I'm behind on my weekly posting!
Last week we were working with kids in the Hartland, WI, area. We had eighty kids auditioning, with only seventy spots to fill. We knew after training week that there may come a time when we had to cut kids. I knew then that it would not be easy for me, and it was even worse when it came time to make decisions.
During auditions, there wasn't a single kid that we automatically thought, "Nope, they aren't what we want." Any of those kids would have done well in the show, which made it even harder. When we made our final decisions there were many tears, some of them were mine. My biggest worry was that one of those kids would never audition for anything again because they got cut. However, it's also the name of the game in this profession, and it's good for them to start learning that sooner rather than later. In the end, we had a wonderful, talented cast.
Our rehearsals all went well, the kids retained information well, and were quickly off book. Joseph and I were feeling a little off. At first I thought it was because we'd been on the road for so many weeks straight, but it wasn't that I was tired of doing my job. Suddenly it hit me, we were both still feeling weird after having to cut kids. Once we identified the problem, we were able to put it aside.
Both our Friday and Saturday shows went extremely well. we were fortunate enough to have a lot of parent volunteers to help with makeup. We also had a group of high schoolers as our running crew (stage manager, assistant stage manager, lights, and sound operators.) They were all very talented, dedicated individuals who made our lives so easy for tech rehearsals. The audiences really enjoyed the show, and the kids had a blast. There weren't any mistakes outside of a few stumbles over lines that went unnoticed by the audience. We were very proud of them.
Our sponsor this week was pretty hands on, she was always there to help with the kids. On Thursday, she invited us out for dinner at a local Mexican restraunt. It was really nice getting to know her better, and it made us feel special that she took the time to get to know us outside of rehearsal.
We were lucky enough to have our Prairie Fire friends on team Alladin not far from us. We met up with them early in the week to grab dinner and play mini-golf. They came to our Saturday show and helped with makeup and tearing down. We grabbed some dinner afterwards, and then headed over to help their cast get ready. They put on a great show. Afterwards, we helped tear down their set, and we all went out for drinks to celebrate our successful week.
On Sunday, we headed back for headquarters in Barrett, MN. We had the week off for the 4th of July. I decided to stay in Barrett with some of my fellow tour friends. We've spent the week bumming around, and just having a good time. We've gone to see lots of movies, gone mini-golfing, bumper boating, go karting, hit up batting cages, and lounged around headquarters. Today we've celebrated the 4th by holding a badminton tournament, setting off fireworks, and enjoying each other's company. Tomorrow, we all head back out. Joseph and I will continue our journey in Buffalo, MN.