Sunday, 19 June 2005

This show will go down in history!
It's been a VERY busy season for me. Became a prodution director for the drama society. Directed my first play. Producer for 3 shows. Choreographer, costumer, actor, singer, dancer, producer. Rehearing for the musical and the variety show. It's going to be nice to have a break for a while.

We had our final show last night. And it will definitely go down in history for many reasons. I've performed in some really "interesting" venues, but last night had to top the cake.

The main theatre in town has been undergoing renovations since last year. When it was discovered that it wouldn't be ready in time for our musical, we decided to postpone the show until fall and put together a variety show. And this year also marks the Centennial of Alberta becoming a province in Canada.

While putting together the show, we were approached by another theatre group who was putting together acts for a centennial celebration. They were willing to pay us for our time and we thought, "Why not?" We were already working on a show and thought it would be easy to just transfer our show to that venue.

We had been told that it would be an "outside" venue. We would be performing in a tent with a stage. And, of course, it didn't sound that bad. However, the weather here has been really wet lately. Wet and cold.

We all agreed to meet at the play house at 6:30 to go over material and get set up.

I received an e-mail the night before asking for more material. They'd discovered that we were to perform not for 2 hours, but for 4. So, I called and offered to sing a few more songs if necessary. An offer that was very much appreciated considering that we weren't sure if we had enough acts to last the 4 hours.

The day comes and it's been raining all day. Not really hard, but a constant drizzle. But, it's still okay right? We're going to be inside.

We arrive to discover that the tent is about 1/4 the size we thought it would be. They'd put together 4 tents that were 8' x 12'. And there was no change room. The ground was soaking wet. The stage was 4 feet off the ground. Which meant that our heads almost touched the top of the tent. And there were metal poles and guide wires crossing the stage. Oh my GOD!

At that point, costuming went out the window. It was cold and raining. And none of us were going to be traipsing around in the mud in our dresses and good clothes. Aside from the fact that they wanted us to come up from the audience. An audience that turned out to be about 19 people.

Well, we did the show any way. It was really good. We had to really watch our dance movements. Otherwise you'd fall off the stage or clothesline yourself on a wire. We took a few extra breaks here and there and managed to stretch things out 3 hours with a few extra acts. I did 2 extra songs, Crazy (Patsy Cline) and Don't Know Why? (Norah Jones). And they went over very well.

After all was said and done, it was a lot of fun. My jeans were soaked from the bottoms up about 1 foot and my boots were drenched and covered in mud. And I believe that I have caught a bit of a cold.

It was fun, but I'm glad it's over nonetheless. It's definitely an experience I'll never forget! And wouldn't you know, today the sun is out!

Have a great week!
B.

Posted by brookside10 at 11:24 AM MDT | Post Comment | Permalink
Updated: Sunday, 19 June 2005 11:30 AM MDT

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