At any given time, I am working on a multitude of different projects; all which require my intense attention. We are currently in the Winter season (December-February). Each season has 2 shows. I am an understudy for one of the shows. You can see my picture on the poster. How fun!
The full-size poster (close up is the second picture)--
You can see the two large banners hanging on the sides--these are for the current shows (I'm in Winter Wonderland, the other is The Snow Queen)--
I have now done the show a total of 4 times. When Derek goes on vacation for nearly 2 weeks in February, I'll be doing it every day. That's why I must rest my foot--so it's well enough by then to handle the stress.
Anyway, we are now preparing for the Spring Season (March-May). The schedule here is very strange, and hard to explain. Basically, there are 2 teams of people here. Development Team and Performance Team. The Performance Team is just that. They do the Main Stage shows, and that's about all. But the Development Team develops all the elements for the next season, including activities, game shows, and even the Main Stage shows. And while they're developing all these things, they're also understudies for the Performance Team.
So I'm on the Development Team. So while the Main Stage shows are going on during the day, I'm actually doing the other activities we offer here. I'm either reading stories as Grandpa Jay at our Storytelling House, or I'm working at the Snowy Mountain Challenge, our winter-themed game show. When I'm not doing that, I'm either helping other people on the Development Team with their projects. The theme of the Spring Season is "The 50's". Our team has to write all the scripts, plan all the activities, and get everything arranged.
Two new shows have been picked for the Spring Season. I could either be a Director for one of the shows, or I could audition to be one of them.
Early last week there were interviews for the Director position. I decided I would rather be a director. Considering that the acting here is...well...different than acting anywhere else, I thought I might try to get more directing experience. When I say "different", I don't mean anything bad. Children's theater is children's theater no matter where you are (which is basically what I'm doing), but when you consider that most of the kids here do not understand what you're saying, and getting them to answer your questions is often like pulling teeth...I thought I'd prefer directing. I'm sure you can understand.
Since I'm on development now, I'm up next for the Performance Team. So, if I became a director for the next season, I would be on Development Team once again, and not get the chance to perform for 3 more months. Basically, if I got picked to be a Director, I would be stuck on development for 3 more months. My group leader said some people don't care whether they're on development or not...but others only came here to perform. After weighing the options...I still wanted to be a director.
So I had an interview. It was a good interview. Ultimately, they decided they wanted me to be in a show instead of direct one; in addition to the fact that it would mess up my schedule. They also said they need strong singers for this upcoming season. Fine by me.
Out of the two shows, there was really only one role I wanted. It's actually two roles, played by the same person. Curtis/The Cook. Since the theme is the 50's, half of the show takes place in a diner, the other half in a classroom. Curtis is a "C" student, but he loves sports. He's a mixture between the class clown, the dumb jock, and the innocent friendly guy. The Cook is a clumsy guy who knocks things over, burns himself, and falls and hits his head. It's full of physical humor, which if you didn't know, I really enjoy. (I won the Harvest Festival Talent Show in college one year for teaching people how to fall!)
Once I didn't get the director position, I decided this was the role I wanted.
Auditions were last Friday. The cast list went up on Saturday afternoon, and I got the role I wanted.
We started rehearsals this week, and that's taken up a great deal of time. In addition to all this (understudying, doing activities and game shows, helping other people with their projects for the next season, and rehearsing for the next season), I am also responsible for writing a script for the FOLLOWING season, the Summer Season (June-August). So I've been busy.
I'm really enjoying rehearsals. There are only 4 people in the cast, and I like them all. It's been really fun so far, and we're not even close to opening the show. Usually the fun doesn't start until several weeks into rehearsal. I better enjoy these people--I have to do this show with them for 3 months! It's something like 130 shows! Insane. I've never done a show that many times. Although, when I worked at Disneyland, I did take hundreds and hundreds of trips around the Jungle Cruise. And when I was traveling around to elementary schools, I did those shows hundreds of times...but this is a bit different. I look forward to it.
On another note, we had our first snowfall of the year this past week. I woke up to the sound of scraping. I knew immediately that it was shovels. I opened the curtains and, not only was there already about 2 inches of snow on the ground, but it was coming down pretty heavily. It didn't stop snowing until around 5 that afternoon. It's been colder than ever here since then. I heard that this past Wednesday was -17. It was painful. But it did make for some nice picture taking.
Outside of all of that--check out youtube.com for some videos of mine. All you have to do is go to youtube.com and type in my name, and video choices should appear. Then you can email me and tell me your favorites, or your least favorites. There are videos of me singing, playing the piano, falling; and there are even videos of the recent snowfall and of my New Year's adventure. Check it out.
Until later--
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