Tonight is a board meeting. I've been working on my Executive report and usually what is just one page long has turned into almost twice as much. I was able to get web statistics for our website and we have about 100 views per day of people who spend time on our website. It is always challenging to keep the website up to date. I feel like I spend more and more time trying to do that on a regular basis with the photos, videos that are added and creating a new page for each show or class that is coming up. At the board meeting tonight we officially accept the nominating committee slate for next year. When we proposed 3 year terms to current board members ending in 2011 it was hard for me to think that 2011 was only 3 years away! We will do the wrap up for the Derby Party and the Lowertown festival fundraising events that happened in May. We are also trying to get a feel for how the current fiscal year will end and any final areas that need to be addressed before June 30.
Tonight we present our budget for the next fiscal year to the board for review. Presenting a budget sometimes is like doing a show. You have to believe that you can accomplish what the goals are but at the same time you get this queasy feeling in your stomach of all the things that could go wrong. Not only does the theatre organization depend on achieving the goals set out but people's jobs depend on it too. I know why the average life of an Executive Director in a non profit is generally 5-7 years. It is very hard to stop worrying all the time about the number of volunteers, the budget, the buildings, the staff, the board, and so much more. I am often reminded of the plate spinner. My job as the Executive Director is to keep a bunch of plates spinning and try not to let any fall. The wisdom I continually hope to gain is to know when to take a plate off a stick that shouldn't be kept spinning anymore. (Okay that's my soapbox for the day)
This afternoon as part of my community service I'm judging a talent show for Kindergarten through 2nd grade at Clark Elementary- April nominated me for this.
Tonight after the board meeting is rehearsal for Anything Goes. Fowler Black left the hospital this weekend after having both his gall bladder and appendix removed. I'm really hoping he will be back as soon as he is able. We need him! Jim Keeney and I are working on the cabin doors for the set for Anything Goes trying to decide if there is enough clearance for them to swing and clear the drape behind them or if we need to narrow the doors. Since the walls holding the doors have to swing into place it is really hard to keep the door spacing from expanding or collapsing and then the door won't close or open right. I'm meeting with the director to discuss some of the options which include what is called a sill iron at the bottom of the door (a metal strip about 1 " wide that connects one side of the bottom of the door frame to the other) or building a small step through wooden panel like they have in some ships to keep water flowing into the rooms. With both methods the actors have to be very aware of the bottom piece. The question would be is it less awkward to step over a big piece or a little piece. The little piece tends to make everyone trip because they forget it is there.
These questions and more will be answered later today when we have to make the decision and build the piece so we can move on! If you have any comments on this or any other post I would love to hear from you. Just click on the comment button at bottom of this post. I added a slide show to the top of this post.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Sunday May 25 11 pm
This years lowertown festival is now history. To set up for the event the Buzzard brothers bring in 2 working sink units. A commercial refrigerator, A large warming storage container on wheels, a hot water heater, a prep and serving tables, food warmers, boxes and bags of paper towels, baskets, aluminum foil, a huge container of meat, and two large trailered BBQ cooking units, along with two large tents. By 4 pm today we had sold everything that was cooked for the weekend. Several guys make up the Buzzard Bros. along with a couple of younger workers the Buzzard Bros. call Chicken Hawks. They are all terrific people who do this because they love to get together and do something worthwhile for the community. After several truck and trailer trips back to Kirchhoffs storage area the equipment was returned cleaned and ready to go for the next event.
Special thanks need to go to the Market House Theatre volunteers who all signed up for 2 hour shifts over the 3 day festival to make sandwiches and package, ribs, chicken wings, BBQ chicken sandwiches, rice and beans, pulled pork sandwiches, and muffelatas, sell drinks and cookies. MHT board members signed up for 4 hour shifts as shift captains, and Marsha Cash pretty much lived at the festival for 3 days and her husband Floyd who gave up his birthday today to help make sure everything went smoothly. Thank you to both Marsha and Floyd! Thanks also to Renie and Don Barger who volunteered to work both Saturday and Sunday shifts! I wish I had a photo of Don Barger with his ear plugs in smiling away as he prepared the food. The music was so loud at times Saturday night that the crew resorted to hand signals to communicate.
This is a tremendous amount of work and the funds raised will go toward meeting our fundraising goal for the current year which ends June 30. One of the real benefits that I saw while I worked today was the positive attitude everyone had to help out the theatre. Everyone connected deserves a big thank and a well done! Another positive from the event was pulling together to accomplish this goal. It took over 60 people to make this event happen and working together we accomplished something special.
I think it is also important on this Memorial Day weekend when we spent time celebrating the arts in Paducah and raising funds for MHT to stop for a moment to honor our service men and women who have sacrificed so much for us. It is a very small gesture on MHT's part but we decided at the beginning of this season that we would have a reduced price for all veterans to our shows. Each show we have a few veterans who purchase tickets and it is our way of saying thanks for their service to our country and community.
While there is rehearsal on Monday for Anything Goes everyone else at theatre will be taking a day off for Memorial Day.
Special thanks need to go to the Market House Theatre volunteers who all signed up for 2 hour shifts over the 3 day festival to make sandwiches and package, ribs, chicken wings, BBQ chicken sandwiches, rice and beans, pulled pork sandwiches, and muffelatas, sell drinks and cookies. MHT board members signed up for 4 hour shifts as shift captains, and Marsha Cash pretty much lived at the festival for 3 days and her husband Floyd who gave up his birthday today to help make sure everything went smoothly. Thank you to both Marsha and Floyd! Thanks also to Renie and Don Barger who volunteered to work both Saturday and Sunday shifts! I wish I had a photo of Don Barger with his ear plugs in smiling away as he prepared the food. The music was so loud at times Saturday night that the crew resorted to hand signals to communicate.
This is a tremendous amount of work and the funds raised will go toward meeting our fundraising goal for the current year which ends June 30. One of the real benefits that I saw while I worked today was the positive attitude everyone had to help out the theatre. Everyone connected deserves a big thank and a well done! Another positive from the event was pulling together to accomplish this goal. It took over 60 people to make this event happen and working together we accomplished something special.
I think it is also important on this Memorial Day weekend when we spent time celebrating the arts in Paducah and raising funds for MHT to stop for a moment to honor our service men and women who have sacrificed so much for us. It is a very small gesture on MHT's part but we decided at the beginning of this season that we would have a reduced price for all veterans to our shows. Each show we have a few veterans who purchase tickets and it is our way of saying thanks for their service to our country and community.
While there is rehearsal on Monday for Anything Goes everyone else at theatre will be taking a day off for Memorial Day.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Saturday May 24
Check out the photos I took on the side to see all the stuff happening at MHT on Sat. May 24. To see lots more photos click on the link at the left side of the home page.
I stopped by the Lowertown festival last night and purchased a 1/2 rack of ribs from the Buzzard Brothers booth manned by MHT volunteers Sherry Shadle, Mark and Julia Schaberg, Randy Davis, and volunteer coordinator Marsha Cash. Earlier in the day when I was delivering some change for Marsha to buy ice for the soft drinks for the volunteers I was greeted by the sunglasses brigade of volunteers at the Buzzard Bros. booth of Sarah Bynum, Vickie Shelby and Becky Haus. MHT will receive a share of all the food sales from the booth as a fundraiser event.
Saturday morning started out with Footlights at 8 am. April had a list of needs for the day. I went to prop storage and hunted for several unusual prop pieces for use with the high school footlights troupe improv show that performed at11 am. As soon as the show was finished it was rush over to the lowertown festival and set up for Story Theatre performance of the Three kittens.
After the show it was time to pack the show back up in the theatre van and return it back to MHT. Then April, Jade, and I loaded back into our personal vehicle and headed back over to the festival. We stopped by the Buzzard Bros. booth to see if everything was okay and ordered some more ribs. Louie Kirchhoff and his "brothers" out did themselves with the food this year. It was great.
I heard from a friend of Fowler Black that he hopes to be released from the hospital tomorrow. We still don't know what that means in terms of a return to rehearsals but we will keep our fingers crossed.
Tomorrow another 3 shifts of workers will man the Buzzard Bros. booth and then strike it all at 4 pm and clean up. April and I did our best to help support the lowertown festival with food purchases, T shirt purchases and Art purchases. The next theatre board meeting is this coming Wed. Hopefully we will have some numbers from the festival to know how we did as a fundraiser.
I stopped by the Lowertown festival last night and purchased a 1/2 rack of ribs from the Buzzard Brothers booth manned by MHT volunteers Sherry Shadle, Mark and Julia Schaberg, Randy Davis, and volunteer coordinator Marsha Cash. Earlier in the day when I was delivering some change for Marsha to buy ice for the soft drinks for the volunteers I was greeted by the sunglasses brigade of volunteers at the Buzzard Bros. booth of Sarah Bynum, Vickie Shelby and Becky Haus. MHT will receive a share of all the food sales from the booth as a fundraiser event.
Saturday morning started out with Footlights at 8 am. April had a list of needs for the day. I went to prop storage and hunted for several unusual prop pieces for use with the high school footlights troupe improv show that performed at11 am. As soon as the show was finished it was rush over to the lowertown festival and set up for Story Theatre performance of the Three kittens.
After the show it was time to pack the show back up in the theatre van and return it back to MHT. Then April, Jade, and I loaded back into our personal vehicle and headed back over to the festival. We stopped by the Buzzard Bros. booth to see if everything was okay and ordered some more ribs. Louie Kirchhoff and his "brothers" out did themselves with the food this year. It was great.
I heard from a friend of Fowler Black that he hopes to be released from the hospital tomorrow. We still don't know what that means in terms of a return to rehearsals but we will keep our fingers crossed.
Tomorrow another 3 shifts of workers will man the Buzzard Bros. booth and then strike it all at 4 pm and clean up. April and I did our best to help support the lowertown festival with food purchases, T shirt purchases and Art purchases. The next theatre board meeting is this coming Wed. Hopefully we will have some numbers from the festival to know how we did as a fundraiser.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Thursday May 22
Well its almost midnight again and I've just finished uploading a video of the publicity shots I took last night. I spent most of the day working on the photos after I returned the costumes we used last night back to Creatures of Habit and running out to Sears to return for a credit the unused parts from the new dryer installation kit the theatre just purchased. As I drove out to Sears I wondered if the credit would be more than the gas it cost me to drive out to the mall from downtown. It was fortunately. Every penny counts at the present time.
Alexis worked on group sales today as we prepared to send out information on school matinee information to the schools for next season. School matinees for High School Musical and, Ramona Quimby are scheduled and ready for booking. We are planning on a very special production of the play The Secret Life of Girls which is focused on the bullying that happens in schools. The play uses a screen that shows real time texting and emailing that happens between the characters. We will produce the show in our studio theatre with a "talk back" after the show with a counseling professional who will help to provide tools to deal with bullying. We are still working on the dates for this production.
April and the Story Theatre troupe are at Lone Oak Elementary and Clark Elementary School tomorrow. April has spent the evening pouring over the materials for the Summer Drama Camp Cinderella.
Yesterday I wrote about a cast member from Anything Goes who went to the hospital. That cast member is Fowler Black. Fowler today notified Diane that he is having surgery tomorrow for his Gallbladder. Fowler has the lead in the play as the romantic lead. We will keep our fingers crossed and our thoughts and prayers with him tomorrow at 2 pm when he has his surgery. Hopefully Fowler will be back to rehearsal as soon as possible!
Tonight the Anything Goes cast rehearsed the end of the show. At four pm today before the rehearsal, Jim Keeney and I along with cast members Adam Gilliam and Chris Schnarr helped the Buzzard Brothers setup for the Lowertown Festival. We set up tents, unloaded refrigerators, serving tables, warmers, and helped place two large BBQ cookers in place along with 5 of the Buzzard Brothers. The festival starts tomorrow afternoon and looks to be a lot of fun!
Alexis worked on group sales today as we prepared to send out information on school matinee information to the schools for next season. School matinees for High School Musical and, Ramona Quimby are scheduled and ready for booking. We are planning on a very special production of the play The Secret Life of Girls which is focused on the bullying that happens in schools. The play uses a screen that shows real time texting and emailing that happens between the characters. We will produce the show in our studio theatre with a "talk back" after the show with a counseling professional who will help to provide tools to deal with bullying. We are still working on the dates for this production.
April and the Story Theatre troupe are at Lone Oak Elementary and Clark Elementary School tomorrow. April has spent the evening pouring over the materials for the Summer Drama Camp Cinderella.
Yesterday I wrote about a cast member from Anything Goes who went to the hospital. That cast member is Fowler Black. Fowler today notified Diane that he is having surgery tomorrow for his Gallbladder. Fowler has the lead in the play as the romantic lead. We will keep our fingers crossed and our thoughts and prayers with him tomorrow at 2 pm when he has his surgery. Hopefully Fowler will be back to rehearsal as soon as possible!
Tonight the Anything Goes cast rehearsed the end of the show. At four pm today before the rehearsal, Jim Keeney and I along with cast members Adam Gilliam and Chris Schnarr helped the Buzzard Brothers setup for the Lowertown Festival. We set up tents, unloaded refrigerators, serving tables, warmers, and helped place two large BBQ cookers in place along with 5 of the Buzzard Brothers. The festival starts tomorrow afternoon and looks to be a lot of fun!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Midnight May 21
I'm up late trying to finish up some work from home and thought I would finish with a blog entry. Since last Sunday we have worked on several things. Jim Keeney has built the rounded platforms for Anything Goes. He made the frames from plywood and 2x4 and then wet Masonite and paneling so that it would bend around the curved corners. Marsha Cash is madly trying to fill the last few spaces for the Lowertown festival volunteer slots. MHT is helping the Buzzard Bros. serve food at the festival and in exchange they are giving us part of the proceeds as a fundraising event. The setup for the festival starts tomorrow at 4 pm and runs through Sunday at 4 pm when we help with the tear down. Several 2 hour shifts are still in need of people and it takes no experience. The volunteers will help serve food.
Alexis has started printing out the season tickets on the new ticket stock for next season. We ordered a different color from the past year. April is finishing up her school workshops as well as continuing the Story Theatre tour of the 3 Little Kittens. They have performed 4 shows since Sunday. April has also been helping me and working late at night on the newsletter which will go out to the printers tomorrow. We will post it online and email it tomorrow as well. It takes quite a bit of time to write the articles and layout the newsletter. April and I do all the writing and layout work and then send the finished file to the printer.
Today Jim and I unloaded the Story Theatre van after its final show of the day and put new wheels on one of the rolling units and re-loaded the van. The tour only has 2 weeks left but the units get a lot of hard use. One of the casters on the sound box got stuck two days ago and the cast has had to wheel the box in continuous circles to get it into the schools for the show.
Tonight I took publicity photos of Anything Goes and worked to put the new photo on the header of our website. To put the photo on I have to photoshop the background out and resize the photo to the correct size and then merge it into the header. I stopped earlier this afternoon and picked up some costumes from creatures of habit for the photos tonight. Natalie called me to ask if we were still doing photos because she called one of the principal actors to ask him to come in for a costume fitting today and he told her he was in the hospital and couldn't make it. We contacted the actor and he was waiting to hear from the doctors as to what was wrong. Some of the options were appendicitis, gall bladder, or unknown. I don't want to mention the actors name until I find out more.
While I was at rehearsal tonight Diane Byrd the director and I discussed the actors condition and decided to wait until we know more before beginning to panic. Diane was also having a problem with a scene in which she has to get 5 people on in the scene in an area of the stage that is too small. I moved around some of the wall units that we were playing with and increased the size. We will have to build a "bunk bed" for the brig along with a cell door and two wall units. Fortunately we still had a cell door from the Story Theatre tour of Hansel and Gretel so that might speed things up a bit. I was worried that trying to climb up on the bed which also had to roll in place during a fast scene change might cause the unit to tip over. We worked out some extra walls which should stabilize the unit.
I spent some time reworking the video on the home page of the website from the Zink Back stage. I video taped the cast from Zink talking about their experience working at MHT and doing the play. The show had a great effect on the actors and the audience. A oncology doctor saw the play and told a friend that it helped her to understand what she was leaving out when she talks to patients and what the nurses who followed on behind her sometimes had to do with patients. A retired pastor of a local church saw the show and commented that it should be mandatory for all young people entering the seminary to address issues of children and illness.
Tomorrow I'll continue to photoshop the publicity photos I took tonight and create a television commercial and a newspaper ad. I also have promised to help with the setup at the lowertown festival. I communicated with Eric Hobbs and MHT will begin hosting Eric's Improv classes for adults in June. I'll post more details as we know them. Oops I almost forgot that I met with Renie Barger and one of the nominees for the board for next season today. Meetings with possible board members are always something I look forward to. It's a chance to fill someone new in on all the things we do at MHT. It's almost 12:30 am and I outa here!
Alexis has started printing out the season tickets on the new ticket stock for next season. We ordered a different color from the past year. April is finishing up her school workshops as well as continuing the Story Theatre tour of the 3 Little Kittens. They have performed 4 shows since Sunday. April has also been helping me and working late at night on the newsletter which will go out to the printers tomorrow. We will post it online and email it tomorrow as well. It takes quite a bit of time to write the articles and layout the newsletter. April and I do all the writing and layout work and then send the finished file to the printer.
Today Jim and I unloaded the Story Theatre van after its final show of the day and put new wheels on one of the rolling units and re-loaded the van. The tour only has 2 weeks left but the units get a lot of hard use. One of the casters on the sound box got stuck two days ago and the cast has had to wheel the box in continuous circles to get it into the schools for the show.
Tonight I took publicity photos of Anything Goes and worked to put the new photo on the header of our website. To put the photo on I have to photoshop the background out and resize the photo to the correct size and then merge it into the header. I stopped earlier this afternoon and picked up some costumes from creatures of habit for the photos tonight. Natalie called me to ask if we were still doing photos because she called one of the principal actors to ask him to come in for a costume fitting today and he told her he was in the hospital and couldn't make it. We contacted the actor and he was waiting to hear from the doctors as to what was wrong. Some of the options were appendicitis, gall bladder, or unknown. I don't want to mention the actors name until I find out more.
While I was at rehearsal tonight Diane Byrd the director and I discussed the actors condition and decided to wait until we know more before beginning to panic. Diane was also having a problem with a scene in which she has to get 5 people on in the scene in an area of the stage that is too small. I moved around some of the wall units that we were playing with and increased the size. We will have to build a "bunk bed" for the brig along with a cell door and two wall units. Fortunately we still had a cell door from the Story Theatre tour of Hansel and Gretel so that might speed things up a bit. I was worried that trying to climb up on the bed which also had to roll in place during a fast scene change might cause the unit to tip over. We worked out some extra walls which should stabilize the unit.
I spent some time reworking the video on the home page of the website from the Zink Back stage. I video taped the cast from Zink talking about their experience working at MHT and doing the play. The show had a great effect on the actors and the audience. A oncology doctor saw the play and told a friend that it helped her to understand what she was leaving out when she talks to patients and what the nurses who followed on behind her sometimes had to do with patients. A retired pastor of a local church saw the show and commented that it should be mandatory for all young people entering the seminary to address issues of children and illness.
Tomorrow I'll continue to photoshop the publicity photos I took tonight and create a television commercial and a newspaper ad. I also have promised to help with the setup at the lowertown festival. I communicated with Eric Hobbs and MHT will begin hosting Eric's Improv classes for adults in June. I'll post more details as we know them. Oops I almost forgot that I met with Renie Barger and one of the nominees for the board for next season today. Meetings with possible board members are always something I look forward to. It's a chance to fill someone new in on all the things we do at MHT. It's almost 12:30 am and I outa here!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
May 18 Sunday
Yesterday (Saturday 17th) was a day with a to do list. Today was a filled with quick decisions and celebration. Saturday began with Footlights in the morning taught by April. Next Saturday is the last footlights class for the year. The High School troupe will perform a comedy improv show next Saturday in the Studio Theatre at 11 am. While April was teaching I was out at Sears purchasing a new dryer for the costume shop. The theatre's washer and dryer were both purchased when we moved in to the second stage building over 10 years ago. The washer died earlier this year and was replaced. The dryer lasted just a short time longer and the replacement will be delivered Tuesday. Zink performed the Saturday matinee and then we all went home. I made photo cd's of the show until midnight. April prepared for the cast party at our home.
This morning (Sunday 18th) about 11 am. Betty Wise who plays the nurse in Zink called to tell April that her sister had been rushed to the hospital in Madisonville and was in serious condition. Betty called as she was leaving Paducah. At first Betty thought she might be back in time for the 2:30 matinee today. But as Betty found out more and more about her sisters condition it became apparent that Betty would not be able to do the show today. I was at church when Betty called and April was at home getting ready for the party. There are no understudies for the shows. Usually when something like this happens April or I fill in since we know the shows so well. I was already in the show as the father so I couldn't do it. April was running a complicated sound design for the production and couldn't leave that to someone who had never had a chance to run it. Especially since she was calling cues for the lights and sound. April even thought of doing the part herself by walking from the control booth onto the stage and back to the booth (located at the right rear of the audience seating area). But that choice didn't work eitehr for a couple of the complicated scenes with sound and the nurse character.
April thought of canceling the performance since the audience only seats 60 people and we knew most of the audience today was family and friends. We would never be able to cancel something like this in our main theatre which seats 240. However to cancel your last show feels incomplete and is not really a desirable choice. That old phrase the show must go on is really true. April called me just as I was leaving church to stop and pick up some cd covers on my way home. I thought about several actors who might be able to walk in at the last minute and carry a script but none of them had seen the play and didn't know the character. I tried to think of who had been in the audience and Cindy Miller suddenly came to mind. Cindy's daughter Maria is in the show and Cindy had seen the play last weekend. I have directed Cindy in a couple of shows and worked with her in Sanders Family Christmas where she was musical director and also acted in the play. She is a talented actress and really well grounded when it comes to a crises. In the time it took me to drive from 9th and Kentucky Ave to 28th St I knew what to do. I called April and told her to call Cindy. April tried to contact her but could only get her voicemail. I was home by this point and April and I both decided to try First Presbyterian Church where Cindy and her family are members. April called the church and talked to someone who promised they would find Cindy and have her call. Cindy called April. April explained the situation and Cindy met April at the theatre at 12:45 to go over the part. Cindy would carry a script and read from the script for the characters lines. The tricky thing is that timing on the lines is critical to the show. Sometimes things are slower paced and other times the lines overlap. If you aren't familiar with how a show has developed it is easy to get lost trying to follow in the script.
Cindy and April ran through the blocking (movement) for the character and where she entered and exited from. They reviewed the scene changes that the character had to help with. When the cast members started arriving at 1 pm they were pulled in and we worked a couple of the scenes with Sydney, Marsha and Cindy. At 2 pm the house (auditorium) opened for seating and Cindy moved upstairs with the cast to continue to work on the dialogue.
At 2:30pm April called places for the actors and did the pre-show speech to the audience to thank our sponsors. April explained to the audience that Betty Wise would not be performing in the show today. Her sister was very ill and that our thoughts and prayers with with Betty and her sister. April explained that Cindy Miller who had only just gotten a script only an hour and a half ago would be performing the role.
Cindy did an outstanding job. We were all extremely proud of her for stepping in at the last moment. Betty contacted us at the end of the show and told that her sister was going in for surgery.
The cast and crew gathered at the Cochran home about an hour after the show ended and everyone ate lots of food and celebrated the successful performance run of Zink. Betty called at the end of the party to tell us that her sister had made it through the surgery and that the doctors were encouraged. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Betty and her family. Our thanks goes to Cindy Miller for being willing to step in and in true theatre style prove once again that the show will go on. As the kids enjoyed the beautiful weather running around our back yard playing hide and seek I was reminded again how close this group had become. Six weeks ago most of them were strangers. Today they were friends and an extended family. That is one of the real joys of community theatre. April and I worked in professional theatre before moving to Paducah. This was my first contact with community theatre. Like many others I didn't understand what true community theatre is. It is people from all walks of life and ages coming together to create community and create art. We don't just entertain... We change lives was never more true than today.
This morning (Sunday 18th) about 11 am. Betty Wise who plays the nurse in Zink called to tell April that her sister had been rushed to the hospital in Madisonville and was in serious condition. Betty called as she was leaving Paducah. At first Betty thought she might be back in time for the 2:30 matinee today. But as Betty found out more and more about her sisters condition it became apparent that Betty would not be able to do the show today. I was at church when Betty called and April was at home getting ready for the party. There are no understudies for the shows. Usually when something like this happens April or I fill in since we know the shows so well. I was already in the show as the father so I couldn't do it. April was running a complicated sound design for the production and couldn't leave that to someone who had never had a chance to run it. Especially since she was calling cues for the lights and sound. April even thought of doing the part herself by walking from the control booth onto the stage and back to the booth (located at the right rear of the audience seating area). But that choice didn't work eitehr for a couple of the complicated scenes with sound and the nurse character.
April thought of canceling the performance since the audience only seats 60 people and we knew most of the audience today was family and friends. We would never be able to cancel something like this in our main theatre which seats 240. However to cancel your last show feels incomplete and is not really a desirable choice. That old phrase the show must go on is really true. April called me just as I was leaving church to stop and pick up some cd covers on my way home. I thought about several actors who might be able to walk in at the last minute and carry a script but none of them had seen the play and didn't know the character. I tried to think of who had been in the audience and Cindy Miller suddenly came to mind. Cindy's daughter Maria is in the show and Cindy had seen the play last weekend. I have directed Cindy in a couple of shows and worked with her in Sanders Family Christmas where she was musical director and also acted in the play. She is a talented actress and really well grounded when it comes to a crises. In the time it took me to drive from 9th and Kentucky Ave to 28th St I knew what to do. I called April and told her to call Cindy. April tried to contact her but could only get her voicemail. I was home by this point and April and I both decided to try First Presbyterian Church where Cindy and her family are members. April called the church and talked to someone who promised they would find Cindy and have her call. Cindy called April. April explained the situation and Cindy met April at the theatre at 12:45 to go over the part. Cindy would carry a script and read from the script for the characters lines. The tricky thing is that timing on the lines is critical to the show. Sometimes things are slower paced and other times the lines overlap. If you aren't familiar with how a show has developed it is easy to get lost trying to follow in the script.
Cindy and April ran through the blocking (movement) for the character and where she entered and exited from. They reviewed the scene changes that the character had to help with. When the cast members started arriving at 1 pm they were pulled in and we worked a couple of the scenes with Sydney, Marsha and Cindy. At 2 pm the house (auditorium) opened for seating and Cindy moved upstairs with the cast to continue to work on the dialogue.
At 2:30pm April called places for the actors and did the pre-show speech to the audience to thank our sponsors. April explained to the audience that Betty Wise would not be performing in the show today. Her sister was very ill and that our thoughts and prayers with with Betty and her sister. April explained that Cindy Miller who had only just gotten a script only an hour and a half ago would be performing the role.
Cindy did an outstanding job. We were all extremely proud of her for stepping in at the last moment. Betty contacted us at the end of the show and told that her sister was going in for surgery.
The cast and crew gathered at the Cochran home about an hour after the show ended and everyone ate lots of food and celebrated the successful performance run of Zink. Betty called at the end of the party to tell us that her sister had made it through the surgery and that the doctors were encouraged. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Betty and her family. Our thanks goes to Cindy Miller for being willing to step in and in true theatre style prove once again that the show will go on. As the kids enjoyed the beautiful weather running around our back yard playing hide and seek I was reminded again how close this group had become. Six weeks ago most of them were strangers. Today they were friends and an extended family. That is one of the real joys of community theatre. April and I worked in professional theatre before moving to Paducah. This was my first contact with community theatre. Like many others I didn't understand what true community theatre is. It is people from all walks of life and ages coming together to create community and create art. We don't just entertain... We change lives was never more true than today.
Friday, May 16, 2008
May 16
It is about 11pm Friday night and I'm working from home on the newsletter. Thursday I spent most of the day working on the website. Creating descriptions for next seasons plays and putting in the audition dates. I also updated several pages with new photos on the photo gallery page and added descriptions for preschool classes on the home page, summer workshop page and on the classes page. I also updated the story theatre/workshops page. We finalized details for the summer lunch box theatre show during the summer festival and talked with the caterer about food prices for the event.
The afternoon was more of the same except for the phone call from the representative for AACT which is the American Association of Community Theaters. The representative called me to talk about our credit card processing fees. AACT has worked to get a lower fee structure for member theatres. I've shopped these fees before. I was amazed to discover all of the hidden fees that are associated with our accepting Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. Each credit card has a different percentage that is charged to the theatre for accepting it based on the amount charged. In addition there is a transaction fee charged to the theatre for each transaction. Visa and Mastercards also have different rates depending on whether it is a debit card, a standard card, and a corporate card (like a Shell Visa card or a different company Visa). My head was swimming with numbers by the end of the call trying to sort out exactly what we pay to do business with credit cards. In addition there are different companies for our in house box office and our online ticket sales. To jump to the end we pay almost $5,000 a year in fees to accept credit cards.
Many theatres charge you a transaction fee for every transaction. Market House Theatre does not. We don't charge to do phone sales or walk up sales. We do charge a fee to cover our costs for online sales. We have struggled for years to keep up with rising costs and wrestled with adding fees. We have come down on the side of our customer and kept any costs incurred inside the ticket price except for our online sales. If you walk up to the box office or order tickets by telephone we are one of the few theaters that doesn't charge you more than the cost of the tickets. I don't know how long we will be able to hold out against that trend but the public is safe for at least another year.
Today I worked on articles for the newsletter and then had to make a quick trip to South Livingston Elementary to check on a bad microphone for the story theatre tour. One of our wireless body mics isn't working well. I stopped at Rowton Audio on the way back and rented a unit that we can use until the end of the tour in 2 weeks. These units are very expensive to purchase. I had just dropped off a unit on Thursday that went bad earlier in the week. We have had some of the wireless packs for 10 years.
When I returned to the theater Jim Keeney and I talked about some of the set pieces for Anything Goes. We need two beds, a bunk bed, a rolling bar unit and several tables and chairs. I then went back to the office and Marsha was working on a big poster for the lobby for Anything Goes. We purchased a large format printer used several years ago and haven't used it for a couple of years. I dragged it out of the scene shop office were it was collecting dust and down to the lobby and tried to load drivers and get it up and running. I only partially succeeded. I'll have to work on it again Monday.
Saturday brings footlights in the morning, and Zink in the afternoon. April is at home this evening getting ready for the cast party on Sunday at our home for the cast. It is traditional that after the last performance the cast strikes (takes down) the set and then goes to the directors house for a party. April tries to make a couple of special items for the party. Two more performances of Zink and then the show is over. It has been a good run for the cast. We are 3 weeks from opening for Anything Goes.
The afternoon was more of the same except for the phone call from the representative for AACT which is the American Association of Community Theaters. The representative called me to talk about our credit card processing fees. AACT has worked to get a lower fee structure for member theatres. I've shopped these fees before. I was amazed to discover all of the hidden fees that are associated with our accepting Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. Each credit card has a different percentage that is charged to the theatre for accepting it based on the amount charged. In addition there is a transaction fee charged to the theatre for each transaction. Visa and Mastercards also have different rates depending on whether it is a debit card, a standard card, and a corporate card (like a Shell Visa card or a different company Visa). My head was swimming with numbers by the end of the call trying to sort out exactly what we pay to do business with credit cards. In addition there are different companies for our in house box office and our online ticket sales. To jump to the end we pay almost $5,000 a year in fees to accept credit cards.
Many theatres charge you a transaction fee for every transaction. Market House Theatre does not. We don't charge to do phone sales or walk up sales. We do charge a fee to cover our costs for online sales. We have struggled for years to keep up with rising costs and wrestled with adding fees. We have come down on the side of our customer and kept any costs incurred inside the ticket price except for our online sales. If you walk up to the box office or order tickets by telephone we are one of the few theaters that doesn't charge you more than the cost of the tickets. I don't know how long we will be able to hold out against that trend but the public is safe for at least another year.
Today I worked on articles for the newsletter and then had to make a quick trip to South Livingston Elementary to check on a bad microphone for the story theatre tour. One of our wireless body mics isn't working well. I stopped at Rowton Audio on the way back and rented a unit that we can use until the end of the tour in 2 weeks. These units are very expensive to purchase. I had just dropped off a unit on Thursday that went bad earlier in the week. We have had some of the wireless packs for 10 years.
When I returned to the theater Jim Keeney and I talked about some of the set pieces for Anything Goes. We need two beds, a bunk bed, a rolling bar unit and several tables and chairs. I then went back to the office and Marsha was working on a big poster for the lobby for Anything Goes. We purchased a large format printer used several years ago and haven't used it for a couple of years. I dragged it out of the scene shop office were it was collecting dust and down to the lobby and tried to load drivers and get it up and running. I only partially succeeded. I'll have to work on it again Monday.
Saturday brings footlights in the morning, and Zink in the afternoon. April is at home this evening getting ready for the cast party on Sunday at our home for the cast. It is traditional that after the last performance the cast strikes (takes down) the set and then goes to the directors house for a party. April tries to make a couple of special items for the party. Two more performances of Zink and then the show is over. It has been a good run for the cast. We are 3 weeks from opening for Anything Goes.
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