But sometimes a good line is worth it, you know?
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What I would most like to fix is impossible as it would require time travel. If I could go back in time I would do one of 3 things: 1) Say no to producing this year at all. It's been too much for me to be in the middle of a kitchen renovation where I'm not living in my house. 2) Hire a different director. She's worked with me before so the difficulties I'm having with her are surprising. She is nowhere near as organized as she was when she directed with this company before, or as she should be. Alas, I know why. She is also directing the spring musical at her kids' middle school. It opens tonight. She, to put it bluntly, isn't good enough to direct two things at once and I fear my production is suffering because her primary focus is elsewhere. She also put her kid into the show without asking. I probably would have said yes, but she's limiting the number of rehearsals he comes to because he's in the middle school production too and even though he is doing a great job and has very few lines, we have not been able to properly rehearse the scenes that he is in because he is almost never at rehearsal. Eff that. 3) If the time machine couldn't take me back far enough to do either option 1 or option 2, insist that we get an assistant director as soon as I found out the director was attempting two jobs at once.
The other thing that I absolutely will change for future productions is to define better what is my call and what is not. 1) Where in the park we stage the show is my decision, not the director's. 2) Whether or not we have kids in the show is my decision, not the director's. 3) Do not waste the fight captain's time. (I am serving as fight captain and my time has been abused.) 4) Be on the same page with my director regarding diversity in casting. 4) Tell whoever I hire as a director that I am expecting them to be working primarily on my show. They can help with another show, or be involved in one that overlaps some, but not a situation where they are the principal director of two shows that open one week apart. 5) Rehearsals will move outdoors to the parks, weather permitting, much sooner. Yes, that means rehearsals will have to end at 8:30. Plan for it. Maybe rehearse on Saturdays and Sundays with one less night during the week.
I have been unwilling to lose the friendship by having fights about all these problems, so I'm sucking it up and filling in all the gaps that I can possibly fill in. I can't fill them all in. We are performing in two parks. We've known this since October. It seems to be a surprise to my director. Ugh. We have had one rehearsal in one of the parks and the director set it up in the shade to save us from being in the sun all afternoon, which, OK, but it's not how we will be staging it for real and we have not had a properly staged rehearsal in that park since then. And she's decided to stage it not in the way it's been done for all the other shows I've produced in that park (I've done 5 there before) but a 90 degree turn putting the tennis courts that abut the park as our backdrop. Insanity. And when I brought that problem up to her, she got pissy with me and said, "I'm not changing it now." She'd already told the cast BEFORE telling me. We have two 7pm shows. We will be backlight for those shows by the lights from the tennis court. OK, I'm wrong, the two evening shows actually are going to be disasters. ARGH. The cast is awesome - absolutely awesome.
For the record, I have not uttered this line to the person who is causing the problems. I wasn't even going to utter it to anybody until my co-producer (thank heavens I have one this time) came to me with all her complaints. We have made a pact, we are "rhymes with witch" buddies for the remainder of the show. We can complain to each other but not to anybody else involved with the show. We are each other's support group and finding out that someone else involved with the show was even more annoyed than I was has actually made it a lot easier for me to just suck it up and fill in the gaps. I've had to suck it up and fill in the gaps before. I'm never hiring that director again either. I won't try to ruin their careers, I'm just not taking on that particular headache again myself. It takes a lot to piss me off and I'm not even pissed off this time, just exhausted and annoyed.
Sounds like you have learned something valuable from this, BD. I hope that the shows work out better in the settings than anticipated. Break a leg.
My lesson learned is to not have VBS and the Mission Trip so close together - just one week in between. Those two events and a full time job do not mix well. We moved the trip up so that our retiring Pastir could come. We want to celebrate his 9 mission trips with us.
Actor John Wilkes Booth broke his leg during his biggest theatre appearance. So I知 hesitant.
I'm glad you explained the reference, because otherwise I'd never have gotten it. Pulp Fiction is one of the few movies in my life I wish I had simply walked out of. I have done my best to purge it from my memory banks. I realize, I am in the distinct minority on this observation.
Agreed that it was a great post by BD.
Speaking of posters Attachment 14611
Oops, now you all know the name of my director. We'll be fine. Friendship is more important, I'll never tell her how annoyed I've been. (But I won't hire her again. ;) )
I might be taking it all in stride more if I hadn't given up my role as Jacques. I don't get to say "All the world's a stage . . . " but I figure I can play that role in somebody else's production some day.
That said, I like the actor playing Jacques, she's great to work with.
While I知 at it, I think I値l not go to work for the next 10 weeks.