Taking a show to the State Thespian Conference is a lot of work and sometimes it is really expensive. It is enough to ask yourself if it all really with the trouble and the expense.
We have obviously answered that question in the affirmative in the past because we have done it six times in the last twelve years. Students have always enjoyed the experience and claimed to have been happy to do it. This year was no exception. All but a handful of the original cast went to conference and they all appeared to enjoy themselves. IT was fun watching the show come to life one last time . . . and I have never felt the thrill of an audience like I did that night when the audience of Thespian delegates recognized "Thriller" at the end.
But it all felt a little different to me this year. It seemed harder somehow. Maybe I am just older or something . . . but restaging MACBETH for conference was harder than the others. But was it too hard? Was it too hard to consider doing it again? I'm not sure.
We had originally designed our scenery with the expectation that it could travel . . . assuming that we would be invited to bring it to conference. For a brief, shining moment we even considered having it screened for the International Thespian Conference. I thought our set for MACBETH was effective and even a little simple . . . especially as compared ot the monolithic sets we sometimes erect for our shows.
In the end, our set was comprised of just five flats, four columns and a roof section. There was a second, stand-alone piece that required no scenery (and a large truck). It went back together pretty easily despite the fact that we were not in an actual theatre. It came down even more quickly -- far ahead of schedule.
Rehearsals were pretty easy. We scheduled a total of four in preparation for conference. The first was dedicated to all the "remembering" and "re-staging" required of our much smaller performacne space at conference. The second rehearsal was given over to fight choreography and dance choreography. The third was a combination of it all. And the final rehearsal was afull run-through but there were no props, scenery, costumes, or set because it was already loaded into the truck.
We used to not take the scenery for our plays at conference. But then we noticed that everyone seemed to. We also noted a clause in the contract that said we are supposed to bring our play "exactly as it was screened." I took that to mean that we must bring the scenery (or most of it) and to cut out all this fancy restaging we had been doing. That made it harder, for sure. And more expensive.
There was not too much stress this year over memorization as everyone seeemed to remember thier parts. Even the actors assigned new roles learnign their lines and blocking quickly and easily. the fights and choreography came back easily as well. Everyone seemed to be in rehearsal and on task most of the time. It was kind of like riding a bike. A really big, clumsy bike made of wood and cardboard tubes.
We took more kids to conference thsi year at least in part becasue we were presenting MACBETH. We had more than 50 which is at elast 15 more than we have ever taken before. That makes conference more expensive, too. It especially increases the stress factor as it is hard to collect all that money and paperwork as well as keeping track of everyone at confernece nad making sure that each one is ucked away in their beds with vision of sugarplums . . . you know the rest.
The kids had fun. They saw a lot of theatre and even took some workshops. A few more even competed in the Individual Event Competition. A lot of new friends were made. I networked with many colleagues and even caught up with some old friends. Our students enjoyed the dance . . . or maybe the coffee shop . . . and most said that they want to come back next year.
I do, too. I wonder, though, about the next time we will take a big show like MACBETH. I am sure the day will come when we will do it again. I just don't want to think about it right now.
Maybe I will tomorrow.
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