Saying Farewell ~ Final Thoughts on "The Mousetrap"

I miss everything about "The Mousetrap" terribly, but I know the worst now; it’s all over. No matter how many times I say it, it hurts a little. All these weeks of work and finding it in ourselves to become this show and it’s finished. Never again to be the cast as we were. I think it’s safe to say that we’re different people from when we all auditioned.

It’s the most bittersweet crux of acting. You say goodbye to your cast and character after getting to know them so well. At first you can’t understand it. It’s not that you can’t be or see them again; merely the window of time given to be and live with these people expired. Your character, no matter which he or she was, takes some piece of who you are and doesn’t give it back; but gives you a better piece of yourself you didn’t know you could be or have. The cast is the same way. Everyone takes something away from the show; if we didn’t we didn’t really learn anything now did we?

My cast, crew, and character gave me wings, bravery, and maturity I didn’t think I could have. It was when my cast and crew did everything and nothing that shaped me to be the character I played and person I am now. Everything lined up, we collaborated, tweaked, and painted a story like no other ever has or ever will again. When Mollie started out - okay when I started out, - I was flighty and wouldn’t stay off my tip-toes. It was very young. But through a lot of shaping, molding, and perhaps some pounding Mollie became the young woman she was supposed to be. So after taking my dear Sergeant’s advice I took my own statement, it’s therapeutic in a way, the final stitch over the crack on my heart. But I wouldn’t have this end any other way.  

What’s so madly interesting about people is they have a tendency to relive the tiniest detail of regret over and over again. Things change us but not necessarily the way we plan. One can’t always help looking back, yet, when I do, I regret nothing. ~ Azure Hall

The cast of "The Mousetrap" at their closing night cast party.

One down and another to go

Well, we survived our opening weekend!  It was a thrill to have such responsive audiences.  You think you know when you're going to get laughs or a reaction from the audience, and then they surprise you.  They connect with something that you hadn't even thought of originally.

 


One of the favorite scenes for both the cast & the audience has been our "play-within-a-play" scene.  Vera is of course, over the top with her acting and Mame is simply trying to make something out of her minor character.  It becomes a bit "the battle of the divas."  Needless to say absolute chaos and humor follow.  (Poor Reginald & Lord Dudley don't stand a chance.)



 



As our second weekend approaches though, we all begin to feel a bit bittersweet.  We've spent so much time together, especially the last two weeks, and have definitely battled being weary; but soon, the journey will come to it's end.  For now though, we're appreciating each moment and the chance to provide exceptional entertainment for theater lovers, young and old.

 

Tickets are on sale now thru the St. Norbert Box Office, 920-403-3950 or online, www.evergreenproductions.org

Almost there...

What a crazy week it's been!!  Of course, most production weeks are insane as all the final pieces get together; but this has been exceptional.  You see, with a cast of nearly 30, 25+ scenes and multiple costume changes, this is a real labor of love.  Needless to say, all of us involved with community theater are absolutely junkies!  We can't help ourselves.  There is something truly powerful about an intentional group of people focused on a single vision and creating an experience.

And now we're at our final dress rehearsal TONIGHT! We'll be getting our feet wet with a small audience, since family is invited to get a sneak peek.  Now's when we get to see if what we think is funny is really funny and learn a whole new rhythm to each scene as we adjust to the audience's reactions.  Energy will be high, the adrenalin will be flowing - we're ready for an audience!!

Tickets are on sale now thru the St. Norbert Box Office, 920-403-3950 or online, www.evergreenproductions.org

Week Three - COSTUMES!!

With a cast as large as "Auntie Mame" and the fact that the play takes place over 20 years, there are A LOT of costumes to arrange and fit.  Some of the actors are double cast with characters that are in their 20s to their 60s.  The play opens during the bootleg era of the 20s, goes thru the depression, heads down to the glorious south for a spell, then back to Manhattan, plus a trip to Connecticut!  Characters are wild, eccentric, traditional, conservative, urban, suburban - in other words, all over the place.  

If it wasn't for our amazing wardrobe expert, Judy Patefield (pictured), we'd be lost, for sure.  She has the responsibility of taking the director's vision for each person in Mame's world, and creating just the right look.  


As an actor, it's a thrill to collaborate with Judy.  Characters suddenly evolve and develop. It starts to bring our more and more of who s/he will become on stage.


Of course then, there's all the shoes!  Which ones?  Is there such a thing as too many?  HA! Of course not!

 

 

Tickets are on sale now thru the St. Norbert Box Office, 920-403-3950 or online, www.evergreenproductions.org

But Just What IS a Terabithia?

The poster for our Young Actor's season opener, Bridge to Terabithia, has been hanging up at work for a couple of weeks now.  I've overheard a few puzzled questions about the show, it would seem the Newberry Award winning book on which it's based is not nearly as famous as it should be!

Courtesy of Amazon.com
A hint perhaps?  The Brown County Library has copies too!

Bridge to Terabithia is the story of two friends; one  leads an average, boring life and feels like an outsider, the other is an outsider and feels perfectly at peace until she is ridiculed for being different ("different" meaning such horrors as "doesn't own a TV" and "lives in a spooky house").  

I was compelled (by a teacher's syllabus) to read Bridge to Terabithia when I was in middle school.  That awkward time when everyone feels like an outsider, kids are cruel for reasons as asinine as "doesn't own a TV" and a person first starts to realize that what they consider to be normal isn't normal for everyone.  At first I balked at the book, I preferred reading fantasy to reading about other people create their own fantasy.  I was oddly annoyed by the female protagonist, the relentless dreamer, Leslie.  And I was enraged by the slow-witted supporting cast; the block-headed siblings and jeering classmates.  Of course by the end of the book, I realized why I had had such a visceral reaction to the book.  I was just like Leslie, and a little like pragmatic protagonist Jesse, too.  I had to deal with being taunted for reading and wearing kooky clothes and not having seen the latest episode of Friends.  Bridge to Terabithia gave my preteen self a way to consider my own life in a way I never had before.  Leslie and Jesse weren't heroes to me, but they had become powerful allies.

Evergreen's Young Actor's shows have always been as much about education as entertainment.  We use children as actors (on of the few children's theatre in the country to do so) and encourage them to assist with technical aspects as well, such as designing costumes, building sets, and creating brilliant light plans (no easy feat!)  But it's not enough for us!  We don't perform mere pageants.  We wish to enrich young audiences as well as entertain them.  We want to give kids something to think about when they leave the theater because, let's face it, kids are smart.

If you've never read this wonderful book before, I urge you to do so.  And if you have a young adult in your home, moping around and despairing of how bored they are, give them a copy of Bridge to Terabithia...I'm sure it will be a nice break from telling them to clean their room.  

Then, see it live September 29-October 2nd!  I'm what would be considered an adult, I've been paying taxes for some years and I've had time to develop skill in dealing with bullies.  But I've still got my tickets...and I hope to see you at the show!

Have you read Bridge to Terabithia?  Let me know what you thought in the comments!  Don't be shy, that's not what theatre is about!

Blogmistress MB