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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