On the Last Two Weeks Before a Production

May 7, 2007 by maureen.ulrich.

I am in the final week of production for a school play – A Pirate’s Tale, which will be performed at Pleasantdale on May 10th.

We performed the same play about nine years ago at the junior high, but I revamped it by adding some extra dialogue. It’s nearly an all-female production – with sixteen girls and five boys.

We are getting brilliant performances from this handful of Grade 6, 7, and 8 students – most of whom are scared to death of performing in front of their fears. Sometimes a director gets so wrapped up in the technical or logistical details that she forgets about one of her primary functions – being a cheerleader.

The last two weeks of rehearsal are always a stressful time for me. I spend most of my time hunting down and constructing props and costumes. Every little detail needs to be looked after. I’m not great at delegating, and consequently I end up feeling like the weight of the world – or at least the weight of the production – falls squarely on my shoulders.

Today I finally felt like I could sit back and watch the kids work. My cast and crew have been terrific. Many of them are already the world’s busiest kids – involved in music festival, confirmation, baseball, soccer, martial arts – you name it! I feel very fortunate that they all took time out of their busy schedules to fit in some drama.

Wish me luck! We have dress rehearsal tomorrow, and performances on Wednesday and Thursday. Arrrrgh!

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