June 20

We finished blocking today!!

Determined to meet my goal, I spent the entire first half of rehearsal pulling students that I needed in order to fully finish blocking the show.  It was a little hectic at first-the students who weren't immediately needed (I think) became a little bored, but it only took a gentle reminder for them to stay quiet for the few minutes that I needed to block the other scenes. 

I decided to only use the male villagers in the Servant/Villager battle.  I figured that it would even out then with only the principle Objects battling a few male chorus villagers.  The battle scene there may have to be tweaked, but we have a good solid basic routine down right now.

The flats for the cottage were finished today!  They need painting, but they now are attached together, door frame working just fine, with a bench out front to put flowers on :)  The legs are attached-in doing so, I learned a new way of weighting them down in absence of stage weights/sandbags: buckets of recycled paint.  They work WONDERS!

The students also had a chance to rehearse their dance routines on a stage that now holds all of the set pieces-this was a great opportunity for the choreographers and I to move students around and see the real limitations of the space that they would be working in.

We're hoping to go back into the space later on this evening to get some work done on the ramps and the staircase-I have the good fortune to have very helpful friends that are willing to work with me to get this accomplished.  Throughout this whole experience, I am reminded daily of the amazing benefits of having a community of people that is willing to come together for a common cause, and I am more and more thankful for it each time that I see an item checked off of the to-do list!

We were able to do a small "run-through" of the first few scenes of the show today.  I was reminded of the need to teach the students the proper way to act back-stage, and to also find happy homes for all of the set pieces/prop table as well as the students themselves.  In the past we have, very successfully, placed the students in an adjacent classroom, which allows them a little more "noise freedom" and it also has a moniter in the room so the students can watch the show without too much disturbance to the current performers.

I am reminded of my need to ask for parent helpers during the run of the show today, when 3 willing parents expressed their wish to help during the run of the show.  I will put out a parent sign-up sheet hopefully tomorrow.

I also need to send out all of the information for the program soon-I'm hoping to get all of the pictures of the students by tomorrow-in fact, that will be the first thing we do tomorrow.

More after the next rehearsal!