It all began with a text message Friday morning. Lisa Humphrey-Wynn Assistant Director/Stage Manager for Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming texted me to say she was at her doctors office. She had been experiencing pain and her doctor was checking out her hip where she had had replacement hip surgery. There was a possibility she might have to be hospitalized. The second text arrived one hour later. Lisa was being hospitalized and was going in for surgery on her hip which had developed an extreme infection. She would be hospitalized for 4-5 days and out of the picture for the show. We still had the lighting and the stage crew people so I felt like we were still okay. We all kept Lisa in our thoughts and prayers and we set up the light board backstage so it could be run from there to coordinate with the stage crew. April and I left Sat. morning along with some friends and drove to St. Louis to see the Broadway touring production Mary Poppins at the Fox Theatre.
We had 15th row center seats and the show had some really fun moments but I felt that it was somewhat difficult to hear. I lost part of the dialogue in some of the scenes which made it hard to follow. In addition the lighting designer used lots of mood lighting and used follow spots to light the main characters which tended to make the overall light levels somewhat dark which led to my eyes getting tired. I must confess I fell asleep during part of the first act. The story line and songs for part of the show were also a little less than memorable for me. The second act was delightful and lots of fun effects including watching Bert the chimney sweep dancing in number where he walked up the wall and upside down across the proscenium 20 feet in the air and then back down the other side. We all left the theatre smiling but wishing the sound had been better.
On the drive home I got a voicemail which I didn't listen to until I got home about 9 pm. It was from Debbie the lighting person to tell me that her daughter who was supposed to be on the stage crew had been diagnosed with Swine Flu H1N1 and she and her daughter were out for at least a week. They never even got to see a single rehearsal of the show. With the technical rehearsal on Sunday I was now totally without a crew. I had agreed for Jim to go to Arkansas this weekend to help his wife with her fathers estate.
I moved the light board back out to the front of the house and April agreed to come in to help run lights and do the live sound effects to get through the technical rehearsal. We rehearsed early because one of the actors had an evening engagement and everything went pretty well for a first tech with costumes, lights, and sound.
Tomorrow Jim will be back and musical director Cindy Miller has offered her daughter Maria's help to do the running crew for the show. Jim will jump to lights and stage manager and we will be back on track. I've never had an incident before were I've lost the entire crew the day before the technical rehearsal. With no understudies for the show I always worry about a major character getting sick. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everyone else will remain healthy. We wish a speedy recover to all of the crew members who are out sick. We may have been blown sideways a little this weekend but we will ready for Thursday nights opening!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Late August Rush
A whirlwind of activity in the printing area has been going on all weekend and during the first part of this week. The annual report was sent to the printer yesterday. This 4 page color document is a report on all aspects of MHT programming last season along with financial reports. All MHT Member/Contributors will receive a copy in the mail. A PDF of the report will be posted on the MHT website.
The September newsletter also went to the printer on Monday. We will be returning to a more robust schedule of newsletters this year. Last year we tried to move the newsletters to a quarterly printing in order to save funds. What we learned was that some of our information was out 1-2 months before the event and was soon forgotten. The MHT board has decided that we need to communicate more often with people interested in the theatre and has budgeted a doubling of newsletters for this season. The newsletter will also try to feature more of the people who are involved as volunteers at the theatre. Look for a newsletter to be posted today.
Volunteer Debra Harned, April Cochran and I have been hard at work to get the new program completed and sent the printer. We are also putting the final touches on our season brochure. All these things are timed to be ready for opening night of Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming which opens Sept. 3.
The box office is now selling tickets to Smoke and The Secret Life of Girls. In addition schools are calling in and making school matinee reservations for Secret Life of Girls, Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom. All of those school performances are filling up quickly and some are already sold out. Because of the limited space in the studio theatre for Secret Life we have added a school discount price to the regular performance of Secret Life of Girls. Any school group of at least 30 can get a school matinee rate of $5 per ticket for a regular performance of the show. Interested schools can contact the box office for more information.
Jim is still doing the construction work on the back of our auditorium to make access easier for wheelchairs and walkers. We have removed the steps and made access a level entrance to the rear of the auditorium.
The theatre is getting ready to announce an exciting fundraiser for the fall and we are in the final planning stages for this event. We should be ready to announce this later this week!
School has started back and April is full swing teaching in the city and county school systems.
The September newsletter also went to the printer on Monday. We will be returning to a more robust schedule of newsletters this year. Last year we tried to move the newsletters to a quarterly printing in order to save funds. What we learned was that some of our information was out 1-2 months before the event and was soon forgotten. The MHT board has decided that we need to communicate more often with people interested in the theatre and has budgeted a doubling of newsletters for this season. The newsletter will also try to feature more of the people who are involved as volunteers at the theatre. Look for a newsletter to be posted today.
Volunteer Debra Harned, April Cochran and I have been hard at work to get the new program completed and sent the printer. We are also putting the final touches on our season brochure. All these things are timed to be ready for opening night of Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming which opens Sept. 3.
The box office is now selling tickets to Smoke and The Secret Life of Girls. In addition schools are calling in and making school matinee reservations for Secret Life of Girls, Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom. All of those school performances are filling up quickly and some are already sold out. Because of the limited space in the studio theatre for Secret Life we have added a school discount price to the regular performance of Secret Life of Girls. Any school group of at least 30 can get a school matinee rate of $5 per ticket for a regular performance of the show. Interested schools can contact the box office for more information.
Jim is still doing the construction work on the back of our auditorium to make access easier for wheelchairs and walkers. We have removed the steps and made access a level entrance to the rear of the auditorium.
The theatre is getting ready to announce an exciting fundraiser for the fall and we are in the final planning stages for this event. We should be ready to announce this later this week!
School has started back and April is full swing teaching in the city and county school systems.
Friday, August 14, 2009
I feel your pain
Yesterday tickets went on sale for Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming and the Secret Life of Girls. We are just 3 weeks out from the opening of the first show of the 46th season. At rehearsal last night we spent the majority of time working on a couple of the characters monologues. We worked and reworked these moments where the characters testify about their faith. I think that it was rewarding for those actors who got to work on their parts. Unfortunately the others had a lot of sitting around while that happened. Last night I had Fowler, who plays Pastor Oglethorpe, empathize so much with those in his congregation that he had to act as if it were him that was suffering from bursitis, arthritis, locked bowels, and kidney stones. The other actors were rolling on the floor as Fowler contorted his body to "feel" their pain.
Meanwhile across the street open auditions were being held for Cardinal River Productions 48 hour film festival entry. Although they don't know what genre of script they will be creating those who showed up were taped doing a variety of improvisational exercises that covered several genres. This weekend should be an exciting one for film in Paducah with the 13 teams. One of the teams, other than the Cardinal River group, is headed up and composed solely of MHT performers and volunteers. It will be fun to see the projects that come out from this weekend. I encourage everyone to go and view the completed 4-7 minute films next week at the Maiden Alley Cinema and support the efforts of all of the MHT and community people who are involved in this competition.
If you see some terrific posters around town for Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming they are the work of the creative team over at IVS supervised by Todd Duff. IVS has done an outstanding job on the posters and we are working with them to create a coordinated and unified look to all of our show marketing. We have our website hosted by IVS and they do an outstanding job in everything they undertake.
Meanwhile across the street open auditions were being held for Cardinal River Productions 48 hour film festival entry. Although they don't know what genre of script they will be creating those who showed up were taped doing a variety of improvisational exercises that covered several genres. This weekend should be an exciting one for film in Paducah with the 13 teams. One of the teams, other than the Cardinal River group, is headed up and composed solely of MHT performers and volunteers. It will be fun to see the projects that come out from this weekend. I encourage everyone to go and view the completed 4-7 minute films next week at the Maiden Alley Cinema and support the efforts of all of the MHT and community people who are involved in this competition.
If you see some terrific posters around town for Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming they are the work of the creative team over at IVS supervised by Todd Duff. IVS has done an outstanding job on the posters and we are working with them to create a coordinated and unified look to all of our show marketing. We have our website hosted by IVS and they do an outstanding job in everything they undertake.
Monday, August 3, 2009
layers
We are in the process of rehabbing the steps into the auditorium and making them safer. It is interesting when you uncover construction from 30 years ago. You suddenly discover that walls don't go all the way to the floor and the shortcuts that were taken to cover up the way carpet was installed over things that you now have to rebuild everything. When all is completed it should provide a smoother and safer entry into the theatre for not a lot of money. We have been putting this off until we changed over for the new seats.
I spoke with the Kentucky Colonels office the other day and they told me it was now going to be September before we hear anything about our seating grant. That will put our order with 10-12 weeks of manufacture, shipping and installation back into December or January for the new seats. We have moved forward with removing the 14th seat on every other row so that we adjust to the new seating chart with the first show. The new chairs will be 2 1/2" wider in the seat than the old chairs. That will be a major difference for some of our season ticket holders who were seated in the old 16" wide seats. We continue to look to see if there are other ways to improve the show experience for the audience. I am trying to come up with more ways that everyone who is connected to the theatre can give us ideas on how to improve all aspects of the theatre. We will do a survey with our first show for audience members and I will try and put an online survey for those who can't participate during the Smoke on the Mountain run.
This week we finished up with the first phase of season tickets as all the tickets were printed. We now move to phase two were the restaurant discount cards get added to each order. The ticket letters containing exchange and other important information that go with the tickets and a final check of tickets before they go out in the mail. This is a race to get the season tickets out and then put the single tickets on sale for Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming.
We are base coat painting the upstage walls for Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming so Kelly Salchli can come in and do the final scenic painting on them. Tonight we finish staging Act One of the Smoke and tomorrow is a review of Act One. Over the past week we have moved from just singing to the piano for the music to each of the actors playing instruments and singing the music. That is a big change for the performers. With the addition of the movement in the staging the hope is to no lose any of the vocal work that has been accomplished. Staging a show is like making layers on a cake. Each layer is built on top of the previous and adds more complexity. The goal is not to lose the base that you've built on as you add all the layers.
I spoke with the Kentucky Colonels office the other day and they told me it was now going to be September before we hear anything about our seating grant. That will put our order with 10-12 weeks of manufacture, shipping and installation back into December or January for the new seats. We have moved forward with removing the 14th seat on every other row so that we adjust to the new seating chart with the first show. The new chairs will be 2 1/2" wider in the seat than the old chairs. That will be a major difference for some of our season ticket holders who were seated in the old 16" wide seats. We continue to look to see if there are other ways to improve the show experience for the audience. I am trying to come up with more ways that everyone who is connected to the theatre can give us ideas on how to improve all aspects of the theatre. We will do a survey with our first show for audience members and I will try and put an online survey for those who can't participate during the Smoke on the Mountain run.
This week we finished up with the first phase of season tickets as all the tickets were printed. We now move to phase two were the restaurant discount cards get added to each order. The ticket letters containing exchange and other important information that go with the tickets and a final check of tickets before they go out in the mail. This is a race to get the season tickets out and then put the single tickets on sale for Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming.
We are base coat painting the upstage walls for Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming so Kelly Salchli can come in and do the final scenic painting on them. Tonight we finish staging Act One of the Smoke and tomorrow is a review of Act One. Over the past week we have moved from just singing to the piano for the music to each of the actors playing instruments and singing the music. That is a big change for the performers. With the addition of the movement in the staging the hope is to no lose any of the vocal work that has been accomplished. Staging a show is like making layers on a cake. Each layer is built on top of the previous and adds more complexity. The goal is not to lose the base that you've built on as you add all the layers.
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