Green Room Tech Night

The final rehearsal where you run through the whole play without stopping.
I had Granny come to watch. As well, our buddy Bea and 3 of her boys came to see the kids in the show.

I signed up Pops to work in the green room along with one other parent. The other parent is still home sick. The kids were escorted from the indoor green room, where they changed into costumes and got made up, to the outdoor green room tent. So a good 45 min before the show the kids are packed in like passengers on a Southwest flight with fewer chairs then butts and a nice odor of propane emitting from the heater. There is nothing for them to do. We hush them and the volume recedes only to rise again. And so the adults begin the nightly routine of battling the tide of the green room volume. I've tried "da da ta da da...", mean glares, tapping and pointing hoping to humiliate the offenders. Nothing works for long. Pops figures if you tell a group of kids to be quite, they should be. So he is dumb-struck as to how to handle this.

Just before the show I look out from behind the curtain and wave to Granny. She points to 2 seats beside her and says,"I saved seats for the kids!" I kind of snapped, "Mom, they don't need seats they are in the show!"

There are a few mishaps. Chop chop has already developed a reputation for not being where he needs to be with the props he needs. On the schedule I typed out I highlight when he is on and stage crew and I talk about how we are really going to have to work to support him. The presence af attention issues (ADD/ADHD) are apparent to me. Early in the show I see that chop chop is due up soon, I radio "Do you have chop chop on the left side of the stage?" I am told yes. Great! Five minutes later I hear the director radioing, where is chop chop? Get him! I dive outside and into the greenroom tent and there he is. He has completely missed his cue to go on stage. At some point in the last 5 minutes he chose to leave the stage and I never saw him. Tonight we are keeping him backstage the entire show.
Three girls are sharing a role and there is confusion amongst them about whose turn it is to be onstage-so no one appears.
Later, both myself and the other green room Mom don't call for Dragon in time and he misses his cue to go on stage. This one is my fault.
Ki's line "Someone stole my nuts!" breaks up the 7th and 8th grade actors and crew every time.

Two teachers and the Principal have comedic cameos in the play. They are all so great. Particularly the principal. What a good egg!
Aj consistently delivers his lines with a big volume and sings decibels above the others. What he lacks in pitch he makes up for in loudness.
During intermission a few of the girls are busy wiping and cleaning the table that holds water and quiet activities for them to do.
With a great deal of pride they tell me "Look, Judy, I'm cleaning up!"

But no one was as proud as darling Aladdin who grabbed me mid-show in the dusk behind the stage and said bursting with pride, "I have remembered EVERY prop!" He is a dear, smart, sweet and talented boy. I have visions of when he is older and I am watching him on the Disney Channel or picking a up a copy of Tiger Beat with his face on it. The funniest piece is that his mother and Pops went to Senior Prom together. Evidently Pops passed out drunk in someones house sometime in the evening and a photo of him was later used for some sort of alcohol awareness week. What makes it more ironic is that Pops has a beer or wine maybe once a month. So a reminder to high school seniors, watch what you do at prom. Your dates son may later be the lead in the class play that your kids are in.