Things have been very busy since I got back from the Czech Republic. The day after arriving home I was thrown into rehearsals for Sweeney Todd at Ohlook PAC out in Grapevine. Ohlook is a theater school that works with kids from about the age of six all the way up to adults. Over the summer they have a crazy performance schedule with the children's shows happening during the day and the more adult shows at night. Our rehearsals took place from 2 to 6 everyday while rehearsals for Ohlook's productions of Reefer Madness and Evil Dead: The Musical took place in the evenings.
The plan had been for Ohlook's new building to be built before the summer which, of course, didn't happen. As a result a lot of the summer shows are being rehearsed and performed in the Cafegymnasitorium at the Clarinden School in Southlake. It's not ideal at all. There are no dressing rooms, no "cast only" bathrooms, and while there is a stage, there is literally no wing space. It's just a raised stage floor with steps leading up to it and then three large, bare walls. There are almost no lighting instruments in the space and no mikes. The director brought mikes from the high school where she teaches but apparently she didn't see fit to let Ohlook use them for the rest of the summer so they are doing the best they can in a space where the sound doesn't carry very far once it comes out of your mouth. Many of the roles in Sweeney were triple cast which presented all kinds of problems. It made rehearsals problematic in that rehearsal time was not doled out fairly. Those who were favored by the director tended to get more rehearsal time while others were seriously under-rehearsed. Not an ideal situation.
Once we were open, James and I started rehearsals for [title of show]. This has been my first experience directing a full scale musical. Granted, this is a very intimate, no frills show, but it's 90 minutes with all four on stage most of that time and I had never directed anything with a running time longer than an hour. I managed to avoid panicking by being incredibly organized and prepared. I have Candace Evans to thank for that. Three summers ago when we worked on Cabaret together she was the textbook example of what a well prepared director should be.
But this isn't about me. Our cast is AMAZING and needs to be commended! I have been so blessed to be working with Marianne Galloway, Jennifer Pasion, Marshall Warren and John Davenport. I couldn't ask for better! They have worked so hard in rehearsals and taken everything James and I have told them and made it better than I could have hoped for. I extend a giant thank you to them!
On paper it looked like we had lots of rehearsal time but due to the Ohlook performance schedule and James being the music director for both Reefer and Evil Dead, we could only rehearse four days a week. The cast rose to the challenge and has done an amazing job! We managed to pull the show together in about nine days of rehearsal which is VERY fast and not ideal. The cast got into the habit of meeting early to run lines before rehearsal which was a tremendous help! I wish we'd had time to routine the show a little more but no matter. I am thrilled with the wonderful job they are doing!
This past monday we made an appearance at Mama's Party to promote the show. Sometimes the audiences there are small but we were lucky enough to be on the bill with the Brookhaven JC production of Chess so a lot of students were there. Our cast performed four songs from the show and a lot of the Brookhaven kids said they were planning on coming to see our show which is very exciting! We had small audiences our opening weekend so hopefully things will improve as time goes on. Lord knows I'm doing as much as I can to promote the show with the resources I have available.
The garden in Plano is going great! I am really enjoying it. Things are really starting to thrive and grow and we're starting to see the results of all our work. Soon we'll have tons of egg plants, peppers and okra. The gourds, squash and mellons are doing well, also. We had an attack of aphids in the cucumbers which was surprising as we've been doing everything possible to prevent them. James thinks the week of rain we had a while back made things too damp and that left the door open for the little motherf-ckers! LOL. We've been using garrett juice and an organic insecticide on them and I think it's working. The leaves don't look shiny anymore and the new growth looks very healthy and is putting on flowers. Hopefully we'll have a huge crop before it's all over. The compost pile is doing great! We moved have of it into the second...what would you call it?...receptical?...containment area? Who knows. Anyway, we separated the compost into two parts and layered in hay to allow it to aerate itself. They hay will break down and add to the compost, of course. As we dug, we could feel a lot of heat coming off of the compost. The center is VERY hot which is exactly what is supposed to happen. Over the winter we should be able to till some wonderful, nutrient rich "compost dirt" into the raised beds to enrich the soil! YAY!!!
I guess that's about it. I am constantly thinking of things that would be a great blog subjects but I never write them down so I forget them. I will work harder. For the time being this will have to do. I hope it's remotely interesting.
More to come!
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