The Week That Sucked.....
Oct. 12th, 2004 01:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
disneydream06Last week was a week I wish I could forget. I took the week off from work so I could finish getting the show I am directing ready to open last Friday, the 8th.
Monday was the first day we actually ran the show from beginning to end, and the actors could still ask for help with their lines. It took them 3 hours and 45 minutes to finish. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The lead female actor basically called for almost every line. She claimed she wasn't feeling well and was kind of dizzy.
Tuesday they were on their own so to speak. I started practicing with the lights and so they could not ask for help with their lines. That night they did the Reader's Digest version of the show. They forgot so much of the script that we finished in just 3 hours. The lead female actress was still complaining of not feeling well and being dizzy.
Wednesday night went a little bit better. They added most of the lines back in and it took them 3 1/2 hours to finish. And yes, the lead actress was still complaining of feeling dizzy.
Thursday night was suppose to be the final rehearsal. There is your clue. We got about 20 minutes into the show and my female lead nearly collapsed on stage. So we stopped and shipped her off to the ER. She called later saying they told her she was dehydrated and lacking sleep. After losing the final rehearsal I had to decide if I was going to have to cancel the opening night show. Well, even if we had the final rehearsal, I didn't think the cast was ready to open the show. So I decided to cancel opening night. I hated to do it, but I really thought they needed another rehearsal before they could open.
Friday night instead of having a great opening night, we held another rehearsal. We started with the final scene where the ghosts tear up the house because we hadn't done that yet. We practiced that a couple of times and it looked good. Then we were ready to start rehearsal from the beginning. My lead actress comes up to me and asks if they could just sit and read their lines because she didn't think she could handle the movements. I thought great, I am going to have to cancel Saturday's show too. Well, I agreed to that. So even a simple rehearsal like that, she still couldn't stay in character. She kept stopping and messing up. After awhile I went and sat outside for awhile. I just couldn't take it any more. After they finished, I told her that she needed to call me Saturday afternoon at 2 pm. because I needed to know by then if we were going to have to cancel.
Saturday... She called me at 2 and I think she was really trying to get me to cancel the show. She kept asking if I was comfortable with opening the show. I finally said yes we would. Saturday night came and some how or another they pulled a very good show out of no where. I was totally shocked.
I truly think that most of her problems are in her head. She would be fine when she got to the theater, and then the closer we got to starting she would fall apart. Hopefully with one show under her belt now she will do okay with the rest of them. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
However, the bad news is not done yet. When I told the president of the theater board that we had to cancel opening night he told me that with all the shows, we would have needed to have 44 people at each show to break even. Now with the canceled show it would be more like 50 something to 60 some. Well, Saturday night when we finally opened, we had 27 paying customers. Which means we will need to average probably 80 some people for the last 4 shows. It is never going to happen. So my show is in the red. BIG TIME!!!!!
The theater board has been very little help too. Their marketing person SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!! She screwed up the ads in the newspapers. I got my programs for the show Thursday night. So I couldn't proof read them for changes. And there should have been some. The president of the board helped me through the cancellation of opening night but that is about it. The only board member who has done anything is the guy that usually builds the sets. Of course it doesn't hurt that he is also my lead actor. lol...
Well, that was my week from hell. I truly hope yours was better, and I pray that these next two weekends will go much smoother. PLEASE!!!!!!!
Take care my friends.....
If you are bored and are in the neighborhood, stop in and see my show.
Monday was the first day we actually ran the show from beginning to end, and the actors could still ask for help with their lines. It took them 3 hours and 45 minutes to finish. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The lead female actor basically called for almost every line. She claimed she wasn't feeling well and was kind of dizzy.
Tuesday they were on their own so to speak. I started practicing with the lights and so they could not ask for help with their lines. That night they did the Reader's Digest version of the show. They forgot so much of the script that we finished in just 3 hours. The lead female actress was still complaining of not feeling well and being dizzy.
Wednesday night went a little bit better. They added most of the lines back in and it took them 3 1/2 hours to finish. And yes, the lead actress was still complaining of feeling dizzy.
Thursday night was suppose to be the final rehearsal. There is your clue. We got about 20 minutes into the show and my female lead nearly collapsed on stage. So we stopped and shipped her off to the ER. She called later saying they told her she was dehydrated and lacking sleep. After losing the final rehearsal I had to decide if I was going to have to cancel the opening night show. Well, even if we had the final rehearsal, I didn't think the cast was ready to open the show. So I decided to cancel opening night. I hated to do it, but I really thought they needed another rehearsal before they could open.
Friday night instead of having a great opening night, we held another rehearsal. We started with the final scene where the ghosts tear up the house because we hadn't done that yet. We practiced that a couple of times and it looked good. Then we were ready to start rehearsal from the beginning. My lead actress comes up to me and asks if they could just sit and read their lines because she didn't think she could handle the movements. I thought great, I am going to have to cancel Saturday's show too. Well, I agreed to that. So even a simple rehearsal like that, she still couldn't stay in character. She kept stopping and messing up. After awhile I went and sat outside for awhile. I just couldn't take it any more. After they finished, I told her that she needed to call me Saturday afternoon at 2 pm. because I needed to know by then if we were going to have to cancel.
Saturday... She called me at 2 and I think she was really trying to get me to cancel the show. She kept asking if I was comfortable with opening the show. I finally said yes we would. Saturday night came and some how or another they pulled a very good show out of no where. I was totally shocked.
I truly think that most of her problems are in her head. She would be fine when she got to the theater, and then the closer we got to starting she would fall apart. Hopefully with one show under her belt now she will do okay with the rest of them. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
However, the bad news is not done yet. When I told the president of the theater board that we had to cancel opening night he told me that with all the shows, we would have needed to have 44 people at each show to break even. Now with the canceled show it would be more like 50 something to 60 some. Well, Saturday night when we finally opened, we had 27 paying customers. Which means we will need to average probably 80 some people for the last 4 shows. It is never going to happen. So my show is in the red. BIG TIME!!!!!
The theater board has been very little help too. Their marketing person SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!! She screwed up the ads in the newspapers. I got my programs for the show Thursday night. So I couldn't proof read them for changes. And there should have been some. The president of the board helped me through the cancellation of opening night but that is about it. The only board member who has done anything is the guy that usually builds the sets. Of course it doesn't hurt that he is also my lead actor. lol...
Well, that was my week from hell. I truly hope yours was better, and I pray that these next two weekends will go much smoother. PLEASE!!!!!!!
Take care my friends.....
If you are bored and are in the neighborhood, stop in and see my show.
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-12 08:17 am (UTC)I'm glad that Saturday's show went well, though.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-12 02:21 pm (UTC)Here's to a better second week for you and the show.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-12 02:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-12 11:43 pm (UTC)