Whirlwind

It is Saturday morning and I'm in the office while my daughter Jade is in April's Footlights theatre classes for kids. I'm looking at the debris scattered over my desk and floors and bookshelves from the remnants of opening My Way and the even the show before that. Sometimes I feel like a hurricane victim except in my case it would be a show victim. Catalogs from theatrical supply companies that I used to order from for the show. Several CD discs that we used to record parts of the rehearsals on so that the musical director and I could listen to the music from that nights rehearsal and give notes the next day. Grant forms and folders that were used to get statistics from last season for copy for the program for My Way. Agendas and minutes and financial reports from board meetings last year getting ready for the audit which starts next Monday. Scripts that I've collected over the course of the past season to consider for next season. Photos of the summer shows and cast and crew shots from last season. Scripts and clue packets from the last murder mystery we just held at the end of August. Blank Cd cases that we collected from the photo Cd's that we put discs in for performers to purchase to remember shows they were just in. Fundraising magazines and flyer's from other theatres and companies that might be of interest to the theatre that came in the last couple of months. Under my desk is filled with digital camera bags and boom boxes and tape recorders, theatre magazines. Hurricanes "wedding from hell", "my way", "doubt", "greetings", "southern comforts" and "high school musical" remnants litter my office. Some of those shows are only in audition or early rehearsal phases and haven't fully made office fall yet but their effects are still present.

The My Way After Hours party was last night immediately following the show. Board members Sarah Bynum, Cindy Miller, Ann Counts, and Heather Dorr catered and bar tended the event. Sarah Bynum convinced me to try one of the three specialty martinis in these wonderful tiny glasses from Roof Brothers. Roof Brothers has been wonderful to work with on this event and we them a big thank you! Normally I'm a beer and wine kind of guy since I gave up smoking years ago. Sarah made me a pomegranate martini and it was excellent! Not at all what I expected. ( I may have to rethink my occasional after show cocktail at one of the local bars with the cast.) We have another event after the show next Friday night. If you are looking for something fun and different it give it a try. Our studio theatre makes a great night club.

My Way the show has received standing ovations both performances. The performers are really learning how to "play" the audience for laughs and tears. After the performance we all laugh about the word substitutions that come out unexpectedly. Last night it was Victoria who sings "I love Paris in the Springtime". Instead she sang I love Paris in the "summer". She said she wanted to turn to the other performers and shake her head and say "where did that come from?" Each performer had a moment when something like that happens almost every night. That is what makes theatre so engaging. It's live. You never know what will happen. You do your best and then see where it leads you. Just before the crew call last night our follow spot operator Kim Yocum cut her thumb while making dinner and had to go to the emergency room. Ten minutes for the house opened she was still in the emergency room waiting to get her paperwork processed. Jim Keeney jumped in on follow spot and ran act one. Bobby Grey a high school student who has been training in on lights, sound and spot ran act two. I'm switching out 3 of the microphones today because I'm not happy with the sound quality of a couple of songs. The microphones are picking up a little bit of static on some of the higher notes and that isn't a good sign early in the run. It could be a sign of trouble to come so we will fix that before it is a problem.

We have two shows today- 2:30 and 7:30. A Sunday matinee tomorrow and then the cast and crew has three days of rest before we do it again next weekend. Auditions for 3 plays are Monday and Tuesday night. I'm hoping we get a good turnout. There are some really great parts. April and Emily Hensel and Mary Kathryn Dorr are meeting right after Footlights classes today to work on the choreography for a song for High School musical. April called me about 8:30 this morning to tell me she needed a couple of basketballs for them to work with today.

It's time for me to go collect my daughter, hunt down basketballs and get ready for the shows today. I'll start the cleanup process from the show storms on Monday.