Murder My Way

Last night we had a rehearsal for Murder from Hell. Tom Dolan and Marsha Cash had conflicts and couldn't attend. We worked through the staging of the first section. Roy, who had missed his blocking at the rehearsal last week due to the wedding of his son Travis, was able to walk through what he had missed. It is always difficult to put 7-8 people in a very limited space and not end up with them all standing in a straight line. Straight lines are the most boring visually. I stood in for Tom last night and Valerie stood in for Marsha. It is difficult to be in the scene and give feedback of what is going on at the same time. It didn't help that my back has been out for a couple of days so standing wasn't easy!

We finished murder rehearsal about 6:30 and I walked across the street to the My Way rehearsal. After 2 weeks of music rehearsal we began staging the show. We got through the first couple of numbers. The show is set in a nightclub atmosphere. Each of the performers will be miked but there will also be an old style microphone on a stand for them to sing into. We are working on resolving when we using the mic on the stand versus their wireless microphones. David Jernigan keeps trying to convince me to cut the dance breaks where he is supposed to solo dance. I just laugh and tell him not to worry that he will get it. We spent about 10 minutes last night working through Fowler and Victoria and David and Cheri doing simple mirror turns in and out. No matter how much you work on music the first time you add movement and have to put down the scripts and sheet music it is still tough. Cheri and Victoria have found great dresses. David and Fowler will be wearing white tux coats with black pants. We are taking publicity photos Monday. Single tickets go on sale today for My Way. We have finished up our season ticket renewal campaign and moved into the regular single seat sales. Alexis has been hard at work getting ready for this. Jim is currently working on re-doing the cable in the studio theatre. Some of it is old and the insulation is starting to crack a little so we are replacing it. The back dressing rooms and restrooms have been painted and the restroom has been reworked. Marsha is on vacation this week. Janice Peterson is gettting ready for High School Musical.

I've got two billboards and 6 ads to build along with articles and marketing materials for The Wedding from Hell which performs Aug. 23 and My Way which runs Sept. 4-21. The new season is well underway. Kacey Reynolds who grew up doing shows at MHT gets married this Saturday. The theatre will be rented out to a "belly dancing" troupe for a show on Saturday night. Next weekend the theatre is being used by the Maiden Alley for the Rivers Edge Film festival.