Missing the KidsPlayers....

My dear KidsPlayers--

You'll be rehearsing without me again this evening.  Please don't think I've forgotten you.  You're in my mind all the time, and I hope you'll forgive my missing presence.  But as I know you know, I'm in a play of my own this time (only the fourth one ever--most of you have more theatre experience in your short lives than I've had in 51 years!!) 

I do, hope, however, that you'll all make it to see "Steel Magnolias" some time over the next couple of weeks.  It's September 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, at 8 p.m. (6 p.m. on Sunday).  Then you'll see what all the fuss has ben about.  You'll see Jim Vetters' mom, you'll see Mr. Jacobs' wife, you'll see Ian, Alec, and Aubree's sister Payton.  I think we're pretty good and I think you'll enjoy it.  And if you make it to the show, don't forget to hang around in the lobby to give me a hug.  That's what we theatre types live for, you know.  Laughter and hugs.  ;-)

So do a good job this evening.  I look forward to seeing you all on Thursday to block the last part of the show.  I love flowers, but I love cowboys, too.

Love, love, love--

Chris

Ouiser Inside

There's always something about a full run-through...it's a milepost, a turning point, a breakthrough moment. 

We ran through the whole show this evening, and I come home with almost an other worldly detachment from the mundane aspects of life.  My body is here, but my brain and my soul are still at the Dungeon...thinking about it, smoothing rough spots, pondering the differences between last night's rehearsal and this one.  I feel calm, relaxed, triumphant, immersed in character and in thinking through my parts and my character portrayal again and again. 

I think I found her tonight--Ouiser, the whole person.  Standing outside the door waiting for my entrance, I straightened my back and held my chin up, a different carriage than I've had before, and it was her.  I felt it in my bones.  I moved through a range of postures and finally found the way SHE stands.  Proud, backs down to no one, a mixture of Jayme, and my grandmother, and the restaurant owner, all stirred into one person. 

We are working so hard as a cast.  I think we make great leaps with each rehearsal.  Some leaps are more obvious on given nights than others.  Shelby is good, getting more so every night; Payton IS Annelle--she's perfectly cast; CVett also gets better every night--her emotional scene at the end will ultimately be her best moment ever on stage; Shari's laughter adds so much to the whole 'feel' of the show, each scene; and Jan as Clairee could not be more natural on stage if she tried.  It's all very true.  Very human.

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I'm too tired to wash my hair this evening.  I should, but it will have to wait until morning.  My sadistic director and my like-minded cast-mates seem to be deriving great pleasure from ME being the one selected for the facial, the mustache waxing, the 'goop in hair'.  Me, probably the lowest maintenance person on the stage, and I have to put up with all these 'beauty' treatments.  Tonight, I got medical tape on my upper lip, cream all over my face, strands of hair pulled through a cap of sorts for...what...? Highlights, and then, the coup-de-gras:  they painted on a mixture of creme rinse and baking soda.  Gooey, then stiff and icky.  Ha.  Yeah.  Funny, guys.  Hope you're having a good time.  *I* have to take my curtain call in that mess.

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An epic and memorable moment coming to the Ricks.  September 17, 18, 18, 24, 25.  If you don't have your tickets yet.  Probably should get them:  www.crazylake.com

On Becoming Ouiser

Yes, I'm in another show.  I believe I thought, in the weeks heading up to Yente, that I simply could NOT do that to myself again--put myself through the nervousness  and the stress of being on stage.  Sooooo much more comfortable in FRONT of the stage than I am ON it.  ;-)

This is a pretty interesting experience, this drama with funny parts.  There are just six of us in the cast--all women, with our one male director.  The process has been interesting, as we walk through rehearsal trying different things, trying to find that 'groove' that fits, that feels right.

I feel myself floating in and out of Ouiser.  I know how she sounds, how she feels, her facial expressions, but I'm not yet sure how she walks, stands or moves.  I know my lines inside and out, but they don't always come into my head during rehearsal because I'm not standing, moving, sitting like Ouiser.  Chuckle.  The lines seem to float in the air above me looking over all the characters to identify which one is Ouiser.  If they sense Ouiser, they dive down into my head and come out perfectly.  But if they don't see her, believe her to be Ouiser--if she isn't moving, standing like Ouiser should stand--then I have to reach up and grab them and force them out.  Dtrange theatrical psycho-babble, I know, but that's the best I can do to describe it.

Working on it.  Today, tomorrow--I will go to the Dungeon and walk through my blocking and internalize it as thoroughly as I know my lines.  Go over it again and again in a way there isn't time for in rehearsal.  I like her.  I like Ouiser.  I will be her.

And if you're reading this, you'd best not miss it.  This is going to be the best piece of drama ever to hit the stage at the Ricks.  :-)

The Drama Camp--a Mountaintop Experience

I have to say that the Drama Camp has been one of the high points of this summer.  It has been some incredibly hard work, true dat...  But it has also been a wonderful experience mostly because of my amazingly dedicated, focused, and upbeat camp counselors who--get this--VOLUNTEERED their time to work with the young actors and actresses of the K-3 set.

The first good thing is that both camp sessions sold out.  At $75 for two weeks of half-days, it was a bargain.  And for what we gave, it was a steal:  a t-shirt, crafts, a snack, free play, theatre games, special presentations by guest actors, a field trip to the theatre, a framed photo of each kid, and a complete mini-production, complete with sets, costumes, and sound effects.  

The second good thing is that the framework of the camp was well set-up.  With me as overseeing director, two counselors assigned to each group (as director and assistant director), and two floating counselors to fill in anywhere they were needed, it worked very well.  I provided the structure, the content, and basically produced both plays, but it was the drama-teens who did the hands-on with the campers.  It ran SO much more smoothly than last year.  We worked a lot of the bugs out, expanded the camp from 15 to 20 kids, and broke the big group up into two smaller groups.  We came in every day with a plan; everyone had their assignments and for the most part, everything ran like clockwork, unlike last year when so much of what we did was 'what can do to fill the time until the end of the day?'.  We met each morning before the kids arrived to review the plan for the day; and at the end, we debriefed what was working and what needed tweaking.  In this way, it turned out to be not only a camp for the campers, but for the counselors as well, giving them experience in working with children, practice in being role models and on the job training in directing plays. 

 This is not to say that everything was perfect.  We learned that two weeks was not really enough time to produce the polished plays that we like to present.  The counselors were young and being theatre people, easily distracted (said the pot to the six kettles).  We did have to be flexible is the space we have, which could not support more than two groups of ten, each working on a play in a separate section of the room.  And we had issues, some larger than others, that needed hammering out each day. 

But the amazing third thing that worked and totally made the entire experience a high-point for me was my hard working camp staff.  They are truly to be admired for their dedication, their hard work, their patience with the kids.  There were amazing challenges in working with such youngsters, but their commitment to their craft, their desire to share their love of theatre, their patience, their faith, their good humor, their dedication never wavered, not once.  At the end of the first session, I asked who wanted to come back and five out of the six returned (the sixth had to go on vacation).


Aaron, Amanda, Charlie, Hannah, Jayme, Joe, Mitch.  My faithful, devoted camp counselors.  Working for nothing but the love of the game.  They remained undaunted and amazingly positive in the face of campers who were non-readers, had short attention spans, and possessed virtually no understanding of lines, cues, voice projection, or presentation, at all.  It was their upbeat attitudes, their dogged determination to join me at the ungodly summer hour of 8 a.m., their willingness to do the mundane and un-fun chores of mopping up spills, taking children to the restroom, cleaning up after crafts, sweeping the Dungeon and taking out the trash that kept me going.  At the end of every day, listening to them share stories of their interactions with the kids, the small theatrical victories, the funny stories, their laughing complaints, the touching moments, made my heart swell with love.  Knowing that we all had the common link, that love of theatre connects me to them and fills with love and admiration for these focused and dedicated young people.  


It was an amazing, uplifting experience, and I'm lucky, proud--and honored--to know them.  And I can't wait to do this again next summer.

My Favorite Memories from "Sleeping Beauty and the Beast"

1)  Wesley dancing with the sleeping Avery.
2)  The gorgeousness of the dancers in their costumes.
3)  My steady and protective young people in the booth; my faithful stageparents in every corner of that theatre.
4)  So many friends and former KidsPlayers in the audience.
5)  Beautiful and ethereal Ariel as Princess Rose.
6)  Tough, coy Megan as Snow White.
7)   Queen Julia Child.
8)  "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"
9)  Alec preparing to lick his fur clean.
10)  Striking that set in an hour and half...
11)  Our elegant medieval lobby from ratty old lace curtains and material scraps.
12)  Prince Charmless and the breath spray.
13)  Attendance at all three performances.
14)  Igor in the dance.
15)  The poems and roses moments...

My Least Favorite Day...

I'm thinking that my least favorite day might actually become my MOST favorite day.


For the longest time, I hated the day after the show, because that was the day that everyone came up to me and apologized for not attending the show over the weekend. (I have an entire 'act' that I do surrounding--ask me some time....)


But now I'm thinking that my least favorite day might become my most favorite day. The amount of positive feedback I've gotten from this show has been absolutely amazing. I've had parents calling me up and telling me about OTHER children (besides their own) in the show who were good. I've gotten FaceBook messages and e-mails. On Monday morning, I was at GCHS and a woman that I see there frequently (but whose name I don't know) saw me and stopped dead in the doorway, gave a loud 'aahhhh', and proceeded to tell me how wonderful the show was, that she'd seen several and this was our best, the whole thing was totally engaging and when such-and-such character did this or that, oh, it was SOOO funny!


Wow. And not to mention the fact that we smashed attendance records. Over 700 people saw the show and that doesn't even count the matinee. Totally amazing.


And I don't think ONE person stopped me to say, "Oh, was this---this wasn't---it was! It was your show weekend, wasn't it? And I missed it! Oh, I'm so sorrrrryyyy...." Not one.


So, the day after the show, when I usually spend most of my time telling people, "Oh, it's okay. I know you're busy and you couldn't make it. Don't worry about it...." was spent with, "Thank you. Thanks. Wow, thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!" instead.... My least fave day is now my most fave day. ;-)

These days won't come again...

As director, I watch the same show over and over and over again. You think I'd get tired of it. I never do. Never. Today is the last day ever that I'll watch "Sleeping Beauty and the Beast". It seems impossible. And I feel the precious moments of my life slipping by before I can grab them. I don't want to take my eyes off the stage. I might miss something, something that will be important to remember years down the road. I want to memorize every nuance of every performer and permanently imprint it on my brain. I want to soak it all up--the color, the lights, the music, the warmth of the young people standing near me in the tech booth, the smell of the coffee in my hand. I want to walk around and burn every detail into my senses. I want to personally speak to each and every parent who has helped make this happen. I want to hug every single child in this show one more time before it's over.

Over. Too soon. Where does the time go?