"The Countdown Begins..."

Well, it's official, later this week, "To Kill A Mockingbird" officially opens for the first of it's twenty (yes, 20!) performances over the next four weekends. Today was the final full tech rehearsal. Tomarrow is our first full dress rehearsal. The show previews on Thursday, and opens on Friday.

Now that we're onstage, things are getting really enjoyable. The set exists, although some of the details remain to be finished, and it's already dwarfing the stage. And let me tell you, compared to the stage, these are some sizable and very well-built set pieces. I have to give it to the designer, he really knows his stuff.

You'd think, for a "community theatre", they'd scrimp and scrounge around to "make-do" with hand-me-down props, actor-provided costumes, and very simplistic and inexpensive set peices. Heh. Not so with Sunset! Nope, the entire facility, consisting of two theatre spaces, plenty of "warehouse" rooms of props/costumes/etc, set shop, multiple rehearsal halls, lobby space, offices, and much more is a very professional facililty dedicated solely to theatre. Volunteers -- some who've been around for years -- pull shows together that could rivel any of the theatres in the city. The artistic staff are educated professionals in their fields, actors are treated with surprisingly high regard, and with twenty shows for this production alone, obviously drawing audiences is nowhere near a problem.

Honestly, I feel honored to be part of the Sunset community again, and contributing my talents towards entertaining Milwaukee theatre-goers. To see a community theatre pull off this level of theatre is impressive. My involvement with this show has hooked me; I like this facility. I'll be auditioning and hopefully acting here again many times. This show is proving to be a wonderful stepping stone into the Milwaukee theatre scene, and hopefully one that will lead me to even more enjoyable acting experiences in the months to come. We shall see. For now, I'm just having a blast!

Hey, you know, if you have nothing better to do, why not come out to Elm Grove sometime over the next four weekends and take in a show? Yours truely may not have a lead role, but we've got a good show in the works, a great cast, and an award-winning story to tell. You can't get much better than that.

If you're interested, take a peek at the Sunset Playhouse website sometime, and maybe I'll see you at the show!

Have a blessed week all, and until later,

Your happily blogging actor friend,
-Jon
posted by Jon at 10:21 PM  I   I  0 comments