Opening Night!

Congrats to the cast and crew on a fantastic opening night! SHREK was completely sold out and we even had to add folding chairs in the back and aisles of the auditorium to make room for the overflow!

Unfortunately, I did not get to watch the show tonight because I was busy selling tickets, Ogre Ears, and posters. We had a slight issue keeping up with the flood of people pouring in. Most had purchased tickets ahead of time, but many were planning on buying them at the door. We only had about 40 tickets left to start with, and they went so fast that we had to turn people away and tell them that we were sold out. Thankfully, we dealt with the overflow using extra tickets donated by parents and folding chairs that we placed in the back and along the ends of the rows. It was such a thrill to see the first performance completely sold out! My friend Matt also came to record the show and he will be selling copies of it on DVD.

Tomorrow, I know we need to fix a few things to make the ticket sales run more smoothly:
1) have two people stationed closer to the doors to check prepaid tickets as they come in and allow the line to move along faster
2) print out the list of prepaid customers ahead of time so that we don't need to go on showtix4u.com to look up their ticket orders (we needed to verify that they had bought tickets online if they did not bring the printed ticket receipt to the show).
3) make sure that we have more $1 bills...So many people paid with $20 bills and there were never enough $1 bills to give them change!

I learned a lot tonight about how to keep the ticket table running efficiently. We need two people chekcing prepaid tickets, at least one selling tickets, and at least one more selling Ogre Ears and posters exclusively. Tomorrow night, I plan to sit with my sister at the sound board and help her with microphones, but will still help manage ticket sales before the show.

I cannot wait for the second performance of SHREK tomorrow. The students did such an amazing job tonight and should be so proud of themselves!

The Home Stretch!

Today was our last official rehearsal. Now we have three performances tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday to show Gansett what these kids have been working so hard on since September! A poster was created with photos from yesterday's rehearsal. The plan is to sell these large, glossy posters at the performances with the Ogre Ears. They will be $3 each or both for $5. My name even made it onto the poster at the bottom!

We got Fiona's green makeup and ogre ears on in time for "Who I'd Be," the Act 1 finale when she laments the curse that turns her into an ogre every night. With a little paint and some swift brush strokes, she was transformed from a princess into an ogre in a matter of minutes! When she becomes an ogre in the second act, however, Fiona has barely thirty seconds, which is not enough time to paint her green. To solve this dilemma, we came up with the idea to shine a green spotlight on her to create the illusion that her skin is green. A very simple but effective theater trick!

A great shot of one of our middle school volunteers working the spotlight at the rear of the auditorium. It is amazing how skilled these students are at such a young age. He rarely misses a cue!

This is the mic chart that we use both at the front of the house and backstage. It breaks down the show scene by scene and indicates which characters have mics and their mic numbers for that scene. In Act 1, Scene 1, for example, King Harold wears Mic 5 but then gives it to the Big Bad Wolf in Scene 2, who gives it to Gingy in Scene 4. With only eight microphones and 70+ students, most kids share except for Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey.We use this at the sound board to turn the correct numbers on and off or adjust the volume as well as backstage to know who needs to switch mic packs and when.

Finally, here's a clip of "What's Up Duloc?", one of the best numbers in the show. This was their last chance to perfect it before opening night and I thought their performance was excellent, save for some missing shoes. 

We have had an issue with small costume pieces, particularly gloves, tails, and tights, getting stolen or mixed up. I am hoping that the students who are missing pieces will find them tomorrow or will replace them with something from home. I have learned that, with so many actors and countless costumes, some items are bound to get lost. We will just have to make do with what we have and leave the rest to the audience's imagination.

Tomorrow, all of our hard work over the past six months will culminate in a real performance with an audience! I can't wait!

Wednesday Was a Winner

Major highlights from today:
1. a professional photographer came in and took pictures during the run
2. the ogres got their green makeup fixed
3. we've found/replaced almost all missing costumes
4. students had full hair and makeup done
5. all quick-changes were made in time

Amidst helping students backstage with quick-changes and clipping on microphones, I also gave Lord Farquaad's royal "bathtub" a much-needed lift with an air pump. No job is too weird when it comes to theater!

 In full costumes and makeup, the actors really bring the story to life.

For part of the show, I ran the sound board with my sister, Rachel, who reminded me how to turn the wireless mics on or off and increase or decrease the volume using the switches and knobs. The headset I wore allowed me to communicate with the backstage crew, which told me who was wearing a microphone and when they were coming onstage.

There are eight mics that correspond to the eight gauges on the sound board. It was challenging to anticipate which ones needed to be on for the scene depending on the characters with lines in that scene. Also, some students give their microphones to another actor after a scene and so the owner of Mic 4 or Mic 6 may change several times throughout the show. Luckily, I have a chart with the scenes listed on it and who wears the mics in each.
                           

















At the end of rehearsal, we got the entire cast together for a group picture. Some students are missing from the photo because I had to crop it, but it demonstrates the unbeliavable costume/makeup design as well as the enthusiasm the kids have for performing.

LAST DAY OF REHEARSAL TOMORROW! The biggest challenge now is to increase the fluency of the performance. We want to pick up the pace of the dialogue and transitions between scenes so the audience is never waiting for something to happen.

Putting the Pieces Together

We wanted to get ahead of the game and decided to add sound, lighting, costumes, and makeup today! So it was really a full dress rehearsal, and we have two more days to pull everything together. The biggest challenge today was costume changes. Some students have to go from a "guard" to a "mouse" or a "fairy tale creature" to a "Dragonette" in a matter of seconds, so I stayed backstage to help them out of their previous outfits and into their new ones so they'd be ready for the next scene. Also, several costume pieces have gone missing. Some had to be borrowed for use in Alice in Wonderland in another company, but some have just been lost by the students. I've told them that they have to replace anything that's missing, but I am hoping that pieces will turn up.

 Here I am with the cast right before we started the run-through!

In addition to helping with costume changes, I also changed batteries in the microphones, put them on the actors (attached with tape or bobby pins), and pinned on head pieces like the Mad Hatter's and Mama Bear's.

Makeup also went well, thanks to our great team that has set up shop outside the auditorium. However, we've realized that we need to buy many more tubes of green paint for Shrek and Fiona because we've already run out!

Here's a picture of Shrek and Fiona during their duet, and you can clearly see the great makeup and costume work on both of them! We are staying true to the movie whenever possible.

Another day, another rehearsal. Two more until the curtain goes up on a real audience!

And the Race to the Finish Line Begins...

We focused on lighting and props and put costumes, makeup, sound, etc. aside. We ran the entire show from front to back, adding lighting cues (i.e. spotlights on Shrek and Fiona during "Who I'd Be") for the volunteers in the lighting booth and props (i.e. canes for the Three Blind Mice). No costumes or makeup yet, considering many costumes are still being altered and we did not have a full makeup crew.

I helped in several different ways. I walked the chorus students over from the Pier School at 3:30 and stayed out in the hallway to call actors to their places when it was time for them to go on. For the second act, I worked the CD player (we did not have the pianist today) and followed along in the script so I did not miss the music cues. I also made a list of all the songs and which numbers they corresponded to on the CD.

Lines, lyrics, blocking, and choreography are very strong now! There is still much "fine tuning" to do, though.

Here's a clip of the ensemble performing the finale number!

Tomorrow, we will probably add some costumes and sound, but Wednesday and Thursday will definitely be full dress rehearsals with costumes, hair, makeup, microphones, etc. Only three more rehearsals until opening night!

The Eve Before Tech (Take 2!)

Tech week begins tomorrow! (The last "tech week" was a false alarm.) We will be running the show with costumes, makeup, lighting, microphones, and the orchestra. We have not had rehearsal in almost two weeks because of February vacation, so it might take all of Monday for the kids to get back into the swing of things. On Tuesday, if not tomorrow, they'll be ready to add costumes, makeup, etc. Here's a sneak peek of Shrek and his "Mini Me," Alex. They're definitely ready to perform...The makeup crew just has to cover their faces with green paint and they'll transform into ogres!

Choreography Review After a Day Off

The show is officially postponed to the weekend of February 28th,  March 1st, and March 2nd. As much as I was looking forward to seeing the kids perform this weekend, we could use the extra rehearsal time. These next few weeks will also allow Ms. Miller and I to do some more publicity.

Due to the snow day and the postponement announcement, rehearsal was a bit more relaxed. Now that some of the pressure is off, the students can really focus on their lines, lyrics, and choreography without the stress of a looming opening night.

Chelsea and Lila ran musical numbers today and I worked specifically with the Guards on "The Ballad of Farquaad." Because there was some confusion about the choreography, I reviewed the dance step-by-step and made sure that everyone was on the same page. As associate producer, I have mostly dealt with tasks that do not directly involve what is happening on stage. Therefore, I was happy to act as a sort of assistant choreographer and connect with the actors on a more personal level. I have tried to become familiar with all aspects of the show and was eager to lend a hand to choreography for a change!

Pizza and Postponement

Major set pieces came into play at yesterday's rehearsal, like Farquaad's "bathtub," pictured below. The backstage crew needs to get adjusted to moving large platforms on and off stage because they only have a few seconds before the scene starts! Once we have a full dress rehearsal, the costumes/makeup will really help bring the story to life.

Here's a clip of Shrek singing his duet with Fiona in the second act. (He's getting used to wearing the ogre cap.)

The Shrek costume is coming together! We're using the green gloves and cap to cover as much of him as possible without paint. Only his face will need to be painted green now!

 Back in the costume room, we tried one of the knight's helmet's on Mrs. Ruscetta to make sure it stayed on her head. It's helpful to try accessories on us adults first before we call the entire ensemble in, just in case they don't work and we have to scrap the idea.

Here's Jessica and Leah, our Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum! We also fitted the Morning Person rats with their costumes. Each was required to bring in a black shirt, leggings, and skirt. We provided them each with a rat tail made out of wool, white gloves, and black or gray rat ears. With so many kids, it was necessary that they all contributed basic black items like a long-sleeved shirt and leggings so that we could just layer other costume pieces on top. This was also a good idea because several students play more than one role and have to change costumes. If they are already wearing a black "base," it will be much easier for them to change costumes quickly. 

Almost everyone is costumed now, except the guards/knights and eight more rats.

The makeup crew set up shop today outside in the hallway. When students were not being used, the makeup artists started trying out some of the looks on them.

 Here, the makeup crew leader is trying out a look on The Frog Prince:

 Since we lost a rehearsal Monday due to snow, we had to extend rehearsal tonight from 6 to 8 o'clock. This required some refreshments, so Ms. Miller ordered pizzas and her, myself, and the assistant directors served the students pizza, pretzels, and bottles of water for dinner. The food was much-appreciated...Everyone was hungry!

Yesterday around 7 p.m., we received word that we had a snow day today. Unfortunately, Ms. Miller, the NPS principal, and the superintendent have made the decision to cancel rehearsal tonight, as well, because the snowy/icy conditions would make it too difficult for us to get the entire cast to the high school. 

Because of the loss of two rehearsals this week, as well as the likely possibility of a snow storm on Sunday, we have made the executive decision to postpone SHREK. The show will be rescheduled for the last weekend in February. This may be a "relief to some and an inconvenience to others," as Ms. Miller put it. We understand that some students have family members flying in from out of state to see the show, and now they will be forced to change their travel plans. On the other hand, the postponement will give us three extra weeks of rehearsal, which may be a blessing in disguise. Considering we have not even run the show from beginning to end without stopping yet, (not to mention costumes, makeup, microphones, or lighting), there is no way that we would be ready to perform on Friday anyway. I hope that this setback will prove to be a benefit for us! I just hope none of the performers or their families will have major conflicts for the last weekend in February!

We are trying to roll with the punches. Like my mentor says, "you have to hope for the best but prepare for the worst." Thankfully, we have a backup plan.

Playbill...Check!

Rehearsal was, unfortunately, cancelled today due to snow. However, that did not stop my mentor and I from completing the playbill! The advertisements from local businesses, shout-outs to actors, and bios were all set. After I made some final revisions to the cast list, the playbill was ready for printing! Here's a peek at the cover and the cast list (although for the show the playbills will most certainly be "Shrek" green).

Also, the Ogre Ears have finally arrived! Ms. Miller is going to start selling them at the Pier School tomorrow during lunches. Hopefully, we can make some extra money and drum up excitement among non-theater students so they'll want to come see the show!

It was a real setback to not have rehearsal today. That means we have tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday to rehearse, which is probably only three total runs. We have not added costumes, makeup, lighting, or microphones to the equation, either. I have learned from my mentor that when we hit a bump in the road as production managers, the key is to stay optimistic but prepare for the worst. That's why we're planning to extend rehearsal until seven or eight tomorrow and starting to discuss possible "rain dates" for the performances, should a snow storm hit. As long as we don't have any more cancellations this week, however, we should be ready to go for Friday. It's a race to the finish line for SHREK!