like many other parents with a sick child. This morning I made photo cd's of the 200 plus pictures that we took during the run of Harriet the Spy. Cast and Crew members can purchase a photo cd for $10 and the proceeds go to help pay for pizza and food for other volunteer functions such as the Cast Party for Harriet the Spy which was held at our house Sunday afternoon.

After each production a cast party is held to celebrate the accomplishment. With the youth productions an old fashioned out door game of kickball, red-rover, or capture the flag often develops with the high school students just as involved as the elementary students. Theatre has the ability to allow people to play again. It's fun to watch the high school and middle school kids who are normally too "cool" to play games really let go and get into the spirit. Cast members often end up shoeless and covered in mud by the time the cast party is over. Others stay inside munching on cheetos and talking about the "Golden Screw" moments from the show.

Each June the theatre holds its annual meeting to elect the board of directors and gives out "Golden Screw" awards. These awards are for moments that most performers and crew would like to forget. Such a moment occurred during the final performance which was a school matinee on Monday of this week. Harriet reached to grab a pie plate full of whipped cream to put into the face of Maria Miller who plays Cook. Unfortunately she missed the first time and the pie plate slipped out of her hands and fell to the floor. Julie who played Harriet grabbed the pie plate off the floor and with even more force than usual shoved it into Maria's face. Poor Maria had to stand there waiting not just once to be hit in the face by a pie but twice. That is a golden screw moment. In the same performance, on the technical side, one of the platforms moved too quickly and the drape which was supposed to have been raised to allow a bed to come onstage got caught and the actress playing Agatha had to literally pull the masking drape off of her as the bed she was lying in was moved onstage in the dark. When the lights came up everything looked normal. However the drape pulled the lift ropes out of the pulley and during the next scene MHT Technical Director Jim Keeeny worked madly just inches away from where the scene was playing onstage to reattach the pully and the rope lift points. Harriets glasses one scene earlier had slipped off the back of the rolling platform leaving her to go on her "spy" route without her disguise. The glasses were retrieved and were loaded into the wardrobe for the next time in the show when Harriet needed them. Fortunately no one in the audience noticed.

We pride ourselves on using professional standards and producing professional quality shows. It is always a personal struggle for me when people hear the words Community Theatre. They always think of "bad" quality. I have seen several professional companies who have lost it when things go wrong. Acting that is lifeless and direction that is uninspiring. When you attend a play at the theatre it should always grab your attention. A good production has lots of energy and leaves you wanting to know what happens next. I can't remember who said it but someone famous once said that the biggest crime in the theatre is to be boring. The excitement of live theatre is something special. Unlike a movie which will be the same no matter how many showings in theatre anything can happen. Every performance is different. Like a circus performer an actor balances on a wire and tries to present a story without falling off. The mark of a professional is never letting the audience know that something went wrong. The Harriet the Spy cast was very professional indeed on the final performance.

On a related note when it comes to curtain calls, MHT directors tell the actors to go out with a smile. You always want to show an audience how much fun you had performing for them no matter how difficult the role. My second rule of curtain calls is if an audience hasn't stood up by the time the full company is onstage then keep smiling, wave and exit. A standing ovation isn't deserved for every performance of every show. The performers have to earn it, and when they do... they know it and so does the audience. Any performance can get a standing ovation if the actors stay onstage long enough. Eventually the audience will stand up to go home.

Tonight is the preview party to announce our 45th anniversary season. It will be lots of fun and I hope everyone attends. It is free to the public.

See you at the theatre!