April 29

It has been a long day and still going. Yesterday was a time to catch up on a few things that are still on a time crunch. I worked until after midnight last night and was up again this morning before 6 to work on the website. You will notice a few things (hopefully!) There is now a page for Zink with photos and an article talking about the show. I put together the video section last night after taking photos at 6:30. We take our photos in front of a white screen. Then I search for images that give a sense of what we hope the feel of the show will look like when it is onstage. Sometimes these backgrounds are realistic interiors like the Tuesdays with Morrie photos were. Sometimes they are more representational like the backgrounds we used of a childrens drawing for the publicity photos for Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing. With Zink we are looking to do a painted background that reflects and sunset on an African Savannah. After the photos were stripped of their white background and set in front of the sunset I found. Then music was added. I tried to put in the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight which is sung as part of the play by the main character. I couldn't get that to work so I used a piece of music I've used a couple of times this year that has a driving beat.

I also worked on a Summer Drama Class description article and form that April had created for Disney Cinderella Kids camp which has been in the works for over a month but we were struggling with some other community events and issues we had hoped to work through before we announced our camps. This is the 5th year we will do a drama camp for elementary age youth in June. Disney Cinderella Kids will be a great chance for the kids to have major roles and learn about theatre in several areas.

I spent the morning sending out press releases on Zink and getting the web site updated with all the information about Zink, the Summer Drama Camp and working on The Derby Party this weekend.

This afternoon I worked with Jim and we took the cover off the orchestra pit and took down all of the masking drapes surrounding the set from Tuesdays with Morrie. The stage moved toward being prepared for Anything Goes rehearsal. I had promised that the cast for Anything Goes could move over to the main theatre today. But we didnt' get a chance to get the set taped out so they will rehearse for another night in the classroom above the studio theatre.

Zink rehearses at 5 pm and for the last couple of days that has been the focus. I designed a really fun tree for the show that is climbable. Jim and I redesigned the supports for the tree trunk of the tree. At 5 pm I put on my actor hat and do the part of the father in the show. In the main offices at 5:30 today a couple of board membes gathered to finish contacting anyone who was a member last year and hasn't renewed yet. Tomorrow I need to work on lights for Zink and the technical aspects as well as getting Anything Goes moved across the street. We still have to collect a few props for Zink along with finishing the building of a large rock and a large tree. Part of my afternoon was spent helping Marsha who has been trying to send emails to volunteers with some graphics and more attractive style.

Part of the afternoon was spent pouring over books on board structure and policy making. We are in the phase of contacting prospective board members for next season. One of the things that is crucial to the success of the theatre is to have good board members who are passionate about the theatre. I spend a good deal of time trying to give the theatre board information that will help us move in new directions.

I worked back on the web page putting the season ticket form and a season description on our home page this afternoon.

After I finish this blog tonight I will create ads for Zink for the Newspaper with the program Quark and Photoshop. Then I'll move on to look over the proposed budget again for next year and see if any new ideas come along. The budget committee has a meeting tomorrow right before the Zink rehearsal.

That's what is happening behind the scenes at MHT.

April 26

It's Saturday night and Tuesdays with Morrie is onstage at this moment in performance. Audiences for the second week have picked up a little. Not as large as we were hoping for. Last night and tonight are pretty well sold out. This afternoon was a small audience. We added the Saturday matinees a couple of years ago and we hoped that we would build audiences for those shows. Some Saturday matinees sell very well. Others remain small. It is a continuing quest to see if we can goose up those numbers a little. Next year we are looking at some marketing ideas for the Saturday matinees.

Tickets for the Derby Party are on sale and starting to pick up. We added a group sale price ($35 a ticket) to the tickets after a couple of inquiries about groups of 15 or more. Individual tickets for the event are priced at $40. I had never thought of adding a group price for a fundraiser before but I was doing some research this week on a special fundraising event from another theatre and saw it in their group sale brochure. It seemed like a good idea.

Bill Ford wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the Paducah Sun that was printed Thursday. It is so nice to have such positive support from Bill and others like him in the community.

Yesterday I drew out the form of the tree for Zink. It is different than I thought it was going to be but I like it better than my original idea. I've added a second branch and Jim went ahead and added a third branch to see if I liked it. It is a very symbolic tree look and I think will go well with the show. Tech rehearsal is a week from tomorrow. ( The day after the Derby Party) I was cast at the last minute in the role of the father for Zink. I'm supposed to be off book by Monday. That means I can't carry my script with me anymore. I guess I'll be studying lines tomorrow after the cast party for Tuesdays with Morrie.

Janice came in last night and has worked all day today on the costumes for Zink. I can hear the radio above my head as I write this. (The costume shop is directly above my head).

I've spent the last couple of days reading books on board of director policies and structure trying to look at different ways to help our board with some of the challenges it faces. It is like reading a text book filled with tech-speak. Jargon that only people who are involved with boards on a regular basis would use. Even though I sometimes act as a board consultant for other non-profit groups I still find the language hard to follow sometimes.

We are down to the last two months of our fiscal year. This is usually where we really start to hurt if we haven't achieved our income goals. Every year we do a pretty good job of staying at or below our expense spending. It is always the income side that makes me lose sleep. Weather can play havoc with the box office for a show. Our fundraisers sometimes fall below our projected goals. Membership contributions and sponsorships all are the things that can make or break the theatres fiscal year. We are struggling to meet our membership goal this year as people are still giving but many have pulled back a little. Our ad sales representative is out in the community selling program ads for next season and we've had a couple of companies who were long time advertisers drop out totally. The good thing is some new advertisers are taking advantage of prime ad space in our programs and stepping up.

This is time of year that we start looking at maintenance projects we had scheduled at the beginning of the year and decide if they will happen or get pushed back until next season. If you see me looking a little frazzled its due to budget numbers running in my head. The shows are going great. That is always a positive that keeps me smiling when things start to look gloomy.

April 23

Yesterday I worked with Jim to draw out the basic rocks and tree structure we are building for Zink. I have an idea in my head for a tree with roots that extend out from the trunk like a series of steps up. When you finally reach the trunk there is a ledge in the trunk itself for the character of Schlep -the monkey, to sleep in ithe trunk. Jim also went to the lumber yard to buy plywood and 2x4's for the framing. We are thinking of using fiberglass to make the bark of the tree. Jim stopped by the warehouse space to pick up some of the flats we have in storage. We are creating a surreal savannah painting in the background for Zink. I worked in the afternoon on getting some new ads out for the final weekend of Tuesdays with Morrie. Alexis is processing season ticket orders and Zink orders. Marsha is working on processing membership donations and sending out thank you letters. I did a quick poll of the the office staff as I pondered whether to hold 2 big auditions next season for the plays. One big audition in Sept. and another in Jan. The Sept show would audition Doubt, Greetings and Southern Comforts. The Spring audition would be for Having our Say, The Sugar Bean Sisters and The Wizard of Oz. The benefit is that people can get scripts ahead of time and can plan out their calendar to be in a play. The downside is that if something comes up after the auditions for a show in which you are cast then we might have to recast the role. Both have their merits. I am trying to look at all the sides before we set the dates. Zink rehearsed and so did Anything Goes.

I arrived early Wednesday morning and began organizing some of the stacks of papers that have filled my office over the past weeks. Mike and Della Schmidt are a retired couple who clean the theatre on Wednesdays. This morning Jim continued work on the rocks and tree along with doing some additional cleaning I asked him to do. He sprayed down the banners at the front of the main theatre. They were getting more and more covered in bird droppings and they were looking pretty sad. I took the hose and washed off the large glass globes in front of the box office. Alexis had scraped off the writing on our windows that had gotten wet in the rain. She applied new writing after I finished spraying the front of the office building. I met with an electrician from a local contractor to give me an estimate on putting up a light on the Kentucky Avenue end of our building which would help illuminiate our banners. I'm trying to stay within very strict guidelines about the kind of light and the location to keep with our historic building facade.

In the afternoon I did my shift at the Rotary Quilt Show. Every Rotarian is asked to volunteer for at least one 3 hour shift. When I got back it was just in time to get ready for the board meeting tonight. At the meeting we discussed the drop in income we are seeing on a couple of different productions. The economy is really affecting the theatre's bottom line. We planned for the Derby Party which takes place a week from Saturday. Tickes sales are still a little slow for the party and we need to do more advertising to get the word out. The board also talked about our current membership drive. A "phone-a-thon" using all board members was scheduled for next tuesday to call past contributors and members and ask them to renew. Our fundraiser to help work at the Lower town festival was discussed and the reminder was made that next month we present the slate of board members and officers for next year. The nomination committee is still working on names and setting up appointments to talk with people who are being considered for next year. The budget committee set up the next meeting.

Zink and Anything Goes rehearsed tonight. April who has been waiting to hear from one of the summer teachers for pre-school before publishing all of our summer class offerings decided to move forward with announcing some classes and adding others later. We have had in the works to do our annual summer drama camp. Look in the next couple of days for an announcement about details. Tomorrow Tuesdays with Morrie goes back into performance after a 3 day break. A week from Sunday is the technical rehearsal for Zink. That means we open 2 weeks from tomorrow. Yikes! We are behind again. As soon as Tuesdays moves off the stage Anything Goes moves on it.

April 21

Today is a day to catch up after the rush of opening Tuesdays with Morrie. The box office staff has the day off because of working the weekend. Story Theatre is out on tour today and April is teaching in the schools this afternoon. Marsha Cash is in the office trying to catch up on volunteer work. I'm working from home today on the set designs for Zink and Anything Goes.



I learned this morning from April that Roy Hensels mother passed away yesterday. Travis Hensel who is on tour with the Story Theatre tour told April. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Hensel family. Last month Michael & Rick Brewer's mother passed away just before Easter. Market House Theatre truly is an extended family. I have had the pleasure of getting to know both Mrs. Hensel and Mrs. Brewer at shows when they came to watch their children and grandchildren perform. The Brewers and the Hensels have been connected with the theatre for many years. The image I have of both women are of them smiling as big as can be as they watched their family members perform and afterwords just glowing.



Many wonderful people have made an impact on the MHT over the years. Some of them performed on the stage and others attended and supported the theatre and came to think of some of our local performers the same as if they were family. Yesterday after the show JC Dudley came up with the winning raffle ticket. JC has been involved with MHT since the first founding meeting Oct. 13, 1963. He and his wife were a major driving force that got the organization off the ground and laid the foundation for what it is today. When JC collected his winning from the raffle, he laughed and told me that he would turn around with his winnings, add a couple of dollars to that amount and buy an MHT Derby Party Fundraiser ticket.



In Tuesdays with Morrie, the character of Mitch, played by Tom Dolan, says that he's finally figured out what Morrie meant. If you live your life giving to other people, then when you die you're not really gone. You still live on in the lives of those you gave to. MHT has been truly blessed by those who have given so much and I know that I feel their presence every time I walk in to the theatre for a rehearsal or a performances on our stage.

April 19

Saturday morning about 8 am. I'm sitting here in my office. My daughter Jade and about 30 other elementary students have just started the first footlights class of the day. April teaches 4 classes every Saturday morning during the school year. Watching kids of all ages get up early on Saturday morning and drag their parents down to the theatre means that something important for these kids is happening. I usually watch for a while as the kids "play" some of the improv games. Games like world's worst. A group of kids stand in a line and April will call out a character for example worlds worst doctor. The kids then at random step forward and act out both physically and verbally what their idea of the worlds worst doctor would be. A doctor who says oops or maybe a doctor who is very near sighted and thinks that a foot is someones head. Lots of funny things happen. But the kids also practice thinking fast, being creative, and learning how to express ideas in verbal and physical ways. It is always lots of fun.

Tuesdays with Morrie had its second night of performances. The audience was very responsive. One woman at the end came up and said the play was so good that at times she wasn't sure if she should laugh or cry or both at the same time. Don Maley and Tom Dolan are doing a great job. Phil Counts the director sits at the back of the audience each night and takes notes from the performance and shares it with the actors the next day before the show. Jim Roush and his son Ted are in the control booth. It is very rewarding to see a parent and child working together. Both of them challenged to do something they have never done before and to feel that sense of accomplishment when the show goes smoothly. Adam Gilliam and Jim Keeney are working backstage to make the scenery enter and exit the stage. They have to coordinate walls moving to clear a motorized turntable. The furniture has to be set exactly as there is only a few inches to clear the walls as the furniture magically moves on stage all by itself. Adam turns on the motor and watches for marks on the floor to know exactly when to stop the turntable so everything is in the correct place. After the show opening night I went to check something in the sound system and the monitor which had been acting a little strange went totally crazy and wouldn't show anything above the bottom taskbar on the screen. Friday I went out and purchased a new monitor so that wouldn't happen during a show leaving poor Jim Roush with no way to run the sound cues.

Today is a two show day. Actor and crew call is one hour before show time. The actors show up at 1:30 . Show runs from 2:30-4:30 pm . We take a break from 4:30 -6:30 and I bring in food for the cast and crew. Actor call is 6:30 and the show runs from 7:30- 9:30 tonight.

A couple of the people who have an even longer day are the box office staff. Rhiannon Dodds will open up the box office at 1 pm for the show today and end up staying until after 10 pm tonight. She is a part time staff person who is the mother of Shelby 9 and Ethan 2. Rhiannon also works at Market Square Coffee. She will work a shift at the coffee shop and then come down to the theatre and work the shows in the evening. Rhiannon has worked at the theatre for about 5 years now and has a wonderful personality. Alexis Davis, the box office manager, is in the box office during the week and also works the shows. Alexis does an outstanding job of keeping everything organized. The box office is a tough job because you are handling lots of financial transactions as well as customer service and dealing with a computer system of both online, walk up and telephone sales. At times that means they are handling up to a thousand transactions in a two week time period. The great part about Alexis and Rhiannon is their personalities. They both support each other in their business and personal lives. They are constantly sharing photos of their families, pets, and friends. The next time you walk in to the show and see two brown haired women behind the box office counter giggling you'll know it's Alexis and Rhiannon.

Yesterday I worked on the set for Anything Goes. We expanded out the deck of the ship. Diane wanted a way for the actors to stroll on the upper deck without having to climb the steps in front each time. I reconfigured the offstage space to allow for access. Jim Keeney and I are working through the building of the tree and the rocks for Zink. The tree will need to be made of durable yet draped material like fiberglass. The characters have to climb on the tree and the rock yet they need to be built out of light weight material.

The MHT board has it's monthly meeting next Wednesday during the Quilt Show. Hopefully parking downtown won't be to horrible. We are preparing for the Derby Party and the Lowertown Festival Fundraiser. Both of those events are important to the theatres fundraising campaign for the year. The Derby party is Saturday May 3 at 3 pm at Max's courtyard. We have a terrific group of 4 high school students who are a string quartet who play music. Lots of great food and then we walk across the alley to the Maiden Alley Cinema and watch the Derby on the big screen. It is always lots of fun. We trade the use of the Maiden Alley Cinema a couple times a year for their using the Market House Building during August for the Rivers Edge Film Festival. The barter system is alive and well in Paducah's non profits.

April 17

Opening Night

Today has been a little calmer than the past couple just trying to tie up some loose ends for the opening tonight. I have to run out in a couple of minutes and get a veggie tray for the actors and crew to munch on tonight before the show as a way to say thanks for all of the hard work. This morning was spent tyring to get our online newsletter put together. You can read it at the side of any of the MHT pages on our website. I worked in the theatre for a while today setting a couple of last minute changes to the lights and sound. I'm still not happy with a hiss out of one of our speakers that has to do with the computer running it. But I may have to live with it. I corrected some of it.

We had a locksmith in to change out several locks today that had keys out that had been lost or not returned. We do this about once every year or so. Many of our doors have combination codes on them and those are changed after each show.

Alexis noted today that we have 4 events on sale right now. Tuesdays with Morrie, Zink, Anything Goes and the Ultimate Derby Party. She spent part of the afternoon calling schools trying to work out schedules and payments for the Zink school matinees between each walk in customer or telephone call for Tuesday with Morrie tickets. Some of our school matinees for Zink didn't fill so we are trying to combine schools on other days to help us not have to get the kids in the cast out of school if we don't need to.

Over a year ago the MHT board brought in a consultant and it was agreed that our highest priority was to develop and coordinate our volunteers in a more effective manner. Long time Business Manager Marsha Cash was selected to take on this crucial role and given the title Volunteer Coordinator. Unfortunately she is still doing a tremendous amount of the work of the Business Manager as she tries to develop volunteer handbooks, documentation of hours and jobs and working with the rest of the staff to have us do a better job of using the skills that volunteers have. Today she spent working on contributions from membership donations, program ad sales, sponsor ship billing and benefits. Last night she was working with Jaimie Smith who brought in a button maker to make MHT buttons for all of the volunteers for the Lowertown Festival over Memorial day. Jaimie Smith has volunteered thousands of hours at MHT and is a prime example of someone who has made a difference here. Between all the other things Marsha worked on today she is also trying to get ushers for the shows this weekend. If you know of someone who would like to see the shows for free have them contact Marsha Cash. Marsha and I fill in when we don't have enough ushers.

Janice is hard at work on Zink costumes. April had 8 classes she taught in elementary schools today. Many of them were Kindergarten classes. I can always tell the night before what grade level April is teaching the next day. If our kitchen table is covered with little animal head bands she has Kindergarten classes. There were hundreds of hand-cut paper animal heads that had card stock sides stapled on along with lots of children's books to dramatize that April worked on last night.

I had a phone call from a church this afternoon needing help with a lighting problem in their sanctuary. We provide support for schools and churches with help for their programs.

Tonight is the big opening for Tuesdays with Morrie. We have about 2/3rds of the house sold and it should be a great opening. The adrenaline keeps you going until Sunday night when we all kind of collapse from the week of getting the show open.

Zink and Anything Goes are rehearsing tonight and Story Theatre is out on Tour. Break a Leg Tuesday with Morrie cast and crew!

April 15

Tuesday with MHT

It's 10:48 pm on the night of final dress. A great deal is still left to do on the set for Tuesdays. I painted some texture on the walls today with a textured roller. Unfortunately it went on very heavy and now is very streaky. I need some time to let my brain figure out how to fix the paint. I'll probably use a natural sponge and apply some of the original wall color back on the wall. I added the dark texture because the background was too bright. Which made the actors seem to be standing in dim light. Tonight's final dress rehearsal was a good rehearsal. We are still working out the sound levels and the lighting focus. Each day I add some more patterns to the lights to put leaf colors on stage. Today I added more red and green to make the fall colors.

I was up by 6 am today drafting out the set for Anything Goes for my meeting with Diane Byrd at 1 pm today. At 9 am this morning Jim Keeney went to the warehouse to measure the walls from Kiss Me Kate 3 years ago. We are thinking of using them with Anything goes to help make the staterooms and the cabins. While Jim was at the warehouse I was busy in the classroom taping out the floor plan in full scale for the set for Anything Goes. Then Jim came back and spent the rest of the day painting texture on the walls and doing last minute technical notes for Tuesdays. I met with Mitzi Kirkwood at 10 am today to record an accapella sound piece for Tuesdays. We weren't happy with the first one I found because the quality wasn't very good. At 1 pm I met with Diane and we talked through several different scenic elements of Anything Goes. We are looking at having the theatre auditorium be part of the ship and possibly having the character of the ship captain and some of the ships crew act as ushers and welcome people aboard when they arrive for the show.

3:30 was time for a budget meeting with President Valerie Pollard and VP Renie Barger. We looked at the income and expenses for next year as we try to build our budget. Since I put the numbers together a couple of weeks ago some things have changed. Some of our school programming may have to change if the schools decide to move testing to the end of the school year instead of during April. We are also evaluating our class offerings. Some significant challenges have appeared over the past couple of weeks and that may put real strain on our projected class income.

On the expense side of course everything went up. Lumber and building materials went up. Story theatre headed out and I gassed up our new van the KY Colonels purchased for our educational programming this past August. We have a 30 gallon tank and it was $100 to fill it up with regular unleaded. It is always somewhat daunting as we put together the budget. There is always more expenses than income. That is where we depend on fundraising with special events and membership to fill the gap. When you are already operating with extremely lean expenses it is difficult to cut anything back because it cuts back on your income as well.

Marsha is working hard on getting the volunteer handbook completed and trying to set up shadowing experiences for potential crew volunteers. She set up 3 people to come in and shadow the Tuesdays with Morrie crew to see what it is like to work backstage or up in the control booth.

Alexis is covered over with Tuesday with Morrie tickets as well as season ticket renewals. We are trying to order some new ticket stock to print our next years season tickets on. Until we receive the new stock we can't print any of next years tickets.

April is on the road with Story Theatre and teaching in the schools. She finished just before spring break her last elementary school show. She directed shows at McNabb, Clark, Concord, and Lone Elementary schools in addition to the GTC drama show at Paducah Middle School and her residencies.

Janice our costume coordinator is busy trying to shift from Story Theatre to Zink costumes.

Sandy Harbin our bookkeeper was working when I came in from the Tuesdays with Morrie rehearsal and we talked budget, fiscal reports and I tracked down several Internet purchases that I had made for recent shows.

It's now 11:10 pm and I'm headed out the door. That was "Tuesday with MHT" on April 15.

April 14

I'm trying to dash this off before I jump into the day. Saturday morning was spent recording music for Story Theatre's touring show. The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent hanging, focusing, and setting lights. At 2 pm Tuesday with Morrie Director Phil Counts and stage manager Jim Roush met with me and we spent 5 hours setting light cues. There are over 70 cues in the show. We also talked about the sound cues needed for the show and worked through the scene changes that need to happen.

We finished just in time for me to jump across the street for the dress rehearsal of the Story Theatre show The 3 Little Kittens. I set up the portable sound system with the wireless microphones for the performers and we worked through their first time with body mics. We finished up about 9 pm and then it was time to head home to search for the sound and music cues for Tuesdays with Morrie. Last summer I moved to a lap top as my primary computer for work because it allow me to at least work from home instead of staying at the theatre until midnight. It was just after midnight when I finally found the last piece of music. I was looking for specific songs as a piano solo that Tom Dolan can pretend to play in the show. I must have listened to over 50 versions of The Very Thought of You. I never knew so many people had recorded the song (including Regis Philbin and other unusual singers).

Sunday morning was an early start at the theatre trying to transfer all the music I had found. First I had to set up the sound system in the main theatre because it was used in a different configuration for Harriet the Spy. After that it was loading the music into a computer program call Sound Cue. It does a great job for a relatively inexpensive price of running sound cues for a show. You can overlap, fade in and out and use specific segments that can be looped. One of the cues was a tennis ball being hit by a racket. I used that cue and looped the sound to repeat over and over. During the show there is a segment that the sports reporter Mitch is at a tennis game and his life gets crazier and crazier. The tennis ball hit is supposed to go faster and faster through out the conversation. I used the same tennis ball sound and shortened the amount of time between hits and looped the effect. This makes the tennis ball sound get faster and faster. In addition the character Mitch gets 5 cell phone calls during the match. I recorded the cell phones and sequenced them so that Jim Roush who is also running sound can play the cell phone rings and it automatically triggers the tennis ball cues to move to an increased speed. The tricky part for Jim is that he has to stop the previous tennis ball sound cue after the new one starts or he will have the sound of two tennis balls hit instead of one. The actors arrived at 2 pm and we worked through the first act of the show and took a break at 5 pm when Dick Holland showed up with food. Dick Holland and Stephanie Young volunteered to make food for the cast as a way of saying thank you from the theatre board and the other volunteers for the cast and crews hard work. Dick's food as usual was excellent. He and Stephanie both are wonderful cooks!

We went back to work on Act 2 and finished up about 7 pm in time for me to jump back across the street for the final rehearsal of 3 Kittens. While the cast rehearsed I ran out and got a large supply of 9 volt batteries that are used in the wireless mic packs and gassed up the theatre van. It costs over $100 to fill up the van. It has a 30 gallon tank. I got back to the theatre and we practiced setting up and taking down the set and the sound and we packed it into the van. The actors left at 6:45 am this morning to drive to Sikeston MO to perform two shows.

Today will be spent finishing the set construction for Tuesdays by Jim and doing a base coat. I will adjust some lights and hang some more lights. Fix some of the sound cues from yesterday and we will have a dress rehearsal at 6:30 pm tonight. Zink rehearses at 5 pm tonight. Tomorrow I meet with Diane Byrd to finalize the set for Anything Goes.

April 11

I'm back in the office after being away for the last 4 days. My family and I went to Gulf Shores Alabama to get some sun, surf, and relaxation. Unfortunately the sun was very minimal. We only got to swim for a couple of hours the first day and then a few hours the second day. Red flags on the beach went up for the rest of the week warning of dangerous currents as it was unsafe to swim. I was hoping that the red flags were not an omen for my return to Paducah.

We arrived back in to Paducah just as the heavy rains started Thursday Night. We have a couple of roof sections that leak and I always worry any time it rains. These old buildings always have some maintenance issue going on.

Jim had worked on the set for Tuesdays. We were still short crew for the run of the show. We spent today talking about how to make two walls move on and off the revolving turntable so that the furniture in the play could easily move on and off without any human hands. There is a small section of the walls that were painted for Harriet the Spy with purple paint that refuses to be covered even with 3 coats of paint. I went out shopping for furniture for the show but couldn't find any that was affordable or really what I was looking for. I went home and raided my living room of two chairs and my family room of my recliner and a small side table. April was not thrilled that our living room looked empty right before our quilter guests were to arrive. I told her to just remind them that we are in the theatre. Our furniture has appeared on stage dozens of times. It kind of goes with the job. Many of our board members have also had furniture on stage.

This afternoon I met with Phil Counts the director of Tuesdays. We talked about all of the sound cues in the show and about the scene changes. We had a bed on stage that he didn't want white sheets on. The props people put patterned sheets and he didn't like those either so we compromised with beige sheets. There are lots of sound and light cues for the shows. As we talked through the light cues I suggested places where the actors needed to move further away from the furniture so the audience wouldn't watch the furniture as it started to change. I could dim the lights on the furniture and keep the actors lit. That is one of the major tools of the lighting designer is to provide a focus for the audience. The human eye always tends to look at the brightest spot on the stage. Jim had placed the movable walls even with the center non moving wall. Although it was more work I had him move the walls back so we have more of a 3 dimensional look with the background. I found that we have about 6 spots or pools of light on stage that are needed to isolate actors at certain times during the show. It's my job as lighting designer and set designer for Tuesdays to climb the ladders and hang and focus the lights. Color will be very important with the show as well. I'm trying for patterned leaves that will change colors with the seasons to shine across the walls of the set. Jim spent the rest of the day hanging masking curtains and adding masking to the movable walls. He took some time to go to our scenic artist Kelly Salchli and pick up the set for The Three Kittens which is the show that goes out on Story Theatre tour next Monday.

Kelly has painted a background of the walls of a home for the 3 kittens complete with baby kitten paintings on the walls and lots of spots and flowers in the wall paper. I have to put together the sound system and record the sound for the final rehearsal of the the 3 kittens on Saturday night.

Tonight I will search for the music for Phil Counts for Tuesdays with Morrie and put together the sound for that show. It usually takes a couple of hours to find and record all the music and effects for a show. We are meeting at 2 pm tomorrow to set all the light cues. This is the process of working on one light cue at a time. Setting the levels of every lighting instrument on stage and its color for the show. That usually takes a couple of hours as well. I try to do some of it ahead of time so it doesn't take so long.

I read Anything Goes again while I was on vacation. It will be a complicated set and I need to have the basics of that worked out to talk with the Director of Anything Goes, Diane Byrd next early next week.

We ordered new ticket stock for next season today and this afternoon I proofed the program for Tuesdays with Morrie. The new banner on the side of the building went up last Monday and the ads appeared in the Paducah Sun and Southern Illiniosan yesterday and today. The TV ads for Tuesdays started yesterday as well.

We have started taking Season ticket renewal orders for next year. Alexis has been busy processing them. Marsha has been hard at work on memberships sorting through all of the program advertising and sponsors to wrap up this season. Annette Deem is out selling program ads for our programs for next season. We are contacting sponsors now to talk about shows for next year.

With The 3 Little Kittens on Story Theatre tour starting Monday, Tuesdays with Morrie opening next Thursday, Zink in rehearsals, and Anything Goes in rehearsal we are really operating at full speed. Everyone is hard at work trying to get through the end of this season and preparing for next season. I reminded the staff just before I left last Thursday that they all need to schedule their vacation times for the year and take them. I'm one of the biggest offenders of having too much vacation time unused at the end of the year. We all need to get away and recharge our batteries on a regular basis.

No red flags or dangerous currents here but lots of swimming just to stay even in the current at the Market House Theatre in April.

April 3

Yesterday was spent mostly on photos. In the morning I finally updated our photo gallery page. It had photos of the shows last season and it took a while to get everything photo shopped into smaller image sizes to load quickly and then inserted on the page. In the afternoon I went to Clark Elementary school and photographed the final performance of 101 Dalmatians. April and all the kids did a great job. It made me think back to my own elementary school play and the sense of performing for the whole school and how wonderful that felt. Who knew that it would lead me to where I am today.

Last night I took publicity photos of the Tuesdays with Morrie Cast. You can see some of the in the banner on the top of every MHT web page. Since our set isn't ready yet I have to take the photos in front of white screen and then place an appropriate background behind them. This generally takes me longer than it would someone who is a wiz with photo shop. It's very difficult to try to publicize a show that is still under construction. This morning Jim Keeney is cutting out the new masonite surface for the cover of the turntable for Tuesdays with Morrie set. We have a production meeting at 1 pm today to talk over all of the props, sets, and costumes.

With all the rain I have several leaks that need attention. It is never easy in these old buildings to track down exactly where the water is coming from.

Last night was the second audition evening for Anything Goes. This is turning into a very difficult show to cast. We have several great roles for men and not enough men who auditioned. Today we are contacting those people who expressed an interest in auditioning but couldn't because of schedule conflicts and seeing if we can work around the conflicts. Some of those are the Tilghman Choir which is going to Italy. They will be gone for about a week and return a couple of days before the Anything Goes opens. We are trying to see if any of the parts in the play will lend themselves to someone who would miss a week of rehearsals just before we open. Generally with big cast shows lots of negotiations go on to finish the casting. It is only with very popular titles that we generally have enough people at auditions to cast a show without extending the auditions. We are blessed in our community with very talented people. Like everyone else though they have busy lives and doing a show is a big commitment of time.

If anyone reading this is interested in auditioning you can contact me at the box office number 270-444-6828 extension 114 or by email at m.cochran@mhtplay.com On today's agenda is writing the April newsletter and getting the program for Tuesdays to the printer.

April 2

Everyone is still trying to catch up from the Follies. We are seeking crew people for Tuesdays with Morrie. We need at least one stage person to move furniture on and off the turntable which rotates it on stage. We need a sound person who can click a mouse button to start and stop the sound. Most important we need a stage manager to call the show. Calling the show involves following in the script and telling the lights, sound and stage crew when to do the changes. With sound and lights the computer has really made this a fun easy way to be involved. I program the computer with all of the light and sound changes and the operator just pushes a button to make it run. Gone are the days of reel to reel tape decks and cuing and fading in and out of sounds. Gone are the complicated dimmer setting for each cue to run and counting manually in your head how many seconds a cue should run. Today's digital world has created a way for shows to be much more complex and at the same much easier to run.

I went to see Mannheim Steamroll last night at the Carson Center. It was a great time and the lighting effects were very nice. They used about 10 movable lights that can change patterns and colors all controlled by a computer. I would love to get my hands on those. We have to hang and focus each separate light with its own color to use in an area. Many of the lighting instruments we use today at the Market House were purchased in the 1960's based on a design from the 1950's. Someday when we win the lottery we will hopefully be able to purchase some lighting equipment that will allow us to do more with less instruments.

I've just finished reading an article on how several theatres are going green. This is a very difficult thing for us to do. We use so many materials to make a production. Our carbon foot print is pretty large. We have started recycling in the offices. A great deal of our lights cannot be changed out for the more efficient Compact Florescent Lights because we have to dim them up and down. When they come out with a dimmable florescent light fixture we will be one of the first to jump on it.

Auditions for Anything Goes had a very light turnout. We are hoping that lots of people were just waiting for Wednesday to audition. If we don't get enough people to audition then we start contacting people and trying to get them to audition for specific roles still needed. Our general rule of auditions is that those people who show up to audition are given first priority for all parts. Sometimes you need a great tenor or soprano voice for a part and only alto's or basses show up . Then there is lots of scrambling to try to make things work out. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that we will have a good turnout tonight.