Bathroom Tech

The technical rehearsal for Boy in the Girl's Bathroom ended just before 6 pm today. The cast had a delicious meal of lasagna, salad, bread and cookies provided by board members Cindy Miller, Heather Dorr, and Sid Hancock after the tech rehearsal. The last three days have each been 16 hour work days for both April and I, and Jim has put in a full weekend as well getting ready for the rehearsal. Zach Story, a Lone Oak Middle Student who is April's assistant for the show asked technical director Jim Keeney yesterday while we were setting light cues "So you guys work here all day getting ready for the rehearsals?" To which Jim replied in a very nice way-"Did you think all this happened by magic?" Last night we took apart and reconfigured the sound equipment to add in the wireless microphones for the actors who animate the stuffed animals in the show.

We have almost 80 light cues, 35 screen changes, 40 sound cues. and about a dozen piece of scenery that move on and off the stage. Before the rehearsal today I asked Jim to rework the bed and how it moved on and off the stage. It wasn't working as fast as we needed to make the changes. Anything that takes longer than 30 seconds is unacceptable when you have over two dozen scene changes. Many of the changes after today's rehearsal are now completed in 10-15 seconds. He spent a couple of hours redesigning what had been working in rehearsal but now needed to work much faster. We must have rehearsed how to get the classroom desks off and getting the bedroom on about a dozen times today until we were sure it could be done quickly every single time in just a few seconds.

April is working with Wyatt and Chance who playing the young boys on becoming more expressive with their voices, faces, gestures, and body. Wyatt has several scenes with stuffed animals that talk and move around. Trying to get his face and body to react as if the animals are real would be a challenge for anyone. Both of the boys in the show get beaten up by one of the girls. I've had to teach one of the girls how to throw a punch and put someone in a headlock. The boys have to learn to react as if they have been punched. All of the kids in real life wouldn't dream of getting in a fist fight with someone else.

It's also a learning process for the adults and younger kids that acting isn't just saying your lines. Your face has to react to what other people are saying. Your arms and body are expressive using gestures. We react both physically and vocally to others. April must have worked one scene several times at least to get 4 boys to walk onstage as if they were looking for a fight but not really wanting to get in one. Trying to work on two levels at the same time is something first time actors no matter whether adults or children always seem to have a difficult time with. Bradleys father in the play loses his temper and yet he doesn't walk into a scene angry. We have to see what sets him off. We have to see him struggle with not getting angry. We have to see him frustrated by his son who always has some excuse and blames someone else for his faults. The wonderful part is watching the boy slowly change over the course of the play.

For me one scene in the play always makes me angry no matter how many times I see it. It is a scene when the parents of one of the children demand that the principal fire the school counselor so that they can put more computers in the classroom. It doesn't matter how much good the counselor is doing for their child or others.

The parents demand the counselor tell them what their child wanted to talk about. When the counselor refuses the parents get very upset stating that a child doesn't get to have secrets. That children's feelings and confidences they share with others don't deserve the same respect as an adults. The sad/funny thing is that the child only wanted to talk to the counselor about inviting a boy she likes to her birthday party. The counselor told the young girl that she needed to get permission from her parents first before she could talk to her.

In the same scene a very funny moment occurs when the same parents make up a very strange example of a child who might run around biting others on their backside. What would the counselor do if the child bit her? This funny, yet sad scene is all too real in modern education it seems.

There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom has lots of levels that will appeal to both children and adults. Even in the technical rehearsal, focused on lights and scenery and sound there were some wonderful moments that made me laugh and think as I watched the play.