The show must go on

It has been up and down this past week. We have overcome lots of obstacles and each time it seems that something else comes up to challenge us. The main theatre air conditioner after 2 days of trying to find out what was causing our continuing problems was finally narrowed down to the main compressor unit had worn out and was constantly overheating and shutting down. We were notified 2 1/2 hours before show time on Thursday Sept 8 before the start of our second weekend of performances. The compressor unit was had to be replaced but the earliest it would arrive from out of town was Monday Sept. 12. Then we would have to get a crane to take the old one off the roof and put the new one on.

The weather mercifully cooled off for that weekend and we were able to do the shows with the overhead ceiling fans running during the performances with very little audience discomfort. The compressor unit didn't show up the following Monday but did arrive the next day and was finally installed and the system was working at 100% about 4 pm on Thursday Sept. 15 just in time for the 3rd weekend of performances of Putnam County Spelling Bee.

On Saturday Sept. 17, thirty minutes prior to opening the auditorium to allow the audience in for seating for the 7:30 show that night the stage lighting system crashed and became totally inoperable. That's the interesting thing about live theatre. You never know what is going to happen. You also have the motto- the show must go on!

I've been working in theatre now for over 35 years (that makes me feel really old!). Each year some new challenge comes along that demands you come up with a solution in a crises situation. I feel like the character on the old TV show McGiver some days when you have to improvise something out of whatever is on hand to get out of a tough situation. There are always several paths you can take when faced with what seems to be a hopeless situation. One of them is to give up. To cancel the show. When ever we have rough weather everyone assumes that is what we will do- cancel the show. It seems to amaze people when we don't do that. We have only canceled in extreme circumstances (the ice storm).

Thing I love about theatre people is that we all have a show must go on attitude. It's not a silly thing that "show biz" people say. It truly is a code of conduct. When you are faced with difficult situations you don't give up. You find a way to not just survive but succeed! Sometimes our best performances come from very difficult circumstances.

So we madly scrambled and were able to rig up 4 floodlights using stage lighting cables from the backstage to put just enough light on stage to keep the entire stage illuminated. We dug out our 30 year old portable lighting dimming system that you plug into a wall outlet and then plugged the lighting cables into that. We were able to at least bring the four floodlights up and down to give some different lighting to the show. Our old system however can only handle 1,000 watts per channel for up to two channels. During the Saturday night show one of the channels kept flipping its breaker so we kept trying to run the lights at only about 75% or 750 watts to keep it going.

We were able to take a show that had over 100 lights and almost 100 light cue changes and redesign it as the performance progressed to do the show with 4 lights and a follow spot and still created about 40 light cues all made up as we went along. Lisa Humphrey, Jim Roush, and Jim Keeney all did a great job of following my verbal instructions to change the lights with each scene. Sunday Jim Keeney and I came in early and re-hung, re-cabled and re-lamped the flood lights so they wouldn't keep blowing the old breakers and we could all rest a little easier that we wouldn't lose all the stage lighting if one breaker went out.

This morning we called the lighting repair company that we use to come out and see if our 20+ year old lighting system can be fixed. I want to say how proud I was of the actors and the crew who not only overcame adversity with so many problems that developed during the run of the show but gave some of their best performances in the toughest situations. Bravo to the cast of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. You did an outstanding job kicking off our 48th Season. Cindy Miller and Joe Plucknett also outdid themselves musically on the show!

We don't get to rest however. Today we will move the Charlotte's Web set on stage so the cast can start rehearsing on it tomorrow and get it ready for it's opening in 3 weeks. Tonight is the first rehearsal of The 39 Steps with a terrific cast and the first meeting of the play selection committee to look for plays for the 49th season.

The show must go on...

September 7 2011

Tomorrow begins the second weekend of Putnam County Spelling Bee. Audience volunteer spellers have been great this past weekend. Ticket sales for this weekend are picking up and hopefully word of mouth will help us sell the third weekend. Cindy Miller has done an outstanding job with the difficult music in the show and percussionist Joe Plucknett has really added to the musical support in the show. Performers, Fowler Black, Tony Bohannon, Audra Hall, Al Knudsen, Cheri Paxton, Chris Schnarr, Heather Tomko, Kim Yocum, and Chuck Wilkins are doing a terrific job of bringing the middle school angst to their characters. Every audience member that has stopped me after the show has complimented the acting and vocal performances of the cast. Tuesday I was the guest speaker at the Lion's Club meeting. Al Knudsen and Cindy Miller came with me and Al sang "I'm not that smart" from the show while Cindy accompanied him on piano and we gave away a pair of tickets for the show. Today at Rotary Al and Cindy again performed the song and we gave away another pair of tickets.

While the first show of the season has been running smoothly I can't say the same for our Air Conditioning units. Opening night you would have witnessed me standing in front of the theatre, drenched from a water hose that back pressured on me, looking up a long ladder to the two technicians working on the roof. Fortunately we have had air conditioning for every performance but we have been only running the units during the performances due to overheating of the main units on the roof. Today we had the service techs back out to service all 4 of the air conditioners on the main market house building. The main coils both outside and inside the building had become so clogged up the units were quickly overheating. All should be running smoothly by showtime Thursday night with audiences never knowing that we have been hard at work this past week to keep them cool.

While that has been going on we have finished up the roof repairs on the three buildings owned by the theatre. Last month we repaired the brick and mortar of the parapets on top of the three buildings. Hopefully we will get the interior water damage from the spring rains repaired by the end of September and be in good shape for quite a few years.

Tuesday and Wednesday of this week the consultants from Webb Management based in NYC were back in Paducah to talk with city officials and others about MHT's future plans. We are looking forward over the next few months to identify specific facilities recommendations to meet our current and future demand. Facilities issues have really taken up a lot of time and money since last January.

Auditions are next Monday and Tuesday for the next comedy, The 39 Steps. I'm hoping for a good turnout. We have only 4 roles in the show but these roles are very complex. While that show is auditioning and starting rehearsals we will also be in high gear to do the Downtown Walking Ghost Tours and the Oak Grove Cemetery Tour again this year. Stories are being brushed up with a few new ones added.

August 16 2011

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee has been in rehearsal for almost a month now and it is hard to believe that next Thursday is 2 weeks to opening. Single Tickets went on sale today for the production. We had to wait until we had processed all of the season tickets before we could release the rest for sale. If you haven't visited our facebook page recently and seen some of the photos and rehearsal comments please do. It is a really wonderful cast and they are going to do a great show. Many of the actors are really struggling with keeping a straight face as we rehearse this comic musical about. When we first started, I didn't really think this was the kind of musical you walk out humming the songs, however I have been proved wrong. Some of the music in the show is really funny and infectious like "Pandemonium" and other songs really go right to the heartstrings with "The I Love You" song.

The audience participation in the show is going to be a lot of fun! We have been having MHT board members and family members of the cast acting as our audience volunteers. Each performance we will select volunteers, from those who are interested, to become "middle school" contestants in the spelling bee. They will get a shot at winning the Bee. The show will be one you won't want to miss. However we do have to warn our audiences that the show contains some comedic mature subject matter so we recommend parental discretion. The roles are played by adults who portray all the comedy and angst of middle school students when it comes to competition, friendship, love and their own libidos (hence the parental discretion).

The theatre has just announced our brand new fundraising event scheduled to take place on October 22. The Masquerade Ball. A full out Masquerade costume ball to be held at the Paducah Convention Center Ballroom. We have an incredible food from Pampered Palate, a full cash bar, a knock out band to dance the night away, additional entertainment, and great auction items. This promises to be the event of the season. At a Masquerade Balls ticket holders wear a mask to hide their identity so it will be lots of fun. Tickets went on sale today. We have reserved VIP tables of 8, single general admission tickets, and a few young adult tickets for ages 21-29! Ticket buyers are encouraged to dress up and theme their tables to go with their costumes. Prizes will be awarded for best costume and best table decorations.

Auditions are next Monday and Tuesday for Charlotte's Webb. Lots of people have been coming in and checking out scripts. Footlights classes start Saturday Aug. 27. We are encouraging all footlights parents to pop into the studio theatre the first day of classes and have coffee and donuts on us and find out additional information about auditions, classes and other things the youth and adults can do at MHT.

The MHT board of directors voted at the July meeting to move forward with Phase Two of a consultant study related to MHT and its facilities. We are currently in negotiation with the City of Paducah on a long term lease for the main auditorium. We are also looking at other properties around the theatre for expansion of theatre programming. We have been bursting at the seams for the past couple of years and have some exciting ideas and plans for the future. Our 50th Anniversary is only 2 years away!!

The staff and board have been hard at work getting our sponsors and program advertisers all lined up for the first program of Putnam County.

July 13, 2011

Auditions for Putnam County Spelling Bee were held on Monday and Tuesday of this week and a terrific cast of performers was posted this morning. Rehearsals begin next Monday for the September show.

Each morning this week rehearsals have been going on for The Environmental Show summer musical drama camp. The kids have approx. 8 rehearsals and present a short musical on Friday July 22. Along with the rehearsals the kids received classes on technical theatre and special effects. Tomorrow they will rehearse for part of the morning and then work on creating set pieces for their show. These shows are always amazing to me in how much can be accomplished in such a short time. In my past experience with professional theatre in Kansas City adult performers would come in and rehearse for 2 weeks for 8-10 hours a day for 2 weeks before opening the full length show. Granted these camp shows are only about 20-25 minutes long but they have lots of choreography and music and are being performed by elementary school kids, some of them in their first show, and not seasoned performers.

Marsha Cash is working hard to get all the season ticket orders completed before the end of the week. She has been trying to contact ticket buyers who had changes in their orders and new season ticket holders over the past couple of weeks. We are almost 3 weeks ahead of where we were last season with processing orders.

This past week with the extreme heat the theatre saw temperatures and air conditioning pushed to the max. At auditions in the main theatre on the hottest days of the week even with the air conditioning on max the temperature didn't drop below 80 degrees. With the storm that came through Tuesday night we finally dropped into normal temperatures.

6-27-2011

We are in the last week of our fiscal year. We are still having rehearsals and performances right down to the end. Last Friday and Saturday the 101 Dalmatians Kids camp put on a performance of their show. With only 8 rehearsals the cast did a great job of bringing the 30 minute musical to life. Saturday's performance was also a benefit for the Project Hope No Kill Animal Shelter. Audience members brought in large bags of dog food, cat food, and cleaning supplies. In addition they made financial donations of $140 for the shelter. Some of the pets that were up for adoption were brought to the studio theatre and after the show both cast and audience members visited the real animals.

Sunday afternoon the Story Theatre cast of Little Red Riding Hood rehearsed in the main theatre in preparation for 6 performances this week at the McCracken County Library Tuesday and Wednesday with performances each day at 10 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm.

This Friday, July 1, the ballet class will be putting on their performance of Sleeping Beauty in the studio theatre for parents. That performance marks the first one of our next season.

Staff members are already taking some vacation days this week as we try to get recharged for another season. In addition we are doing some major maintenance on some of the buildings the theatre owns. With all the rain we have lots of water damage from this past spring that needs repair. We recently just completed tuck pointing the studio theatre and the administrative office building parapets along with the base of the back wall behind the studio theatre. Water had eroded the bricks over the past few years and was starting to do structural damage. We turn now to repairing the roofs on the three buildings. After those are repaired we can then repair the damage to ceilings and walls inside the buildings. MHT budgets over $15,000 a year to maintain the buildings. While we don't own the main Market House building the theatre is responsible for all the maintenance inside our portion of the building and on all the heating and cooling units. All of the buildings are on the national historic register. They need constant care and repair.

One week from the end or our current fiscal year it is looking very positive that we will end the fiscal year in the black for the second consecutive year, even with a down economy. The theatre continues to grow its programming and increase the number of participants we serve. The board of directors has done a great job of fundraising and the Curtain Call committee led by Valerie Pollard did an outstanding job of raising funds. Additional income from the Walking Ghost Tours and big box office shows with great performances from the casts of Alice in Wonderland and Annie boosted single ticket income above budgeted goals. In addition the theatre staff has worked extremely hard to keep costs low and work with small budgets. Those extra funds will help cover the cost of some of the repairs that I mentioned above.

As we say goodbye to our 47th season we are well into planning and evaluating programming and operations well beyond our 48th season. We completed an organizational assessment in January of 2011 and hope to begin the second phase of a facility assessment this summer. This assessment will look at existing facilities and evaluate support and market demand for possible expansion of those existing facilities.

June 4, 2011

As we headed into the final push for the season everything that didn't fit within the 7 day, 14 hour a day work schedule got put in the to do stack. Unfortunately one of those things was my blog. I looked back today and realized it had been 3 weeks since my last blog. My apologies to those who read this blog. I'll try to do better in the future.

ANNIE. Wow! We have over 50 talented people working on this production. Chanyng Floyd as Annie has been a real joy to work with. This is her first show as an actress after lots of time in front of audiences as a dancer with the AMPA dance company. Chanyng like so many others has a lot of innate talent with singing and acting that she had never used before. Her mom told me just last night that before the show she didn't know Chanyng could sing. During the rehearsals musical director Doug Arnold has worked with her to develop those natural talents and I think audiences will be very impressed by her musical ability. In addition Chanyng has to play a tough optimistic kid who boldly searches for her parents and yet has vulnerable moments when she finds out the truth about why they left her. It is a credit to Chanyng that she is able to pull off the optimistic tough kid who threatens the older bigger kids with "do you want to sleep with your teeth inside or outside of your mouth" while retaining the vulnerability of an 11 year old alone who desperately wants to have a mom and dad in the song MAYBE.

Amy Perdue who plays Grace (Warbuck's personal secretary) in the show along with Landon Baker who plays Officer Ward and Drake (Warbuck's head butler) also do an outstanding job in what I think are difficult roles. Both have to be prim and proper and also exude a real sense of comedy and emotional connection to Annie that is not easy to pull off. Tom Dolan as Warbucks gives us a terrific portrayal of the loud commanding billionaire tycoon whose heart melts after spending time with Annie. It's easy to play that role as 2 dimensional always yelling, but takes a lot more talent and work to give us the feeling Daddy Warbucks character that Annie turns to as a father. Kelly Ann Rathunde as Miss Hannigan gives us a wacky version of the head of the orphanage and one of the chief villains. Between menacing the kids and being ditzy, Kelly, pulls off the role with lots of fun. Kelly along with Scott Salchli as Rooster and Mary Dorr as Lily provide a nice blend of comedy and their rendition of the song EASY STREET is really fun. Dorr in particular has a wonderful comic laugh that audiences loved.

I can't say enough about Katy Miller and Analiese Jones. They choreographed the big dance numbers HARD KNOCK LIFE, EASY STREET, I THINK I'M GONNA LIKE IT HERE, NYC, YOUR NEVER FULLY DRESSED (orphan's dance), and ANYTHING BUT YOU. Many of the adult actors at first thought they would never be able to dance some of the complex choreography. But after working really hard they pull them off and make them look effortless. There is so much going on with the choreography in layers on the stage that you almost have to see it twice to watch all the wonderful dance moments that happen. Analiese also deserves a huge pat on the back for the way she has shepherded the orphans in their performances. Taking the notes I've given the orphan actors and working with them while they are offstage constantly improving their performance and keeping them focused (which is no small task!)

The chorus of the show is filled with company members who play so many roles. If you look closely in the Hooverville scene and the big dance number NYC you will see almost the entire company disguised and costumed as people on the street of New York. It's fun to see Chuck Wilkins, who plays a homeless guy, rant about former president Herbert Hoover and later on see him as the President FDR in the wheelchair. Roy Hensel, Scott Salchli, Mary Dorr, Diane Byrd and Chip Bohle all play three to four different roles in the show. The chorus of homeless people, pedestrians in New York, and servants and radio performers make this show sparkle and so much fun to watch.

Denise Bristol keeps everybody on task in her role as stage manager calling light sound and technical cues for the show and Jim Keeney keeps the scene changes flowing with 3 stage crew and the help of the actors. Musical Director, Doug Arnold, has done a terrific job of bringing together a talented orchestra and getting a great vocal sound from the performers on stage. Sally Moore of Lodi Kennels tells me that Ashes, the yellow lab, who plays Sandy runs to the door and barks when it is time to go to the show because she is so excited. Sally does an outstanding job with training and is so easy to work with. I can't say enough good things about her abilities and I think she is just as good as any of the dog trainers I've seen on television on Animal plantet.

Finally the ten girls who play the orphans completely knock the audiences socks off! From the youngest Addie Beth Franklin to the oldest Leiren Jackson they have worked so hard and do such a great job in the show. The youngest Addie Beth, who plays Molly, holds her own with all the others in the choreography and singing and steals the show in some scenes.

WC Fields used to say never work with animals or kids because they always steal the show. Fortunately there are lots of talented adults in ANNIE who are able to hold their own against those odds although the kids and the animals really do give them a run for their money. I wouldn't hesitate to work with this talented bunch again.

Monday night while the actors are taking some well deserved time off will be the first rehearsal of the Curtain Call performance cameo cast. They will get to step on stage for the first time and learn where to walk and a little bit of the choreography for their big night on the final Saturday night performance of ANNIE June 18.

This has been a very successful season and the production of ANNIE wraps up the year with a beautiful red bow to top it off. I hope that everyone gets a chance to come see it.

5-2-2011

Yesterday the theatre wrapped up a very successful run of the Dixie Swim Club. Director Lisa Humphrey and cast members Marsha Cash, Sue Fletcher, Victoria Parrish, Cat Tilker, and Sandra Wilson wowed audiences with great performances and received standing ovations throughout the run. The final weekend played to most sold out audiences. Crew members Kris, Debbie, Keirstyn, and Thomas did a great job of making things flow smoothly. TD Jim Keeney filled in on the stage crew helping with some of the changes as well. The cast had lots of fun "live theatre" moments with the show on the final weekend. Saturday afternoon Marsha Cash's blouse zipper came apart in the middle during a fast change and she did the entire scene trying to keep her blouse from falling off her. Most of the audience wouldn't have really noticed because she did such a great job, but the cast discovered the costume trauma when she walked onstage and sat down on the settee. Cast members did their best to "hang on" to the back of her blouse to help her out whenever they were standing by her.

I got a voicemail message last week from one of the playwrights congratulating us on our run and wishing us lots of success. We've had more and more playwrights reach out and connect to us over the past couple of years. With the internet and facebook playwrights are more connected than ever to theatres doing their plays.

Story Theatre is still out on tour however last Friday's show scheduled for Sikeston MO. was postponed to the end of May since the bridge access in and out of Cairo was closed due to flooding. It would have taken us more than 2 hours to drive there one way. This morning we were scheduled for Unity Elementary but Massac Unit 1 schools are closed due to the flooding. Hopefully it will stop raining and our region can dry out a little in the next couple of days to help all the communities struggling with rising water.

We've had several people call us to ask if the theatre is flooded. So far (knock on wood) the city's floodwall is holding just fine and we hope to escape without any damage. We've had audience members who have been unable to come to the Dixie Swim Club because of blocked roads. Our crew members from Livingston County Debbie and her granddaughter Keirstyn didn't make it in last Thursday when Smithland was shutdown.

Today Jim Keeney and I will transport all the Dixie scenery pieces back to our warehouse and bring platforms and scenery pieces back for Annie which rehearses onstage tonight at 6:30. EAT which is rehearsing in the studio theatre goes into technical rehearsals next Sunday for its opening the following week. We are still putting together the scenery and props for that show.

The dog trainer from Lodi Kennels stopped by Saturday and we talked about her dog Ashes which will play Sandy for the play ANNIE. Unfortunately Ashes is in heat for the next two weeks so she won't be able to start working with the show until after that. I will say in 30 years of directing this is the first time an "actor" couldn't make rehearsals because they were in heat.

On a funny note we had a season ticket holder call who had received her season ticket renewal order for next season. She was very concerned and wasn't sure if she would be able to renew here tickets because of one of the shows announced. She wanted to know if we were going to have the actors in Hairspray wear clothes. She apparently got the musicals Hair and Hairspray confused. After we assured here that yes the actors were going to remain fully clothed in the production she happily renewed her season tickets.