Crap Out

I have to unfortunately report that about half of the cast was unable to make it to last night's rehearsal. Because of this, we once again could not rehearse in any productive way.

The director of the company was, understandably, unhappy about this.

I, frankly, am becoming a bit disappointed myself. I'm still not in a panic, and I actually have less invested in the overall picture than do the leaders of the company itself. Still, I have to admit I'm starting to wonder when we will actually be rehearsing on a regular solid basis.

And when we do, will it be enough? The short answer is, it will have to be, because our director said he wouldn't allow the show to go on stage if it isn't good enough. He asked the rest of us present what we thought of that position. With regret, we all agreed; we can't put on a show that is unprepared.

That being said, the show is not cancelled as of now. The ticking of the clock is certainly becoming louder with each week that passes, but hope isn't lost. It will require more people prioritizing the show over most other things from now on, I will say, but there is time for that to happen.

We did have a bit of a discussion about acting and directing in lieu of a rehearsal.  Those of us with questions or concerns about specific aspects of the production got to bring them up. Though not a rehearsal, I think that was still a productive use of time. The show will ultimately be better for it.

I wish I had more positive, interesting things to report. But despite the best of intentions, this is how community theatre often unfolds. It seems to be more frequent with this show than most, but I can say from experience that the unwavering dedication to bring about the best show possible can sometimes be quite difficult to extract from actors and crew who volunteer.

A lot of wonderful, challenging work gets done on this level anyway, and perhaps that is the true essence and power of community theatre; thing get done anyway. The trade off is that they don't always get done anyway. They can't be forced when people have other things they are doing for much of the rehearsal process. I'm not saying I like or agree with this tendency, I don't. But if that is the tendency, all one can do is commit to a project and hope for the best.

Next rehearsal is tomorrow afternoon.