May 23, 2012

Today we have the consultants from NYC and Chicago flying in to make a presentation at the board meeting tonight. That will be very exciting to look at the wrap up this phase of our strategic planning for MHT's future. Tonight the board will also approve the nominees for incoming board members and officers for next year as well as do an assessment of the Masquerade Ball event for this fall. In the meantime I'm out looking at Kiddie pools and large plastic flower urns to see if any of them will work with our massive Hairspray can as the top piece above the can. I always get the strangest looks when I walk in stores from people trying to help me. I'm always looking at objects and re-imagining them either upside down or used for different purposes than they were intended. This week I spent time scouring beauty supply stores, dollar stores and discount stores looking at hairspray cans and hair products to use for rehearsal until we get our canned haze in that I ordered. If you can picture the face of the clerk walking up to me as I look at hair products it's always a quizzical look on their face. When we did the show The Colored Museum I went out in search of Afro Sheen and the clerks were really confused as a bald white guy is trying to find African American hair products. One day I was in the hallway of the offices talking to someone as I was working on murder mystery props I was holding a bottle of wine and one of our 38 caliber stage handguns which look totally real. A customer walked in at that moment, took one look at me and forgot what they came in to order. We are just 8 days from opening night and the show is coming together. Last night we ran act one and worked and cleaned up lots of choreography and music issues. We are still shaping and refining characters, dialogue and pacing. The rehearsals are long but progress is happening! Tonight is focused on Act Two. Joe Plucknett and Ben Shelby joined Patt in the orchestra pit on Monday and started to work through music with the cast. Terry Mike Jeffrey will join the pit orchestra Friday. Up until this week it has been just Patt on the piano in the pit. Hairspray opens May 31!

May 21 2012

A huge thank you goes out the volunteers who manned the Market House Theatre booth at the Lowertown Festival this past weekend. I'm not sure if I have all the names but I know that April and Jade Cochran, Jim and Kathy Keeney, Don and Renie Barger, Melisa, David and Ashley Mast, Sandra Wilson, Josh and Lea Morehead, the McHaney family, and Janet Bloomingburg all helped fill in shifts. Thanks to all! Saturday during the day while the festival was going on Jim Keeney and I worked on the set for Hairspray along with Kelly Salchli who came in to paint several of the scenic pieces used in the show. The set is starting to come along. There is still lots of painting left to do. Jim is starting today on building the giant Hairspray can for Edna to appear out of. We ordered a case of the Canned Haze product to use for the Hairspray that is used in a couple of numbers during the show. The product is generally referred to as canned smoke as well. We found out we lost the use of our digital projector last week so we scrambled and trying unsuccessfully locally to rent a 5k-10k lumen projector have rented one from a national company who does that. That will arrive a couple of days before the technical rehearsal. Our drummer Joe Plucknett arrives tonight to start working with Patt Lynch and we are about to put up the webbing for the orchestra pit after the drumset is put in. Debra Harned has been working hard to finish up the program and we just got the last cast bio and photo last night! With graduation this week we will be missing some of our teenage performers but hopefully most will be there for the majority of the week. The show is in the final week and a half push to get ready for opening which means long rehearsals and lots of work on polishing and shaping. Thursday and Friday of last week we made lots of progress and I hope that continues this week. Next Sunday is the technical rehearsal where we bring all the costumes lights and scenic elements together. This week and a half is the time I call "hell week" It means that the cast will have 4 hour rehearsals almost everyday until opening and Jim and I will work 14-16 hours a day every day until the show opens. Everyone works incredibly hard to make the final product look effortless. I always think of the questions I get from people who ask "So what do you do when you aren't in performance". Think of it like the launch of a brand new product that takes hundreds of hours of preparation and is still being created right up until opening night and has to unveil to the public fully formed. Most businesses that create a new product spend months testing and trying out the product. Then doing "soft openings" to tweak their products based on consumer feedback. The life of the theatre is that opening night the audience and the critics come and a show has to be at its peak. We expect and demand a professional attitude and quality from the amateur performers and it never ceases to amaze me how time after time they step up to that challenge.

May 17 2012

It is two weeks from today that Hairspray opens. Last night we finished staging the last song in the show. With 34 performers singing and dancing the stage is incredibly crowded. Emi Chapman Hensel has done a great job with the choreography for the show. It has been very difficult to rehearse many of the numbers due to the constant absences of teenage cast members. With the end of school comes band concerts, choir concerts, graduations, we are still dealing with track meets, etc... I don't think we have a staged a number yet where we haven't been missing someone. The show usually pulls together in these last two weeks. We have so many new people in the show that has been a real challenge as well. One more than one occasion I've had to yell at someone who is late for an entrance because they are unfocused offstage distracted by texting or facebook. I've warned the actors twice that rehearsal is a no cell phone zone but it's difficult in long dance rehearsals when they have extended periods of time offstage to keep that in mind. The challenges of missing people will go right up to our tech rehearsal on May 27. The goal is to get the show tightened up and sounding good before it gets overwhelmed with costumes and lighting and tech before opening. We slipped in just under the wire yesterday with getting a booth at the Lowertown Arts and Music festival. We will be at 7th and Madison next to the WKMS booth. Stop by and chat with one of the theatre's volunteers who can give you information on Hairspray, summer camps and classes for kids, or our upcoming season. We still need some volunteers for the booth so if you are interested contact the theatre and we can sign you up for a shift to help spread the word about the great offerings MHT has. Yesterday we just secured the 4th restaurant to once again offer a free appetizer or dessert with the purchase of an entree for season ticket holders on the night of their tickets for next season. That was a big hit with the majority of our ticket holders and it was a hit with the downtown restaurants as well. Next week the Board of Directors will meet and present a nominating list for new board members to join in July. The annual picnic will be held Monday June 18 in the theatre where we will give out awards and elect the new board members. At the May 23 meeting of the board consultants from Webb Management and Shuler Shook will be present to present the final report of the second phase of our organizational assessment concerning facilities and programming. We are excited to explore their results as we plan for the theatre's future!