Saturday preparations

The show last night was great again. Standing ovations have been constant throughout the run. After the show last night the cast gathered at Jim and Ted Roush's apartment for lots of food. Jim cooked Indian food for those who wanted to try something different. (I tasted it and it was great!) For the others there was hot dogs and spaghetti. Mary Jane Bowles and Doug Arnold made a wizard of Oz dessert out of rice crispy treats and m & m's. Oh those creative arts people! I left shortly before midnight reminding the cast of their early call today for the matinee.

This morning I'm meeting with Cindy Miller to audition a couple of more performers for Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming. We should announce the call backs or cast list within the next day or so.

Today will be spent dealing with food and show issues. I have to confirm the food for the cast party tomorrow after the final performance. Confirm the food for the picnic on Monday. Work on the golden screw awards for the picnic. Get the studio theatre setup to feed the cast between shows today and then cleaned up for the church which rents the second stage space on Sunday mornings. Do a final check and work through brief staging changes for the fundraising event tonight with the winners of the Wizard of Oz auction. I'm also preparing the photo discs for the cast. We sell photo discs of the shows for $10 and all the proceeds go to volunteer appreciation to buy things like the food for the picnic, water for the backstage, food for between shows, etc... There are over 900 photos on the photo cd. Bill Fox graciously donated his time to come in and take the photos with his high speed equipment. Unfortunately because of copyright restrictions no video of the performance is allowed.

Each performance I constantly scan the audience to make sure that no one is taking photos or video taping the performance. Last night I was watching and suddenly noticed the little digital screen of a camera in the audience taking photos or video. These days you can't tell which. I slowly worked my way down the aisle until I could identify the person and then moved quickly to the woman and told her she had to stop immediately. I try to always make an announcement before the show. It is also in the program. I know the woman heard the announcement but I guess she didn't think it applied to her. We have to worry that clips would show up on youtube and then we could be liable for copyright violation and damages. Every actor, technician as well as the theatre can be named in a damage suit. That's why we get a little crazy about people not videotaping.

As much as this show keeps me on pins and needles hoping that everything continues to go well, I will miss the show when it is over. It has been a rewarding experience for me to work on this production. The cast and crew have done an outstanding job. Audience response has been overwhelming. This will be one of those shows that I personally will remember for many years and I believe our community will remember as well.