For the love of theater

This is one of the hard weeks. In theater speak, it's called Tech Week. For weeks the kids have been practicing their lines, learning their blocking (that is the term for placement on the stage), and putting together their costumes. This is the week where everything comes together. They add in the all the props, settings, lights, and music (if any). Rehearsals are longer and more tiring and every night. But it all leads up to *dum, da, da, dum* Opening Night! "The Miracle Worker" is up first. Yes, I said FIRST. That's because in an insane moment of, well, insanity, I agreed to let my kids be in 3 productions at once! The performances for "The Miracle Worker" are Thursday and Friday night, and Sat afternoon. Followed by breakdown and the long awaited Cast Party. The lead, Annie Sullivan, is played my 14 year old daughter. My 16 year old and 12 year old daughters are minor characters. (At some point I will come up with creative names for all 6 of my kids, but not tonight!) Two weeks later we will hit Tech Week for "Babes in Toyland". At least Miracle Worker is in Tallahassee. Babes is in Quincy. I am thankful every day for the women who carpool with me. Quincy is a good 35 minute drive from our house. Again, my 16 and 12 year olds are in the chorus, while my 10 year old son has a bigger part but has no lines. Apparently he plays a mute named Mini Gonz who is very dramatic and likes to be in charge. Since neither of these productions rehearse on Sundays, we decided to also join the cast of "Lucky Dollar, Private Eye". Kind of a corny, cheesy musical that will be done as dinner theater. I already love it! We will continue just Sunday rehearsals until MW and Babes are done. This is at the Monticello Opera House where we do most of our theater. Again, a good 35 minute drive. The money I spend on gas during shows is RIDICULOUS!! But in the end it's always worth it. My kids LOVE being on stage, and I love seeing them there. I also enjoy it for myself. I have been in "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Oklahoma!". But now I have another little one, so my time will have to wait. My 3 older girls are in Lucky Dollar. My 16 year old has the role of Chartreuse the Chanteuse, a night club singer kind of character at a comedy club. Chartreuse is completely out of character for my daughter. But I know she will rock this role. This production won't run until the end of January, but then we will go straight into "Little Shop of Horrors". What can I say? We love theater!! Pics from our shows will be following each production.