i haven't posted on the message board in ages- but i couldn't resist.
i recently closed one of the most heartwarming tiny tiny community theater productions of "baby" you've ever seen- or not seen as we had approx. 15 people in the house every night- and i thought i'd share some gems:
...when the microphones are the size, shape and color of cockroaches and are initially taped to your chest with gaff tape, and only after you suggest that they'll pick up sound better and not make noise everytime you move if they're on your face, are they moved there.
...when the sound lady does not allow you to touch your microphone- be it to help tape it on the right place, to re-inforce it with more tape, or, god forbid, to take it off yourself while undressing backstage, for fear that you will break it.
...when on the first tech rehearsal you are asked to take some time during your scenes to figure out which is your "non dominant ear" (you cant make this stuff up its too outrageous) which is to say the ear that faces upstage the most in the production - so that you can wear your mic there.
... when the pit is so bad that you have to ask the trumpet player not to come back the second weekend of the show, your bass player couldnt find the theater and decided to quit first preview, the drummer keeps the beat on 1 & 3, and the conductor only conducts the first weekend because its her wedding anniversary the second and the directors dont hire anyone else to come in and conduct in her absence.
...when you realize opening weekend you can wear your street clothes that you wore to the theater in the show as your costume and no one notices.
...when your director is also a lead.
...when the ladies singing their song (about how many children they've had) are all under the age of 22- except for one who is 50.
...when in tech week, the lighting designer (and i use the term loosely) reblocks the show by calling out to the cast from the mezzanine booth that they should move and stand in other places to make the lights look better.
...when no one knows if intermission is over until the backstage manager (who joined the show the middle of tech week, and u/s the ensemble) comes out on stage in street clothes and whispers to the pianist to start and then runs back offstage.
i could go on for days...
but i think the important thing to take from things like this, like we've been saying all day, is the heart that the people involved put into it. these are people who don't work in the theater but really wanted to put on a show and gave their hearts and souls and had a really good time doing it- and i can say, through all of the pain that cast became a family... and that's why we love community theater.
and hey my mother cried so it was obviously a "success"
There's nothing you can know that isn't known.
Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.
It's easy:
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE.
