Overwhelmed

It's Tuesday and the week is off to the races. I've spent most of yesterday and today working on My Way publicity and marketing. You can see the new video from the publicity photos taken last night on the mhtplay.com website home page. David forgot we were taking photos. Natalia at Creatures didn't receive the jackets back in time for us to use for the photos. Of course Cheri and Victoria both remembered and brought their dresses. While we waited for Cheri (we always tell Cheri we are starting 15 minutes before the real time so she will only be a few minutes late- (even Cheri will tell me to tell her an earlier time!) We hunted through costume storage and found pants, shirts, jackets and ties for the guys. If you look really close you'll see that Davids coat has a different collar than Fowler's in the publicity shots. I then spent the morning looking for backgrounds to go behind the photos. I spend about an hour with my limited Photoshop skills and carve the people out of the neutral background they were standing in front of when I took the photo and place them in front of a more energetic background. We haven't even started the set for the show yet and it opens in 3 weeks. The rest of the morning was spent getting names and email addresses for artists and arts organizations for the economic impact study along with tracking down ad copy from different advertisers for the first program.

I'm about to run home now to get out my dance books to look for some steps that I can use in a dance number tonight. David and Fowler need a solo dance and they both dance with Victoria. A Latin dance and a tap dance will be part of the number. I've got a ball room dance book I sometimes use to help me with the ideas I have about the dances.

Today at 5:30 is Murder Mystery rehearsal. We have 2 more rehearsals after today before the performance. I think I scared the cast when I said they needed to be off book (memorized) for tomorrow. Those 2 words off book will scare most cast members. There is lots of homework that is always involved in doing plays. The My Way cast reviewed what we staged last week and had the hardest time remembering choreography and their song lyrics. I'm usually in the audience yelling cross right or take off your hat now as they work through the songs. It's like the traffic cop trying to keep them moving as they learn.

Denise Bristol is the stage manager and will stand in for people who are missing and then give them their blocking if they miss the rehearsals so they won't get behind. As we evolve the staging I often have to turn to Denise and say "What did I have them do here? I've gotten two different things written in my script and I can't always decipher my own notes! Tonight the baby grand piano gets delivered. It won't get tuned for a week until it acclamates to the building. We will stick with the electronic keyboard until the piano is tuned. Today Patt found a bass player who can do the show. We were beginning to get a little worried. The percusssionist from the Paducah Symphony will also be in the show.

Tomorrow is April's birthday and I have two rehearsals. One of which I scheduled her to be in. We will celebrate for a few moments and then its back to work. She tells me I'm a taskmaster when it comes to work.

One of the other community theatre's is looking at a husband and wife team. They were asking if anyone had any policies in place. I could only offer this piece of advice after working with my wife for over 30 years. It is really hard to leave work behind when you work with your spouse. Like anything else in theatre you have to have a passion for doing the work. That passion can bring you closer together, but it can also cause friction at other times when you don't agree. April and I have really tried to keep the theatre out of our marriage and our marriage out of the theatre. That's my best advice for anyone considering working with their spouse. I don't know how I got off on that tangent but it's time for me to put on my dancing shoes!