"Well, it's definitely a look."

Mrs. Oberman brought half of the costumes today for fittings and the costume folks, under the direction of Mrs. Kohlman, learned how to do hems and sew on buttons for the finishing touches on the costumes.
Christopher's reaction was my favorite of all of the students who had a fitting today. He's playing the fashion conscious Dad and he said, when he tried on his purple pants and fab polyester signature early 70's shirt..."Well, it's definitely a LOOK" and indeed it is. It's like the characters jumped to life as the students tried on their colorful costumes. I have a great pic of Mrs. O in one of the mohawk wigs for Primp and Preen. They are a riot...I think I'll just save that little photo....Hello out there Mrs. O. It's a great shot..shall I publish it?

More musical rehearsals today in the cafeteria while the set design crew was spattering the back wall for texture in the theatre. I understand the spattering got a little messy and it took quite awhile for the clean-up..hey all...Mr. Gnutek is feeling crummy with a cold these days...be good to him.

Mr. Beck, Mr. Hensley and Mr. Rose and Julian and Margaret helped load in the lighting equipment this afternoon at 4:30 until 7. Thanks Julian and Margaret and Mr H, R and Mr. Beck...we'll start the hang tomorrow.

Mondays on this project are always overwhelming to me. There are always problems to fix and unexpected happenings over the weekend. But today we began to iron everything out. We had a great talk today in a small rehearsal--Solveig, Emma and I, about the Kid and her courage to stand up against the status quo..Solveig brought up a very valid question early on..why is the kid so naive about Louis the swindler? Why does she believe him? I talked about how we all really want to be believed and understood and that it's easier than one thinks to be taken in by someone who flatters you and seems to understand you...after a not short enough story from my acting days and a (I think) pretty good connection to the beloved "Wicked" we seemed to be getting somewhere--this almost 50 year old drama teacher and two really smart middle school actresses.
I still have to block a duet and a solo...You know, it's interesting to me ...The actress in me wants to give the girls some freedom to explore the Kid's songs--especially the solos. After years in the theatre, one gets a sense of how a song should move, but these are young (but super smart) artists...so there's a tension there. I have given them my idea for the arc of the song and where it should begin and build to...and I have invited them to play with the choices until we set some basic blocking in tech rehearsal at the end of the week. The important thing is that they believe in the integrity of the kid...she's brave and stands up for what she believes in despite tremendous pressure...I think we're starting to see eye to eye on that.
Fabulous girls --these two young women.
I'm wondering if the kids know how hard we're going to have to work for the next two weeks to get this thing off the ground? I guess they'll learn if they haven't yet realized how much work it takes to put up a show like this.
In Mia's blog, she asked, "What is the purpose of the blog?" Well, I have my ideas, but I'm interested in hearing from others first...I'm hoping the kids will use the blog more frequently...it's their thing...perhaps more IM'ing than blogging..but I think there's a real place for it.

I'm wondering if anyone is reading this. Nevertheless, it's a good record of the day to day goings on of the EGNC project. But I must admit, I really want to be more "transparent" than we've been in the past with our process. The arts can transform and inspire...I see it all the time....I want parents to have a little window into the world of this project. We'll see how it pans out...however this record is put to use...it does help me to document the everyday comings and goings of this monster project. Of course right now I should be doing some number crunching...but I'm putting it off to write about how the kids inspire me...they really do...it's so clearly an equation that works...mix fine arts and high expectations with the time and personnel to do the job and kids just shine..it never fails to bring me joy.

Have a good one.
Ms. W.