Thursday, April 2, 2009

Show Time!

My high school has a looonnng tradition of the seniors putting on a musical variety show, kind of their gift to the community who has supported their education. The tradition has changed over 70+ years. The show used to be 4-5 hours long, ran for 5 nights, and every member of the senior class participated. They had elaborate sets and costumes. About 30 years ago, new directors simplified and shortened the shows run to 2 hours for 2-3 nights with neat costumes and great lighting special effects and as times changed, fewer seniors participated. The show has always been tied around a theme and is well attended in this rural community--one of the few rural communities with an emphasis on fine arts. At the end of last year, our two directors took early retirement. Their final show centered around the theme "Last Call." (We had no idea how appropos that would be!)

Fast forward to this year. A new director was hired shortly before the tornado came through, taking our auditorium and a lot of costumes with it. To say that this year is different would be an understatement. Poor new guy. The show is moved to a venue in a town near here. So nice of them, but the seniors will have two (Count 'em folks!) rehearsals in that venue before the show opens. Those will be their first technical runs. Right now, we are practicing in a gym/cafeteria. I say this as a worried/stressed assistant director. The seniors have been through a lot this year. We have a lot of work to do and do well. Meanwhile we schedule rehearsals around the typical hectic end of the year activities: Prom, golf, tennis, track, baseball, softball, FFA contests and district and state contests in music and forensics. Our theme? "What If?" (I'm thinking what if we still had an auditorium, costumes, several weeks of technical rehearsals, and a director who had years of experience?)

Yes, the show will go on. Getting from here to show time--scary!

2 comments:

Gayle said...

How ever the show ends up to be, I'm sure it will be a wonderful memory for the seniors. (At least I hope so!)

A said...

You know, I was just wondering about Class Night... I knew there had to be a way for it to continue on! What a challenge, but so wonderful that you are there helping make it a success! BEST OF LUCK!! I know being a part of Class Night was one of my FAVORITE high school memories, and I'm sure your cast will remember it as that too!