Because I am lame, and because I took the job WAY too seriously, I made myself a hat:
Double-stick tape. It's a beautiful thing.
Anyway, Friday night I was so excited I couldn't get to sleep. I was playing scenes of the play over in my head, praying I'd be a good stage manager and no one would hate me by the end of the performance. (See, I told you I was taking the job too seriously!).
Saturday morning was a blur of breakfast and getting ready to go.
Lunch was delicious, but I was a little preoccupied.
Finally, we got out the door.....and I screamed and ran STRAIGHT back into the house because I, like a genius, remembered my hat, but forgot my Props List.
The costumes were FANTASTIC, and finally, everybody had theirs!
Baret and Rachel had a little too much fun with their 'narrator' roles : ).
For the dress rehearsal, I was running all over the place, feeling scattered and disorganized. A list of things that went wrong:
* David forgot to leave his baby costume on until AFTER exiting the stage.
* A baby bonnet was left on the stage for half the play.
* Juliet needed help with her hair and we just couldn't get it up...and since we never practiced this, Emma and I were trying to do her hair AND make sure everyone had their props.
* The boys forgot to put their masks DOWN for the party scene, and Michael took Alex's mask, so he didn't even HAVE one.
* We never practiced taping corn to the girl's shoes. Oh, gosh. DISASTER. Corn was falling off the stage.
* My stupid CD player decided not to work when I tried to start the first song, and it came on about halfway through the scene. AGH.
* Nolan forgot to scream.
* There was some spastic acting going on...oy.
* I ran into like, three things backstage.
* The death-faking nuts apparently didn't make it on the first try (I didn't even know this 'till after!).
* And most shaming of all, to me, at least, JP's costume change was a TOTAL flop. He came out with his costume only half on...I was supposed to help him but didn't get onstage in time (I was going down to the sound cage...sheesh!).
This may have left some feeling panicked. I know I felt panicked! So, being the crazy person that I am, I sat down with the script and props list and wrote, step by step, everything I had to do.
Weird, right?
Anyway...
Theresa went over our notes, and I asked if she could run the music for me. She graciously said yes. PHEW. What a relief.
We went out and had cast pictures taken. Emma, Holly and I, 'The Women in Black' (aka stage hands), felt so proud to be included.
Than we hurried back onstage...and GASP! People were already in the audience! The curtain was drawn, so Emma had to grab me and tell me to stop talking so loud because people could hear me. Oops.
We got the props organized and I practiced the costume change with JP.
Butterflies set in. My stomach was all tight, but I was so massively excited, I didn't care.
Terese started to panic. "I don't think I can do it!" Oh, please, Sweetie. You're a ham. You'll be amazing.
Lizzie got a nosebleed she was so nervous, but she, too, was prepared and was going to be fabulous.
We were all a little frazzled. It was finally showtime.
It. Was. AMAZING.
Was it perfect?
Nope.
Of COURSE things went wrong.
Such as...
* Narrator #1 forgot one line, but it wasn't vital, so they kept going.
* A balloon popped (and sounded like a sonic boom for pete's sake!) backstage by accident.
* At one point, I nearly had a heart attack, thinking I'd LOST one of the kids. "Where is Georgia!? Has anyone seen Georgia!?" (She was sitting on the side with her mom, so I quickly ran out and got her for the party scene.)
* Alex had to be shoved forward 30 seconds AFTER he should have said his line, but, hey.
* I forgot to take Nolan by the shoulders, shake him, and tell him to SCREAM. David had to remind him...and it wasn't his best scream, definitely. You're DYING for crying out loud! SCREAM!
* Terese and Michael failed to come on AT ALL so Alex had to drag Nolan off by himself.
* The darn saltine crumbled up in David's pocket. Ugh.
But it was just incredible.
We worked so hard for a week, and than, we did it. We pulled it off. I had the time of my life. I love all those kids, and I hope I get to see them again sooner than next year.
Theresa asked me if I might consider acting next year, and I said I was already thinking about it. It was crazy fun.
To Dr. Seuss and William Shakespeare...you made this past week of my life really epic.
A couple very blurry pictures from the dress rehearsal : ).
(Curtain falls. Blackout. End of play.)
No comments:
Post a Comment