First, let me say our accommodations were wonderful. We stayed at the Comstock Inn and Conference Center. It was absolutely spotless. Clean and smell free. There was a lovely pool, a huge lounge area, they provided a very nice continental breakfast as well. All in all, a lovely place to stay for your mini-vacation. And the theatre where Jackie would be performing was only a couple minutes walk from our hotel, as well as the view from our window.
Well, I need to begin this narrative a bit earlier than what happened next...So here goes. A man with Parkinson's disease was in charge of the set. It was not even put in the three season room Jackie was forced to rehearse in until Monday, when it was to be loaded up and brought to the event Thursday in the morning. So not only was B hideously late in making the damn thing, it was not finished.
Yes. You read that correctly.
Not finished. What do I mean by that, you are surely asking yourselves. Well, let me tell you...
The thing was not painted, didn't have wheels on, didn't have the correct trim pieces, looked like utter shit, had a big ass candy counter right in the middle of the space which she did not need nor want, built in shelves which were utterly useless and just took up space, and I can't even go on as my blood pressure is rising to an alarming level.
It's not bad that it wasn't completely finished-that's called set dressing and takes minutes-no big deal. I do it every day. The problems come in when the builder won't let others do what they do. B was determined to dress the set. When it wasn't even painted yet. The ass.
So we left the last rehearsal on Wednesday evening with a completely unfinished set sitting there. The last thing Jackie asked B was that he make sure the little table gets onto the truck. Her stool and that table were the two essential pieces to the set and the show. Jackie could do the entire show without any other set piece and just pantomime the rest. We have no idea at this point if we will even have a set for the show at all. No clue as to what he intends to do about this problem he has with his set. (Again, normally if one of us get in to deep the others jump in and rescue that person. No questions asked.) I offered to help, but was turned down flat.
Jackie and I arrived Thursday evening. It was wonderful and lovely and everything it should be. Then Friday happened. We all loaded our set/furniture/animal/structural/etc. Non-typical would be things like animals, swimming pools, circus equipment, etctera. We have nothing unusual or bizare to worry about. Sigh of relief.
You see, every aspect of this is timed. We had 10 minutes to load the set onto the stage from our 10' by 10' square box into which we are to fit every single thing we take along to build the set and take it down. So when we decide we're ready we let the timer know and they start. I immediately ask for the stool and table for Jackie. B looks back at me blankly. I said again: "where is the stool and the table?" "I have the stool, but I don't have a table..." My blood begins to boil and I turn immediately to Sonja, Mary's grand-daughter, and the assigned helper from the theatre. I ask the helper if there is a Goodwill or second hand store near by. She said there was. I grabbed 30 bucks from my purse, gave it to Sonja and told her to go get a table about this big. And showed her the size it needed to be. I asked her to e-mail a photo back before she purchased it so I would know if it worked or not. And off she went.
Now I am so pissed off I cannot even see straight. I begin hanging pictures all over the walls without thinking about the ones Jackie actually needs on the walls. When she comes up and tells me what she needs I have to take down every thing and put other stuff up in it's place. I feel like a total ass. Jackie begins insisting we get off the stage so she can have her rehearsal. I try to clear the stage of people, but B is flipping over the candy counter to do something to the damn wheels. Greasing them I think. I really have no idea. Anyway at 20 minutes into our 80 minutes, we finally get the set out there and Jackie starts her show.
She does a beautiful job with it, as she always does. I get the picture from Sonja and am trying to text her back when her phone rings and she says she bought it could I help her carry it in. I rush out to help her and we carry it onto the set right then so Jackie can at least practice a little with it. I sit back down and Jackie-the amazing professional she is-continues on as if nothing happened. Before to long one of those helping with the staging of these shows says we have five minutes before our time runs out.
I leap up and am off and running. We have to get everything in the 10' by 10' box within the next 5 minutes. Jackie keeps going. We start ripping the set apart. She asks if she has to stop and I say yes, we have to clear the stage and I'm sorry. She's pissed off, as naturally she would be. She didn't get to run the whole show, which is what she wanted to do. We get everything into the box and I ask if we have to sweep the stage too. They say it would be nice...So I grab a broom and quickly sweep it. B also grabs a broom and wobbles out to try to sweep. I say "It's done! Come on and get in the box!" I am worried he won't wobble in on time and we'll be disqualified. He makes it. We are not disqualified. Thank goodness.
Jackie goes to change from her costume into her clothes. She is very upset. VERY UPSET. I feel responsible for the disaster because I wasted time messing with the posters for the walls when I should have been clearing the set. I didn't know how much time had passed until the guy with the headphones mentioned it. **I need to take a watch with a second hand on it for the next time.**Anyway, we left and Jackie vented her frustration in the car. I felt so badly for her!
She's worked so hard on this show, through the worst possible conditions. In a freezing cold room with icy tile flooring, with a set that didn't exsist until two days before her show, a set with stuff in it that was never supposed to be there, an unfortunate situation in that her director was to ill to attend the performance, my own failures as her costumer and props person, and her disappointment with our own theatrical endeavors, resulting in her resignation.
And she really needed that rehearsal!
But she didn't get it. At least not all of it. And we just threw everything onto the set pieces when we got it all inside the box. Nothing was set for the show. Nor could it be. Once it's in, you cannot go back in and touch anything. It's done until your next 10 minutes right before your show begins. I had a hard time getting the rest of the group to understand that. Some thought we could go back in that afternoon and hang pictures on the walls and set up what ever we wanted to on the set. That could not happen. We had 80 minutes and that was it. Jackie was allowed to go back in and fill her thermos(?) with water before the show started. Which was awfully generous of them to do.
So it was a rough day. But we made it through. Jackie ran her show-just the lines-straight through in 18 minutes. You see, we are always worried about the time. You have 60 minutes. That's it. Not one second longer. If you are a second longer, you are disqualified. That goes for the 10 minutes in and out of the box too. So set up and strike are timed as well.
We watched two shows that night, since they began the competition. Both were good. The shows for the weekend were these:
The Amish Project, about the Nickel Mines schoolhouse shooting in an Amish community. by the Farmington Players
The Passion of Richard II, how the War of the Roses began. by Riverwalk Theatre
Dear Me, Family secrets meant to protect do more harm than good. by David Durham (who also starred in the leading role as Wesley) and the Rosedale Community Players
The Hairy Ape, Yank suffers a crisis of identy when a rich upperclass woman calls him a "filthy beast". He questions his place in society which depends upon him and all hard working people like him, yet is run by the elite upper class. by Players de Noc (Escanaba)
The Sugar Bean Sisters, two maiden sisters are determined to escape spinsterhood, one by going to find a wonderful Mormon husband and the other by hopping on the next spaceship out of there. Center Stage Theatre (Midland)
The Women of Lockerbie, a mother roams the hills of Lockerbie looking for her sons remains and she meets other women determined to convert the act of hate (terrorism that brought the plane down) into one of love, as they carefully wash the clothes of the victims and return them to the victims loved ones. Tawas Bay Players
Revival at Possum Kingdom Community Church, Two con men down on their luck convince two women they are just the preaching team the town needs. Holland Civic Theatre
Belle of the Bijou, Clara Belle comes to clean out her ticket taker booth, revealing her life through her memories and fears for her future. Ichabod's Little Theatre (South Haven)
Quite a list of shows. I saw all but two. That was a show filled weekend, let me tell you. I have to be honest here: I fell asleep through a couple of them. Luckily, Jackie was there to poke me awake so I didn't snore the place down.
How rude!
On to the awards: Holland Civic took three of the big ones. Best supporting actress went to Jo Lee, which is great. Best male lead went to the guy with the great mustache in their group-his name has left me, and best show went to them as well. So they get to go onto regionals, which is in Midland April 17-18, and then Nationals is in GR June 23-24 at Grand Rapids Civic. I might be able to catch the April shows, but there is no way I'd be able to see the June shows. Our schedule is way to heavy this year.
Anyway, we had a great time. Everyone was thrilled with Jackie's performance and couldn't be more proud of her. She truly is a spectacular talent and I hope she pursues this into movies and T.V. as well. I know she's been approached. I think she'd be great!