Argh! First week be complete......

Last night was terrific.
Despite the wind storm, most of the cast showed up.
James, however, was stuck in his house.
No power.
Not fun.
Those who did come last night were all greeted with something that made them all smile a bit.
Every year for the past four years, I've given the cast of the children's production Valentines of sorts on or before Valentine's Day.
:o)
After everyone arrived, we traveled from page 1 to page 29, stopping every once in a while to try something new, change a direction or motivation, or, of course, laugh at a hilarious blunder.
Always fun.
Like I said last night, if this week's rehearsals are any indication of how the rest of our time together is going to go, we're going to have a great time.
I'm proud of everyone and I can't wait for Monday, when we will begin the second half of Act I.
Thank you guys!

Thoughts on last night....

Last night brought new twists and turns along with more members of our scurvy cast.
We added Blind Pew, Black Dog, part of the pirate crew (they are going to be so cool), Squire Trelawney, Redruth, and Hunter.
AND, we got to kill off our first two victims of this production, Bill and Blind Pew.
YAY!
:o)
I found it amusing how many of the kids kept asking me, "Do I get to die?" or "When do I get to kill someone???"
I love it.
Everyone needs to keep in mind that March 4th and 9th, we will be blocking the combat scenes.
This means the brawl between Black Dog and Bill and the fight scenes in Act II.
I'm pretty sure that's it, but James and I will flip through the script and let everyone involved know who will be needed for what.

One thing I hope to instill in all of our cast members is the fact that there are NO unimportant roles in this production.
Just because you don't have a bunch of lines, or we don't see you onstage very often does not mean you are not important.
We sat down and chose each actor for each character very carefully and the end result was a scurvy cast of which we are very proud.
I hope everyone knows that, or quickly learns that.
The saying goes, "There are no small parts, just small actors."
MY saying goes "There are no unimportant part or actors."

Tonight, we are going to touch up 13-29, then run through 1-29.
I gave some individual notes last night so I'm excited to see how those individuals interpret and apply....
After tonight, we won't see these scenes til next Wednesday, when we'll add pages
29-51 to the mix....

Update... (rehearsals start on MONDAY!!!!)

I am currently in the process of copying scripts and putting everything together.
As the scripts were $20 a pop, I'm doing a little bit of surgical work so that everyone has a copy of whatever part of the production in which they are involved.
I only have 11 copies of the actual script, and I'm going to assign those to the characters that are throughout the production.
This isn't so much about who's more important or better.
NONE of that, because EVERYONE is important.
It's all a matter of scheming and saving trees.
So, this week's main mode of insanity is, indeed, the scripts.
Bleh.
There are things about which others don't tell you when you start out on your first directing gig.
I imagine this is what it's like when you first bring home your baby or when you first get married.
You always learn things about yourself and the situation that you never saw coming...
BUT, it's fabulous.

Our first rehearsal is Monday....
I am totally pumped!!!!
We're going to need Jim, Mrs. H, Bill, the CUSTOMERS, and Dr. L on Monday.
Then, Tuesday, Jim, Bill, Mrs. H, Dr. L, Black Dog, Blind Pew, Morgan, Merry, Squire, Redruth, Hunter, Joyce, and the PIRATES group.
Wednesday, we're going over pages 1-29, which means EVERYONE from Monday and Tuesday.

YAY!

Rehearsal Schedule
February (Rehearsals are 6:30-8:30, unless otherwise noted)
Week 1-9 Blocking pages 1-13 (Jim, Mrs. Hawkins, Bill, Customers, Livesey)
10 Go over 1- 13, Block Pages 13-29 (Jim, Mrs. Hawkins, Bill, Livesey, Black Dog, Pew,
Morgan, Merry, Job, Trelawney, Redruth, Hunter,Joyce)
11 Go Over 1-29
Wk. 2- 16 Blocking pages 28-37 (Squire, Livesy, Smollett, Silver, (Squire, Livesey, Smollett, Silver, Redruth, Hunter, Joyce, Jim, Black Dog Dog,
Arrow, Merry, Dick, Morgan, Hands, O'Brien )
17 Go over 28-37, Block pages 37-51 (Squire, Livesey, Smollett, Silver, Jim, Redruth, Hunter, Joyce,
Arrow, Merry, Dick, Morgan, Hands, O'Brien )
18 Go Over pages 1-51
Wk.3-23 Blocking Pages 52-69 (Jim, Livesey, Joyce, Hunter, Redruth, Squire, Smollett, Pirates, Ben Gunn)
24 Go over 52-69, Block Pages 69-94 (Jim, Livesey, Squire, Smollett, Pirates, Ben Gunn)
25 Go over 52-94
March
Wk. 4- 2 Go over Act 2
3 Go Over Act 1
4 Go Over Combat scenes (Actors TBA)
Wk. 5- 9 Go Over Combat scenes (Actors TBA)
10 Run Act 1
11 Run Act 2
Wk. 6-16 Run Show Practice Curtain Call
17 Run Show
18 Run Show
Wk. 7-22 Tech Rehearsal- 4:30-TBA (depending on show runtime)
23 Run Play Call time at 6 pm. Curtain at 7 pm
24 Run Play Call time at 6 pm. Curtain at 7 pm
25 Run Play Call time at 6 pm. Curtain at 7 pm
26 Run Play Call time at 6 pm. Curtain at 7 pm
27 Play Call time at 6 pm Curtain at 7:30 pm
28 Play Call time at 6pm Curtain at 7:30 pm
29 Play Call time at 1 pm Curtain at 2:30 pm
April
1 Brush Up
3 Play Call time at 6 pm Curtain at 7:30
4 Play Call time at 6 pm Curtain at 7:30
5 play and strike set Call time at 1 pm Curtain at 2:30

Update...

As of right now, everyone I cast is all in and excited.
WHOOOOOT!!!!

I went ahead and cancelled the read through.
It would be too maddening to cope with staying out of the way of the LJJ folks.
Plus, some of our cast is in LJJ, so we wouldn't even have everyone together.
BUT, we start in a week....
And I am so pumped!!

7... SEVEN days away!!!!

A week from this moment, I will be going over the audition sheets of the actors who will show up to audition for our fabulous play.
Yes, even though the auditions will be at 2:30, I will still be going over stuff after 11 in the evening.
lol
Not that I'm obsessed or anything...

There was an ad for the auditions in the Circleville Herald, and the Dispatch.
Fabulous stuff.

I'm so excited...
So anxious because we're so close, yet so far away.

After auditions, I'm going to email the cast list to everyone, post it on the doors at the theatre, and post it here.
THEN, we're going to have a read-through on the 4th to get everyone kinda familiar with the lines.
THEN, rehearsals start on the 9th at 6:30.
UBER fabulous!!!

Just checking in...

So, nothing major to report at this time....
Except for the fact that WE HAVE 9 DAYS LEFT TIL AUDITIONS!!!!!
9 DAYS!!!!
I am so pumped.
I have never counted down for anything like this before.
I a soooo ready to get started.
Auditions are in 9 days...
Then we have the read through for the cast on the 4th...
Then we offically start rehearsals on the 9th.
I can't touch any set or costuming stuff til then, in respect for Little Johnny Jones going on til the 8th.

AGH!
I'm so pumped.