draws on apace

Monday, June 21, 1 p.m.

maybe it was just the heat but i think eveyone was a little bit mental today. all the high school actors who had written a final exam earlier were very tired-looking. mat was still delirious, but it makes for a very good strange man. robbie showed up half-asleep about an hour late. we discussed costumes and props. everyone was distracted by such things as gophers, mat's tube, and broom handles. the girls seem to be the only ones who understand the concept of actors doubling as crew members when we don't have any...

~~sarah

Tuesday, June 22, 1 p.m.

today's "rehearsal" (if one could call it that) reminded me why it's bad to have actors that are also your close personal friends. what was supposed to be an important semi-dress rehearsal became something of a non-rehearsal. rather unfortunate. happily, we did get some pictures taken that will soon be posted here on the site. our costumes are all very warm and i'm glad that most of the performances are at nitetime.

~~sarah

p.s. it occurs to me that i haven't had much nice to say over the past couple days and at the risk of my actors reading this and becoming discouraged, i just want to remind them that they are doing a fabulous amazing stupendous job (when they show up) and i value them incredibly highly as both actors and friends.

Monday, June 28, 1 p.m.

or ya know, 1:30, 10 to 2...whenever the boys decided to show up. the most notable aspect of today's rehearsal would have to be mat's sudden fondness for pretending to expose himself. ("look under the table" "mat just dropped his pants for no apparent reason") today we worked on "projecting" our voices so that all of the many people who show up (hint, hint) and sit in the back can hear us. now that the actors are all aware of the actual dates of our performances, things should be ok. after the rehearsal we looked into printing posters and flyers and discovered (happily) that it'll be much cheaper than we thought.

~~sarah

Tuesday, June 29, 12 p.m.

the boys were again late (they said they were trying to be like robbie). we were missing kris and robbie who were both away at "real jobs". mat and shanda took turns filling in for kris, forcing clint to use fingerquotes whenever he said "jacob". talia took robbie's place today leading clint to the conclusion that "she does have relationships of the sort!" clint said something else that was really really funny today but i can't for the life of me remember what it was. some shakespeare actors caught the end of our rehearsal after their tech rehearsal in the big tent, including mr. gaudet (if i didn't spell that right pls tell me) who taught some of my actors at bowman. we hope that they will all come to the performances as well.

~~sarah

Wednesday, June 30, 2 p.m.

hmm, how many times can two actors possibly fit the words "cream corn" into a one act play? for the answer, you better ask clint and mat as that seemed to be their goal today. so we changed the time of the rehearsal to accomodate kristopher's work schedule and...guess who didn't show up. he's dead. today the girls were late and the boys waited for a change. mat and clint went on wild "theworldisagainstme" persecuation complex tangent during scene 13. liz learned to panic more when her boyfriend knocks on the door. danielle had cherries for lunch which she bought from kris nelson in front of the bessborough. oh yeah, and it was maggie ann's first rehearsal as assistant stage manager (and we're still trying to convince her that she's a 10).

~~sarah

Tuesday, July 6, 9 a.m.

this morning amy, shanda, and i did an interview on the wonderful cfcr (90.5 fm) saskatoon's community radio station. we spoke to theo kivol about the play and related issues. hopefully somebody heard it. it was good fun. on the way back we discovered that all of the "boys & girls" posters we had put up on broadway were mysteriously taken down. usually, we could attribute this to the poles being cleaned, but ours were the *only* posters taken down. curious, don't you think? maybe we have some strange insane theatre rivals...

~sarah

Wednesday, July 7, 4 p.m.

today's work started early as amy, maggie, shanda, talia, and i drove around to television stations and newspapers dropping off press releases for the play (it was robbie's job, but he "delegated"). so the boys waited for us for a change as we had to pick up liz at her drama camp at the university. well when we're 45 minutes late, then they can complain. clint was allowed only 1 tangent today, and i think he used more than his fair share (a particularly amusing "what kind of self-image do you think that gives me?" tangent was forgiven). kris was happy to step in for gregory, a role that is usually played by talia while robbie is so very busy at his real job. the kissing by liz and clint was exceptionally fine and shanda was so impressed that she forgot her cue.

~sarah

Thursday, July 8, 4 p.m.

today was an abnormally cold day. much to the dismay of liz, clint, and kris, it also happened to be our first "naked rehearsal". they are a little uncomfortable without their clothes, so it's better that we got it out of the way. we had an extra cast member today in the form of a very dirty, very smelly hulk hogan doll which accompanied mat and/or clint in practically every scene. (does the "raw deal" thing have something to do with that?) due to the loudness and the presence of costume changes (including mat's "i'm wearing all of my costumes at the same time!") this rehearsal was rather confused and muddled and makes me semi-panic with the prospect of our first show only three days away. another little bit of news: maggie has been promoted to stage manager after amy and danielle agreed that it would be easier that way.

~sarah

Friday, July 9, 4p.m.

dress rehearsal. our last rehearsal before our performance on sunday. uh...well that's not entirely true. based on today's rehearsal, we've scheduled another one for the morning before our show. not that it was particularly bad or anything, we just feel that it would do us some good to run through it again. plus, we're pretty sure robbie might be able to be there. it was maggie ann's first rehearsal as official stage manager. she's doing a good job, but she can't stop worrying that the actors will think she's being mean if she tells them to do anything. mat's car was exploding or something and he was very sad. clint was rather tired, but still managed to fit in a couple ad libs (and he didn't seem to understand why i made him do that last line of scene 3 the right way). shanda hurt herself again. the set was dressed up in its best. why, even barry white worked today.

~sarah

Sunday, July 11, 10:45am

it's really f***ing hot outside. and inside. it's really f***ing hot everywhere but in the grocery store where they did not have corks. lucky actors that get to be wet. hmm, when you tell someone that it's imperative that they not be late, but they seem not to hear you and show up fifteen minutes or a half hour later, what shall you do to them? stand them in the middle of a circle and kick at will? send the footless clown after them? while these are all good suggestions, we worked it out without any kind of physical violence. our last rehearsal before the first performance later this afternoon. dad, talia, and i moved all the furniture down to the site. the set actually looked like it was supposed to. we had a gregory today but no jacob. i realized that i have most of the play memorized. yay, for real muffins and cookies!

~sarah

Sunday, July 11, 4:30pm

the first show. the props. the set. the make-up. the costumes. ...the audience. we recruited a couple of our cousins to act as stagehands/extras. becky and jordan were very helpful. maggie certainly has the stuff to be a stage manager. she kept all of us relatively in line. although nothing could be done when kris and liz skipped a giant chunk of really important dialouge and skipped right to clint's cue. clint was busy changing his costume backstage and could not accomodate their jump ahead. so i, standing backstage, exasperated, mouthed "just kiss" and so they did for the many seconds (minutes?) it took for clint to be dressed. a simple solution for anytime the liz/kris combination goes bad. the unfortunatly-located wasp's nest backstage directly under our stage right entrance caused us much problems. a pre-show sting for shanda on her arm, and a post-show sting for me directly on the biggest vein in my left hand. poor swollen hand. other than that, the small but appreciative audience was given a good show. and anytime a show is followed by going to see the philosopher kings, is a good time indeed.

~sarah

Monday, July 12, 2pm

today we had scheduled a shoot with cfqc television for a bit they're going to do of the play on the news. thru a miscommunication (rather, uncommunication) we were not aware that we had to pick up liz at the uni and consequently, we had to make the very nice camera man wait an obscene and ridiculous amount of time to do five mintues of work. there is unrest in the cast.

~sarah

p.s. incidently, the piece will air on cfqc's "after hours" on thursday, july 22, between 6:30 and 7pm and possibly on the 11:30 broadcast as well.

Sunday, July 18

upon returning from a weekend at ness creek, i received an email from our producer saying that he has booked a venue for our "happening" which will occur on august 20. the lack of details is astounding as i need to talk to many more people before i truly know anything.

~sarah

Friday, July 23, 10:36pm

amy, maggie, robbie and i all went to do some postering tonite. robbie and i took downtown and amy and maggie did broadway. after much interesting conversation, struggles with tangled tape, and a disagreement over the trouble with girls, robbie and i returned to find amy and maggie waiting by a freshly postered pole. oddly enough, the poster had been cruelly ripped down. driving down broadway, we discovered that nearly all of our posters had been similarily removed. apparently, our insane theatre rival has struck again! he/she/it must have been following the girls down the freakin street! we are simply aghast and cannot comprehend the kind of deranged individual who would do such an inconsiderate, unfeeling, and just generally very rude thing. we hope that the party or parties responsible come forward so that we may discuss our apparently very offensive gallactic green posters.

~sarah

Tuesday, July 27, 10:30pm

opening nite. a whole bunch of bowman kids were there causing clint and mat to show off quite a bit. but all within the context of the play, they know what they're doing. well, except when they smeared whipped cream all over robbie. we had a bit of laundry to do, but we only lost a few cookies in the battle so that was good. the after-party was very strange. we hope one day that the other half of our cast will actually attend the parties. i'm gonna go now, before i write something that i regret.

~sarah

Wednesday, July 28, 10:30pm

as clint so eloquently pointed out, "the cast is bigger than the audience!" and it was true. we had some notable audience members though in the form of a cast member's mom and a particular beautiful shakespeare actor. still clint suggested, "can't i just put twenty bucks in the donation box and call it a night?" i was "on edge" tonite, for a few reasons and i can think of at least one of them that sucked. our lovely gopher friends had a nice meal of our food fight props which we foolishly left in the tent over nite. luckily, mike came to the rescue with some hamburger buns which worked just as well as the cookies and muffins would have. apparently, "boys & girls" time is optimum time for nudity as some very appreciative people whistled after watching me change tonite. some good reactions to news ended the nite splendidly. i like this long run thing.

~sarah

Thursday, July 29, 10:30pm

titled "the worst thursday ever!" by mat and clint, tonite's show actually went much better than usual. we had quite a sizable audience, comparitively, and they laughed in most of the appropriate places. bev and barb appreciated the "gap-addicts" line. the guy from the alcohol store that sold me some wacky lemonade stuff (and assured me that if i didn't like it i could come back and kick him in the bum) came tonite. mat and robbie shared a traumatic experience that caused them to half-stumble, half-run to the fence and hurl. i liked robbie better all around tonite. clint forgot his pants.

~sarah

Friday, July 30, 10:30pm

Closing night of the long run, and the best show yet. We had a large amount of audience members, including some distinguished Shakespeare actors, and most importantly my parents. We got a lot of hearty laughter today, especially Mat. The audience was much impressed with his expert handling of a potentially disastrous incident involving a chair falling off the stage. Tonight was the first time Violet's line "It's so cold out here" actually made sense. The barely-above-freezing temperatures made things very uncomfortable for poor "just out of the shower" Clint. And for me too, after I poured most of the pitcher of water intended for Mat on myself. I blame him and his seemingly water-proof hair. Clint was without pants again today. I guess his boxer shorts got such a good reaction yesterday he decided to leave his pants lost. Mat decided to show a little more flesh than usual tonight as well. I don't understand what would posses him to parade around in a very tight, somewhat wet, and certainly skimpy white tank top. Perhaps he does not realize the distracting effect such an outfit might have on at least one of his co-stars...Anyway, after the show Sarah had a talk with Liz informing her that from then on, Sarah would play Violet and that her services were no longer needed. Liz took it very well. All in all, the last show was a good show. And it marked the beginning of many changes. Sarah and Amy are struggling bravely with jitters over having to take on new, larger roles. And I am struggling not so bravely with horrible thought of a new actor playing Sheumas (thanks a lot Mat.)

~Shanda

Thursday, August 5, 6:22pm

by fitting the word edmonton into practically every sentence they said at last nite's cast party, mat and clint have convinced amy and i to make a big decision. we think it better to have all of our actors at the happening then to have two shows in crazyness. so, the 15th show is cancelled, we don't have to look for another sheumas with two weeks of rehearsal, and everyone (esp mat and clint) is happy. they're lucky they're so cute. as for the party...tubby, edmonton, doughnuts, pie, potato chips, dancing in the parking lot, mooning kristofer, learning important lessons on the train bridge, spidermanguy, uhh, edmonton, talking to strange cute boys in the doughnut shop, fortunes told...did i mention edmonton. yup, done.

~sarah

Friday, August 6, 3pm

we spent the first hour or so of the rehearsal listening to clint and mat do amusing voice-overs for kris' stories, days of our lives. when rosie came on and mat started threatening to steal my scott bairstow from me, i decided it was time to turn off the tv and rehearse. our lines were interrupted by pie a few times. it was the first rehearsal that i got to kiss anyone. all in all, we produced a lot of things during today's rehearsal, but that doesn't mean that it was necessarily very productive. we had fun though. and pie.

~sarah

Saturday, August 7, 3pm

it was closer to 4 by the time clint and i actually started our "kissing rehearsal". we were interrupted several times by my mom's crazy ramblings. i don't think clint is scared of her yet though, so that's good. we choreographed some love scenes and i learned how to be aggressive with clint's forward momentum in scene 7. we ate soft oreos that freaked us out and clint played sodapop. so now we know how to kiss, all that's left is to remember my lines.

~sarah

Monday, August 9, 3pm

even though we're not doing anymore shows there, those kind billy tent ppl let us rehearse there for our big show. mat and clint were dressed the same and they claim they didn't plan it. clint's scene 2 tangent was interrupted by a repeated reference to shit. maybe that was the reason he distractedly broke the cream pitcher which shanda informed him was a priceless family heirloom brought over from the old country. oh dear and mat's dead baby that inspired the puppet song. then there was that exposing our asses thing, but it wasn't our fault! mat's pre-kissing face made shanda burst out with silly laughter and clint copied the move later. julie showed up at the end of scene 10 while shanda was playing jacob (kris was at work) and we all squealed and ran to hug her. we are hoping it might be possible for all of us to be serious for one whole rehearsal sometime in the future.

~sarah

Friday, August 13th 9:52pm

today we made available tickets at the ave with those wonderful friends of mine that work there. yay for them. :) i hope that i get unsick soon so i can kiss clint...er, i mean, rehearse with clint some more. ;) robbie and luke keep telling me not to panic and i'm trying really hard...but....

~sarah

Sunday, August 15, nitetime

after a show at shakespeare, we picked up clint and drove robbie home. we were just supposed to run some lines, but we ended up acting sort of. it was pretty goofy. just me and clint and shanda and amy. that's all i want to say about that.

~sarah

Monday, August 16, 3pm

well, we wanted to have an "everyone but mat" (who is still in edmonton) rehearsal. kris and talia were a little late and robbie was at work, but it was quite successful. clint made up a nice little rule of ticketing: whenever anyone purposely made someone screw up they were "ticketed", they had to sell at least one ticket. we hoped it might make the rehearsal a little more serious than usual. shanda got several, clint got a couple, talia and kris got one each, and amy got one. hmm, i don't think i got any, but i probably deserved at least one. later shanda and i bugged clint until he told us who he liked (cuz he already knows who both of us like). how very grade nine. i'm sensing a theme.

~sarah

Wednesday, August 18, 2pm

clint, talia and i did a radio interview on the wonderful cfcr (90.5 fm) today. theo kivol, who rocks my world, asked us all sorts of lovely questions about the happening. clint got to tell a chris krieger story. oh, and just for the record, yes, talia is the oldest one involved in the production.

~sarah

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