Auditions, Red Ribbon Week, and a Sort Of Clean Stage

This has been a fairly productive week. I ordered a copy of "A Christmas Carol," taken steps to get the rights and worked on purchase orders to buy scripts. I'm still overwhelmed, but for the first time since last Monday when I started, I think I might actually make it.

Last week a girl from SGA came in and asked if the Drama Club wanted to do a skit for Red Ribbon week. Not knowing that Red Ribbon Week was only two weeks away at the time, and that this week's class periods were basically lost to PSATs, I accepted and put the students to work. At first we had an extravagant plan which included a whole lot of monologues and a whole lot of people. But we realized how little time we have left today, and decided to cut it down to a few people, like seven. The cast for the skit is entirely students I trust (and who trust each other). I was worried that the younger people would get scared being in front of everyone in the courtyard and forget lines or just refuse to perform, but cutting it down to just these few people makes the entire situation a lot easier. Although I'm not sure how everyone else will react when they find out that they're out. I think they'll understand though, and hopefully they won't be upset.

I also spent three and a half hours in the theatre meeting with my Drama club officers and cleaning the stage just a little. It's not as clean as I would like, but I talked to the maintenance guy and he said they could mop the stage and clean up the wood finish that someone spilled, which actually makes me really happy. I thought I would have to go in and clean it up myself on Friday, but now I don't have to and can spend Friday getting ready for auditions on Monday.

And I've finally scheduled auditions for "A Christmas Carol." Monday at 3:30 in the Drama room/PAC. Cold readings. So this weekend I'll have to find scenes/monologues for my prospective actors to read for me.

My freshmen are performing their first scenes tomorrow. I'm expecting disaster. No one was really off book last class, which means they have a lot of work to do before tomorrow's class period. I'm sure a few of them will surprise me. Others might disappoint. Either way, it means I don't have to lecture.

Oh, and I think I might want to do "Urinetown" for the spring musical. Really, it's a lot cleaner than it sounds.