bluecastle | Entries tagged with why theater is silly

Hello Friday.

What's my name again?

Seriously still not sleeping. But at least there was rehearsal last night, and free pizza, and way more innuendo than you'd think concerning the making of butter in little plastic containers. [sudden flashback to Kate and Leo and Hugh Jackman saying "fresh creamery butter." LOL]

Chaos reigned, and whatnot, but I have a dress, and a speech -- words mostly by Mark Twain -- and can now commence FREAKING THE FUCK OUT about having to be by myself tomorrow between 1 and 4 at the town's coffee shop being Miss Marmalade and running a schoolroom for the kiddos. Who get to play with letter stamps and make little fake horn books. Meanwhile I have to be charming and entertaining and in character the whole time. Oh and at least a little edumacational. Without a script! Like I have to MAKE STUFF UP!

I do not always do so well w/o a script. So I am trying not to think too much about it as that will just keep the freak out flag flying!

Hopefully it'll be a good day. We have a music lesson at the local town museum. Readings by "Emily Dickinson" and "Louisa May Alcott" at the town library, jackstones and yoyo lessons at the town toy store, games in the park, and then after the banjo performer and the barbershop quartet, we have our finale Traveling Medicine Show in the park with the sack race finals, and then we can all collapse!

Hey, that actually sounds like fun :)

Now to figure out how to introduce the horn book craft, and come up with some filler activities like a spelling bee (words needed) and some stuff like deportment lessons and things.

The trickiest bit about doing public theater like this is keeping things going while people just wander in and out. It's got to be coherent, but its also got to be able to be on something of a repeating loop without getting too boring.

ACK.

Please pass Miss Marmalade some smelling salts. (Where's Hathaway ... he keeps 'em in his suit pocket... ;)

(oh, and the guy playing Professor Bigler, the patent medicine man, does a short excerpt from ACDs The Red Headed League, but does Watson's voice as cockney and I CANNOT keep a straight face. Oh dear god no Watson has ever sounded LIKE THAT. hee)

Gosh I'm knackered. And the next three days are going to be a whirlwind.

But the side benefit of a (slightly) free-form modern day piece is being able to pull up the script on my kind of looks like a phone iTouch during the show if I should need to :)

But hey, at least the final member of our cast gets into town this afternoon from NYC!

Load in this afternoon (not extensive).

Tech (as such, all our sounds and lights are practicals in the space) tonight, hopefully if we're lucky we might get two full runs of the show. (yeah, we'll see... )

Then final dress tomorrow afternoon, and performances tomorrow night, Saturday afternoon and evening.

Then the whole thing is but a memory!

Fast and furious :)))

But now I gotta go and get the lyrics to "I Will Survive" ... (no I actually need to them for when we bad girls sneak it into the music mix at the top of the second Act. :)

Right, so yesterday was a wash spending twelve hours alternating between lying in bed in pain or in the bathroom going all pukey.

Missed work.

Missed REHEARSAL. A PRODUCTION WEEK REHEARSAL. omg.

So I feel like a bad person, and a bad employee. Also could have done w/o my mother calling me umpty times yesterday (I know you're worried, but phone = shrill sound = bad for migrainey days) and lecturing me about getting to a doctor. Good idea in theory, but its not like a doctor can medicate the weather or whatever it was that set my sinuses off to insane-ville yesterday.

Finally got back to being human sometime around 7pm. Then spent the rest of the night on the couch watching Top Gear and being afraid to go to sleep for fear of waking up with another blinding headache.

Fortunately today is a superior day, especially when compared to yesterday. Very tired. And very busy. And now we have an extra rehearsal called for tonight. And I have a meeting at lunchtime to talk character development with one of our poets. And lines have to be memorized by tonight. UGH BUSY.

But such is the nature of production week. The bonus round is that our extra rehearsal tonight is being held at my friend's bookstore. That reopens the middle of next month FINALLY. The sign went up today. I can't wait to see how much the inside has changed since I last saw it in early January. I hear tell of yellow kitchen walls :) Excitement!

For a multitude of stupid and silly reasons I feel a bit at odds with my life tonight. Like I'm always outside looking in and no one will answer my knocks on the door. I feel like that too often and I am rather tired of it.

So I am doing my best to ignore that feeling and talk about something else.

Yesterday was a day filled with theater. Local production of "Waiting for Godot" in which I knew everyone except the kid. I had not seen it staged before, and I guess I can say my friends did an okay job. Parts of it were distinctly moving, and other parts it was clear how intimidated they felt by the weight of this IMPORTANT PIECE OF DRAMA. Ultimately I think there was more good than bad, so although my tush and my back got tired during 2 1/2 hours of sitting, I had a pretty good time.

Then dinner with the two friends I saw the show with, which was nice, although mostly I listened to them gossip the production of "Much Ado About Nothing" they're in that's had MAJOR cast turnovers. I think they're on their third Benedick and Beatrice. I would like to be doing a show with them, but my clusterfuck alarm kept going off over this production and I ended up not auditioning. I think I'm glad, but of course I miss my friends.

Then friend one had been given two free tickets to Saturday night's show performed by some summer theater camp kids (run by the Much Ado director actually). They found it to be adorable. I was kind of horrified. I keep thinking about it and trying to figure out if my standards are just way too high. The kids did a series of three fairy tales, loosely tied together with some intervening bits. The first one was a Native American Cinderella-esque tale. I dunno. Fringey tunics with fluorescent feathers stuck all over them, and a pup tent with a fake animal skin over the opening do not an Indian tribe make. Plus there were about a bajillion giant flats, cubes, platforms, and fake campfires that had to be shuffled around continually. That was a common theme throughout the whole thing actually... it was a show about moving krappe around. (And I confess I hate shows that masquerade as yard sales)

At the end of each story there was a whole company "dance." The Native American one was sort of cool with all the campfires on stage with some of the kids playing flutes and drums.

The second one was a English folk tale with a crafty fox. The kid who was the fox was the oldest boy, and really good. It was cute overall, but the kids had been "taught" (I gathered) various English accents and they mostly were really bad at them. The second theme of the evening was, even mic-ed, you mostly couldn't understand anything the kids were saying. But we will not soon forget the fox trying to stuff the kid in the very puffy chicken suit into the giant burlap bag. Had we paid for our tickets, that would have been worth the price of admission alone!

Then they did an English country dance that was like watching the English country dance episode of Are You Being Served Again. Hilarious, but not exactly in a good way. Done well, it would have been lovely...

The last bit was what I think was a Chinese fairy tale (there was a dragon charging around) ... and the son in the story is credited as K'O'li which unfortunately was constantly pronounced as Coolie. Visually it was rather an Asian fusion of Japanese, Chinese, and Thai. The closing dance was definitely Thai. It was probably the best of the dances on the whole.

I found the whole thing problematic, but I suspect I'm being a big fat theater snob. If the kids at the camp had a good time, and enjoyed putting on their little plays then who am I to object to the final product. I prize process over product anyway. So I try and ignore how clunky it all was and just concentrate on the kids and their joy in performing...

So I don't know. I remain conflicted.

Current Mood: confused

From the summer theater's Facebook page... this is why this show is so hard to explain to people:

The moral behind Mrs. McThing, a comic fantasy, is that small boys shouldn’t always scrub their ears, and that perfection is a terrible thing. Howay Larue, a normally mischievous youngster, is spirited away from his mansion by the vengeful Witch McThing because she feels Howay’s mother has snubbed the witch's urchinlike daughter, Mim...i. Gleefully, Howay (the Bad) finds himself in a pool-hall lunchroom, where he joins a gang of comic mobsters. Meanwhile, a substitute Howay (the Good) is created by the witch out of an old stick (Stick Boy) and palmed off on Mrs. Larue. Unaware of the replacement, Mrs. Larue is glad at first to see how Howay has reformed. But soon she grows uneasy over Howay the Good, and is deeply mystified when Howay the Bad phones her from the lunchroom. Before the witch gets through, Mrs. Larue herself is changed into a scrubwoman, helps rob her own home, adopts Mimi as a playmate for Howay, and returns to her unbewitched state with a firm conviction that it is best to let kids be kids!

Rehearsal last night went pretty well. Actually, both rehearsals I went to last night went pretty well. Stopped by the studio at 6 for a refresher rehearsal for the radio show we're doing tonight. Didn't do much more than figure out costume(s) for the Friday 60s themed radio show {I finally get to wear that green chiffon dress of mine!!! YAY!!} and then run through the group numbers. I went into the summer theater rehearsal an hour later at 7:00 all peppy, but about 9 pm I crashed. And we still had another hour and a half to go. Sleepwalked the Act II stuff a bit. MUST find some time to get off book, like NOW, but not sure how I'm going to make that happen.

We got a few more of the set pieces, so the blocking keeps changing a bit every night.

Then some ribald whispering with the gangsters in the corner while we wait out the last couple pages of the script.

Followed by a rendezvous with the BFF at the Sheetz for food on our way home where he got hassled (affectionately) by some former students in the parking lot. He can't go anywhere w/o running into his students. Makes for a much more public life than I think he wants, but it does rather come with the territory.

But now I am going to head off to a meeting I forgot I had. OOPS.

Current Mood: cold

So, we moved into the performance space today. Goodbye air-conditioning. Goodbye Internet. Hello dirt, dust, bugs, heat, and vermin. We had the basic furniture in place, but the set pieces – the half walls, the doorways, and the stairs aren’t ready to go yet. But we could get some sense of things.

Of course, it took an hour and a half to get the headshots taken and some somewhat hastily costumed publicity stills taken – the kids are adorable. The gangsters look, well… let’s just say it’s way more 70s polyester than I’d ever put on a gangster. Then 'til the director got the set tweaked, and introduced her adorable dog Tally to everyone, it was a late start.

The pacing is glacial right now, which is so not what you want in a Farce. Combination of adjusting to the new space, and people starting to put their books down and beginning to work off book. All totally necessary to the process… but it’s a bit ugly to have to struggle through. It's running around 2.5 hours right now. I'd say we could cut half an hour off that and we'd be good... but we'll have to see what we end up running at.

Certainly not my best day, but the woman playing my sister Maude wasn’t there, so all of my timing goes out the window anyway. Director was telling me some night I wasn’t there (must have been Friday night) that the woman playing Carrie (the nursemaid) who’s done Opera for years, turned to the director in the presence of “Maude” and said “what’s up with Maude, is she retarded?” Um what? Something about the actresses delivery or facial expressions or whatnot. It is pretty clear that “Maude” is not naturally made for comedy. She has not much sense of timing. But in the words of my Friday night monologue “you make do with what you’re given.”

It’ll all be fine, but this next week is going to be long and hard and discouraging, as it always gets worse, before it gets better. The gangsters continue to be a hoot… if we can just get the lead woman to speed up her delivery a bit, and make it not quite so sing-songy I think we’ll have a really crowd pleasing show. We won’t have GREAT attendance numbers because a) it’s a play and they don’t sell as well as musicals, and b) no one ever heard of it before, which is a real publicity killer!

But onward we go! Seven more rehearsals ‘til we open!

Current Mood: sleepy

As you can see... this silly show is rife with lines that modern sensibilities could take the wrong way.

Rehearsal went fine last night ... till we got to the scheduling clusterfuck. All very complicated and boring, but when you audition they give you supposedly set in stone rehearsal dates and you're supposed to commit to those dates, or don't bother auditioning, more or less.

So we veterans do that to the best of our abilities, and we schedule our real lives around those commitments (giving up your whole life for 5-6 weeks is what it comes down to).

So... it irks me when people [directors, producers] start canceling scheduled rehearsals, and then adding new ones back on those precious few night's we're supposed to be free (complicated by the upcoming holiday weekend.) (But thank you employer-Jesus for giving us Monday off...I'm living for that lie-in).

More irksome than that, tho is when you TALK about doing that, but no one ever makes an actual decision on these things, so you can't even make a new plan.

From my somewhat stroppy point of view ... you can go ahead and change things, but don't give me a big guilt trip if I can't accommodate your new schedule. I'm trying to juggle FOUR productions of one sort of another right now. And I structured my life to meet YOUR schedule in the first place ...

...Oh the joys of VOLUNTARY theater. It's all guilt trips to try and "force" people to show up, when you can't really make them do anything. It's so much easier when you have a contract with someone for X days during Y-Z hours.

Hard some days to remember this is what we do for fun, when you're being sidelined by sloppy management issues.

Current Mood: frustrated

Mrs. McThing... day ... four.

New catch phrase ... "Do the Velociraptor Dance."

Sillyness is abounding. Also some underlying tension as we never have everyone we're supposed to have... most notably the lead actress ... so people have to keep filling in for each other as the director needs to be able to see bodies on the stage. Sight lines in the round are tricky things.

The plus side of a situation like that is that people get familiar with other people's blocking etc. which tends to promote trust and camaraderie. Also, tromping around being other characters is more interesting than sitting in a corner harvesting your crops on Farmville.

The negative side is doing the same scene over and over NOT with the person you're supposed to be acting with ... and then when they do arrive (about the time you're sick of doing the same thing over and over again), you have to do it all over again with them.

Were I not so wrapped up in the stupid Acting Class Showcase I might be able to concentrate on my lines. We've got a little over a week till we have to be off book.

This acting thing would be a piece of cake if it weren't for the memorizing. LOL.

There are a couple places where I'm a bit confused about why I am moving when I do. The desire to ask "what's my motivation" is there, but the answer really and truly is, "cause the director said so/someone else needs to stand where you are now." So it's up to me to inform the choice.

Me and the BFF went into hysterics at one point when the Director changed our blocking to move us into the corner because we were "stealing focus." We wouldn't want to do, actually, but put us two hams together, and we're going to come up with something bizarre! All I'm doing in giving the mobster directors to my house so he can come over and rob me. I guess we were doing that rather animatedly!

Oddly enough even though we've being doing theater together for the past 10 years, this is only about the second time we've have any actual interaction on stage. The only other time (I think) was when I pulled him into my lap when he was playing Reverend Tooker in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He tends to get leads ... I tend to be the crazy neighbor/aunt/sister/queen. There aren't a lot of scenes that have both of those. So we're enjoying our time on stage!

*Wherein I go into suppressed hysterics every night at rehearsal.

So, at 10:29 and roughly 30 seconds we finished blocking the whole show. The rough outlines anyway. The thing about rehearsing off site is you can't be too picky about where you're going to end up standing.

We actually have a bit of luck in that department. Traditionally, (unless you were the first show of the summer season) you moved into the Barn during a hellacious Saturday night strike/load in. Actors would come in Sunday for tech, Full Dress Monday night and you had a soft opening/preview for friends and family on Tuesday night before your actual opening on Wednesday.

This summer they've spread things out a bit, so we get a full week in the Barn before we Tech. Unheard of luxury when you used to have to do all the tech and the inevitable re-blocking when you finally see what the set ACTUALLY looks like in two days.

So all I really want to know right now is where I come in and go out, who I come in and go out before/after, and roughly where I have to stand.

The final scene is a mess right now, but mostly the newbies just need to learn to trust the process. Granted we give them an added level of confusion because it's theater in the round, and all the stage directions are written for a proscenium stage. Entrances and exits have to be adapted to the four entrances we have (at the four corners of the acting space).

So, right now it's kinda ugly... but it's done! Now we start to work scenes.

I feel really bad for a couple of people who have really unfortunate small parts where either they have two lines at the top of the act and we never see them again, or they sit around the whole night for twelve lines at the end of the show. The woman playing the good/bad witch sat in a corner for three hours and fifteen minutes till we got to her bit at the end of Act II.

If people had any idea how much sitting around theater involved...

And then to top the evening off, I strong-armed the BFF to help me run lines for Friday's Showcase, which we did, and then we ended up sitting on that bench in front of the Church for like an hour talking our heads off. Result, I got home at midnight or so.

Much of it theater gossip/frustration ... what with all the sudden schedule changes and the fact that three of our cast members are also in Streetcar, which is adding rehearsals, and giving the BFF fidgets (he's Mitch in that show). Hence the small bitchfest.

Oh, we also recorded a radio commercial for the show before we started rehearsal... and played with the President/Producer's new ADORABLE puppy.

Sound like a full evening?

p.s. -- I can already tell there's going to be a meltdown some night as the precocious young daughter of the lead -- who is the younger kid in the show -- is already telling the grownups what to do. Very not on, and it's going to get messy at some point.

Had a sudden rehearsal-free weekend, and sort of fell off the earth. Aided by a Saturday spent in headache hell.

There was rehearsal Saturday, I just wasn't required to be there.

We were supposed to have Sunday rehearsal, but it ended up getting canceled. I do not really know the trufax, man... but from what I overheard this may come down to the fact that the 12 Angry Men set is NAILED TO THE FLOOR.

We're the first show to have to rehearse off-site ... and we can't rehearse at the church on Sundays ... and so "someone" blithely said "oh, we can rehearse at the theater on the weekend afternoons."

I'm guessing that "someone" didn't check with the scenic persons to make sure that they wouldn't do something boneheaded like NAIL THE SET DOWN. :D

Communication man. We hazzent got it.

But whatever. I'm far more freaked out by the fact that I have until Friday to memorize two monologues for that 'Evening of ME' that Director Cee is having. Officially it's the Spring Studio Showcase at the local coffee shop. Four monologues and a scene with me and my scene partner-in-crime.

I did the monologues for the first time Friday night and Cee gave me some tips ... but it wasn't like we actually worked on them or anything.

The BFF better be prepared to spend a few minutes every night this week listening to me while we're at the summer thing rehearsal, 'cause otherwise I'm doomed. DOOMED I SAY.

Who me freaking out? NAH. PSHAW.

help.

My definition of “on time” is fifteen minutes early. I should be used to this not being everyone’s definition, but it still surprises me that I’m always the first one someplace. When I arrived at rehearsal last night there were only the stage manager and the costumer there.

Was therefore the first up to be measured w/in an inch of my life! Did she REALLY need my inside leg? But whatever...

I’ll be interested to see what she comes up with for me. I KNOW there is next to nothing out at the Barn in the extensive costume racks that will fit me. I’ve costumed shows out of that stash … and have been costumed by others, and see… the thing is … there just isn’t vintage stuff in like a 3X.

But, back to the clusterfuck. Well, okay it wasn’t that exactly. But it’s pretty clear to me now that our very young, very inexperienced stage manager doesn’t really GET how to work with a director.

( Read more... )

You know what I said about Drama Llamas? hahahahahahahhaaaa...

Just got an email from the theater group saying our scripts are at one of the board members houses because the office manager up and quit on Monday.

It's not that uncommon for people to decide not to share their toys and sweep off home in a huff. Generally you hope it's not your lead actor. :D

I'm sure this is a pain in the ass for the Board of Directors ... but better now than when the summer season is in full swing.

So it's looking like it might be next week until I get my script.

And I will continue to watch as the drama unfolds...

So it's not really a dilemma anymore since I've made my decision... but I have been spending much time mulling over a quandary.

A theater company I (mostly) respect, run by people I (mostly) like is/was [I don't actually remember] having auditions for their April production of "Our Town."

I can be pretty sure they would not have cast me in a major role. I am not really mother material, and what else is there for a woman of middle years? After 25 years of stage-managing I think I'm qualified to PLAY The Stage Manager, but I doubt this company would stretch so far from traditional casting. But I figure I would have had a pretty good chance of being cast as one of the ensemble. The wedding scene, and/or the graveyard scene are the kinds of scenes I have traditionally excelled at. I have been told for years that I make ensembles better by pushing my fellow actors up a notch. *shrugs*

BUT.

The guy they've got directing it is one of the co-artistic-directors... and while I find him interesting personally ... I HATE his directing style which is usually variations on either "I just can't quite put my finger on what you're doing wrong..." or "I require you to do this MY way regardless of your instincts."

The company does interesting work, not always well. I have stage managed for them numerous times. But I finally decided I do not choose to work in a situation which would make me unhappy and frustrated.

If I needed the work, it would be another whole discussion. But as this is my avocation, and something I do more-or-less on a volunteer basis (they usually throw some money at the actors depending on the box office take), I choose NO.

It's just bittersweet, as there's nothing I love more than getting together with a bunch of like minded theater pals and putting on a show. But increasingly, that experience has to be worth my investment of time and effort. My inner demons tell me I'm just getting all elitist and being all better than everyone else.

But "free time" is not really free, and more and more I have to make a choice about how I'm going to spend that time. I probably don't always make the wisest of choices. But I'm learning to choose... and I can't help but think that's the important bit.

Current Mood: anticipatory

Took a snow day today. Aside from all the junk I had to get done, I didn't fancy driving in tons of snow. Also my mother would have been a basket case.

But finished (I think) my Reel_TW fic. Anyone have time to do a quick SPAG and/or beta read of just over 5000 words? C ... I know you volunteered, but I don't want to take you away from your own writing unless you need a break :0)

am in the process of digging up props... have polished my silver tea service, have wrapped a couple fake prezzies for the show (thanks to my yuletide reference book purchases, boxes were easy to find! just don't remind me how soon the Yuletide deadline is).

must now go in search of a wire hanger and a quill pen.

have also dumped a bunch of drain cleaner down my bathroom sink which was being stubborn about draining.

Also I ate, and slept in. Both those things are practically luxuries during production week.

And so off to round up those couple things, pop some laundry in, and work on my lines for a bit.

Tra la...

Current Mood: chipper

It's not particularly surprising that theater is eating my life. It tends to do.

It's just we've been starting rehearsals at 6pm and I work until 5:30, so there's a rush to get from one place to the other. And it's a very physical show, so I'm beat by the time we get done. So while it's nice to get home "early" -- usually around 9 pm -- I'm usually so beat I can't find the energy to do much but sit on the still musty new/old couch and watch reruns of Criminal Minds!

So the holiday cards might be more like New Years Cards (although hopefully not)...

So the Reel fic'll get done ... but it might just be an expanded scene which'll satisfy the theme and the word count but will be "finished" later. It's funny ... the one scene in decent shape was supposed to be a filler scene, but before I knew it, it was over 1,000 words and had sort of taken over. Damn Jack and his big personality! But bonus drunk Ianto, so... :D

So what with home reno, and lines to be memorized, and a lack of food and sleep ... you may not see too much of me here on the interwebs for the next week or so.

We open a week from tomorrow ... and tomorrow is our last day in the performance space before we open. It's pacing, pacing, pacing at this point. *clapping hands* come on people... remember... "louder, faster, funnier..."

Plus somehow I've got to get something down on paper for my Yuletide fic. It's a world with dragons. What's not to love about that?

Whee......... it's my turn to be invisible for a bit...

Current Mood: rushed
Current Location: i don't know where I am half the time...

aren't we adorable? I'm the one in black on the left... an odder Bob Cratchit the world will never see...

Current Mood: mischievous
Current Location: in front of the town tree

I do not think I have any coherent words about AVENUE Q.

Are there coherent words about AVENUE Q?

Totally hilarious of course. My “date” nearly had a coronary at what she termed the “puppet fornication.”

Seemed like a pretty hip crowd on the whole. They had plastered “This show is NOT FOR KIDS” warnings all over the ads which was good, but also somehow hilarious.

Cutest moment -- during the “The Internet is for Porn” number when the performers all look out at the audience and say something like “no normal person sits at home watching porn on their computer…” and a guy behind up piped up “We do!” Way to participate there dude!

I feel like I need brain bleach however to remove the skeezyness of those “Bad Idea Bears” from my memory. Evil Care Bears. Who comes up with this stuff? [Although I have to say, a crack fic threesome with those bears and Jack Harkness just begs to be written. And it’s so pretty when it begs… ;0)]

Brilliant and all, but we kept saying “I want to meet the mind behind this thing…”

There actually is a local connection with the guy who designs the puppets.

Was a bit frustrated that I was nearly always about 20 seconds ahead of the joke.

And those little TV scene snippets were messing with my head. Quit effing with my childhood here people :0)

So, a good time was had by all, and my date was totally jazzed that I was going to be joining not only her scene study class (which was just her ‘til I agreed to partner her, although likely she doesn’t know that yet) … but also the Thursday Improv class.

Bonus was that I had saved enough calories to be able to stop at Sheetz on the way home and get a cinnamon bun for my bedtime snack.

Extra bonus – I suspect the Criminal Minds I watched after I got home might have been the pilot. The credit fonts were all different and they spent an inordinate amount of time introducing each other to people. All good signs for a first episode.

Extra Extra bonus – I promise not to be one of those totally obsessed dieters who talks of nothing but food and their abstinence from it … but I just have to say that four days ago I started limiting myself to 2000 calories a day … and when I stepped on the scales this morning I was 3 1/2 pounds lighter. Cause and effect. I like it!

As the rain pounds down on the roof of my office, I am reflecting how nice it is to be INSIDE and not out in the rain.

Our Shakespeare in the Park day ended up being a bit of a bust. It rained pretty much the whole time ... and at times rained quite hard.

Last year we had great crowds. This year just a few because of the weather. It's so hard to put so much work into something and have it fall flat.

Granted, the people that were there seemed to have a great time (and sort of deserve a medal for huddling under a tent watching Shakespeare in the rain).

The director ended up in the Emergency Room with a sprained knee.

The condensed Midsummer Night's Dream had to be condensed even further as the rain melted the actors scripts...

But I loved the verisimilitude as I, during my stint as the Wicked Witch of the West got to MELT in the rain...

Pictures are starting to roll in, here are two.

Desdemona, Ophelia, Cleopatra, Juliet, Portia, and Katherine discussing love's labours.
(full disclosure: I picked this picture 'cause that's me over Kate's left shoulder)

and here we are watching them... Richard III (and his hula hoop), Henry V, Romeo, ME (with the inevitable prompt book in my hands), and Witch #1 (who really just wanted to be a fairy)

Single cutest thing of the day ... when the rain was just starting to get annoying, a little girl showed up in the park with her parents ... and she was dressed to the nines in the tiniest red and black lace Elizabethan gown ever, with her hair done up and everything. Our little mini Queen!

We put all the little girls to work following Glinda around with bubbles!

Made the front page of the paper today at least...and I learnt a rudimentary Pavane.

(Oh, and dinner out afterwords with a few of the cast ... my first Indian food!)

Stay dry kids. Soggy isn't fun!!

Signs it's not going to be a great day: You're at work wearing the same shirt you slept in last night.

Last night's workshopping went well. Hammered out some rough spots in the Glinda meets MacBeth's witches piece. Parcelled out the parts. Died laughing when read where Director Cee had added the witches quoting Jack in "Small Worlds" about the evil fairies.

Have decided that Witches One and Two must be sleeping with Jack. Three would have declined. Maybe she already has a girlfriend. (note to self: your brain is weird. No it's not. Yes it is. It's WYRD.)

Anyway, they must also have met up with Ten at some point, now that I made Cee add "wibbley wobbly timey whimey" to the script. *SNORT*

What it did mean is that I had to step in and take over the Wicked Witch of the West who has a couple lines.

Which means I'm no longer free to do the Julia Child/Shakesperean/Ethel-bethan cookery parody ... which is ok since I hadn't gotten around to writing it yet!

Which also means that if I am being the WWotW at least part of the time my blue renaissance gown won't work. So while I listened the designers cracking up on Project Runway I ordered me a green gown.

Was trying to find something that balanced Renaissance with Oz :0)

Went to bed late, got up late, and have been struggling to a) stay awake and b) not kill people. So far so good. But it's time for some additional pain killers and a bagel sandwich. And maybe some fritos.

The jury is still out on whether I will be awake enough to go see the invisible best friends production of Odd Couple tonight. He's graduated to Felix. When I directed it, he was Roy.

Current Mood: glargh

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bluecastle

January 2015

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"What's that music? I'm suddenly frightened."
"You do the swish, I'll do the hush..."
"Where did you sleep last night?!" "I was with the fellas!"
"I've never slapped my sister in my life. But I will!"
"Did you know my mother is a good beaver watcher?"*
(no subject)
So, let’s see … last night’s highlights and lowlights…
well!
decisions debated...
being productive.
eep.
picture from mad christmas carol production...
Hey Kids… today’s post is brought to you by the letters SCHADENFREUDE…
When shall we three meet again ... In thunder, lightning, or in rain...
which is wich?

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My Blue Castle

wherein I dream my dreams wrapped in a brown study.

Entries tagged with why theater is silly

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

"What's that music? I'm suddenly frightened."

"You do the swish, I'll do the hush..."

"Where did you sleep last night?!" "I was with the fellas!"

"I've never slapped my sister in my life. But I will!"

"Did you know my mother is a good beaver watcher?"*

(no subject)

So, let’s see … last night’s highlights and lowlights…

well!

decisions debated...

being productive.

eep.

picture from mad christmas carol production...

Hey Kids… today’s post is brought to you by the letters SCHADENFREUDE…

When shall we three meet again ... In thunder, lightning, or in rain...

which is wich?

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January 2015

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