To read an interview with Fowler Black on my way go the ilistpaducah.com and click on ilist playlist on the left side of the page.
Monday and Tuesdays rehearsals have all gone to 10 pm after starting at 6:30. By about 9:30 it becomes a law of diminishing returns. The performers are starting to drag after working in a very focused manner for over 3 hours straight and any complicated melodies start to unravel around the edges a little. But we make significant progress each night. Monday was a run through of the entire show with the band. Tuesday we worked on music sections from 6:30- 8:30 and then took a 5 minute break before running the first act. Tonight we will touch up a couple of spots in the first act and then continue on working and polishing act two.
An example of one of the spots we worked last night was a moment where Victoria and Fowler are singing the song I believe. They finish the song and without missing a beat they start into Let's get away from it all. The problem was that Patt's music ends with the a complicated section at the end of the page to finish I Believe. Then he has to turn the page and play a new key and chord change without missing a single beat that is moving fast at the end of I believe. There is no time for Patt to turn the page and play the chords he needs at the same time. Patt is in the process of memorizing the music so that he can continue playing until he gets a rest in the music to turn the page. Fortunately Eddie the bass player doesn't have a page turn there and can keep the tempo going for Victoria to continue while Patt fits in the page turn.
The performers are having to really learn how to syncopate their parts to fit with the jazz music in the show. Sinatra had a way of surprising you with his phrasing that often starts on the half beat either before or after the down beat. That gives it a great jazz sound but can be-devil singers if they aren't constantly thinking about it.
Tech rehearsal is this Sunday at 1:30 pm. That will be the first time with lights and costumes. I've ordered a "rain" curtain for the show. That won't arrive until Tuesday so we will have two days with that before opening. A rain curtain is a curtain made of strips of shiny metallic film that overlap. Often you will see performers walk through the curtain and appear. I'm also planning on a projection screen for behind the band so we can put up images of some of the things talked about in the show.
This morning the carpets are being cleaned in preparation for the new season. Jim Keeney went through and tightened all the seats and arm rests in the theatre.
Last night the board of directors meeting approved raffling off a flat screen television during the run of my way to raise money for the new seat campaign. We are hopeful that we will be able to install the new seats in time for the opening of the 46th season. Right now we are applying for grants to match $20,000 of our current funding to finish the project. Grants however generally take about 6 months to a year in order to process and receive funds.
Our ticketing system has been giving both Marsha and Alexis fits. We upgraded the system a couple of weeks ago and suddenly all our reports changed due to technical glitch that was caused by the upgrade. It appears to have finally been resolved. Marsha kept telling the company to check certain database areas and the company kept telling her it couldn't possibly be that. Finally they checked the areas she told them to check and there was the problem.
For as wonderful as the computerized ticketing and database software that we have can be, they are also a constant source of frustration for Marsha and Alexis making their jobs more difficult than necessary sometimes. MHT purchased the software three years ago at a cost of about $18,000. We pay over $2,000 a year for service and support. Both Alexis and Marsha are constantly saying to me "How much are we paying these people for support!" The sad thing is that from what I hear from other theatres, we are working with one of the best systems in the industry. Nobody seems to get enough technical support these days and a constant turnover of people in the support department.
It's times like these I feel very fortunate that we have experienced staff with a long history with MHT like Marsha and Alexis.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Murder and Late Nights
Friday night we rehearsed the Wedding from Hell at the Civic Center. It was a little rough but the actors, Renie Barger, Mike Brewer, Marsha Cash, April Cochran, Phil Counts, Tom Dolan, Audra Hall, Roy Hensel, Steve Schwetman, and Valerie Pollard all had worked on their lines and their characters in preparation (and fear) of the performance. There is nothing so motivating for an actor than the fear of standing up in front of a group of people and not knowing your lines! I know really talented older performers who refuse to walk on stage because that fear can become overwhelming. There was no such worry Saturday night. All the performers knew their lines. We did have one sad moment in which Marsha Cash was to deliver a 1/2 page dramatic monologue in her best "soap opera-over the top" impersonation of her idea of the murder scene. However right before her monologue the actors accidentally jumped to the lines a page later completely skipping her "big scene". At the end we all tried to figure out what happened and the cast begged Marsha to do her scene for us even if no one else saw it. That is the excitement of live theatre. You never know what will happen. Some of the photos from the event are posted in a slide show at the side of the page. We had almost 200 people in attendance for the event.
I spent Sunday afternoon and evening working on dramatizing some historical information into a script for St. Mary's 150th celebration. They asked for my help and I promised only to give a look at the material and see if I could help them out. While I was doing this I was on the phone to the Madame H. We talked through several issues and then agreed to meet again at the drop point for a late night rendezvous. I showed up at the appointed time and then received a call on my cell phone that Madame H was running a couple minutes late. I went into the Shell station and bought a bag of peanuts and sat on the tailgate of my truck and waited. Not too long after the dark green mini van pulled up and the exchange was made. I took some photos of my adventure and those are posted at the side. I will turn in the disc today to Paducah Printing. We are still waiting for 2 advertisers to turn in their copy. If they don't turn it in today we will put their name and address of the their business in the program and wait until Greetings to put in the new ad copy.
High School musical is cast. I took a photo of April and Cindy onstage working through the casting. Over 130 performers auditioned and lots of very talented people did not get a roles. The first rehearsal is tonight. My Way is also in rehearsal tonight.
Most of today will be spent returning rented sound equipment. Returning keys to the civic center and unloading all the equipment that went to the Murder Mystery event. A round of applause needs to go to Cindy Miller and her committee who prepared the food for the Murder event. Sarah Bynum arranged for the alcohol and bar tenders.
The August board of directors meeting is tomorrow at 5:30pm.
I spent Sunday afternoon and evening working on dramatizing some historical information into a script for St. Mary's 150th celebration. They asked for my help and I promised only to give a look at the material and see if I could help them out. While I was doing this I was on the phone to the Madame H. We talked through several issues and then agreed to meet again at the drop point for a late night rendezvous. I showed up at the appointed time and then received a call on my cell phone that Madame H was running a couple minutes late. I went into the Shell station and bought a bag of peanuts and sat on the tailgate of my truck and waited. Not too long after the dark green mini van pulled up and the exchange was made. I took some photos of my adventure and those are posted at the side. I will turn in the disc today to Paducah Printing. We are still waiting for 2 advertisers to turn in their copy. If they don't turn it in today we will put their name and address of the their business in the program and wait until Greetings to put in the new ad copy.
High School musical is cast. I took a photo of April and Cindy onstage working through the casting. Over 130 performers auditioned and lots of very talented people did not get a roles. The first rehearsal is tonight. My Way is also in rehearsal tonight.
Most of today will be spent returning rented sound equipment. Returning keys to the civic center and unloading all the equipment that went to the Murder Mystery event. A round of applause needs to go to Cindy Miller and her committee who prepared the food for the Murder event. Sarah Bynum arranged for the alcohol and bar tenders.
The August board of directors meeting is tomorrow at 5:30pm.
Friday, August 22, 2008
running
Today has been spent running from the first meeting.
9:00 posted cast list for High School musical
9:30 picked up key at Civic Center
10:00 Met with Al McKeowan about St. Marys celebration project
11:00 Called all the advertisers that we still don't have copy from
Noon- did lunch with April
1:00 went to rowtons and picked up extra microphones and transmitters
2:00 took all the sound equipment from the theatre and rowtons to the civic center
2:30 April tells me that the cast list is hard to read in the format I used. Not many people have emailed to accept their roles. I go back in and reformat the cast list on the website.
3:00 rearranged all the tables to try to get everyone closer at the civic center for the event
3:30 off to pick up special costume pieces at Creatures of Habit, load up the beer and wine to take to civic center
all afternoon talking with Debra Harned about the final proof on the ad as advertisers send in their late copy.
4:00 will get last minute items for final murder mystery rehearsal
5:30 start rehearsal
9:00 anticipate rehearsal is done.
10:00 close up from rehearsal after finishing up details.
10:30 pm- It's time for a cold beer!
tomorrow starts at 8 am with footlights and working on My Way and goes until 10:30 or 11pm.
9:00 posted cast list for High School musical
9:30 picked up key at Civic Center
10:00 Met with Al McKeowan about St. Marys celebration project
11:00 Called all the advertisers that we still don't have copy from
Noon- did lunch with April
1:00 went to rowtons and picked up extra microphones and transmitters
2:00 took all the sound equipment from the theatre and rowtons to the civic center
2:30 April tells me that the cast list is hard to read in the format I used. Not many people have emailed to accept their roles. I go back in and reformat the cast list on the website.
3:00 rearranged all the tables to try to get everyone closer at the civic center for the event
3:30 off to pick up special costume pieces at Creatures of Habit, load up the beer and wine to take to civic center
all afternoon talking with Debra Harned about the final proof on the ad as advertisers send in their late copy.
4:00 will get last minute items for final murder mystery rehearsal
5:30 start rehearsal
9:00 anticipate rehearsal is done.
10:00 close up from rehearsal after finishing up details.
10:30 pm- It's time for a cold beer!
tomorrow starts at 8 am with footlights and working on My Way and goes until 10:30 or 11pm.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Correction
I was asked by the director of High School Musical to be more specific in my blog. The auditions last night lasted from 5-8 pm. The Director and Musical Director then stayed an additional hour to reveiw all the forms and discusss those who auditioned.
Late night hand off
Last night at 10:15 I paced the parking lot of the BP station on Hinkleville Rd. I felt like some illicit deal was about to happen. The clerk at the station kept stepping outside to check on me since I was parked next to his vehicle. As I sat at the back of April's minivan waiting for the moment of the hand off I couldn't help but laugh at what this looked like. Then the moment came. The green minivan pulled off the highway zoomed up to me. The window was in the downward motion as the car pulled to a stop. A hand emerged from the vehicle. The hand off was complete. The car drove off and I got into my vehicle and drove off into the dark. The disc was secure. Was it top secret papers relating to national security? No it was the color pages for the My Way program. Debra Harned was on her way to work as a cashier at Harrah's. The only way I could get the disc to turn in to the printer today was this late night hand off.
We are still working on the black and white pages. That may entail another late night hand off.
I've posted photos of the auditions for High School musical. The theatre's main stage was full of young performers trying to get a role in the popular show. Meanwhile the Murder from Hell rehearsal was in process in the studio theatre. I handed my camera to Mike Brewer who plays the wedding photographer in the play. The slide show is Mikes handiwork as he played his characters.
April's auditions lasted until 9 pm last night (4hours). My Way rehearsal was moved to the classroom because of the auditions. I spent 1/2 of the My Way rehearsal working with my daughter Jade on her homework while I handed off my directors book to Denise Bristol with my blocking notes for her to give the cast. Since both April and I had rehearsal something had to give to help Jade with her homework. That has been the most difficult thing for us as parents to deal with at the theatre. Usually one of us can schedule it so that we can work with her. But on audition nights and rehearsal nights we are just like any other family with competing needs. So Jade and I sat in the dressing room working on social studies about Lewis and Clark's adventures while the cast sang I only have eyes for you and My Way last night.
Tonight will be another repeat of last night. Possibly even including the hand off by the side of the road.
We are still working on the black and white pages. That may entail another late night hand off.
I've posted photos of the auditions for High School musical. The theatre's main stage was full of young performers trying to get a role in the popular show. Meanwhile the Murder from Hell rehearsal was in process in the studio theatre. I handed my camera to Mike Brewer who plays the wedding photographer in the play. The slide show is Mikes handiwork as he played his characters.
April's auditions lasted until 9 pm last night (4hours). My Way rehearsal was moved to the classroom because of the auditions. I spent 1/2 of the My Way rehearsal working with my daughter Jade on her homework while I handed off my directors book to Denise Bristol with my blocking notes for her to give the cast. Since both April and I had rehearsal something had to give to help Jade with her homework. That has been the most difficult thing for us as parents to deal with at the theatre. Usually one of us can schedule it so that we can work with her. But on audition nights and rehearsal nights we are just like any other family with competing needs. So Jade and I sat in the dressing room working on social studies about Lewis and Clark's adventures while the cast sang I only have eyes for you and My Way last night.
Tonight will be another repeat of last night. Possibly even including the hand off by the side of the road.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Running around
Today started early and continued to run all day. My daughter Jade and I dropped April off at the Paducah Airport this morning at 5:30 am for her flight to Memphis and then on to Kansas City. April is attending the American Association of Community Theatre Education Directors Conference. Two years ago April was the facilitator for this conference. This years she wasn't able to commit to the attending until 3 weeks before the conference. The conference starts today at 3 pm so it was off to the airport. (Like so many other things I try to support as many local businesses as possible and yet stay within the non profit budget we have. Every dollar we spend locally is very important to the economic impact the arts have here. I also hope that MHT's support of local business then promotes support for local theatre.) After dropping Jade off at school today I was then off to the races trying to get Temporary Alcohol licenses for our fundraising events with My Way. The theatre has to apply for a temporary license anytime alcohol is included in an event that has a ticket price. (Whether we give it away for free at the event or charge for it, it is considered part of the ticket price.) Since we decided to do the first two Friday nights of My Way we had to purchase two temporary licenses. That involves getting the forms from the online state website. Filling them out with the names of Directors and Officers. Describing the fundraising event that will receive funds from the event. Then going to the bank to get a certified check. Then taking the check and the notarized forms to the City Clerks office and then they turn those into the state. If we use a city facility like the Civic Center or even our own main stage theatre building then we need city approval for the license since they own the buildings. After finding out today that I needed two licenses and not one since the events were separated by 7 days I visited both the bank and city hall a couple of times today.
Then I ran over to Paducah Printing to look at the different formats for our quarterly newsletters. We have received a couple of different prices depending on the number of pages in our newsletter. This will be the first year for quarterly paper newsletters and not monthly or bi-monthly paper newsletters. After checking on that it was back to the program ad hunt while encouraging Jim Keeney to get the technical crew for the show worked out. Jim went to Creatures of Habit and found the perfect 1940's microphone for the show My Way. I spent the afternoon trading phone calls and emails tracking down ad copy.
All the shows in rehearsal are off tonight which gives not only the performers a 3 evening weekend with family but the staff as well. I feel it's important for everyone to catch up with some family time each week instead of spending every night at the theatre rehearsing. Although the rehearsals are off tonight the theatre is still in use with the Rivers Edge Film Festival.
Then I ran over to Paducah Printing to look at the different formats for our quarterly newsletters. We have received a couple of different prices depending on the number of pages in our newsletter. This will be the first year for quarterly paper newsletters and not monthly or bi-monthly paper newsletters. After checking on that it was back to the program ad hunt while encouraging Jim Keeney to get the technical crew for the show worked out. Jim went to Creatures of Habit and found the perfect 1940's microphone for the show My Way. I spent the afternoon trading phone calls and emails tracking down ad copy.
All the shows in rehearsal are off tonight which gives not only the performers a 3 evening weekend with family but the staff as well. I feel it's important for everyone to catch up with some family time each week instead of spending every night at the theatre rehearsing. Although the rehearsals are off tonight the theatre is still in use with the Rivers Edge Film Festival.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Loose ends
Yesterday press releases were sent out and ads created. Today it's time to do a final proof of our 45th season brochure and continue to track down ad copy for the first program of the new season. Yesterday what was planned for our color pages changed when one of the advertisers decided to hold off on their ad because they were making changes in a store location. That has sent us scrambling to see if anyone else can fill that spot in the program. In order to keep our printing costs down we print all of the color pages for the entire year along with the cover at one time with this first printing. That means we can't add or delete somebody after it is printed.
At the same time I'm desperately trying to tie up the loose ends with the economic impact study to get the first part completed. That means contacting every arts and culture organization and individual artist in Paducah, McCracken Co, and the surrounding counties. We are about 90% there but it's that last couple of addresses that are eluding me at the moment.
The Paducah Film Society comes in to set up for the Rivers Edge Film festival this morning. Their first show is tonight in the main theatre. We have to shift the keyboard across to the classroom to have rehearsal for My Way tonight. I'm posting photos of the arrival of the baby grand piano. Cast members pitched in so that we could get it up on stage. It is rented for the rehearsals and show run. Tuesday we finalized the musicians for the show. We are still on the hunt for a stand up bass for the bass player to play. Joe Plunknett is playing the drums for the show. We don't have a crew for the show yet. It is always a race to find lights, sound, and follow spot people for the plays. Some plays we can train new people to work the equipment. On other shows you want someone with a little bit of experience. I'll be pressuring Jim Keeney to get that crew together so I can get them listed in the program. I have to make a correction in my blog from the other day. I was reminded I forgot to tell David Jernigan about photos when he asked me that very morning what we were doing at rehearsal that night. David had been out of rehearsal with an excused absence the rehearsal when I reminded everyone about photos. Sorry David. That was my fault.
Speaking of musicals we received the music and scripts for High School Musical yesterday. Auditions are Monday and Tuesday of next week. Unfortunately we have changed our mind about the orchestration we needed after we ordered the material so I have to get that changed out.
Tables are selling for the Wedding from Hell event next week. Alexis told me that a bachelorette party was booking a table for the event! It's time to jump on the hunt for those loose ends.
At the same time I'm desperately trying to tie up the loose ends with the economic impact study to get the first part completed. That means contacting every arts and culture organization and individual artist in Paducah, McCracken Co, and the surrounding counties. We are about 90% there but it's that last couple of addresses that are eluding me at the moment.
The Paducah Film Society comes in to set up for the Rivers Edge Film festival this morning. Their first show is tonight in the main theatre. We have to shift the keyboard across to the classroom to have rehearsal for My Way tonight. I'm posting photos of the arrival of the baby grand piano. Cast members pitched in so that we could get it up on stage. It is rented for the rehearsals and show run. Tuesday we finalized the musicians for the show. We are still on the hunt for a stand up bass for the bass player to play. Joe Plunknett is playing the drums for the show. We don't have a crew for the show yet. It is always a race to find lights, sound, and follow spot people for the plays. Some plays we can train new people to work the equipment. On other shows you want someone with a little bit of experience. I'll be pressuring Jim Keeney to get that crew together so I can get them listed in the program. I have to make a correction in my blog from the other day. I was reminded I forgot to tell David Jernigan about photos when he asked me that very morning what we were doing at rehearsal that night. David had been out of rehearsal with an excused absence the rehearsal when I reminded everyone about photos. Sorry David. That was my fault.
Speaking of musicals we received the music and scripts for High School Musical yesterday. Auditions are Monday and Tuesday of next week. Unfortunately we have changed our mind about the orchestration we needed after we ordered the material so I have to get that changed out.
Tables are selling for the Wedding from Hell event next week. Alexis told me that a bachelorette party was booking a table for the event! It's time to jump on the hunt for those loose ends.
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