Wizards and Aliens

We finished the first weekend of the Sugar Bean Sisters with a flourish. The cast received standing ovations on most of the performances last weekend and audiences were smiling as they exited the theatre. We had a few moments from the past week that made my heart skip a beat. Here are just a few of the funnier moments:

On the final dress rehearsal before opening we were so focused on getting everything ready that a couple of the technical elements didn't get reset. Marsha Cash is supposed to come to the door from the swamp and finding it locked have to climb through a window. Unfortunately a final check missed the fact that the front door was standing wide open. So when she came up to the front door and saw it wide open she pretended the screen door was locked. That same night Kim Yocum was sitting at the vanity applying monkey goo to her bald head when she is supposed to notice a large purple feather on the vanity. Unfortunately it didn't get preset so Kim began to scan the room for one of the many feathers that falls off Marsha Cash's costume. This unfortunately was the only night that none fell off. Marsha thinking fast pulled one off her costume (she is hiding under the bed in the scene) and blew it out from under the bed next to Kim's feet so she could find one. On Sunday Mike Brewer did a superb scene with Kim and his blocking is to turn and walk off. Unfortunately Mike turned and walked straight into a wall. Mike finished his exit a little more gracefully and everyone onstage was biting their lips to keep from smiling. Some nights we've seen our share of name trauma with people calling each other by their own characters name. My favorite was Marsha trying to saw the word awful and crazy at the same time which came out awfy. In another moment Marsha was supposed to say she poured chicken blood on her church dress. Unfortunately it came out that she poured church blood on her chicken dress. The cast and the crew are doing an outstanding job with the show and the little mistakes are what makes live theatre so exciting. You never know what is going to happen from one moment to the next. Jim and Ted Roush and Jaimie Smith are all making magic happen with the show. Ted is running all the sound effects, Jim is running lights, Jaimie is doing the on stage special effects and Laurie Burnett is stage managing the show.

The Wizard of Oz began the staging process tonight. Dorothy (Emily Yokum), Auntie Em (Cat Tilker), Uncle Henry (Roy Hensel), Hunk (Fowler Black), Hickory (Chris Schnarr), Zeke (Chuck Wilkins), and Miss Gultch (Denise Bohle) all rehearsed the first 3 scenes in Kansas. This is one of those odd shows because we all know the movie so well that when we are working on the play you can't help but hear the original actors voices and think of their movement. The MHT cast is doing a great job of bringing to life the story with lots of familiar characters and yet making each of the characters their own characters and not a carbon copy of the MGM Movie cast. I think the show is going to be great. I spent about 2 1/2 hours today taping out and then re-taping out the set before blocking today. Tomorrow we are rehearsing scenes 4-5 where we meet Professor Marvel and the Twister comes. On Wednesday we move to scenes 6 & 7 with the Munchkins and Glinda.

Story Theatre's Jack and the Beanstalk had its first performance at the Metropolis Pre-school. The kids absolutely loved the show. Sixth grader John Yocum stars at Jack. John's Aunt Kim Yocum (Sugar Bean Cast) plays his mother and the Golden Goose. Julie Price plays the peddler and the Giant's housekeeper. Juile is an absolute riot to watch as she clowns around with Jack while hiding him from the Giant. April Cochran plays the giant along with a hat that is at least 18" tall. The small musical will tour elementary and pre-schools until early June.

The Secret Life of Girls rehearsed to day at 4:30 pm. Jim Keeney knew someone who donated several display only cellphones from a store. They work great for the kids to use in the show. I told April that this was the first show in which one character texts another. Like modern life cell phones, texting, instant messaging on laptops etc. are all starting to show up in the plays being written these days.

The board of directors meeting is Wednesday at 5:30.