ANYTHING GOES!!

Over 85 auditions later...our cast has been chosen and we are beginning our journey! This is the second largest amount of people we have had audition in my ten years here (after Beauty and the Beast). Every audition cycle I worry- will we have enough people? Will we have the talent to fit the roles? Will people even show up ??? And they always do. One of the fantastic things about this cast is that out of 60 of them, 26 are either brand new to our stage or have only appeared in one previous show. I think one of the wonderful things about our 'veterans' is how they welcome the 'newbies'- and how many newbies come to us each show. Seeing the amount of new people who want to work on our stage says something about not only the quality of our shows but also the quality of our people on and offstage. Seeing all the new faces that want to join out family lets me know that we're heading in the right direction. Tonight we're beginning with our first vocal rehearsal- we'll do about 2 weeks of music rehearsal to be sure the vocals are solid before we start serious choreography. On Wednesday we're throwing a little something called 'Tap Camp' for the cast- our Tap Captain, Bethany Herron, will be starting the process of teaching our actors to tap- I'll keep you posted!

SOLD OUT!

With tickets only on sale for a week- we are SOLD OUT for Broadway and Beyond 6 for every night except Thursday. I'm so excited that we have such great community. If you'd like tickets for the only remaining show, see www.ecctheatre.com

Flats!!

Below is a picture of some of the members of our theater practicum class working away on the set for Bye-bye Birdie. What building is called a flat. It is essentially a wooden frame with muslin stretched over it. We are using more flats in the show that I can remember any show prior. Some of the flat serve a very specific purpose, as you will see when you come to the show! Without these very hard-working people, this show would not be possible. I am so grateful to them putting in the long hours and difficult work that it takes to put together a complicated set.


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Our Birdie Bootcamp video is here!!!

Every year, our choreographer flies in from Denver to choreograph our big Spring musical. He is a professional dancer, so he puts the entire show together in 5 days (which are all 14 hour days!). It's a very fun, very intense time with a lot of work! I put together the above video to show you a little bit of what we go through- enjoy!

Boot camp has begun!

Here's a shot of our choreographer Chris notating some dance steps- stay tuned for


more!


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Although we have just started rehearsal for bye-bye Birdie

... It is also about this time that I and the creative team start thinking about our season next year. Every year, students graduate and go off four-year colleges or two jobs and new people come to fill their spots. I think we are extremely lucky to have both community members and students in our shows. I will admit - it is a very unusual arrangement. In fact, I have never been to school nor have I ever worked at a school that had a similar set up. However, now that I have experienced the amazing talent that a community can bring to the school, I cannot imagine working under different circumstances. Some of our community members have been with us for over 20 years, and I hope that they will continue to be with us for a long time. Many of our "mature" actors often tell me that the energy and excitement of the young students is what keeps Drawing them back to our stage. I always look at who I have in my current show when I'm thinking about my next show. Of course, there are no guarantees that people will be back. People move away, have children, decide they need a break, etc. But like I said, new people always seem to show up just when we need them. Next year will present some interesting challenges to our department. Our long time departmental chair, Vince Niehaus, is retiring and we will be hiring a new scenic designer. I also have yet to choose the season. Choosing a season is always a fun yet scary prospect. You want something that balances the needs of students with the needs of the community. It also looks like, due to several different factors, we will have an extremely short season next year with only two shows during the school year as opposed to our normal four. There are several different factors that have gone into this decision which I'll try to discuss in a later blog, but we will try to go back to our standard five show season as soon as we can. We also have a couple of other big announcements we will hopefully be making in regards to the season. A lot of people are putting a lot of effort into making sure that we can always do the best shows that are possible. I will say that no matter what shows are chosen, next season will definitely be phenomenal as usual. Everyone who works here that shows with us takes a great deal of pride in what we do. I said it before and I'll say it again, Theatre at ECC is an amazing thing.


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First look

Today we had our first rehearsal for Bye-bye Birdie. We started with music, as we always do and I also did some costume fittings. Our costume closet is filled with wonderful vintage costumes that people donate to us and I always love to find a way to share something that someone has so generously given to us. Here's a photo of Danielle Clapper, who will be playing our female lead Rosie, in a vintage costume from the costume closet.


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