Techies are Better than Actors: Meredith Wilson's "The Music Man."

Ok, so I'm pretty sure that working backstage crew doesn't make you a "techie", but it's the word Philip used. I helped build the set (sooo much fun- I love building things), and paint the set (ewwwww), and run scene changes. Ya, they were pretty awful. The orchestra had to vamp forever b/c it was very unorganized backstage. There were a lot of people in the way, and no one really knew what they were gonna be moving until they grabbed something. I still have a lot of time and a lot of shows before I leave, though, so I'll make sure they get better.

Ok, so the show- not one of my favs. It's a classic you kinda have to do, though, so I'm glad we got it out of the way my freshman year. Some of the music is good, (it gets stuck in your head, that's for sure) the plot is pretty eh... Especially the ending. And the whole show was definitely not up to par for our theatre department (no offense, Philip.) At least, that's how anyone in it saw it. The only thing I heard from people who came to see it was it was the best show we've done in a long time. False. But if they liked it, good for them.

Overall, it was a lot of fun, though. I've discovered being crew is really cool and chill. You don't have to worry about hair or make up or screwing up onstage, you just hang out backstage and watch the show (as much of it as you can see, anyway.) We sang and danced backstage to all the production numbers (76 Trombones, Wells Fargo Wagon, Shipoopi, Ya Got Trouble) and that was a ton of fun. Oh, and on the last show, all of the seniors in the theatre department that weren't in it (just working crew), got costumes on and ran onstage. They definitely fought each other with a fake cat and a fake plant.... on stage... <3 Lol.

So, it was a good experience. Gearing up for Summerstock now and helping out with the theatre camp at school for the little ones. Oh, and I'm in two other shows right now. (Little ones, but don't tell me that.) One is a play (like 10 mins long) that a couple of us wrote about Cleopatra that is moving from the regional to the state competition of National History Day, and the other is a play called, "The Fantastic Life of a Boy Named Gary Gray." Philip is in that one, too. It's a play one of our friends wrote that we're performing at a talent show. :)

AND AND AND --> I don't have time to write about it now, but 9 to 5 started previews on the 7th!!!! More later. <3

Jess