Thursday, July 7
We had our last "dress rehearsal" today, although this dress rehearsal came with an audience full of camp children. This was really exciting for the students, especially since many of them knew several of the audience members. At the beginning of the day we had our first "performance pep talk". This consisted of me reminding the students of several aspects of a real performance, such as not waving to their friends in the audience, and to remember everything we had been rehearsing. I phrased these in a question form, which they have always responded well to.
The morning performance went very well for the actors. The technical aspects posed a few problems, such as microphones cutting in and out, and scene changes going a little slower than we would like. However, all things considered, the students performed very well and had a great time performing. The audience also responded well, and as far as I could tell left the audience with good experiences.
I had proposed to my production managers at the park the possibility of only showing half the show to the camp students, so that it would encourage them all to come back to the scheduled performances that weekend, but it was decided that the students had been promised the whole show and it would be unfair to change that for this year.
After the morning performance ended, I congratulated the cast on their incredible performance, and reminded them of their call times that evening. I decided to arrive at 5PM, asking the crew to all be there by 5:30. I asked that all of the leads (those with microphones) arrive at 5:30 as well, so that they could use the small dressing rooms to receive their microphones and do checks before the rest of the 72 person cast arrived at 6:00 so that I could open the house at 6:30 for the 7:00 show.
EVENING PERFORMANCE
All of the cast and crew arrived on-time as scheduled and got into costume and checked props. I decided to stay backstage for the performance, in order to be available to help anyone that asked. I'd never worked with a tech crew that was not college-aged, so I wanted to be around to help whenever needed. The high school does not have wireless headsets (nor enough of them to go around) so I wasn't on set.
The first half of the performance went about the same as the first half of the morning performance, with the same problems. It became apparent that I needed to be able to communicate with those on set, and so at half time, I took a seat at the sound booth and helped the sound technician with a few microphone issues. Unfortunately, because of the cutting in and out of the wireless belt mics, there wasn't much I could do. However, that proved to be our only technical problem, and the show went off without too much of a problem.
The students were all smiling, and very excited at the end of the performance, and raced out into the lobby to greet their audience members. Among the audience members were several little girls dressed as Belle, who were able to take pictures with her and receive hugs; she was beaming :) It was also fortunate for us that the theatrical director of the high school had cutouts of Belle and the Beast available for us to use so that audience members could take pictures with their heads on the cutout bodies. A success? I think so :)
FRIDAY, JULY 8
For this performance, I figured out that we didn't need to mic as many people as we had the previous night. This way, we could use the microphones that had a better track record of working, and put them on those that HAD to have a microphone. We rearranged the microphone assignments, and were able to sort out the problem rather quickly.
This performance, I think, was the best we'd had so far. Of course, this is the one that didn't record as it should have. Other than some recording issues, this performance was the best we'd had so far :)
This performance was also the fullest I'd ever seen the just over 400 seat house...After counting, it was discovered that only 8 seats were left unsold :) A very exciting time for the actors (and myself)!
It was after this performance that I was approached by Steve Mortensen, the president of the park district. He offered me the job again next year!! I didn't give him an official answer, but it was certainly an awesome way of saying "job well done"!
SATURDAY, JULY 9
Today was our last performance. The students seemed a little rambunctious before the performance, but I'm guessing that was just the excitement of the last day. I gave my usual pep talk, throwing in there a few points about enjoying their last performance before I called all of the high-school aged performers out into the hallway. Now, I'm still debating on whether or not I "should have" done this, but I think it helped for some.
We talked about anticipating the need for action, and did a reduced version of the clap game. Most of the students were excited about it, and really got into the game. A few thought it was rather silly, and didn't really want to participate. I noticed that these were also the students who didn't really seem to be nervous about the performance. I'm not quite sure what that means, but it was an interesting observation.
We managed to get a full recording of this show, which was a real relief to me (having promised the students the opportunity to have copies of the show).
At the end of the performance, the actress playing Belle asked that myself, the music director, and the choreographers come up onto the stage. Much to my surprise, there were bouquets there for all of us, and all of the students had created a book for me, each having written a letter to me-it was all bound up into a book that had been decorated with "Beauty and the Beast" with a rose. This managed to reduce me to what some had dubbed "a blubbering idiot." It was an amazing feeling, looking through the book and reading my letters...that book means more to me than any award I could have ever gotten. So much more.
I had a hard time convincing the actors to get out of costume and go home after the night was over...many hugs and pictures were taken, and it was a bittersweet moment to turn out that light set.
To see all the months of work finally up on the stage for the last time was incredible...I cannot thank those involved enough for all of the dedication they put into this show, and to the company involved. You were amazing :)
STRIKE
Surprisingly, it took us a little under an hour and a half to strike the set completely, as well as to clean out the theater, lobby, house, and scene shops. We were also able to organize the tool and paint cabinets, as well as the prop shop, and the loft where the flats are stored. To do so was very important to me, because it was a really wonderful opportunity to have been able to use the space and materials there. I replaced some of the paintbrushes that had been ruined, as well. I did require every one of the students involved to help out with strike, and I had noted it on the audition sheet so that they would know before hand. Most all of the students were able to attend, and it was wonderful to see all of them helping out to get the job done.
After the strike, there was a cast party of sorts at the local public pool. The thing that I will remember most about this cast party is the total integration of all of the students; the older ones played with the younger ones, and it appeared that every cast member intermingled with everyone else...it was amazing to look out at them and see not just a bunch of little groups of cliques, but to see them all together...it was quite a teacher moment for me:) There, I gave out my awards to the students (having picked a few that I felt deserved special recognition) and as well as one gift. Pulling a few strings, I was able to let the actress playing Belle keep the big yellow dress, and she was beyond excited :)
This experience has taught me so much more than I can ever say, and has been a truly wonderful experience. I will miss these children so much (do you know how hard it is to resist a hug and "please come back again! I'll miss you!" from a six year old?!) and I can honestly say that they were the perfect cast for this show :)
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