I don’t think I could be any more tired. Bloody Murder opened Thursday night to a great show. Jennifer Poff has done an outstanding job of coming in with only a couple of weeks before opening to take on the role of Lady Somerset. She has the largest amount of lines in the play and has really worked hard and it has paid off. Veteran cast members Kris Shanks, Tom Dolan, Rayla Trigg, Roy Hensel all do a great job. Kris Shanks would laugh being called a veteran considering just 5 months ago she was making her MHT debut. Seth Mittendorf who is making his debut with Bloody Murder has also turned in a great performance. With one weekend of the show now complete the audience response has been very positive and the cast can take a well deserved couple of days off before they start back up next Thursday.
Saturday saw a cold morning alternating between light rain and misting rain. The theatre was fortunate enough to be able to borrow a large truck from Ray Black and Son to try to move a majority of the 3,000 square feet of storage from the Easter Seals building behind Bikeworld to the theatre’s new storage building inside the old Arcade theatre. A small but determined crew turned out to take 4 truckloads of scenery. A huge thank you goes to Diane Bryd, Patt Lynch, and Charles Keeney who joined Jim Keeney and I from 9am-5pm lifting and carrying scenery. Jim’s parents joined in about mid day and stayed until the end. Luke Wilkins worked in the morning and had to leave mid day. The move was exhausting. Patt Lynch took lots of photos and I hope that I can get a copy of them to post on facebook.
Jim, his brother Charles, and I continued the move Sunday morning with the borrowed truck. The three of us did a load in the morning and then while I covered the Sunday matinee of Bloody Murder, Jim and Charles installed more racks at the arcade. As soon as the show was over the three of us went back to the Easter Seals and loaded all of the platforms and step units. As of Sunday night about ½ of the scenery has been transferred from the Easter Seals to the Arcade. Jim and I will continue during the week to take a couple of loads every day as weather and time permits. Our goal is to be out of the Easter Seals completely by Thanksgiving. We have two weeks left and I think we can make it. If anyone has time and the ability to help we can certainly use the help. Contact Jim Keeney or Marsha Cash and let them know when you are available.
MHT Board Members have been coming in to work on the annual fund drive campaign. Hopefully those letters will be out by mid week. I read in the paper today about the Carson Center year end deficit. We should have the MHT audit completed with the next couple of days and will share that with the public. We had a positive year that ended last June 30. By all of our early estimates MHT ended the year with a surplus of funds due to better than expected fundraising by the board of directors, strong box office receipts and a continued effort to reduce expenses.
While MHT ended the year with a surplus we have also invested a great deal of that surplus on consultants to help us with strategic planning for the next 3 years and the purchase of the arcade theatre building to solve our continuing storage problems. We hope that these expenses will help MHT be even more solvent in the future. The theatre staff and board have spent a great deal of time and effort on sustainability and long term financial growth for Market House Theatre.
Monday evening the play selection committee will meet again. We have a couple of great musicals that we are looking at. Several comedies and romantic comedies have been read and we are still looking for new scripts. It was just 12 months ago that we discovered the brand new script Bloody Murder. It is our goal to find great scripts and put them together with dedicated and talented actors and create a season that not only audiences will buy tickets for, but that actors want to audition for as well. Occasionally audience members will email me or tell me suggestions for scripts they have seen at other theatres. I’m always happy to hear from audiences and performers to try to balance a season of plays.
There are a few weeks left to book Todd Duff as a sleight of hand artist for holiday parities. All the proceeds from Todd’s bookings in November and December go to the Market House Theatre. Todd is incredibly talented and a big hit at any party. Don’t miss out!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
10-26-2010
It seems I've just posted and it's already been a week. Alice in Wonderland Jr. finished up its run last weekend with terrific audience response. The cast and crew did an outstanding job with the production and it was received with an overwhelmingly positive response from audiences.
Last Friday the MHT Ghost Tours moved to Oak Grove Cemetery. Friday night's fundraising event was a terrific success. MHT Board President Cindy Miller and committee chair Kathryn Joyner along with committee members Heather Overby, Melisa Mast did a great job. All MHT board members contributed food for the event and helped with hosting at the hospitality tent. Tour guides Kim Yocum, Cat Tilker, Fowler Black and Marsha Cash did an outstanding job of learning the script with very little time and creating historical portrayals of the people interred in Oak Grove Cemetery. Saturday night the response was so positive that we added a tour at 7:20 after the 7:00 and 7:45 tours sold out. The guides were kept very busy just finishing up one tour group as another appeared.
A big thank you goes to the Paducah Parks department for helping MHT make this event possible. The night tours of the Mausoleum were a big hit with those taking the tour. The combination of history and a beautiful fall evening, with a full moon both nights, led to a wonderful event. The Oak Grove Cemetery tours continue this Thursday and Friday evening.
MHT has a board meeting this Wednesday to review the completed first quarter of the year. We have struggled with some income areas due to the economy and exceeded our goals in other areas. This year with the purchase of the Arcade building for storage has added a few additional expenses to get the building ready for use. MHT had to do over $2,000 in brick work to stabilize the building in addition to the purchase price. The electrical costs will also run about a $1,000 to get electric service to the building. The theatre has engaged Webb Management resources from NY to do a thorough review of MHT operations and our current facilities. All these things add up and the theatre board has done a great job of trying to balance the additional costs while staying within the budget and a strong financial position. MHT staff continues to keep a close eye on expenses as well.
Bloody Murder has gone through a couple of cast changes as it makes its way towards opening. One of the actors who was first cast had to drop out due to a family medical situation which required them to travel to be with their loved ones. Sunday the cast of Alice in Wonderland and some wonderful parents of some of the kids came in and we cleared the stage after the final performance. On Monday, Jim Keeney and I set up several flats for the beginning of the set for Bloody Murder and the cast moved to the stage with furniture and most of the walls in place less than 24 hours after the full Alice in Wonderland performance ended.
Debra Harned is finishing up the last of the program for Bloody Murder to submit this week while the newsletter written by Don Barger, Sarah Roman, Cindy Miller and myself goes to press. In addition the theatre is just about to send out our annual fund drive information. October has been a very, very, busy month.
Last Friday the MHT Ghost Tours moved to Oak Grove Cemetery. Friday night's fundraising event was a terrific success. MHT Board President Cindy Miller and committee chair Kathryn Joyner along with committee members Heather Overby, Melisa Mast did a great job. All MHT board members contributed food for the event and helped with hosting at the hospitality tent. Tour guides Kim Yocum, Cat Tilker, Fowler Black and Marsha Cash did an outstanding job of learning the script with very little time and creating historical portrayals of the people interred in Oak Grove Cemetery. Saturday night the response was so positive that we added a tour at 7:20 after the 7:00 and 7:45 tours sold out. The guides were kept very busy just finishing up one tour group as another appeared.
A big thank you goes to the Paducah Parks department for helping MHT make this event possible. The night tours of the Mausoleum were a big hit with those taking the tour. The combination of history and a beautiful fall evening, with a full moon both nights, led to a wonderful event. The Oak Grove Cemetery tours continue this Thursday and Friday evening.
MHT has a board meeting this Wednesday to review the completed first quarter of the year. We have struggled with some income areas due to the economy and exceeded our goals in other areas. This year with the purchase of the Arcade building for storage has added a few additional expenses to get the building ready for use. MHT had to do over $2,000 in brick work to stabilize the building in addition to the purchase price. The electrical costs will also run about a $1,000 to get electric service to the building. The theatre has engaged Webb Management resources from NY to do a thorough review of MHT operations and our current facilities. All these things add up and the theatre board has done a great job of trying to balance the additional costs while staying within the budget and a strong financial position. MHT staff continues to keep a close eye on expenses as well.
Bloody Murder has gone through a couple of cast changes as it makes its way towards opening. One of the actors who was first cast had to drop out due to a family medical situation which required them to travel to be with their loved ones. Sunday the cast of Alice in Wonderland and some wonderful parents of some of the kids came in and we cleared the stage after the final performance. On Monday, Jim Keeney and I set up several flats for the beginning of the set for Bloody Murder and the cast moved to the stage with furniture and most of the walls in place less than 24 hours after the full Alice in Wonderland performance ended.
Debra Harned is finishing up the last of the program for Bloody Murder to submit this week while the newsletter written by Don Barger, Sarah Roman, Cindy Miller and myself goes to press. In addition the theatre is just about to send out our annual fund drive information. October has been a very, very, busy month.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
10-19-2010
It has been a long week since my last post. Alice in Wonderland Jr opened to rave reviews. I think that April has outdone herself again and the show ranks right up there with some of the best productions MHT has ever done. The cast is terrific and Janice Peterson's costumes really shine. Kelly Salchli who was the scenic artist also did a terrific job of creating a fantasy world. When I designed the panels, I asked Kelly to paint topiary with hidden animals in the bushes and wispy images of Alice in the clouds. She did a great job of hiding the images and you have to look close to find them all. See how many you can find if you attend the play next weekend. The cast did six school matinees which were sold out with standing room only. The public performances have been about 95% capacity. The cast is currently off for 4 days and will return for 2 final performances next Saturday and Sunday afternoon. If you haven't seen it don't wait to get tickets because I anticipate tickets will go fast for the final two performances.
The Downtown Walking and Bus Ghost Tours started off the month of October slow and last weekend finished with a bang! We had to add two additional tours on Saturday evening to accommodate the ticket demand. A very special thanks goes out to all the guides, Marsha Cash, Phil Counts, Cat Tilker, and Fowler Black. Last Friday evening while Alice in Wonderland was performing on the stage Cat Tilker had to lead all 3 walking tours that night. The following night Marsha Cash and I did three walking tours each and Fowler did both bus tours. Saturday night we did a total of 7 tours between 6:30 and 9:30. Speaking from experience as one of the guides to do 3 tours in a row takes a little over 3 hours of solid walking and speaking with only enough time to get a drink of water before heading out with the next tour. Great job Cat and Marsha! Fowler had his own unique experience with the bus tours on Friday night. The bus he was in stopped across the street from the old first national bank building on 3rd street near the Silver Bullet bar. Fowler was telling the tale of Popular Foot and suddenly a man dressed in dark clothing with a short cane staggered up to the bus and began to bank on the doors. The people on the tour were all startled and thought it was part of the tour. Fowler got off the bus to talk with the man who had obviously too much to drink and tried to get him to go back into the Silver Bullet. The man was quite obstinate. The amazing thing was that the story of Popular Foot is about a man who has his head cut off by a wagon wheel. The man in dark clothes that banged on the bus doors had a scar that ran from behind his ear almost all the way around his neck! Fowler said he was a little spooked by the coincidence as well! One of the people on the tour bus called the police because they were afraid the man would hurt himself falling in the street. The police showed up and Fowlers bus tour continued on. Needless to say it was a memorable event for everyone on the bus when "Popular Foot" made an appearance!
A huge thank you goes to First Presbyterian church and the several members of the church who volunteered as drivers for the tours. I can't thank the church and those volunteers enough for helping us with our tours.
Story theatre is in the final weeks before it sets out on tour with Little Red Riding Hood. The cast rehearses during the mornings and we are racing to get that set built and painted before it goes on Tour Nov. 1. Yesterday the brick and block work was completed at the old Arcade building. The electrician was there most of the day putting in the new power meter and breaker panel. Jim and I spent about 2 hours yesterday sweeping and removing dust and debris from the floor so that we could start moving furniture and scenery from the Easter Seals building to the Arcade. We can't begin the official move until we have permission from he building inspector after they look at the brick and block work and approve the electrical lighting for the space.
Bloody Murder is in rehearsal each week night. Last night The Complete Works of Shakespeare took advantage of the free stage space in the main theatre to rehearse with a couple of the cast members. Play selection met last night and discussed several plays.
This week we are working hard with the board and the staff to get ready for the Oak Grove tours starting Friday with the fundraising event. The tour guides from the walking tours are helping me with the Oak Grove tours and I owe them a huge thanks and apologies for getting them the script so late. Some of them are just getting their scripts today! They will have about 3 days to cram for the event in order to learn their parts. I'm still writing my part for the tours and will hopefully have it polished and ready to go before Friday as well.
Sunday evening I lead a tour for the First Presbyterian youth group as a way of saying thank you for the loan of the bus. As I finished up the last stories I did find myself sad and proud. Sad that the downtown walking tours had reached the end for this year as we move to Oak Grove and proud of all of the guides and the board members who helped make these tours happen. They all deserve a rousing ovation and my heartfelt thanks for creating something that was truly memorable.
The Downtown Walking and Bus Ghost Tours started off the month of October slow and last weekend finished with a bang! We had to add two additional tours on Saturday evening to accommodate the ticket demand. A very special thanks goes out to all the guides, Marsha Cash, Phil Counts, Cat Tilker, and Fowler Black. Last Friday evening while Alice in Wonderland was performing on the stage Cat Tilker had to lead all 3 walking tours that night. The following night Marsha Cash and I did three walking tours each and Fowler did both bus tours. Saturday night we did a total of 7 tours between 6:30 and 9:30. Speaking from experience as one of the guides to do 3 tours in a row takes a little over 3 hours of solid walking and speaking with only enough time to get a drink of water before heading out with the next tour. Great job Cat and Marsha! Fowler had his own unique experience with the bus tours on Friday night. The bus he was in stopped across the street from the old first national bank building on 3rd street near the Silver Bullet bar. Fowler was telling the tale of Popular Foot and suddenly a man dressed in dark clothing with a short cane staggered up to the bus and began to bank on the doors. The people on the tour were all startled and thought it was part of the tour. Fowler got off the bus to talk with the man who had obviously too much to drink and tried to get him to go back into the Silver Bullet. The man was quite obstinate. The amazing thing was that the story of Popular Foot is about a man who has his head cut off by a wagon wheel. The man in dark clothes that banged on the bus doors had a scar that ran from behind his ear almost all the way around his neck! Fowler said he was a little spooked by the coincidence as well! One of the people on the tour bus called the police because they were afraid the man would hurt himself falling in the street. The police showed up and Fowlers bus tour continued on. Needless to say it was a memorable event for everyone on the bus when "Popular Foot" made an appearance!
A huge thank you goes to First Presbyterian church and the several members of the church who volunteered as drivers for the tours. I can't thank the church and those volunteers enough for helping us with our tours.
Story theatre is in the final weeks before it sets out on tour with Little Red Riding Hood. The cast rehearses during the mornings and we are racing to get that set built and painted before it goes on Tour Nov. 1. Yesterday the brick and block work was completed at the old Arcade building. The electrician was there most of the day putting in the new power meter and breaker panel. Jim and I spent about 2 hours yesterday sweeping and removing dust and debris from the floor so that we could start moving furniture and scenery from the Easter Seals building to the Arcade. We can't begin the official move until we have permission from he building inspector after they look at the brick and block work and approve the electrical lighting for the space.
Bloody Murder is in rehearsal each week night. Last night The Complete Works of Shakespeare took advantage of the free stage space in the main theatre to rehearse with a couple of the cast members. Play selection met last night and discussed several plays.
This week we are working hard with the board and the staff to get ready for the Oak Grove tours starting Friday with the fundraising event. The tour guides from the walking tours are helping me with the Oak Grove tours and I owe them a huge thanks and apologies for getting them the script so late. Some of them are just getting their scripts today! They will have about 3 days to cram for the event in order to learn their parts. I'm still writing my part for the tours and will hopefully have it polished and ready to go before Friday as well.
Sunday evening I lead a tour for the First Presbyterian youth group as a way of saying thank you for the loan of the bus. As I finished up the last stories I did find myself sad and proud. Sad that the downtown walking tours had reached the end for this year as we move to Oak Grove and proud of all of the guides and the board members who helped make these tours happen. They all deserve a rousing ovation and my heartfelt thanks for creating something that was truly memorable.
Monday, October 11, 2010
10-10-10
I've always liked dates that have symmetry.
We have officially entered Tech Week for Alice in Wonderland Jr. That means that a tremendous amount of work has to be completed in a short time. Costumer Janice Peterson has been burning the midnight oil trying to get costumes ready and she still has a ways to go before we open Thursday. Some of the actors had complete costumes, but other were still wearing street clothes because their costumes were still awaiting assembly in the costume shop. The set was about 3/4 completed, lacking mostly just the final painting for Wonderland. Stools that Tech Director Jim Keeney had built remained raw wood and some of the prop pieces that drop from the "sky" were still "do-fers". For instance the bottle that magically appears for Alice to drink from was a green plastic Sprite bottle for rehearsal until the real bottle is created and attached. Jim Keeney is still working on the shades that we are using to create the look of the scenery growning and shrinking as Alice changes size during the show. They have to rise to a height of 10 feet and shrink to as little as 2 feet.
The scenic projections were purchased from Istock photo and Creststock photo. Some of them were Photoshopped to create a more illustrated look to match the painting on the set walls. I must have looked at almost 2,000 photos and illustrations to find the 10 images that will end up being in the show. In addition there is some video for Alice falling down the rabbit hole. I purchased the video and then opened it in video editing software to expand the length of the looped software. After several tries I finally got the 20 second video clip extended to 5 minutes. We projected the video and I immediately realized that I needed to put the video in slow motion. When I went back in and edited the video to create a slow motion effect the video slowed down but became jerky as it seemed to pause just slightly every so often. That lost the fluid movement that the extended video had so we then changed it back to the first video.
Tech week is full taking an idea that you have created which works in theory and then putting it into practice. What usually happens is that part of it works and part of it doesn't so you then begin to redesign and rebuild to work through the problems at each phase of the process until you have a finished product. I loaded the sound into the computer and April edited it into the software that we use for playback. We found there was a loud buzz in the system. After spending time making sure that all of the power sources were run through a power conditioner to eliminate any grounding problems I was no closer to solving the mystery of the buzz. I then began to change out all of the sound cables to see if one of them was laying across a power source or was unshielded. After several cords were changed out I finally found the culprit and eliminated about 90% of the buzz. There is still a few more cables to move and check but that requires ladders to trace the sound cables over 75 feet that winds its way from the back of the theatre to the stage.
All of this can lead to incredible stress on the director of the show. April is trying to pull all the actors together while the technical elements are added and sometimes eliminated for re-working and then re-added. Trying to make decisions as to what is acceptable, and what must change is a constant battle for all directors and designers. An example from yesterday's tech rehearsal were actors who were standing on the edge of the light at the front of the stage. Do you move the actors about a foot or do you refocus the lights a foot further over. If you refocus then the lights may light up an area that you are trying not to light because you want to reduce the acting area so that the entire set isn't lit. I probably have 50 lighting notes about refocusing, or redesigning some lighting cues to eliminate the actors standing at the edge of the scene who are in partially in the dark.
Friday MHT officially closed on the old Arcade theatre building after 2 1/2 months of setbacks. We still have some hurdles to jump getting the building ready for use as a storage space but the deal has at least been completed. This week masons will come in and brick up door openings between the Arcade theatre section and the rest of the Arcade building to create a firewall between the buildings. As soon as that is complete and new electric service is run and attached to the building then we can start moving our current storage space contents into the new building.
Saturday morning after about 2 weeks of smelling random natural gas on the side walk between the offices and the scene shop I called the gas company and they came out and found a small gas leak at a valve under the brick street. Saturday morning the gas company closed off 1/2 of the market house square (right during Market Square Mornings) and dug up part of the street to fix the leak. I was a little concerned about its effects on Market Square Mornings and the Ghost Tours for Saturday night but the street was reopened that afternoon with barricades around the hole in the street and waling and bus tours went on without a hitch. Next Friday and Saturday will conclude the last tours downtown before we move our historic tours to Oak Grove Cemetery on Oct. 22.
On the things to do list for this week are finish up Alice and get it open, story theatre rehearsals for Little Red Riding Hood and get that set design finalized, get a set design finalized so Phil Counts can begin staging for Bloody Murder which is rehearsing each night this week, get the Fall Annual Fund Drive letter printed and processed, get the Arcade ready for storage, read scripts for next season, finish up the research on the Oak Grove Cemetery script and planning for the event, do final details on the Mad Hatter Tea Party in connection with Alice in Wonderland, and hopefully selling lots of tickets to all of the events!
We have officially entered Tech Week for Alice in Wonderland Jr. That means that a tremendous amount of work has to be completed in a short time. Costumer Janice Peterson has been burning the midnight oil trying to get costumes ready and she still has a ways to go before we open Thursday. Some of the actors had complete costumes, but other were still wearing street clothes because their costumes were still awaiting assembly in the costume shop. The set was about 3/4 completed, lacking mostly just the final painting for Wonderland. Stools that Tech Director Jim Keeney had built remained raw wood and some of the prop pieces that drop from the "sky" were still "do-fers". For instance the bottle that magically appears for Alice to drink from was a green plastic Sprite bottle for rehearsal until the real bottle is created and attached. Jim Keeney is still working on the shades that we are using to create the look of the scenery growning and shrinking as Alice changes size during the show. They have to rise to a height of 10 feet and shrink to as little as 2 feet.
The scenic projections were purchased from Istock photo and Creststock photo. Some of them were Photoshopped to create a more illustrated look to match the painting on the set walls. I must have looked at almost 2,000 photos and illustrations to find the 10 images that will end up being in the show. In addition there is some video for Alice falling down the rabbit hole. I purchased the video and then opened it in video editing software to expand the length of the looped software. After several tries I finally got the 20 second video clip extended to 5 minutes. We projected the video and I immediately realized that I needed to put the video in slow motion. When I went back in and edited the video to create a slow motion effect the video slowed down but became jerky as it seemed to pause just slightly every so often. That lost the fluid movement that the extended video had so we then changed it back to the first video.
Tech week is full taking an idea that you have created which works in theory and then putting it into practice. What usually happens is that part of it works and part of it doesn't so you then begin to redesign and rebuild to work through the problems at each phase of the process until you have a finished product. I loaded the sound into the computer and April edited it into the software that we use for playback. We found there was a loud buzz in the system. After spending time making sure that all of the power sources were run through a power conditioner to eliminate any grounding problems I was no closer to solving the mystery of the buzz. I then began to change out all of the sound cables to see if one of them was laying across a power source or was unshielded. After several cords were changed out I finally found the culprit and eliminated about 90% of the buzz. There is still a few more cables to move and check but that requires ladders to trace the sound cables over 75 feet that winds its way from the back of the theatre to the stage.
All of this can lead to incredible stress on the director of the show. April is trying to pull all the actors together while the technical elements are added and sometimes eliminated for re-working and then re-added. Trying to make decisions as to what is acceptable, and what must change is a constant battle for all directors and designers. An example from yesterday's tech rehearsal were actors who were standing on the edge of the light at the front of the stage. Do you move the actors about a foot or do you refocus the lights a foot further over. If you refocus then the lights may light up an area that you are trying not to light because you want to reduce the acting area so that the entire set isn't lit. I probably have 50 lighting notes about refocusing, or redesigning some lighting cues to eliminate the actors standing at the edge of the scene who are in partially in the dark.
Friday MHT officially closed on the old Arcade theatre building after 2 1/2 months of setbacks. We still have some hurdles to jump getting the building ready for use as a storage space but the deal has at least been completed. This week masons will come in and brick up door openings between the Arcade theatre section and the rest of the Arcade building to create a firewall between the buildings. As soon as that is complete and new electric service is run and attached to the building then we can start moving our current storage space contents into the new building.
Saturday morning after about 2 weeks of smelling random natural gas on the side walk between the offices and the scene shop I called the gas company and they came out and found a small gas leak at a valve under the brick street. Saturday morning the gas company closed off 1/2 of the market house square (right during Market Square Mornings) and dug up part of the street to fix the leak. I was a little concerned about its effects on Market Square Mornings and the Ghost Tours for Saturday night but the street was reopened that afternoon with barricades around the hole in the street and waling and bus tours went on without a hitch. Next Friday and Saturday will conclude the last tours downtown before we move our historic tours to Oak Grove Cemetery on Oct. 22.
On the things to do list for this week are finish up Alice and get it open, story theatre rehearsals for Little Red Riding Hood and get that set design finalized, get a set design finalized so Phil Counts can begin staging for Bloody Murder which is rehearsing each night this week, get the Fall Annual Fund Drive letter printed and processed, get the Arcade ready for storage, read scripts for next season, finish up the research on the Oak Grove Cemetery script and planning for the event, do final details on the Mad Hatter Tea Party in connection with Alice in Wonderland, and hopefully selling lots of tickets to all of the events!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
10-4-2010
We had the first two evenings of Ghost Tours this past weekend. We knew that with fall break starting and the Paducah Symphony playing Saturday we might have small crowds for the Ghost Tours. We did have quite a few who bought tickets at the door so that was great. It was disappointing that we didn’t have anything in the newspaper until Sunday about the ghost tours and the October events. I told someone else it’s hard to believe that October is here. MHT Business Manager Marsha Cash did the first two tours on Friday night and Cat Tilker and Fowler Black shadowed her tours. I took the last tour Friday. Both Marsha and I have been battling allergies and colds. We both sounded like frogs Friday night. Saturday Marsha had no voice and she gladly gave up the guide spot to Cat Tilker. Cat did the 6:30 pm Saturday tour and I took the 7:30 and 8:30 tours. Next weekend we will hopefully have both Cat and Fowler up to speed and I’ll concentrate on guiding the bus tours.
Saturday morning was the third Market Square Morning where the streets were closed off around the Market House building. We had a smaller turnout than the first two weeks. We didn’t close the square last week because of the BBQ festival. It was also Fall break so that may have contributed to the lower numbers. One of vendors commented that there is always someone ready to offer a quick reason that attendance is down when you do something like this. We have 3 more weekends to to go and are looking forward to bigger crowds. We will wrap up Oct. 23.
Last week was crazy in trying to wrap up the sale of the Arcade theatre building. It seemed that just as soon as we cleared one hurdle another presented itself. Most of the hurdles came from trying to find out who had what paperwork or authority in the city government and to get the inspection department to sign off on the project even after we had cleared all the other hurdles. With so many city departments involved it was a miracle that we got through it as quickly as we did. I spent almost 2 full days last week tracking down city departments and information.
This morning the auditors came in for our annual audit. I spent part of the day reprinting minutes of past board meetings and trying to locate other files. As part of our grant processes we have an independent audit firm conduct an annual audit. Sandy our bookkeeper had me tracking down how many mentions WKMS made and for what production last year as part of the trade for sponsorships. There will be interviews with all staff members and the usual review of how all income and expenses are documented and the processes by which money is handled. While this is important for our grants, it is more a matter of MHT have transparency in all our financial dealings so that donors and participants can all have confidence that we are spending money wisely and that our board and staff are all concerned with the integrity of the organization. When someone donates they want to know that the bulk of their donation is going to fund programs they care about and not administrative overhead. I’m pleased to say that MHT does an outstanding job in directing the donated funds and grant funds to where it can do the most good with almost no administrative costs.
We have 6 days until the technical rehearsal for Alice in Wonderland Jr. That means that we are working on getting the set finished and getting the scenery and projections completed. Tech week is always a long labor intensive week that requires a great deal of work to be done in a very short time. As of today we have to paint all the scenery to look like a park setting. The slides have to be designed yet for the different locations and two large trees, a house that moves on and offstage, a house costume for Alice when she grows bigger than the house have yet to be built. Two courtroom dockets, some small bushes and branches and a bench that wraps around a tree. In addition when the rabbit goes down the hole our trap door lift has to be configured for the actors weight. TD Jim Keeney, scenic artist Kelly Salchli, myself, and costumer Janice Peterson have a lot to do. April as director is also out hunting props today for several costume/props pieces.
I’m still working on the script for the Oak Grove Cemetery tours. I hope to have that done before the end of the week so the tour guides and actors can have at least two weeks with it before we perform it. I’ve gotten some great help from several people who have provided me with research materials. Speaking of scripts play selection meets for the second time this evening at 5:30 at the theatre. There is a group of about 10 people who have all volunteered to read scripts. Over the weekend I read 3 more scripts that might be possibilities for next season. Some of them are by playwrights whose work we’ve recently produced at the theatre.
We hope to have our fall annual fund drive kicked off next week so we are putting the finishing touches on that campaign. Many of the theatre’s donors have been involved with us for years and keep supporting us even during tough economic times. I received a wonderful compliment this past Saturday from someone who has been coming to the theatre for over 30 years. She said that the positive impact MHT has had on the youth of this community will be felt for generations to come. We see so many adults who participated as a child and are now coming back to the theatre and bringing their children with them and signing them up for Footlights classes.
Saturday morning was the third Market Square Morning where the streets were closed off around the Market House building. We had a smaller turnout than the first two weeks. We didn’t close the square last week because of the BBQ festival. It was also Fall break so that may have contributed to the lower numbers. One of vendors commented that there is always someone ready to offer a quick reason that attendance is down when you do something like this. We have 3 more weekends to to go and are looking forward to bigger crowds. We will wrap up Oct. 23.
Last week was crazy in trying to wrap up the sale of the Arcade theatre building. It seemed that just as soon as we cleared one hurdle another presented itself. Most of the hurdles came from trying to find out who had what paperwork or authority in the city government and to get the inspection department to sign off on the project even after we had cleared all the other hurdles. With so many city departments involved it was a miracle that we got through it as quickly as we did. I spent almost 2 full days last week tracking down city departments and information.
This morning the auditors came in for our annual audit. I spent part of the day reprinting minutes of past board meetings and trying to locate other files. As part of our grant processes we have an independent audit firm conduct an annual audit. Sandy our bookkeeper had me tracking down how many mentions WKMS made and for what production last year as part of the trade for sponsorships. There will be interviews with all staff members and the usual review of how all income and expenses are documented and the processes by which money is handled. While this is important for our grants, it is more a matter of MHT have transparency in all our financial dealings so that donors and participants can all have confidence that we are spending money wisely and that our board and staff are all concerned with the integrity of the organization. When someone donates they want to know that the bulk of their donation is going to fund programs they care about and not administrative overhead. I’m pleased to say that MHT does an outstanding job in directing the donated funds and grant funds to where it can do the most good with almost no administrative costs.
We have 6 days until the technical rehearsal for Alice in Wonderland Jr. That means that we are working on getting the set finished and getting the scenery and projections completed. Tech week is always a long labor intensive week that requires a great deal of work to be done in a very short time. As of today we have to paint all the scenery to look like a park setting. The slides have to be designed yet for the different locations and two large trees, a house that moves on and offstage, a house costume for Alice when she grows bigger than the house have yet to be built. Two courtroom dockets, some small bushes and branches and a bench that wraps around a tree. In addition when the rabbit goes down the hole our trap door lift has to be configured for the actors weight. TD Jim Keeney, scenic artist Kelly Salchli, myself, and costumer Janice Peterson have a lot to do. April as director is also out hunting props today for several costume/props pieces.
I’m still working on the script for the Oak Grove Cemetery tours. I hope to have that done before the end of the week so the tour guides and actors can have at least two weeks with it before we perform it. I’ve gotten some great help from several people who have provided me with research materials. Speaking of scripts play selection meets for the second time this evening at 5:30 at the theatre. There is a group of about 10 people who have all volunteered to read scripts. Over the weekend I read 3 more scripts that might be possibilities for next season. Some of them are by playwrights whose work we’ve recently produced at the theatre.
We hope to have our fall annual fund drive kicked off next week so we are putting the finishing touches on that campaign. Many of the theatre’s donors have been involved with us for years and keep supporting us even during tough economic times. I received a wonderful compliment this past Saturday from someone who has been coming to the theatre for over 30 years. She said that the positive impact MHT has had on the youth of this community will be felt for generations to come. We see so many adults who participated as a child and are now coming back to the theatre and bringing their children with them and signing them up for Footlights classes.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change Final Weekend
(***After I wrote this Tuesday, I found out that our website provider has been experiencing some technical problems they hope to have resolved later today and will get us changed over hopefully by the end of the day Wednesday.)
As I write this I'm using a new blogging software and the theatre will hopefully unveil our redesigned website today. I hope that you like our new website format. While it is easier to update and change it has taken me a while to learn the ins and outs of a new software program. As a result I'm behind in my blogs about the show and what's going on at the theatre. We hope that the new home page format will allow smart phone users and computer internet users an easier way to interact with our site.
I Love You You're Perfect Now Change is about to enter its third and final week of performances. It has been a wonderful run so far with lots of great moments. Audience response has been overwhelmingly positive. During the first weekend we had a very special treat for audiences on Friday evening Sept. 3! I had been contacted by Russ Whalen about using the theatre for a short time so that he could propose to his girlfriend. Russ was driving in from Louisville and meeting his girlfriend Emily Kaler in Paducah. I suggested instead that he come to the performance of I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT and at intermission "pop" the question. The production of I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, has had more people propose during performances than any other. He agreed and on the night of the performance I went up to do the raffle drawing and then said "We have decided to pick someone at random out of the audience to do or drawing tonight! I then walked back down the aisle to his seat and pointed at Russ and said we had chosen him. He stood up and then turned to Emily and said "before I do that I would like to do something else" He pulled out a diamond ring and asked her to marry him.
The second weekend our audience response was overwhelmingly positive again and we settled in for a great weekend of performances. On Saturday evening during the "car" scene Melanie Koch's chair got a flat (lost a wheel) as she was spinning around in circles and she had to literally drag the chair back to the center to finish the song. She did it with such style that I couldn't tell what had happened. On Sunday Towneley Williams called me to tell me she had lost her voice. I called all of the actors in 30 minutes early and Towneley tried to sing her part. I made a decision to have the other actresses fill in for her in her solo scenes. Melanie did "A Stud and a Babe", Audra did "He Called Me" and because of the difficulty with the staging and the lyrics, Towneley acted the role in "The Marriage Tango" while Victoria Parrish stood offstage and sang while Towneley lip-sinked the song. The entire cast all did a great job of covering and we are all keeping our fingers crossed that Towneley has fully recovered for the final week of the show. It is one thing to be familiar with the show and to step in to do someone's role. It is a whole other level to step in with 30 minutes notice to learn the music and do the movement in front of an audience and do it from memory. Fowler emailed me Monday morning to tell me that his voice was gone and that he was headed to the doctor for some help before we start back up again Thursday night. I've got my fingers crossed we have a healthy cast on Thursday.
I knew that when the Play Selection Committee selected I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE that some in our audience would not like the play. It has a little bit stronger language and adult content than many of the plays that we have done in the last several years. I received a call this afternoon from a season ticket holder who did not like the show at all and wanted to express his feelings. I noticed a few people leave at intermission and I assumed that the play was not something they enjoyed. The gentleman who called me this afternoon was very polite and simply wanted to express his feelings. It is never easy to sit quietly and have someone tell you how unhappy they are with something you have done. I do appreciate that this ticket holder cared enough to call me to let me know that not everyone loved the show. Every audience member is important to us and we value their opinions. We are a community theatre and as such we try to make sure that the majority of our programming reflects the community values.
As the Artistic Director of the theatre it is my job to select and review all the plays that the theatre considers producing. I am the person who submitted this play to be considered by the play selection committee. It received rave reviews from other theatres around the country. I wanted to take a moment to share why I thought this was a show that MHT should produce. I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE contains a comic view of men and women and the biological and emotional rollercoaster that we ride on as we look for love and companionship in our lives. Two of the songs in the show are extremely poignant in the show. "I Will be Loved Tonight" and "Shouldn't I be Less in Love with You". Speak about the joy and the pain that relaitionships, or the lack of, bring to our lives. "The very first dating video of Rose Ritz" is an incredibly funny and moving story of a woman whose husband abandoned her and whose world collapses, yet she picks herself up and goes back out to find love again. "Funeral's are for Dating" lets us look at what it is like for two older people who have lost the love of their lives, their spouses to death, and they continue on with life because they still have so much to give. Very few plays can bring us to tears from laughter and tears from an honest moment in the story of relationships. The last song- "Keep coming Back" sums it all up. Those were the reasons that I submitted this play for reveiw even though I knew some of our season ticket holders would not like it.
The theatre's purpose is to enrich our lives with stories and entertainment. Our brand " We don't just entertain... We change lives" means more than just a slogan. If we wanted to just entertain we would never do anything that would upset or challenge our audiences. (I'm not sure it's possible to not upset anyone and still do something that has value.) Almost every play that has some "guts" to it will upset someone. Cinderella upset some audience members because they thought it had too much kissing in it. Wizard of Oz upset some audience members because it had magic and witches. Smoke on the Mountain upset some audience members because they said we were doing church plays and not secular plays. Any time we do a drama we upset someone because they feel we should only do comedies that make us forget about the problems of real life. If we do a children's show some adults don't want to see children acting, if we do an adult show some audience members want us to do shows that acceptable for children to watch. In the end the only thing I can do is to accept criticism from others in the spirit that they really do care about the theatre and feel that their thoughts and feelings matter to make MHT a better place.
Each play we put on someone comes up to me and tells me they love this play and it is the best show they've every seen and someone else will walk out at intermission (or before) and tell me how much they hated this play. Like the song at the end of I LOVE YOU YOU'RE PERFECT NOW CHANGE, we as a theatre company keep coming back. Back to deciding to produce another play, back to auditioning another cast, back to creating a play that we know someone will love and someone will hate.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Pefect Now Change
Tech week is over and tonight we open the show and the official start of our 47th season. It must be something in the air as all of the other arts and business people I talked to in the last week talked about crazy things are right now. Getting the first show open is a marathon task. Debra Harned is the graphic artist for the theatre who lays out our program. We were late this year in getting our ad sales and sponsors which then pushed the program up and past the deadline. We print the cover and all the color pages once for the entire year. That’s 10,000 covers and color pages that have to be correct for the entire year. After we dropped off what we thought was the final proof on Friday August 13, we had two more color ads come in from businesses that we had given up on. I literally ran over to our printer and told them to hold the press and had them reset the color pages. We worked almost round the clock on the weekend of August 21 & 22 getting final ad copy and sponsor listing for the 32 black and white pages that we turned in August 23. I was still talking to sponsor and getting and creating ad copy right up to turning in the proof. The good news is that we received the printed programs yesterday and they look great.
At the same time we were in rehearsals for the show and trying to finish the set and lights. Last Saturday it was a 14 hour work day which was to finish the hang and focus of lights which started on the Thursday before. We began setting light cues at about 3:30 Saturday afternoon and ended about 10:30 that night. Setting light cues involves Stage Manager Denise Bristol walking through the different scenes on stage while I sit in the audience with the light board and set the cues. At 10:30 Denise left with a prop list of items that was needed for the tech rehearsal the next day and I went home to work until about 1 AM locating images on the internet and creating title slides for the large rear screen projections during the show. This continued starting about 6 AM the next morning until 11 AM when I programmed them into the computer backstage to display the images. (The majority of the images I found and programmed I changed almost immediately after the technical rehearsal because they didn’t work the way I thought they would and pulled “focus” from the actors in the scene.) From 11 AM to 1PM I focused on finding sound effects for the show and setting up the 8 wireless microphones and receivers. We are using the microphones primarily for a monitor speaker for Patt Lynch who is playing piano to hear the actors because he is seated several feet behind the actors and can’t hear their singing as he plays the music for them. We had the tech rehearsal on Sunday technical rehearsal last Sunday we have been dealing with microphone and sound issues along with scenery issues. The lighting and follow spot crew got their dates mixed up and Jim forgot to confirm the day before so they didn’t show up for the rehearsal. When the mistake was discovered TD Jim Keeney had to make and emergency call to his wife and daughter to fill in for the missing crew along with his running some of the equipment. The technical rehearsal went well and afterwards the cast was treated to a great meal while I gave notes from the rehearsal. Volunteers Don and Renie Barger, Ralph and Stephanie Young, Dick Holland, Valerie Pollard and others have taken on the task of making food for the cast crew and orchestra as a way of showing their appreciation for the hard work that has been done to get the show open.
Sunday evening I spent working with April to design the set for Alice in Wonderland Jr. which April started staging the next day. April has asked to create a set that can grow and shrink with Alice. I had some basic ideas for how to make that work but working through the actual design takes lots discussion and sketches of different ideas and how the actors might move in the different scenes in a space. There are over 30 actors in the show and they all are onstage in a couple of different scenes. We need lots of different height levels so the audience can see everyone and at the same time the choreography and movement needs a flat floor space to work best. We settled on a raked floor that will will elevate those at the back above those in the front and give us a space without steps that would impede the choreography. A rough sketch of the set was completed with very general ideas of how special effects would work to make things grow and shrink. That was enough to get her started.
Monday the focus returned to Perfect Change and the costumes, sets, lights, sound and staging. I had been unhappy with a section of one of the songs in the Wedding scene and decided it needed more choreography. I spent time in the afternoon working through some different possible movements for the “gospel church choir” to do which made them more involved in the scene instead of just standing and singing. When the cast arrived at 6:30 we spent 20 minutes on learning the choreography that would be performed in the song in the first act. Just as we were about to start we had major sound issues with the piano because I had tried to add a hard masking piece in front of the piano for a visual effect. Patt couldn’t hear what he was playing on the piano. We ended up adding monitors for Patt and the percussionist. We started the rehearsal and in the first act a scene with a bed began with a crash. Three actors have to get in a bed that was built to fold in half between the head board and the footboard so it would get through the side masking to get onstage and the head of the bed is elevated so the audience can see the actors when they sit up. That afternoon Tech Director Jim Keeney had decided to redo the casters on the bed to make it easier to roll on and off. The larger casters changed the center of balance on the bed and when the three actors sat down in the dark scene change the bed collapsed into a V shape causing the headboard and the footboard to come together. Al Knudsen who was behind the head board was thrown backwards as the bottom of the headboard kicked out. Audra, Melanie, and Chris hit their heads hard on the head board and everyone came running on to help. We brought up the lights and made sure that everyone was okay. My first thought was “Oh God we just killed 3 actors in bed!” Fortunately everyone was able to continue bruised and a little shaken. Don't let anyone tell you theatre isn't dangerous! We hauled the broken bed offstage and did the scene with the actors sitting on 3 chairs for the rehearsal that night. The rest of the rehearsal went surprisingly well.
Tuesday Jim Keeney rebuilt the bed and readjusted the center of balance. That afternoon Jim and I both jumped up and down on the bed structure with all our combined weight to test the redesign to prevent any future breaking. When the cast showed up that night we opened up the bed and I jumped up and down on it with all my weight to reassure the cast it was now fixed. Audra Hall called in sick right before we began the rehearsal Tuesday night so the other women in the cast had to quickly fill in for her so that we could do the run through. They did a great job not only filling in but also helping us continue to improve the show to get ready for the final dress rehearsal.
Wednesday evening we did the final dress rehearsal. We pay a royalty to the authors to allow a small test audience of performer’s friends and family to see our “preview” of the show. Audra was healthy and back onstage. She had to learn some of the changes that we made on Tuesday night to refine choreography and stage the curtain call with just a very quick walk through before we started. During the second scene of the first act we suddenly had an unknown voice coming through the sound system. After a frantic search it was discovered that the church across the street from the theatre was using a wireless microphone on the same frequency as ours. This created a mad search to track down which wireless receiver was picking up the signal and changing the frequency channels while the first scene was in process. The actors and musicians kept right on going without missing a beat. It was an alert audience member who realized it was the church across the street and he went out during the first scene and asked them to change their frequency. He told me at intermission that the preacher from across the street said that the night before they were hearing us through their sound system. I can only imagine a church service suddenly hearing people sing "If I were a Stud" or "sexually trained attorneys helping you get the satisfaction you want in bed."
With all of the trials and tribulations that go with opening the show and the season, it all comes together tonight as we kick of the 47th Season. One of the family members who was in the audience for the final dress was laughing so hard she was crying at the dating scenes. In another scene Fowler Black’s solo “Shouldn’t I be less in Love with You?” moved the audience to total silence at the end of the scene when the lights went down instead of the standard applause so that you could hear a pin drop. That’s when you know you the audience is really moved by the performance. I hope lots of people will come and be moved to tears and laughter by this great season opener.
At the same time we were in rehearsals for the show and trying to finish the set and lights. Last Saturday it was a 14 hour work day which was to finish the hang and focus of lights which started on the Thursday before. We began setting light cues at about 3:30 Saturday afternoon and ended about 10:30 that night. Setting light cues involves Stage Manager Denise Bristol walking through the different scenes on stage while I sit in the audience with the light board and set the cues. At 10:30 Denise left with a prop list of items that was needed for the tech rehearsal the next day and I went home to work until about 1 AM locating images on the internet and creating title slides for the large rear screen projections during the show. This continued starting about 6 AM the next morning until 11 AM when I programmed them into the computer backstage to display the images. (The majority of the images I found and programmed I changed almost immediately after the technical rehearsal because they didn’t work the way I thought they would and pulled “focus” from the actors in the scene.) From 11 AM to 1PM I focused on finding sound effects for the show and setting up the 8 wireless microphones and receivers. We are using the microphones primarily for a monitor speaker for Patt Lynch who is playing piano to hear the actors because he is seated several feet behind the actors and can’t hear their singing as he plays the music for them. We had the tech rehearsal on Sunday technical rehearsal last Sunday we have been dealing with microphone and sound issues along with scenery issues. The lighting and follow spot crew got their dates mixed up and Jim forgot to confirm the day before so they didn’t show up for the rehearsal. When the mistake was discovered TD Jim Keeney had to make and emergency call to his wife and daughter to fill in for the missing crew along with his running some of the equipment. The technical rehearsal went well and afterwards the cast was treated to a great meal while I gave notes from the rehearsal. Volunteers Don and Renie Barger, Ralph and Stephanie Young, Dick Holland, Valerie Pollard and others have taken on the task of making food for the cast crew and orchestra as a way of showing their appreciation for the hard work that has been done to get the show open.
Sunday evening I spent working with April to design the set for Alice in Wonderland Jr. which April started staging the next day. April has asked to create a set that can grow and shrink with Alice. I had some basic ideas for how to make that work but working through the actual design takes lots discussion and sketches of different ideas and how the actors might move in the different scenes in a space. There are over 30 actors in the show and they all are onstage in a couple of different scenes. We need lots of different height levels so the audience can see everyone and at the same time the choreography and movement needs a flat floor space to work best. We settled on a raked floor that will will elevate those at the back above those in the front and give us a space without steps that would impede the choreography. A rough sketch of the set was completed with very general ideas of how special effects would work to make things grow and shrink. That was enough to get her started.
Monday the focus returned to Perfect Change and the costumes, sets, lights, sound and staging. I had been unhappy with a section of one of the songs in the Wedding scene and decided it needed more choreography. I spent time in the afternoon working through some different possible movements for the “gospel church choir” to do which made them more involved in the scene instead of just standing and singing. When the cast arrived at 6:30 we spent 20 minutes on learning the choreography that would be performed in the song in the first act. Just as we were about to start we had major sound issues with the piano because I had tried to add a hard masking piece in front of the piano for a visual effect. Patt couldn’t hear what he was playing on the piano. We ended up adding monitors for Patt and the percussionist. We started the rehearsal and in the first act a scene with a bed began with a crash. Three actors have to get in a bed that was built to fold in half between the head board and the footboard so it would get through the side masking to get onstage and the head of the bed is elevated so the audience can see the actors when they sit up. That afternoon Tech Director Jim Keeney had decided to redo the casters on the bed to make it easier to roll on and off. The larger casters changed the center of balance on the bed and when the three actors sat down in the dark scene change the bed collapsed into a V shape causing the headboard and the footboard to come together. Al Knudsen who was behind the head board was thrown backwards as the bottom of the headboard kicked out. Audra, Melanie, and Chris hit their heads hard on the head board and everyone came running on to help. We brought up the lights and made sure that everyone was okay. My first thought was “Oh God we just killed 3 actors in bed!” Fortunately everyone was able to continue bruised and a little shaken. Don't let anyone tell you theatre isn't dangerous! We hauled the broken bed offstage and did the scene with the actors sitting on 3 chairs for the rehearsal that night. The rest of the rehearsal went surprisingly well.
Tuesday Jim Keeney rebuilt the bed and readjusted the center of balance. That afternoon Jim and I both jumped up and down on the bed structure with all our combined weight to test the redesign to prevent any future breaking. When the cast showed up that night we opened up the bed and I jumped up and down on it with all my weight to reassure the cast it was now fixed. Audra Hall called in sick right before we began the rehearsal Tuesday night so the other women in the cast had to quickly fill in for her so that we could do the run through. They did a great job not only filling in but also helping us continue to improve the show to get ready for the final dress rehearsal.
Wednesday evening we did the final dress rehearsal. We pay a royalty to the authors to allow a small test audience of performer’s friends and family to see our “preview” of the show. Audra was healthy and back onstage. She had to learn some of the changes that we made on Tuesday night to refine choreography and stage the curtain call with just a very quick walk through before we started. During the second scene of the first act we suddenly had an unknown voice coming through the sound system. After a frantic search it was discovered that the church across the street from the theatre was using a wireless microphone on the same frequency as ours. This created a mad search to track down which wireless receiver was picking up the signal and changing the frequency channels while the first scene was in process. The actors and musicians kept right on going without missing a beat. It was an alert audience member who realized it was the church across the street and he went out during the first scene and asked them to change their frequency. He told me at intermission that the preacher from across the street said that the night before they were hearing us through their sound system. I can only imagine a church service suddenly hearing people sing "If I were a Stud" or "sexually trained attorneys helping you get the satisfaction you want in bed."
With all of the trials and tribulations that go with opening the show and the season, it all comes together tonight as we kick of the 47th Season. One of the family members who was in the audience for the final dress was laughing so hard she was crying at the dating scenes. In another scene Fowler Black’s solo “Shouldn’t I be less in Love with You?” moved the audience to total silence at the end of the scene when the lights went down instead of the standard applause so that you could hear a pin drop. That’s when you know you the audience is really moved by the performance. I hope lots of people will come and be moved to tears and laughter by this great season opener.
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