A Midsummer Night's Success!!!

So, it got down to crunch time and wasn't able to do the live-blogging as much as I was hoping that I would be able to (I know I did four posts but that was just for the writing!)  Skipping the play festival and getting to when I went to bed at 1am Sunday morning, I slept until 2p the following afternoon.  Then, I went back to sleep.  Woke up, had three tours last night and then went back to sleep.  8am, back at work... well, I say work, I'm writing on my blog now...

The festival was a complete and total success!  The fundraising, the organizing, the turn out to participate and the turnout for the show itself was awesome!  I spoke to the audience before the show began and it was the first time that I was nervous speaking in front of a group in I don't know how long.  Below is a list of the things that I loved about the festival and some things that I would change for next time:

JUST A FEW THINGS THAT WERE AWESOME

-  People doing things that they had never done before and being totally successful at it.  Bill Cooper and Morgann Daniels had never directed before.  They had done some pretty impressive work.

-  People moving out of their comfort zone and being totally successful at it.  Ruby was pretty nervous about doing the show.  But she pulled through and was a great success.  You have to remember, that the audience doesn't want you to fail, they want you to succeed!  That's why they come out, that's why they donate or pay for the ticket!  It takes a sick bastard that wants to see the tight-rope walker fall into the net.  You don't play for that crowd.

-  Everyone, the audience and the performers were ENJOYING themselves.  I think that the flaw of my early days in theatre was that I took everything so deathly seriously.  I had a hard time enjoying myself and it stressed me out and theatre seemed to be more of a masochistic ritual than a pleasurable experience.  And here I was, stressing out, getting even more gray hairs, but in my heart I was enjoying myself.  Hopefully everyone else was too.

THINGS THAT SHOULD BE TWEAKED FOR NEXT TIME

-  There should be stricter guidelines for the writers.  The theme was okay (and a decision that I'll stand by), but the chance to the use the line was thrown away in some cases.  This may sound strange, but if there was more consistency in the sets, the table and two chairs, the transitions would have gone a bit smoother and not have had as much to worry about.  JinHi had also suggested that there be a dedicated stage crew for the set.  That's for next time.

-  I should have a second banana that can take over when I need to take a disco nap.  I find that I'm more effective when I'm awake and when I'm not awake, things tend to go the wayside.  A right hand person could take over for a little bit and that would mean that everyone would kind of have to know the schedule of everything that was going to happen.  Which leads me to the next point...

-  Things seemed to go a little bit better when I was very explicit and direct.  Something that I know I find frustrating about processes is when the person in charge is kind of wishy-washy.  I think that as the producers there were some moments, where I wasn't being clear and that can lead to frustration and whatnot.  My concern was being too dictatorial when I really wanted everyone to express themselves and have a degree of destiny throughout the process.  However, I think that there's a balance that can be struck.  At least, I'll have a chance next time...

A common question that I got throughout the festival was "Are you going to do this again?"  At first, the question was hinged on the success of MNPF, but when I arrived with Morgann to get everything set up, JinHi was already primed for a sequel.  To put it mildly, everything with the MNPF was a success, so JinHi and I are planning The Winter's Tales (tentative title), another 24 hour 10 minute play festival slated for this January, kind of as a beginning to the theatre season of 2012!  Stay tuned for details.

All said and done, I'm really pleased with the way that the event had turned out.  This was a good coming out event for the UpStart Theatre Company and I can't wait for more events like it in the future.

Again, thank you to everyone who was involved in the event, directly and indirectly.

Live Blogging from the Event! A Midsummer Night's Play Festival! Part 4

The actors and directors are already hard at work on the scripts.  Gabe, Peter, Thomas and I got a little sleep (speaking for myself, I might have gotten about an hour).  Such is the nature of the event.  I find comfort in being tired in a theater...

I'm working on the order of the shows (proving to be a little elusive).  Sheila Lynne is very generously grabbing props for us, as well as Kimmi and Jason.  Later on, I'm going to be working on getting a sound list together, that way it'll be a fully fleshed out productions.

Morgann Daniels and Bill Cooper are directing for the first time.  They seem to be having a good time of it (which is ultimately the point!)  Also, new writers as well.  Kimmi and Molly Hall have not written dramatic scripts before, so there are some fresh and talented faces here on the cusp of creation!

Stay tuned for updates!  And be sure to come out tonight and see how it all turns out!

Live Blogging from the Event! A Midsummer Night's Play Festival! Part 3

The plays are written!  Right now, they're printing off and I should be able to close my eyes for about an hour and a half before the directors show up!

Some of the writers are pulling double duty.  Peter Griffin, Thomas Houston and Gabe Reynolds are also acting in the plays as well.

It's going to definitely be a challenge, but we have a lot of talent working at the plays.  Its going to be a great show.  The Who is playing out the evening.  Thought that was worth mentioning.

Now, we just have to wait for the directors and actors to get here.  There will be some running around for props and costumes during the day.  Programs will be taken care of by Creative Approach (they also printed the poster and the postcards, really really excellent work from them!)

Be sure to tell your family and friends and the neighborhood dog!  The show's tonight at 8pm!  Don't miss out!

Live Blogging from the Event! A Midsummer Night's Play Festival! Part 2

Approaching 2am!  Switched over from the Johnny Mercer station on Pandora to Cee-Lo Green.  This is about to get real!

We have the first draft of one play completed.  Jason Arons was the first to cross the line.  He's got a great script and is working on the final draft now.

Even though it's just ten pages and they've been working since about 830pm, they're not all done at this point.  But there's a good vibe with the writers.  They've talked with each other, running ideas by each other and having a good time.

I'm pretty tired.  Its great talking with them about what they've written.  It's great being in such a creative and hard-working environment.

More updates to come!  Stay tuned!

Live Blogging from the Event! A Midsummer Night's Play Festival!

We finally got the internet working after about six hours (hah!).  Truth be told, we didn't really put that much focus on it until just now.

At this moment, six writers are working on plays for the event.  They've been given a theme (still a secret at present!).  The coffee is brewing, the snacks are available and I hope that the new found Wi-Fi connection doesn't distract the authors.  They have until 6am to write the plays.

The directors and actors are trying to get some sleep (I assume that's true.)  Bill Cooper, local talent, is taking a director position.  I'm excited for him!  He's never done it before, but part of the purpose of the festival is to get people to do stuff that they haven't done before.  Thomas has the best writing process that I've seen so far.

I'm writing a little bit myself.  Not going to stage it, but it serves as a remind to some writers, especially the one's whose name begins with a "P" and ends in "Eter Griffin" will focus on the work at hand.  Plus, any chance to focus on writing is a good thing.  The sound of a keyboard hard at work I find truly comforting.

At 8am tomorrow, the directors will show up, get their scripts, then call the actors and get cracking at the work!  It's going to have a fun show and I'm hoping for a solid turn-out.

There should be some more updates later on.  Stay tuned!

A Midsummer Night's Play Festival: SHARE THE LINK!

Had an awesome dinner last night with the cast of The Boys Next Door.  Chris Stanley shall forever be one of the most kind and generous souls I have ever met.  After the dinner at Alligator Soul (one of the best meals I've had in Savannah, FYI), we went over to Club One for drinks and karaoke.  I did sign up for a song (To Make You Feel My Love as done by Billy Joel) but it was getting too late and the day job came too early.

But it's really nice to be amongst peers and colleagues.  Maybe that's putting college words on people who are just friends, but it's nice to experience a kind of night life every now and again.

The fundraising for A Midsummer Night's Play Festival has begun.  Already had some donations, but still a ways from the goal.  Below is the link for the fundraising website, Kickstarter:

http://kck.st/gKZcRK

Give what you can and pass the link along.  Naturally, I'm going to try to annoy everyone to death with raising the money.  The more you donate, the sooner we are to making goal and therefore, the sooner I will stop asking for it.

But very happy about the outreach that many have done already, offering their services helping set-up the event. Not just happy, but kind of touched.  It's good to get this kind of encouragement with events.  Makes me feel that I can do anything in this town but... well, let's take one thing at a time.

One last note:  if you're interested in being involved in the event, through writing, acting, directing, please go ahead and let me know.  I'm making lists of those expressing their interests at this point.  I haven't settled on the number of plays until I get a better idea as to the number of people involved.

Keep watching this space for more updates.  Again, SHARE THE LINK!