Keep it moving; one more day before we present!

I was pretty excited for our dress rehearsal this evening. That was until I arrived at the center with a flat tire! But I was thankful to have at least arrived into town where I could open up the hall and have everyone begin rehearsing as I changed the tire. And actually, it didn't take very long and I didn't get eaten up alive by the mosquitos. The weather was also very agreeable this evening so it was not an uncomfortable situation at all. Lastly, I was able to have Isabel come outside and go over the process, as she mentioned not ever having done it. As much as she drives, I figured it was important I give her a quick re-cap just in case. It was discovered she needs to get her hands on a jack and a tire iron for her car, since she already has the spare for it.

We had a new visitor this evening: Diego. But we started moving so quickly I didn't get a chance to hear his story. After I made it back into the center, I was able to share our story with him and welcomed him properly into the group. My feeling is this will not be the last time we see him. Also, I was glad to see him get a good taste of what our rehearsals are usually like.

Londa had arrived to do the make-up for Sarah and Abel. I was glad she was going to have an opportunity to work on them before the performance on Friday. I should have taken a picture but in between changing the tire and keeping them on schedule when I got back, I didn't have a chance. Actually, there was one sent ... I'll see if I can include it after finishing this segment.

Everyone was able to arrive except for three of our members. (Two have been missing since last week and one was unexpected.) I was able to see each of the groups run through their performance twice; well, more like one and a half, but I believe the other group will be meeting once again before the performance on Friday.

I should have given them a "full circle" speech about all of the work we have been putting into this project since it began and how now, we were at the final step of seeing the fruits of all that labor. There were a lot of complaints such as folks "not feeling it, feeling sick, etc." I tried to give some perspective by mentioning we were not out on a construction site and needing to perform. We were simply presenting two small vignettes and all that was required of them was five or ten minutes of energy because we would be presenting this in two days time. I was also able to express the need to practice like we play because we never know who will be in the audience observing our performance and keeping us in mind for the next event they may be organizing.

My hope is that it will all come together before Friday evening. I did ask one of the groups to rehearse it one more time before presenting. I'll make sure to check in with them tomorrow and decide accordingly.

I almost forgot; the picture below is of the pad I use to write my notes when observing the run-throughs. Every time I use it, it reminds me of my Professor, Norma Saldivar, who I had the pleasure of working and learning from while attending college at UW Madison. (I believe she is now working for a school in Nevada, near Las Vegas.) She was from Chicago and also of Mexican descent, fluent in Spanish as well. I always wondered whether or not there was ever going to be an opportunity for me to sit on the side she was always sitting on while we rehearsed and performed for her and now that I am, my hope is I can one day be as good of a Director as she was with us.

It also reminds me of some Directors I worked with in the past who used to scratch out their entire notes after giving them; I always wondered why they did that. What if one of the actors had a question about one of the notes and they were not able to go back to it because it had been scratched out and was no longer legible? Then again, as quick as we have to write the note in order to continue seeing the performance, sometimes we're not even able to discern what was written ourselves!