Hard to Believe October is Nearly Over

Wow!  What busy, fun, and stressful week!

We will start with class.  I love helping with the classes at school in World Theatre class we started the unit on telling stories through dances from around the world.  It will take the next few weeks.  We are learning Polynesian dances currently.  You can read more about that here.

We hosted all of the 5th graders in the school district.   It was awesome! After 40 minutes of scenes and songs we had a Q&A. Some of my favorite comments were: “how did you make this so beautiful?” “Can you dab?” “This was awesome?” “How are you all so good?” “Do the Orange Justice!” Which Lilli jumped up and did. “The people who kiss, are they dating in real life?” And my personal favorite, “do any of you play Fortnight?” There it is… Mamma Mia is a hit with 5th graders.

Right after the preview I discovered that my wonderful motor died!  The wheel fell off!  I was panicked.  We opened the show the next day.  I called my dad.  He drove the three hours over the mountain, loaded up the machine and drove the three hours back.  He spent the evening and the next morning replacing the wheel.  The stress of pushing my 5000 pound turntable snapped the rim of the wheel right off the axle.  The next day he drove the three hours back and helped me place it on the floor and helped my get it to work just right….  right before the the curtain.  … then he drove the three hours home.

Opening Mamma Mia was a little rough.  Not only did the turn table motor break, but I was having issues with the sound board (still am), a spot light broke and I I couldn’t find the parts I needed, and some black lights we had ordered weeks earlier had not arrived.  All of Tuesday I was stressed.  But through the grace of God it all came together just minutes before we started the show with the first cue.

We opened Mamma Mia on Wednesday and had a show Thursday, Friday and two on Saturday.  The crowds seem to like the show.  The kids in the show are doing a good job.

They have learned many good things about acting.  I worked hard on this show.  I covered many rehearsals because Jeff had other engagements.  I had a good time teaching them about having a purpose onstage, telling a story, even if they don’t have lines to say, and hopefully, to have fun.

I even created three dances… sad no one really knows they were mine dances.  I did the choreography for Super Trouper, Under Attack, and Take a Chance on Me.  I really liked how all three turned out.  I even blocked the wedding scene at the end and love how that turned out.  Super Trouper was mostly a “back up” band feel.  Under Attack used a rolling bed and the cast in life vests.  It was super fun.  The wedding scene I had the character climbing over stools and stuff.  It turned out pretty funny.  We got a new choreographer for this show.  She did a good job and I have fun laughing with her.  I’m okay that people think she did the dances I created.  What really matters is knowing that I can do it.  That is satisfying.

The crew is nearly all new.  Only three of these good kids have ever done a show before.  They have done a great job.  It’s hard work with tons of pressure and yet they are doing the work well with very little rehearsal time.

Perhaps the weirdest thing of the experience with Mamma Mia is seeing Lilli in a wedding dress.  Slipping Through My Fingers kills me.  I cry every time.  She is growing up so fast.  Before long she really will be getting married.  Sure a weird thought.

On opening night my husband brought me “flowers.”  He had stopped to get a rose for Lilli and saw Brussels sprouts on the stock.  He decided I needed those kinds of flowers.  He even had the Thespian kids who were selling flower wrap them for him.  What a goofball!

The best part of opening night was the surprise at the end…

I had kept the secret of Chad moving home for several weeks.  Jeff had the bright idea of Chad walking on stage and giving her a flower.  She melted onto the floor.  I know my video wasn’t all that good, but it was something!  One of the best things about this show is watching Lilli with her friends.  Her best friend, Ethan, has been there when she needed it.  He’s a good kid.  I hope she stays friends with him for a long time.

Meanwhile, while we were at Mamma Mia, Kimber, Ray and the kids are holding down the fort.  They play at the park.  They go to Cub Scouts.  Ben is in Tiger Scouts.  He’s been selling popcorn lately as a fundraiser.  He even got to go to his first pack meeting.  The pack meeting featured a rain gutter race.  His class in school went on a field trip to an acorn farm.

Now we are headed into a new week.  We have one more week of Mamma Mia, 5 more shows.  We have Halloween too. Oh, and we have a show to watch over at Dallas High School to look forward too.  Maybe some day we will have a dull week, but I’m not counting on it.