More rehearsing...

So more rehearsing happened tonight. And now I can say that we've went through the whole play once with all the motions! :) Tomorrow I meet up with our two main leads to go over some scenes with them. Then on Sunday everyone will be there to try and run through all of Act 1. Without scripts! Or for the most part anyway. Should be good.

Here are a few pics my sister Charla took a week or so ago of me in the big costume room they have there at the theater. A person could really get lost in it! I saw costumes for every period. It could really come in handy in some of my film work. More soon...

Getting trapped among all those costumes.

Back in Action...

Well tonight was the first night of rehearsal that I've been to in awhile where I didn't think I was going to pass out. I'm feeling much much better than last week. I'm stronger now and it felt great to get back in there and be actively involved in the staging. We went over 2 strong scenes in the play tonight and all the actors are really doing good so far. I told them that they'll have to be getting rid of there scripts soon though. We are taking Halloween off but will be working Friday and Saturday to catch up for lost time. We're not that far behind but with the premiere date looming I want to be ahead more than behind.

I briefly got to talk with our costumer and she's going to do fittings on Tuesday before rehearsal. So that'll get the costumes started. Still looking for a stage manager. Jeff said he's going to look for one for me. Well...that's the update for now. I'm feeling better and more determined to see this all the way to the end.

Back from read through...

Back from the read through and it really went well. I'm pleased with everyone I've chosen for the cast. Tomorrow will be the first day of rehearsal. So now all the motions will start to come into play. I can tell the cast is very excited about getting into this and just working to do the best they can for this play. :) More updates soon!

Auditions Day 1

Well I got back from auditions a few hours ago. The auditions were from 7pm-9pm. All in all it went good. I got there around 6pm. There were a few actors already ready to audition! Jeff had them 'sing in' with an audition sheet and put a number on them so I could match the number with the person/sheet. I mingled around for awhile as more and more people started to file in. I'm sure at this point they thought I was just another actor waiting around as I hadn't been introduced to them as a director. Was talking to a few of the people that were auditioning and getting some history on them and how they came into the "arts."

So once everyone got there the auditions started at 7pm and Jeff introduced Connie Willis(The Christmas Story director who was auditioning the same time I was) and myself to the group of actors/actress that had shown up. We had most of the people wait in the rehearsal hall while we called them down in groups to audition in the Missouri Theater. That's right we got to do the auditions on the stage we'll be preforming on!

I would have been "lost" if I didn't have my assistant Jennifer helping me. She was so wonderful in going to get people to come down and audition and just anything I asked her. I missed her on the way out so I hope she comes back tomorrow as I really wanted to thank her for all the help she did for me. Plus I hope she'll help me the 2nd day of auditions.

The auditions themselves went good. We had 2 males, 4 females and about 12-15 kids try out for The Miracle Worker on this first night. More auditions will be held tomorrow night so hope to see more talented people in the area. Everyone I saw tonight does have talent! That's so great to see in a small town. All of them were very nice to me as well.

Here to a good first night of auditions...Keep that curtain open!
-CP

Set Design meeting

Just got back from my meeting with set and lighting designer Frank Polleck. Frank had some good ideas and is going to be making a great set for us. We looked at the set design layout in the back of the script book, but Frank thought changing a few things would help for the audience to see everything going on stage better. His ideas were good and I think they are going to help for the audience to see everything. He's going to draw it up for me to see it all together. Then I'll sign off on it and he'll get started. After we have auditions this weekend( 14th-15th), he's going to tape down the set on the rehearsal hall floor so we can block all the motions and not be running into walls.

After the meeting stopped by to talk with Jeff. We're still looking for light/sound operator and stage manager. Also I've got to get him pages from the script that we'll be using at auditions for the casting. Jeff has been promoting casting and getting the word out about it. He went on our local news this morning to talk about his upcoming production, but I guess got roped into talking about the auditions for this and the other play they'll be casting for at the same time. Sorry about that Jeff. :P

Till next time, don't raise the curtain, lower the seats...
-CP

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog were I'll be writing about my experiences as a first time theater director. Am I a first time director? No. I have done film directing for over 14 years but this is my first time directing a stage play. So I thought it would be fun to chronicle the whole thing on here for my family and friends to follow. Plus when it's all over with it'll be neat to look back on this for myself too. I'm very excited and looking forward to doing it.
The play that I will be directing is "The Miracle Worker."

Let me back up just a bit and tell you(for those that don't know) how I came into this position...
I had an interview with our local community theater, Robidoux Resident Theater, in town on 10-9-2007. They were looking for a director for an upcoming play. I went and had the interview with Jeff Haney at 11am. We had a good hour long talk about everything. He even showed me the rehearsal/costume hall! Now that was neat. Felt like being in NY!

At about 2:30pm the same day Jeff(who was extremely nice) emailed me and said I HAD THE JOB! So now I'm a theater director! hahahaha Like I said before the play is "The Miracle Worker" based on the life of young Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan. Very dramatic play.
It's going to be preformed in the historic theater we have here the Missouri Theater on Nov 16th,17th 18th. I'll be taking pics/videos of to post on the blog. So very excited about that.

I think we'll be casting for it next week as they want to get started on it quick with just 4-5 weeks away from show time. Also I'll be meeting with with my technical director(sets/lights) in a few days to talk with him about the sets he'll be making for the production.

It's going to be a fun time with some hard work thrown in but I'm looking forward to it!
I'll keep this blog updated as much as I can. Things will really kick in once the cast is set and we're off and rolling.
Till next time, break a leg(just not mine)
-CP