Another show to open!

We run shows back to back at East Central College theater. What that means is that as soon as one show closes, we basically start auditions for the next show. Which also means that while I'm in rehearsal for one show, I'm busily preparing for the one that follows. Our next show is called Broadway and Beyond 5. It's a collection of musical theater songs. I started with the original production of Broadway and Beyond my very first year here and the tradition has continued. Each show features between 15 and 20 different showtunes, which means I have to find a lot of music. I start searching for songs pretty much at the beginning of the year. It's always a struggle because there is so much great music out there. This year I've got about three hours worth of music picked out so far and I'm not finished looking! I love doing Broadway and Beyond because the style of the show is so very different than any other show that we do. Here's a screenshot of one of the songs you'll probably see inBroadway and Beyond 5- a male solo comedy song called In Short about a disgruntled ex-boyfriend.



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The view...

From the floor of the theater looking up. Our cat in the hat is recording the preshow announcement, so I lay on the ground because I kept laughing and ruining all of the takes. With me was Elin, Corbin, and our stage crew, Zach. We all lay on the ground and giggled soundlessly as Lee, our cat in the hat, did six takes of the house announcement. A day in the life of the theater director.


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Attack of the student workers

Thelovely people behind these masks are Corbin, Elin, and Holly. These three are our student workers for the theater department and without them we wouldn't get anything done! They run errands, sell tickets, answer phone calls, create costumes, sit in on meetings and take notes and offer suggestions and a host of other duties. My first five years here, I didn't have a student worker. Once I was assigned one, I wondered how I ever lived without an assistant. We are very fortunate to have a really wonderful students. Yesterday, they help me pick out the masks for the jungle creatures and next week they'll be decorating them. Holly is also in charge of creating all the props. Ellen runs the box office and helps with everything else and Corbin provides witty commentary and does heavy lifting. I am so very grateful to each of them. You'll also be seeing each of them on stage in Seussical. Holly is playing the sour kangaroo, Elin is one of the bird girls and Corbin is Gen. Schmitz. Have you gotten your tickets yet?



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It's coming together!

Things are really coming along! Here's a shot of what the set currently looks like. All of the building is finished. All that's left to do is paint and some minor details. And in the rehearsal process, we're at the point where we can almost run the entire show without stopping. That's very exciting for me as a director. The most rewarding thing about directing is watching your vision come to life on the stage. Even after directing here for eight years and other theaters before I came to ECC, the thrill of watching what I saw in my head actually happen on stage never gets old.


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Time management

When we are in the middle of a show, things like eating and sleeping go by the wayside. In fact, I spent most of the run-through of act one last night cramming down Chinese food with one hand, while trying to take notes with the other. I was simultaneously running back and forth from the stage to fix things and talking to the crew and the stage manager. Here's a picture of what some of my view of act one looked like.



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First run thru!

Last night was our first run through of act one! We used all the drops, all the set pieces, some costumes, and a set of microphones. We were greatly assisted by the help of some of our crew. The lighting designer, musical conductor, techdirector and sound operator also attended our rehearsal. I stood back in the technical booth and took notes. Here's a picture that I took during the run-through. Just a sneak peek of what you'll be seeing him in a little less than a month!


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The Pretzel

The front part of the set for Seussical is what we call the pretzel. It's made out of Styrofoam that fits onto the front of the main piece there which we call the Death Star. Today the front of the pretzel actually got attached to the front of the Death Star which is very exciting! The students are hand carving the Styrofoam, which look really great in the end. It should be painted tomorrow so I'm excited to see what will look like!


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Another day without a blog!

So here's a short entry that has nothing to do with Seussical. This weekend I traveled to Kansas City to see a production of Legally Blonde the musical. The reason I did this is because I will be directing the St. Louis non-equity premiere this summer. This was the first high school production and I was really interested to see what they would do. The production was at Raymore Peculiar high school, a small high school situated between the towns of Raymore Missouri and Peculiar Missouri -hence the name. The director they have there has built up an incredibly respected and well-known a theater department and I was very excited to see the show. I love watching other people work. Directors don't really get to see other people work because usually we're in rehearsal of our own. We were able to stay in the theater after the performance and see photo call and a couple of technical things that I had questions about. Afterwords the director very kindly sat down with us for a few hours at a local restaurant and talked about the different challenges of the shower. Who knows maybe one day you'll
see Legally Blonde the musical on the ECC


stage !


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I have failed..

At blogging this week! My apologies- its been a very hectic week. Last night we were able to run Act One almost all the way through without stopping (a major accomplishment). We still have a month to go, so we are actually a little ahead of schedule. Thank goodness, because it looks like it might snow next week! Today Ill be sitting down with my lighting designer to start talking about what the cues will look like, we've got a production meeting and a long list of props to work on as well as my teaching duties. We will also be testing some of the special effects for Seussical that haven't been used in any other show previously. I think that's my favorite part of today- being able to see something new that the audience will experience also. Sometimes something I take for granted will really produce a reaction in an audience- and that's a really wonderful thing!


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An explanation...

of Friday's picture!

For Seussical, we purchased two intelligent lighting instruments. Intelligent lighting moves by itself, can switch colors, gobos and do a host of other cool things. They're fairly pricey so we started with 2 and we're hoping to add to them as the years go on.
These lights went on quite a journey to get here- they shuld have been here about a month ago. part of the happiness Turk is expressing comes from the fact that we thought they were lost for a while!
You will DEFINETELY notice these lights in Seuss- they are super dramatic and make a great addition to our lighting inventory!

This picture...

Needs more explanation- but that will have to wait till Monday.


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Hot glue and leaves

It is no secret that higher Ed is in a budget crisis- and ECC is no exception. For Seussical, we're trying to save as much as we can on costumes while not compromising artistic integrity. In that vein- I created this hat today from plastic leaves, Christmas decorations and hot glue. It will appear in Seussical in the circus- keep your eyes peeled!


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Another day...

another blog! This one also features Turk (who gives me a lot to write about.) This is a shot of his desk covered in various things we'll be using in Seussical... Including mousetraps!


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