MHTDirector

Planning and Assessing

2009-07-11T17:40:00.002-05:00

Friday evening the board of directors held the first of two sessions this weekend in a planning retreat. A range of issues were discussed including evaluating the mission of the theatre and its continued relevance to the community. How to assess the success in concrete and measurable terms. We spent some time taking a broad look at our current financial position and operations in comparison to other theatres with similar size budgets.

Most of the evening was spent talking about ways to improve our annual fund drive, sponsorships and program advertising campaigns. Lots of great ideas were generated. You will see some of these ideas realized in the next few months. One of those ideas is an annual report of the state of the theatre that will be sent to all current members.

Our fiscal year just ended on June 30. We are currently in the processes of submitting the final report to the Kentucky Arts Council which is a requirement for the grant that we received last season. We just received notification of our new grant award for 2009/2010 and it increased above last year. The Kentucky Arts Council has awarded MHT over $20,000 in grant funding for general operational support. Along with the City of Paducah's recent support statement for the current fiscal year we are proving to the city and the state how valuable MHT is not only as a source of quality of life programming in the community but also that we are an economic asset that provides $3.2 million worth of economic activity in our community and provides over 50 jobs as a result our programming. In tough economic times it still is a good investment and return when our local and state government supports MHT.

Another investment is the Kentucky Governors School for the Arts students who finish up their classes today with a final performance featuring some of their work they created over the past couple of weeks. We are thrilled to see so many students who have participated at MHT involved in the Governors School programs. Cindy and the Miller family are watching their daughter Katy do her presentation today in Musical Theatre. Then they are off to Louisville Music Theatre to see Robert Sharkey performing in Singing in the Rain tonight and tomorrow.

Questions

2009-06-29T22:36:00.002-05:00

As I prepare to go on vacation I'm also preparing for the upcoming MHT Board retreat. I met with incoming President Cindy Miller today and talked over many of the ideas that we have for the agenda. There are so many things to address and to think about that sometimes its hard to know where to start. I'm sure that I'll spend a few evenings while on vacation thinking about the retreat as well.

One of the questions that I discovered while looking at planning guides was to look at our successes and try to understand why it was a success. With the overwhelming response to Wizard of Oz recently I asked that question. What was it about our production that made the show so successful that 2 weeks after the show people are still buzzing about it. What makes a successful show at MHT? Is is the script? Is it the talent of the performers? Is it the choreography? Is it all of the costumes, sets, lighting, sound, special effects? Is it all of the above? How do you try to build those successful things into the fabric of everything that MHT does?

We have some big challenges facing us this year and in the next couple of years leading up to our 50th Anniversary season. How we measure success will give us ideas of where we want to be in 5 years. What is that we do that is unique in our community? What is it that we do better than anyone else? Who are our constituents? These are tough questions that are asked each year as we begin a new season. We must decide which areas of the theatre to invest in and which areas we need to move in new directions. What is the vision and values of the Market House Theatre?

With the answer to those important questions everything else falls into place.

Year end wrap up

2009-06-25T07:37:00.002-05:00

We are in the last days of the current fiscal year. Last night was the last board meeting of the year led by President Renie Barger. Renie thanked Randy Davis and Mary Jean Grief for their 3 years of service as they retire from the board. She welcomed the new board members Denise Bristol and Pam Benzing who attended the meeting as guests. Other new board members Sid Hancock, Heather Overby and Melisa Mast who could not attend the meeting will begin their board terms in July. A board retreat is planned for Friday July 10 and Sunday July 12.

Fundraising Chair and Past President Valerie Pollard was also thanked by Renie for her 6 years of board service as she retires from the board. Valerie did the wrap up for the Curtain Call Auction of parts for the Wizard of Oz. After expenses the theatre raised over $14,000 from this event and everyone felt it was a great success. Valerie has agreed to continue to help on the fundraising committee as a non board member for next years event.

President elect, Cindy Miller, talked briefly about ideas for a couple of fundraising events for next season and ideas for the board retreat. Cindy officially takes over as President July 1. The board agreed to operate on a temporary budget for the new year until a final budget is approved in July.

As we end the year we are doing better than we expected financially thanks in big part to the success of the High School Musical and the Wizard of Oz box office. We will still end the year with a deficit but it will be much smaller than we had originally estimated back in January. The January predictions of a $30,000-$50,000 deficit were a real possibility. With the ice storm devastation to ticket sales of Southern Comforts and the loss of a major grant from the city, along with lower contributions because of the stock market we began to aggressively cut expenses back in January. Those cuts have kept us on a solid financial footing and I'm pleased to say that with the cuts and box office from the Wizard of Oz it looks like our deficit will be approx. $10,000. That $10,000 will be borrowed from the theatre's next fiscal year. The board will seek ways to make up that $10,000 in the next budget.

Staff members April, Jim, and Janice are in high gear for the Disney Kids Sleeping Beauty Musical Camp performance Friday and Saturday. Costumes are being made, props created by the kids in the camp and sets and lighting are being worked on. After the board meeting last night I set the preliminary light cues for the show. Today we will scan the artwork created by the kids in the camp as the scenic projections for the show. The sound system has to be set up for playback of the music for the kids to sing and dance to.

April does a daily newsletter for the kids in the camp to remind them of what they have accomplished each day and to help them remember what is important to work on before the next day. The camp is only two weeks long and the campers learn choreography, learn music, and develop characters for the show Sleeping Beauty. Jim Keeney has put in lots of work on a magical orb for the evil queen and a large dragon effect for the climax of the play when the queen turns herself into a dragon.

April has now called me 3 times about her rehearsal this morning so its time for me to head out the door.

The morning after

2009-06-22T08:23:00.003-05:00

The cast ended the show on a high note yesterday and after the set strike Guest Glinda Chris Black who came to help with the tearing down of the set complimented the cast on their graciousness in allowing others to do their roles for one night and how they all were so generous and welcoming to those who made a guest appearance Saturday night. I posted some photos on the Market House Theatre face book page.

Today will be spent working on the awards and the wrap up for the picnic tonight at 5:30 at Keiler park. The BBQ and Fried Chicken have been ordered. The soft drinks purchased. All we need now is clear skies and maybe a little relief from the heat.

April and Jim are hard at work on the dragon and the other magical props for the Sleeping Beauty Drama Camp which performs this Friday and Saturday. Over 3o kids will present the Disney Kids Sleeping Beauty production on the Market House Theatre stage. We will re-use some of the Wizard of Oz set with a few changes to make it easier to get Sleeping Beauty up.

The final board meeting of the fiscal year is Wednesday evening and financials and other materials are also going out today for that meeting.

Lots and Lots to do today!

Saturday preparations

2009-06-20T08:35:00.002-05:00

The show last night was great again. Standing ovations have been constant throughout the run. After the show last night the cast gathered at Jim and Ted Roush's apartment for lots of food. Jim cooked Indian food for those who wanted to try something different. (I tasted it and it was great!) For the others there was hot dogs and spaghetti. Mary Jane Bowles and Doug Arnold made a wizard of Oz dessert out of rice crispy treats and m & m's. Oh those creative arts people! I left shortly before midnight reminding the cast of their early call today for the matinee.

This morning I'm meeting with Cindy Miller to audition a couple of more performers for Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming. We should announce the call backs or cast list within the next day or so.

Today will be spent dealing with food and show issues. I have to confirm the food for the cast party tomorrow after the final performance. Confirm the food for the picnic on Monday. Work on the golden screw awards for the picnic. Get the studio theatre setup to feed the cast between shows today and then cleaned up for the church which rents the second stage space on Sunday mornings. Do a final check and work through brief staging changes for the fundraising event tonight with the winners of the Wizard of Oz auction. I'm also preparing the photo discs for the cast. We sell photo discs of the shows for $10 and all the proceeds go to volunteer appreciation to buy things like the food for the picnic, water for the backstage, food for between shows, etc... There are over 900 photos on the photo cd. Bill Fox graciously donated his time to come in and take the photos with his high speed equipment. Unfortunately because of copyright restrictions no video of the performance is allowed.

Each performance I constantly scan the audience to make sure that no one is taking photos or video taping the performance. Last night I was watching and suddenly noticed the little digital screen of a camera in the audience taking photos or video. These days you can't tell which. I slowly worked my way down the aisle until I could identify the person and then moved quickly to the woman and told her she had to stop immediately. I try to always make an announcement before the show. It is also in the program. I know the woman heard the announcement but I guess she didn't think it applied to her. We have to worry that clips would show up on youtube and then we could be liable for copyright violation and damages. Every actor, technician as well as the theatre can be named in a damage suit. That's why we get a little crazy about people not videotaping.

As much as this show keeps me on pins and needles hoping that everything continues to go well, I will miss the show when it is over. It has been a rewarding experience for me to work on this production. The cast and crew have done an outstanding job. Audience response has been overwhelming. This will be one of those shows that I personally will remember for many years and I believe our community will remember as well.

Getting ready for final weekend

2009-06-18T16:43:00.002-05:00

We are just a couple of hours away from the final weekend of the Wizard of Oz. The show has broken the all time box office record for the theatre selling well over 3,000 tickets for the run. There are a few seats left for the final weekend but waiting lists have already been started for the sold out performances.

Last night was the full dress rehearsal for the Saturday night fundraising performance of Wizard of Oz. The cast could not retain their composure when Chris Black was revealed in his pink gown, crown and wand as Glinda the Good witch. Emily Yocum several times had to look at the floor or turn her head as Chris rendered his own unique version of the witch of the north. Tickets for the Saturday night show are going fast. We had one small moment of worry last night when Dorothy threw the water on Auction winner Mary Keef, the wicked witch, to melt her. Denise Bohle forgot to tell Mary to close her mouth and the wicked witch was almost drowned with a face full of water. After taking a moment to catch her breath again, Mary stepped back into the role and melted like a pro! David Mast donned his Munchkin Mayor costume and led the Munchkins in singing and dancing in celebration of Ding Dong the Witch is Dead! David was later heard to say something about next time he bid on a part he wanted to know the number of lines that were involved before he bid on it. David Jernigan put on the Lion costume and sang and danced his way along with the help of the scarecrow, tinman and Dorothy and did a terrific job for only a couple of rehearsals.

I'm hard at work trying to get ready for the Golden Screw awards next monday at the picnic. If anyone would like to nominate someone they can email me at m.cochran@mhtplay.com and I would be happy to accept the nomination. I'm ordering food tomorrow for the event and hope that we have a big turnout. Please contact the box office if you are going to attend. The only thing we ask is you bring a dish to pass.

We are still holding auditions for Smoke on the Mountain. A couple of people who contacted the theatre about auditions were out of town during the regular auditions so we are seeing those people this weekend. I hope we have a cast by next Tuesday.

April is about to wrap up the first week of the Sleeping Beauty Camp and they have been staging the show and working on sets and props.

Wizard Record

2009-06-15T08:39:00.001-05:00

My last post was just before Wizard of Oz opened and I started writing this sitting in the stage manager cage backstage on Sunday just before the matinee to try to update what’s going on. I finished up this post this morning.

The show has received a tremendous response. As of my writing this, it only needs to sell another 130 tickets to break the Beauty and the Beast record to become the biggest selling show in MHT Main stage History. I used to try to do it by box office gross but with ticket price changes over the years, number of seats sold has become the number to beat.

The audience response has been tremendous. So many people have complimented the performances of everyone in the show, especially Emily Yocum as Dorothy, Fowler Black as the Scarecrow, Chris Schnarr as the Tin Man, Chuck Wilkins as the Cowardly Lion, and Denise Bohle as the Witch. Katy Miller’s choreography has been a real crowd pleaser with overwhelming praise for the crows, apple trees, poppies, snowflakes, and jitterbug dance numbers. The special effects and the technical production have also received dozens of compliments for the crew who is running all of the complicated scene changes and effects so smoothly.

We have had 10 great performances. We have also had a few of those moments that is the thrill of live theatre because you never know what will happen. One performance Dorothy’s dress got caught on the painted fire in Professor Marvel’s scene and pulled it over on its side. The professor quickly reached his hand into the “fire” and set it back upright. On Saturday night during the witch’s exterior our rear digital projector had a lamp problem and decided to go into standby mode for a short time. I raced backstage to catch Daniel Yokum who is running the rear screen projections before he could try to restart the projector. Without a hand in front of the screen when it restarts it will go into a test pattern which looks like those old TV test patterns with the color bars and would not have been good during the witches scene. I ended up going up to the projector, putting my hand in front to restart and then slowly raising my hand to let the image reappear on the screen. I don’t know if the audience was even aware of the screen because fortunately it happened when we have lots of scenery in front of the screen at that moment. Unfortunately that meant that I had to crawl on my hands and knees under the projection image to escape from the restart or be trapped for the rest of the performance. There are so many technical things to go wrong in this show it is only because of a constant vigilance by the staff the tech crew and performers that we keep everything intact.

We have a rehearsal Tuesday night for the auction winners to learn their parts and a full dress rehearsal on Wednesday to give the Auction winners a chance to put on their costumes and do the show before their debut for the special Saturday night fundraising event. It should be lots of fun on Saturday as several people get a chance to feel what its like to step on stage for one night only in the show. Tickets for that event are only available by phoning the box office.

36 hours to opening

2009-06-03T07:24:00.002-05:00

Last nights rehearsal was a definite step forward. The hard work of the previous 24 hours made solved many of the sound issues we were having. The scene changes flowed smoothly with the exception of a couple of hiccups. Flash pots and special effects all functioned and the cast kicked up the performance quality to show level. We still have a tremendous amount of work on the set lights and costumes to complete before the opening tomorrow night. The work of dozens of volunteers and cast members have made the show look terrific! Denise Bohle has done an outstanding job painting munchkin bushes, the wizards hot air balloon basket and several other props. Nick Jaeger made a large hourglass for the witches castle. Charles Keeney has spent countless hours designing and building remote controlled smoke generators, flash pots, and LED lights that can be controlled from backstage without any wires visible wires. Leah Bohle, Maria Miller, Madison Whelan, Sydney Hughes, Buddy Jackson, Chris Schnarr, Emily Yocum, Miki Abraham all came in during the past couple of days to help paint and build. Kim Yocum has put in countless hours helping paint and build things like the witches broom, and the sign for the side of Professor Marvels wagon, Daniel Yocum and Landon Baker have helped make the digital images move smoothly. Landon created the cyclone with flying objects. Kristy Hansen has painted all of the borders around the proscenium and the back screen. Luke Wilkins has been in almost daily for 2 weeks helping build and paint so many things I can't count. Aaron Spoden who returned from his freshman year of college a couple of weeks ago has showed up every day and put in countless hours cutting out set pieces. Doug Arnold has worked very hard as a volunteer musical director to help the cast with the singing. Manulito Mansfield and Mary Jane Bowles are filling in on running sound for the show. Jim and Ted Roush have done a great job on running the lights and working on the stage crew. I know that I'm forgetting someone. All the hard work is paying off and the show should be a great success. For those of you trying to call the box office please be patient. The phones are ringing off the hook and people are waiting in line at the box office during the day to get tickets to the show. Don't forget that you can skip the phone wait and buy tickets online from our website. 36 Hours to opening!

Keep it simple

2009-06-02T07:45:00.003-05:00

Last nights rehearsal was a one of those steps forward and backward. We have so much technical stuff packed into the Wizard of Oz that at times it can overwhelm everything else. Scene changes and special effects require lots of practice and timing. However we are still creating some of these effects right up to opening so the technical crew has almost no time to rehearse with the new effects. As a result when things go wrong they go really wrong. The sound system last night decided it was going to drive that point home to me with a vengeance. I moved speakers yesterday trying to get a louder sound for the cast to sing and dance to and yet not overpower the singing voices. This is always the point where I'm telling the orchestra to play softer! However with a digital sound it is the level I set. Last night we were too soft, too loud, non existent, etc.. Flash pots tripped breakers and went off early, at one point one of the munchkins pants fell down, one of the dancers hurt her ankle and tried valiantly to hop through the rest of her numbers. Jim accidentally incorrectly wired the wizard head so the it looked like a really bad carnival clown with a flashing nose instead of a scary wizard. The rehearsal ran so long that I had to let the cast go without notes and start tonight's rehearsal with the notes. I stayed until almost 2 am last night trying to fix all the sound levels. I began again this morning at 6 to try to sort out the video images that need to appear.

The performers are still improving. That is at least some consolation in this special effects and scenic nightmare that I'm dealing with. In the midst of the chaos the performers were the bright spot. I have several brand new performers who are still learning how to sustain the energy through an entire scene. That will be the focus of my work with the performers tonight. On the technical side today and tomorrow will be spent simplifying and fixing problems. As I began yesterday I was like that dog that chases its tail trying to fix the problems. I literally walked around the stage for about 25 minutes starting one project then walking to get something and stopping to fix something else and then walking to get something and beginning another thing and on and on. Today I will focus on one problem until it is fixed. Opening is 2 days. We will get there.

Thursday May 28 correction

2009-05-28T09:29:00.002-05:00

Okay so my short term memory loss is really kicking in today. Alexis started on the Tech weekend of Annie Get Your Gun. The show had Audra Hall flying through the air upside down on a trapeze. I knew there was a symmetry between flying actors in both shows. Alexis has been here for 3 June musicals- Annie Get Your Gun, Beauty and the Beast, and Anything Goes.

The most recent newsletter from the American Association of Community theatres just had an article called how to work with different kinds of people. In it they identify people as Dominators, Influencers, Correctors and Stabilizers. Alexis self identified herself as a corrector. A person who is very detail oriented and wants to make sure that the facts are correct. She didn't want to post my last blog on the MHT Facebook page with incorrect information. That's why I have valued her work at MHT. She has kept me on my toes and tried her best to keep me from putting out incorrect information.

According to the AACT article my style of personality is the Stabilizer. I work on getting groups of people involved in a production and being the glue that holds it all together. Right now I'm running like crazy up and down a line of spinning plates on top of sticks trying to keep them all in place.

Thursday May 28

2009-05-28T07:56:00.003-05:00

The board of directors met last night and approved the slate of candidates for the next fiscal year which begins July 1. All Officers are nominated for a 1 year term. Cindy Miller was nominated as President, Heather Dorr was nominated for a second term as Vice President, Wendy Kester was nominated for a second term as Secretary, Scott Taylor was nominated for a third term as Treasurer, and Renie Barger was nominated as Past President. Nominees for a 3 term as director were Denise Bristol, Pam Benzing, Sid Hancock, and Heather Overby. Continuing on the board are Bobbie Allen, Chip Bohle, Sarah Bynum, Ann Counts, and Jennifer Hughes. Completing their board terms and retiring from the board are Randy Davis, Mary Jean Grief, and Past President Valerie Pollard.

We still have a month to go in the current year but President Renie Barger has done a great job of leading the organization during a difficult year with the economy downturn. She and Past President Valerie Pollard have given the theatre a solid foundation in which we move forward into next year and they deserve a great deal of thanks for all their hard work. Valerie has served as the Special Events chair for a couple of years now and has really worked hard to come up with great events and raise money for the theatre's ongoing operations. Randy Davis and Mary Jean Grief have been involved with the theatre for over 3 years and they have helped design and coordinate the Holiday Home Tour and several other events.

Being on the board of directors is accepting a challenge to work behind the scenes without a lot of fanfare to sustain MHT and to help chart a course for the future. The theatre owes a lot of its success to these hard working volunteers from the community who give 3-7 years of service to the theatre. Valerie Pollard who will be retiring from the board after 7 years has been a huge source of inspiration and dedication to the theatre in her tireless work to raise funds and promote MHT. She will be missed on the board however she has graciously promised to continue to help out with several committees as a non board member.

MHT has lots of challenges facing us next year and lots of opportunities. Nominated board member Denise Bristol has served on the play selection committee for several years, stage managed 2-3 shows each season, and helped with fundraising events and other volunteer needs at the theatre. Denise works at the Houseman Law Firm. Pam Benzing has a daughter Rachel who has acted in several MHT youth productions and last year Pam stepped onstage in Anything Goes last year. Pam works for Computer Services Inc. Syd Hancock served on the MHT board several years ago and has a daughter Meg, who takes Footlights classes and has acted in several MHT youth productions. Syd has coordinated several big events for Clark Elementary and other non-profits in Paducah. Heather Overby got involved at MHT when her daughter Shelbe joined Footlights and performed in several youth productions. Heather works at Paducah Power System and she and her husband have volunteered at MHT over the past couple of years.

The Wizard of Oz has slowly become the biggest technical challenge in my history at the theatre. Jim Keeney yesterday joked that he now looked back at Beauty and the Beast as a much easier show. Beauty and the Beast had been the theatre's most expensive show. Wizard will surpass that. We ran Act Two twice last night. The back stage area is a constantly shifting staging area for the scenery that moves on and off the stage. I intentionally cast a limited number of actors because of the small stage and the cost of costuming lots of actors. However that means people are constantly changing costumes, makeup while the sets are constantly changing. This means a large crew to run the show. I think this is the largest crew in my memory for a play. Lights, sound, follow spots, digital projection operation, 3 floor crew and a stage manager. In the space of 3 scenes we move from the witches castle with several scenic pieces where the witch melts in front of the winkie guards, to the next scene of the Wizards chamber with lots of smoke and effects to the main square of Oz with a large balloon that flies out followed immediately by Glinda making her appearance with her machines that create her entrance. The winkies all have to change costumes and makeup to become Ozians during the Wizard chamber scene and be onstage at the start of the Oz town square scene.

Jim and I left about 2 hours after rehearsal ended last night after talking through several changes in the scenery and working with Sarah Cathcart who is designing the makeup for the characters.

Long days and long nights and it will only get longer. Two days until tech rehearsal which means everything an actor touches has to be in place. It doesn't have to be totally finished painting etc but has to be workable. We open 1 week from today.

Just in case I don't have a chance to blog tomorrow I want to note that this Friday is Alexis Davis's last day. It is somehow fitting that Alexis started work at MHT on the tech weekend of the most difficult show we had ever produced (Beauty and the Beast)and will be leaving us on the tech weekend for the newest version of the most difficult show the theatre has ever produced (Wizard of Oz). We will miss her a great deal. It's been great having her as a part of the MHT family. Alexis you always have friends in Paducah! Come back to visit us often.

Hell Week

2009-05-26T10:05:00.003-05:00

As we enter the final week of prep for the show opening (known by most in the theatre as Hell Week) there are a tremendous amount of hours that have to get put in to make things happen. Some things are coming together quickly and still with agonizing slowness at the same time. Yesterday I spent 2 hours designing the large head that will be the Wizard's in the Wizard's chamber. It is a series of layers that form a head that has to be human like and yet mechanical. The same was true for a portcullis (the entry arch for a castle) which is outside the Witches castle. As I designed the arch it needed to fit the opening that we have. Be recognizable for what it is and yet be dream like at the same time. Generally if you look closely most of the design elements contain some symbols that relate to other things. There is an a series of sharp angles above the portcullis which when looked at abstractly is a series of w's. (Wicked Witch West). I don't know how many people will catch that but it is there. The Wizards mechanical head has a massive brow and elements that when looked at symbolically have elements of being a turban which the professor wears in Kansas when Dorothy runs away. For the forest that we find the tin man and the cowardly lion I have chosen a more tropical feel to them because it is an exotic land to Dorothy. As we re-create the scenery for this play I'm constantly aware of the conceptual foundation that all of Oz is a dream world that has elements of real life.

We currently have several volunteers onstage all helping to create the scenery. Denise Bohle is bringing her painting talents to the Munchkinland walls and borders and her daughter Leah has been down to help with painting as well. Aaron Spoden has been here since getting out of college for the summer helping to base coat walls and cut out trees and bushes. Yesterday (Memorial Day) we worked all day with the help of Chris Schnarr to build the mechanism that will make Glinda appear. Some of these design ideas start out in my head as visual images that have to move in certain ways. If you saw me working on the Glinda design you would have seen me sitting at a table with my hands pretending to hold round balls that moved through the air in arcs and the created a ball from two side in the center. It's almost like an illusionist creating a magic trick. As my hands move I'm watching a movie in my head of what it would look like onstage in real size.

Last night we worked from the haunted forest to the witch melting. During and after the rehearsal on the main stage the dancers in the jitterbug scene led by Katy Miller worked for almost two hours on perfecting the intricate dance moves of the song. Everyone walked out of rehearsal having put in lots of hard work. One of the dancers said she had just burned off the whole plate of cheese fries she ate right before the rehearsal.

This show is a true community effort. In the old Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland movies they would say "Hey let's put on a show!" Then they would have a fabulous event that only Hollywood could dream of. With over 50 people involved in the creation of the Wizard of Oz- this is truly a community endeavor that will make people proud of for years to come. It may be "hell week" but the payoff is can be heavenly when it all comes together.

Busy Saturday

2009-05-24T07:06:00.005-05:00

Saturday began with a 7 am run to the grocery store to get water and ice for MHT volunteers at the Lower Town Art and Music Festival. Over 20 volunteers worked in 3 hour shifts to help serve food for the Buzzard Brothers and help MHT raise money to help with operating costs. A crew of volunteers helped setup on Friday for the weekend event. The first shift started at 9:30 am Saturday and the last shift ended at 10 pm.

While the Lower Town activity was going on MHT had the final performances of the Footlights troupes for the year. The High School troupe performed a comedy improv show in the studio theatre at 11 a.m. The elementary troupe performed 2 shows in the afternoon at 2 p.m. and 2:50 p.m. in the studio theatre. By the end of the day just under one hundred people participated in some type of MHT activity and over 200 people attended as audience members.

In addition to all that Wizard of Oz choreographer Katy Miller was working with individual performers to brush up their dance moves in preparation for the June 4th opening of the Wizard of Oz.

I wrapped up the day about midnight last night after working on marketing materials for the Wizard of Oz show opening.

Today the Lower Town festival will have 2 shifts of workers and the elementary footlights troupe presents a performance at 2 p.m. Katy will work with dancers again this afternoon and more work will be done on the set and props for Wizard of Oz. On Memorial Day the work doesn't slow down as there is a full day of painting and building and then rehearsal in the evening. We open in 12 days!

Post Oz rehearsal

2009-05-22T22:14:00.003-05:00

Last night we ran through Act One of Wizard of Oz. Tonight we worked scenes 1-5 of Act Two. We spent about 1 1/2 hours on the Merry Old Land of Oz dance. We are working with theMTpit to provide the music for the show. They sent a final version of the music without the cuts that Doug Arnold (Musical Director) and I had requested. This has made for a difficult transition. We have opted to cut out a couple of sections of music because our stage is small. Telling the dancers to freeze in place while a section of dance music plays and then pick back up again is very difficult. After the rehearsal tonight I took publicity photos of the witch, Dorothy, scarecrow, tin man, and cowardly lion. Since this was the first time the characters had tried on costumes it was a matter of trying to figure out how the hood for the scarecrow covered his hair and not his face. but we ultimately figured it out.

Each day seems like it is so long from 8 am to when I walk out the door at 11pm each night. Marsha Cash is at home recovering from some surgery she had last weekend. Alexis has been sick all week but has been in to work every day. Everyone is trying to pitch in to help each other out. Alexis's final day is next Friday. I really will be sad to see her go. I know the entire staff feels that way to. She has made a wonderful contribution to the theatre and is wonderful person to get to know personally as well. Because of getting the Wizard of Oz ready I'm often out of the office most of the day. When Marsha is gone that leaves Alexis in the box office by herself most of the day as other staff members run in and out. The job of box office manager is not an easy job. Alexis has done a great job running the box office at MHT. As she starts her last week we wish her lots of success as she moves into a new level of her career and we hope that she keeps in touch.

The Lowertown festival kicks off tomorrow. Tonight Jim Keeney, Chip Bohle, Bobbie Allen, and Renie Barger all went to help the Buzzard brothers setup for tomorrow. Our first crew starts work at 9:30 am tomorrow. We have 3 hours shifts of MHT volunteers all day long Saturday and Sunday. High School improv has a show tomorrow at 11am, the elementary age troupe will present 2 shows of the musical Character Matters tomorrow afternoon for family and friends. Katy Miller has called a dance rehearsal for 1 pm Sat. and Sun. for the Wizard cast. Jim and I will be working on the sets and lights all weekend. There is a great deal going on behind the scenes of the theatre at the present time.

The Secret Life of Oz

2009-05-14T10:09:00.002-05:00

My brain is swimming from all the activity lately. Secret Life has been on break and will resume on Saturday. In the meantime The Wizard of Oz is in high gear. We have only one scene left to stage in the show and because I'm missing so many people tonight with the Tilghman Honors program I had to cancel rehearsal tonight and try to stage it tomorrow when we review Act Two.

We made our final orchestration cuts last night. The orchestration has long sections for large stages and in some of the scene changes we don't need as much music to cover the change. Although we have a tremendous amount of choreography in the show we are also cutting a few measures here and there to tighten up the dance sequences. I'm also not a big believer in doing reprises of big songs as an encore unless it helps to further the plot so we have trimmed a few of the big company songs where we can.

The biggest addition to the show is the Jitterbug dance number. It is a high energy dance number that is supposed to tire out Dorothy and the Scarecrow, Tinman, and Lion so the flying monkey's can easily steal Dorothy away. Watching the number the other night -I think most people would agree that the characters won't have to embellish their heavy breathing when the number is done! Of course keeping he Jitterbug makes me worry that the show's running time will be longer and then I worry about how long an act runs, etc. etc... Right now I'm just in the worry mode about everything. I envy Directors who aren't trying to design the sets and lights and props, marketing the show, and keep everything else going while they work on a show. Some day I when I grow up I want to just direct a play. But then I would probably be bored and complain and worry about that too!

The schools are making rehearsals very difficult at the moment! With choir concerts, recitals, and honors programs, along with graduation all rescheduled at the last minute, I'm having to do lots of scrambling in the rehearsals.

MHT's Box Office Manager Alexis Davis will be leaving us at the end of this month. She has taken a new position as Box Office and Patron Club Coordinator for Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Event Services. This will be a big career move up for Alexis and we all wish her the very best and hope that she keeps in touch! Alexis has been with MHT for 3 years almost to the date! Marsha Cash who is the Business Manager of the theatre will take over Box Office management. Marsha has filled this position a couple of times before in the theatre history. Rhiannon Dodds our Box Office Assistant will be working more hours on a weekly basis to help as well.

MHT's board has been busy this past week as well. Tuesday we had a budget meeting trying to work out the final budget for next year. Wednesday the Trustee committee met and reviewed the theatre's present operations and challenges and gave their input on how to address the theatre's long term goals. The trustee committee is an invaluable tool for the MHT board of Directors and for me personally in getting community leaders from several areas to offer their advice to help MHT.

Prospective Board Members are being interviewed by the Nominations committee and a slate for next year will be presented at the May Board of Directors Meeting.

Lots of exciting things are happening behind the scenes.

One of the questions that was asked of me the other day was is required of a Board Member at MHT? Some things change each year as the board faces different challenges and responsibilities. However the basic requirements are to be at least a $100 member each year. Board members must have season tickets to the main stage shows and make an attempt to see at least one of the Youth productions each year. They help develop, and coordinate fundraising events at the theatre. Sometimes the board will decide that board members sell tickets to fundraising events. Board members often purchase tickets to the fundraising events as well as working them. Board members help with the annual fund drive that is held during the year by identifying prospective donors, writing letters and making phone calls to current donors and past donors. The board as a whole meets once a month generally on the 4th Wednesday of the month and committees meet as needed. Board members set the theatre policy and discuss issues related the mission and values of the theatre. Many board members chair a committee. You don't have to be a board member to serve on theatre committees! However some committees such as Nomination are filled with all board members because of our by-laws. Board committees include Finance, Property, Nomination, Volunteer Appreciation and Resources, Play Selection, and others as needed. Board members serve anywhere from a 1 to 3 year term with 1/3 of the board up for election each year. Board members can only serve a maximum of two- 3 year terms and then they must take a 3 year term off. When the nomination committee looks for prospective board members they generally start by looking for people who make an annual financial contribution to the theatre, attend many of the plays and events, and have a passion for the theatre. Prospective board members are also people who bring different types of perspectives to the theatre board- business leaders, parents of youth involved, legal and financial experience, and marketing experience.

The MHT board is a wonderful hardworking group of people who often are the unsung heroes behind the scenes that work tirelessly to improve and support the mission of MHT in our community.

Secret Life of Girls Note

2009-05-06T15:21:00.000-05:00

Subject: Hello from the author of "The Secret Life of Girls"

Hello to the director, cast and crew of "The Secret Life of Girls!"Here's wishing you a terrific opening and run! Thanks so much for doing my play! I'd love to hear how it goes!

BREAK A LEG!!!

Best,
Linda Daugherty

Positive experiences

2009-05-06T08:27:00.003-05:00

Tonight is the final rehearsal before the Secret Life of Girls opens. I strongly encourage everyone who has a daughter in middle or high school to see this play and to bring your daughter with you. I have always heard that when girls turn on each other it can be so much more destructive than when boys do it. As a parent of a daughter in elementary school I've watched the dynamics of girls socializing. I've seen it done to my daughter and I've seen my daughter do it others. What used to be bad behavior, only associated with high school teens, is working its way down even into the elementary schools. This destructive behavior seems to go along with our popular and celebrity culture. Our instant communications world has made this even worse. With texting, instant messaging, and email and especially cell phone cameras a false rumor, a negative comment, or a destructive photo can circulate in seconds. When April became aware of this play we knew it was important to present in our community.

One of MHT's strongest values is that "We don't just entertain. We change lives..." After the play there will be a 15 minute talk back using some scripted sections of the show to give parents and children simple tools to help cope with and even stop some of the social bullying.

As I write this so many other related issues come to mind. I'm reminded of the old Dennis Miller show on HBO when he says "I don't want to go off on a rant" and then proceeds to do so. Well here is my rant-While this play deals primarily with teen girls, I've seen this behavior present in all ages. There is an awful need by some people to tear down others in order to boost their own egos. Teenagers are at a fragile time in life. In the same way people working on a play who are creating something and putting themselves out in front of their peers are also taking a risk. I hope that everyone who sees this production will walk away aware of how much damage can be done by negative comments no matter what the age. The stereotype of community theatre is that it is very "clique-ish". MHT has worked very hard to make this a welcoming and positive environment for new people who have never participated, as well as the many veterans who have worked on shows for years. In any creative venture there are always critics eager to stand on the sidelines and tear apart the work of others because it builds their own sense of superiority to hide their insecurities. Just as the "Queen Bee" in Secret Life of Girls tries to keep everyone revolving around her need to be the center of everything.

I remember a particular reviewer who worked free lance for the Paducah Sun doing play reviews. She was superb at celebrating the strengths of the production and individuals in the productions while still giving constructive comments that helped the performers, directors and designers grow. I've always valued that ability to be positive where people are taking a risk in front of their peer group.

It is easy for me to be positive with praise for what high school student Katy Miller is doing with the choreography for Wizard of Oz. We rehearsed the opening of Act Two last night with a big dance number and she has everyone from Mary Kathryn Dorr flying around the stage with gymnastics to the youngest actors swinging through the air hanging on to adult arms. This is the first time I've handed over the choreography for an entire show to a high school student and it couldn't be in better hands.

I watched Bye Bye Birdie two weeks ago and Fiddler on the Roof last week. I saw several great individual performances by adult and teen actors, some I've worked with before and great performances by some new people I don't know at all. There is a great deal of talent present in this community and MHT is proud to share a role in helping to develop and share that talent with the rest of the community!

Come see The Secret Life of Girls. I promise you it will be a positive experience!

Flying on a toboggan

2009-04-29T07:44:00.003-05:00

As we finish up April we begin a mad dash to the end of the fiscal year. The Sugar Bean Sisters has a successful run. The cast had a great time and celebrated by with a cast part after the final performance on Sunday. Before going to the cast party cast members stopped by Lourdes Hospital to see Susan Anderson who played the reptile woman the first week of the run. Susan thought there was a good chance that she would be out of the hospital this week and we wish her a speedy recovery. A couple of nominees for the infamous "Golden Screw" awards presented themselves during the run of the show. The most memorable one was on the second Friday when Marsha Cash entered the house to start the show and the back door knob promptly came off in her hand. Marsha didn't have to exit at that point so she put the door knob on the top of the dresser next to the door and hid under the bed (which she was supposed to do). Sue Fletcher then entered the house and went to open the back door. Seeing the knob on the dresser Sue briefly panicked and left the stage by going into the back bedroom of the set to tell crew person Jaimie Smith what had happened. Kim Yocum and Marsha Cash's eyes got as big as saucers when Sue, without warning, suddenly left the stage. Kim, as Willie May, became suddenly aware that she was now alone onstage, in front of 240 people, with no one to talk to. Kim kept calling to Sue offstage-"Faye... Faye... Come back.... Faye..... I need you!!!" Sue returned to the stage after what seemed like an eternity to Kim but was only about 30 seconds in real time and continued the scene. If you hadn't seen the show before you would never have known that wasn't supposed to happen. That is the joy (and terror) of live theatre. You never know what will happen next! Marsha eventually got the door open by putting her finger in the hole where the door knob should have been and released the catch. At intermission Jim Keeney replaced the door knob.

We are flying towards two events this weekend- (the first weekend of May), is 7th Annual KY Derby Party on Saturday at 3 pm and the technical rehearsal for The Secret Life of Girls on Sunday at 6pm. Rehearsals for both Secret Life and Wizard of Oz have been running all week in the evenings.

The second and third weekends of May are the performances of the Secret Life of Girls. Performances are Thur. & Fri. at 7:30 pm and Sat. & Sun. at 2:30 pm.

The fourth weekend is the lower town festival and the performance of the Footlights troupe shows in the Studio theatre. If you want to do something fun and help out the theatre at the same time sign up to work a shift at the Lower Town Music & Art Festival. We help the Buzzard Brothers serve food during the festival and they share a portion of the proceeds with theatre.

The fifth weekend is the technical rehearsal for the Wizard of Oz and the final push to open that show.

The MHT Nominating committee is currently contacting potential board members to discuss board and committee positions. The board will submit a slate of officers and new board members to be approved at the May board meeting and then the election by members at the annual picnic in June.

We may be wrapping up April but it reminds me of being a kid in Wisconsin on a toboggan with about 5 people all hanging on for dear life hurtling down a snow covered hillside, flying through the air as you hit the bumps, everyone screaming and at the end you stopped for just a moment amazed you survived it and then a smile appears and someone yells- "Let's do it again!"

Live Theatre is an extreme sport

2009-04-23T16:38:00.002-05:00

You never know what's going to happen. This morning Susan Anderson called me to say that she was really sorry but she would not be able to play the Reptile Woman in tonight's sold out performance because she was in the hospital. They decided to keep her overnight after a pancreititus (sp?) attack. Susan anticipates being better tomorrow and really wanted to be at the theatre tonight. After hanging up and racking my brain for about 20 minutes I decided that the best course of action was to change the part from Reptile Woman to Reptile Man and do the part myself. I know the blocking and am familiar enough with the lines that I could, with some work, do the part off book tonight since the Reptile Woman has so many props she has to carry. Laurie Burnett is the stage manager and understudy and if we had about a week for me to get her rehearsed and up to speed and off book I would have used her. However we only had about 10 hours before curtain and I needed Laurie stage managing the show because it is very complicated.

I began cramming the lines in my head, reviewing the blocking and went to Creatures of Habit to get a costume. We tried on a couple of costumes and found one that is covered with animal and snake skins. I have a wig that transforms my look as well. I can't decide if I look like a swamp man or a heavy metal rock and roll musician. They look about the same sometimes.

So tonight at 7:30 pm we will see how well the cast adapts to a new performer of a different gender. At some point during the play they all talk about the Reptile woman. Many times during the lines Marsha and Sue have to say Yes Ma'am. Every actor is going to have to substitute him or her and man for woman as they say them tonight to make this work. This will be one of those memorable moments in live theatre tonight that will test all of us. That old saying the show must go on isn't just a nice sentiment.

We are all hoping and wishing for Susan's quick recovery and look forward to having her back onstage as soon as possible.

Life is an adventure and live theatre at times is an extreme adventure.

Wizards and Aliens

2009-04-20T21:42:00.004-05:00

We finished the first weekend of the Sugar Bean Sisters with a flourish. The cast received standing ovations on most of the performances last weekend and audiences were smiling as they exited the theatre. We had a few moments from the past week that made my heart skip a beat. Here are just a few of the funnier moments:

On the final dress rehearsal before opening we were so focused on getting everything ready that a couple of the technical elements didn't get reset. Marsha Cash is supposed to come to the door from the swamp and finding it locked have to climb through a window. Unfortunately a final check missed the fact that the front door was standing wide open. So when she came up to the front door and saw it wide open she pretended the screen door was locked. That same night Kim Yocum was sitting at the vanity applying monkey goo to her bald head when she is supposed to notice a large purple feather on the vanity. Unfortunately it didn't get preset so Kim began to scan the room for one of the many feathers that falls off Marsha Cash's costume. This unfortunately was the only night that none fell off. Marsha thinking fast pulled one off her costume (she is hiding under the bed in the scene) and blew it out from under the bed next to Kim's feet so she could find one. On Sunday Mike Brewer did a superb scene with Kim and his blocking is to turn and walk off. Unfortunately Mike turned and walked straight into a wall. Mike finished his exit a little more gracefully and everyone onstage was biting their lips to keep from smiling. Some nights we've seen our share of name trauma with people calling each other by their own characters name. My favorite was Marsha trying to saw the word awful and crazy at the same time which came out awfy. In another moment Marsha was supposed to say she poured chicken blood on her church dress. Unfortunately it came out that she poured church blood on her chicken dress. The cast and the crew are doing an outstanding job with the show and the little mistakes are what makes live theatre so exciting. You never know what is going to happen from one moment to the next. Jim and Ted Roush and Jaimie Smith are all making magic happen with the show. Ted is running all the sound effects, Jim is running lights, Jaimie is doing the on stage special effects and Laurie Burnett is stage managing the show.

The Wizard of Oz began the staging process tonight. Dorothy (Emily Yokum), Auntie Em (Cat Tilker), Uncle Henry (Roy Hensel), Hunk (Fowler Black), Hickory (Chris Schnarr), Zeke (Chuck Wilkins), and Miss Gultch (Denise Bohle) all rehearsed the first 3 scenes in Kansas. This is one of those odd shows because we all know the movie so well that when we are working on the play you can't help but hear the original actors voices and think of their movement. The MHT cast is doing a great job of bringing to life the story with lots of familiar characters and yet making each of the characters their own characters and not a carbon copy of the MGM Movie cast. I think the show is going to be great. I spent about 2 1/2 hours today taping out and then re-taping out the set before blocking today. Tomorrow we are rehearsing scenes 4-5 where we meet Professor Marvel and the Twister comes. On Wednesday we move to scenes 6 & 7 with the Munchkins and Glinda.

Story Theatre's Jack and the Beanstalk had its first performance at the Metropolis Pre-school. The kids absolutely loved the show. Sixth grader John Yocum stars at Jack. John's Aunt Kim Yocum (Sugar Bean Cast) plays his mother and the Golden Goose. Julie Price plays the peddler and the Giant's housekeeper. Juile is an absolute riot to watch as she clowns around with Jack while hiding him from the Giant. April Cochran plays the giant along with a hat that is at least 18" tall. The small musical will tour elementary and pre-schools until early June.

The Secret Life of Girls rehearsed to day at 4:30 pm. Jim Keeney knew someone who donated several display only cellphones from a store. They work great for the kids to use in the show. I told April that this was the first show in which one character texts another. Like modern life cell phones, texting, instant messaging on laptops etc. are all starting to show up in the plays being written these days.

The board of directors meeting is Wednesday at 5:30.

Beaners

2009-04-17T18:36:00.003-05:00

I'm getting ready to go across the street for the second night of the Sugar Bean Sisters. The audience last night enjoyed the play. I have been thinking for the past week that this is the kind of play that will really appeal to some and be just a little too odd for others. Alexis the box office manager asked me today if it was appropriate for children. I went on line and looked up the guides for television viewing. I believe the play should be Parental Guidance Suggested. People trying to kill each other and some of the language which can be a little crude at times is not something that young children should see. My ten year old daughter loved it, but then she has grown up watching strange stuff in the theatre. If you are looking for a evening of entertainment that is a little different than the standard fare. This might be just what you are looking for. However if you are looking for something more tame, this might not be it. A woman came to the box office today to renew her season tickets for next year told Alexis she didn't like the show last night-but she still loved the some of the performances and thought it was a good production. It just wasn't her kind of play. I sat behind a group from a Baptist church in Missouri and they left the theatre laughing and smiling.

It's not Shakespeare.... well maybe it is... it just happens to be set in the swamp with aliens, gators, snakes and all sorts of gobbly creatures.

Finishing Bean Touches

2009-04-14T23:02:00.002-05:00

Tonight we had a dress rehearsal. This morning I spent about 5 hours adding in additional underscoring sound cues for the play. The play is really a dark comedy about a Southern family curse that hopefully will make audiences feel the suspense of a horror movie and laugh long and hard at lots of the funny dialogue and humor in the play. It is a fine line to walk. I can see how some people could turn this into a campy horror comedy. But the cast and I have been working to keep this as realistic as possible to heighten the suspense yet these characters are so funny that you can't help but laugh at how they try to solve the problems of the family curse.

April always uses lots of underscoring in her youth productions but for me this is the first time in quite a while that I have used music in the background during scenes in the play to heighten the moods. Like anything it is difficult to find a balance. When I first began trying to put the music into the show I was afraid of the sound being to distracting. As I found and created different musical pieces it has become more of challenge to keep a balance between underscoring the majority of the play or just selected sections. We are opting for the selected sections. I'll go home again tonight and try to find a couple of more pieces of music to finish up the a few scenes that help to heighten the action.

Tonight's rehearsal was a mixture of improvement and just plain odd things. Each of the actors had a moment where they did something tonight they had never done before and as they did it they thought "that's not right!" One actress exited the scene and the remaining actress is supposed to see something move by itself and then the first actress comes running back on to screams. For some reason the first actress walked offstage and then came right back on before the other person could scream. They looked at each other and realized that something was wrong.

I added underscoring for the first time to one of the scenes and a couple of the actors got totally discombobulated by hearing music for the first time as they spoke. By the end of the rehearsal everyone was ready to head home and start back in on it tomorrow. Tomorrow Jim and I will completely surround the set with large Bamboo cuttings. This will give it a feel of being surrounded by Sugar Cane gone wild since they are somewhat similar. Ticket sales are going slowly before this week but should pick up with the show's opening Thursday.

We have 5 shows in rehearsal at the present time and all of them are demanding my attention. The Wizard of Oz cast has now rehearsed almost 2 weeks without my presence as they work music and choreography. When I get a day off next Monday from Sugar Bean Sisters I'll be headed over the the Wizard rehearsal. Story theatre goes on tour next Monday and yesterday Jim built a cow for the Jack and the Beanstalk story.

It's hard to believe that we are only about 2 1/2 months from the end of the season. With 5 shows during that time period it will go really fast.

crunching bean time

2009-04-12T07:30:00.003-05:00

I have been out of town on the Gulf Shore beach for the last few days and haven't posted. When we returned home Friday it was time to hit the ground running at full speed to get ready for this weekends rehearsals and next weeks openings. In addition Katy Miller has been hard at work on the choreography for The Wizard of Oz while I've been away. I can't wait to see what great things she has developed for that show.

Today is the technical rehearsal for the Sugar Bean Sisters. I finished the lighting for act one last night a little after 11pm. I'm headed down to the theatre in just a few minutes to finish setting the cues for act two and finish designing the sound for the play. I spent a great deal of time yesterday hanging Christmas lights on the set and working with some of the prop elements. Jim and I spent time working through making the rocking chair rock by itself. It is in a location that has to move by itself and then be turned by the actors to remove the body of one of the sisters when she dies. It's always something complicated when ever you try to do something it seems. I've been scouring the web looking for music for the play. I occasionally create my own music using a PC software called mixcraft which is similar to garage band. We have a license agreement that we pay for with ASCAP and BMI for the sound we use in the shows for scene changes, pre-show, and intermission and post show music. However if you use music during the actual play itself that is a separate license that must be acquired for each piece of music. I use the mixcraft stuff so that I don't have to buy so many songs.

The cast rehearsed Friday evening after being off for 4 days during spring break. Saturday morning the cast rehearsed again at 9:30 am with no prompting (that means if they get stuck on lines they have to get themselves out of trouble without calling for lines.) Many parts of the play are coming along nicely. Each rehearsal is still a discovery process for the characters for this play. Yesterday after rehearsal we went to creatures of habit to look at the couple of special costumes that we are renting for the show. I hope that we can blend that delicious mixture of comedy and horror without losing that delicate balance.

This morning I received a wonderful email from the playwright of The Sugar Bean Sisters- Nathan Sanders who said he had been enjoying this blog and wishing the cast success on the opening of our production. What a great treat!

It's time for me to head off to the theatre to get ready for our 2 pm rehearsal today. Since the cast and crew will be at the theatre during lunch and dinner a group of volunteers are making an Easter Dinner for the company to enjoy after the rehearsal. Special thanks to Dick Holland, Stephanie and Ralph Young, and Don and Renie Barger for sharing their Easter dinner with the company of the Sugar Bean Sisters.

scheduling

2009-03-31T09:13:00.004-05:00

I've had some confusion from all the things going on at the theatre. Here is the definitive schedule for those in need.

TUESDAY
This afternoon April has scheduled a Story Theatre rehearsal for Jack and the Bean Stalk. April is in Ballard County today with 3 performances of the play she directed for Ballard County Elementary.

Tonight 6pm (Tuesday) MHT is providing technical support (me setting up and running sound) for the Clark Elementary production of The Aristocats. They had their opening night last night and the kids did a great job. April directed the production and Clark music teacher Dale Julian was the musical director. As always April did an outstanding job!

Tonight 6:30 pm (Tuesday) The Wizard of Oz cast (Chorus/munchkins/Dorothy/Glinda) will meet in the classroom for their first music rehearsal to work on the Munchkin song. The Munchkin song is the first big production number in the show. Music Director Doug Arnold will run the rehearsal with assistance from Denise Bristol. (I will be at Clark School during this time but will check in when I get back).

Tonight 7:30 pm (Tuesday) The Sugar Bean Sisters will work the second part of Act Two. We are starting later because of the Clark school show. Tonight's rehearsal works on one of the actors who dies of spontaneous combustion and another is taken by space aliens. (Not many people can say that when talking about their job.)

WEDNESDAY
Tomorrow (Wed.) 1:00pm and 1:45pm there are two performances of the Artistocats at Clark Elementary in the afternoon.

Tomorrow (Wed.) 4:30 pm The Secret Life of Girls has rehearsal in the Studio Theatre.

Tomorrow (Wed.) 6:30 pm The Wizard of Oz Cast (Chorus-Osians/ Dorothy/Scarecrow/Cowardly Lion/Tinman/OZ Guard) will have a music rehearsal to work on the Merry Old Land of Oz song. This is the second big production number in the show where the main characters enter Oz and get spruced up to meet the Wizard. Doug Arnold will run the rehearsal.

Tomorrow (Wed.) 6:30 pm The Sugar Bean Cast will run Act Two Off Book. (That means memorized with no scripts in hands. Prompting is allowed.)

Some of the season ticket renewal letters will go out today for next season.

We are about to announce our youth productions for next season.

Lots of heavy lifting

2009-03-28T15:22:00.004-05:00

This past week has been filled with delivering and picking up. Delivering scenery that was left from the last couple of shows to the warehouse and picking up tables, dressers, couches, platforms, walls, doors, windows, refrigerators, sinks and counter tops. Friday Jim and I dismantled all of the tables in the studio theatre and hauled in platforms in preparation for the Footlights show and the Secret Life of Girls. We are turning the front of the second tier seating platform into the actual front row seating and eliminating the chairs that were on the floor. April has requested all the stage area she can get for 35 kids in the footlights show that will perform in the studio theatre. We are building a 12 inch tall platform up on the third tier platform to create a 4th tier platform. This will make the back row of chairs at what I call "bar stool height" so the back row audience can see over the 3rd row people sitting in chairs directly in front of them. We hope that this works and will be comfortable. If it does work it will give us another 20 seats in the studio theatre.

I've been working with the cast of the Sugar Bean Sisters as we unravel the lines in the play. There are a couple of lines that are repeated whenever the characters are afraid that tell us a great deal about the characters. One of the lines is "Oh Lord help us and bind us... tie our feet and hands behind us.. throw us in the watchalahootchie river where the devil won't find us." I've been looking up hymns and scripture passages trying to find similar phrases. Another phrase is "Time is going. Tomorrow comes before you know it." Everyone in the show is pondering how their characters are entwined in the curse that has been placed on the family living in the swamp.

We have been having lots of fun discovering the Gothic and comic elements in the play. A dark storm is building all during the play. It is almost a horror movie in one sense. Just as the intensity builds to a peak the playwright releases the tension with a laugh line. For me this is the part that I enjoy the most. Working with actors to create memorable characters that have lots of levels. None of these characters are two dimensional. They all have their "quirks".

Jack and the Beanstalk is in rehearsal and I'm working on how to develop the couple of locations needed for the play to tour. The last time we did this years ago we built a small stage with roll drops that changed the locations. This time we don't have two strong actors with the show to load and unload a heavy set. We will find an alternate way to accomplish the same task. The show has to set up by the cast in a maximum of 45 minutes including the sound system. The actors perform the play which takes anywhere from 30-40 minutes and then the cast strikes the set and sound system in about 20 minutes. Some days this happen 3 times in the same day. Everyone on the tour volunteers their time.

The Wizard of Oz will have its first music rehearsal Tuesday night at 6:30 in the classroom with musical director Doug Arnold. While that is going on at 7:30 Tuesday night on the mainstage will be the Sugar Bean Sisters rehearsal. Also Tuesday night at 6pm is a performance of the Aristocats and Clark Elementary. This next week will be a crazy run up to Spring Break in which most of the shows are off for a couple of days before we come back in and hit it really hard before opening.

Also on sale are the tickets for MHT's annual Derby party! Tickets will be $40 again this year and the event will be catered by Kirchhoff's with a Derby spread of food. Two drink tickets are included in the ticket price for Mint Juleps, beer and wine provided by Max's. The event will happen in Max's courtyard with the viewing of the race on the big screen at the maiden alley cinemas. All proceeds go to benefit the MHT outreach programming.

The board of directors met last Wednesday and we worked through several issues invovling changes for next season in our season tickets. The renewal letter for season ticket holders will start showing up in mailboxes in the next two weeks.