Poisonous comedy

The good news is that the show went marvelously well in the end.

The bad news is that the stress on me was just not worth it.

The story begins with an overabundance of good news: Enough actors tried out so that we could have TWO complete casts. This is great to have all these eager and interested young people. It is stressful for ME as director to creatively, cleverly and appropriately cast 28 as opposed to 14. I rose to the challenge: the casting was quite brilliant, in fact (she says modestly).

ONCE the cast list was posted, then two actors dropped. Significantly, they were not cast in lead roles; unfortunately, BOTH were actors who attended the school hosting our production, which left us with fewer "hometown actors" and posed a challenge to our legitimacy in being in the building.

(oh, by the way, we were using this facility because the previous school that we had made arrangements with... all rent free according to verbal agreement and even email agreements...suddenly went to the board and announced charges that were a minimum of $1000 -- rent-- and could grow to about $2000-- adding snow removal. We politely declined and found another space).

So that was challenge one. Then, as we all started reading the script, the number of hells and damns proved off putting to parents, so we moderated these to hecks and darns.

Then parents of two (sibling) cast members (after rehearsals had started, mind you) set up a meeting to discuss the language and the kissing... kissing that DID NOT INVOLVE either of their children!! We spoke for over an hour and the mom (the parent rep who attended) seemed much reassured; her daughters continued to attend rehearsals, with mom in the background laughing and commenting what a great show it was.

Then a brief email from these parents that said that the language changes were not enough, and they were withdrawing their daughters from the play.

!!!

THEN another actor (who had actually attended far more rehearsals than his "twin") dropped unexpectedly, saying he thought he could balance multiple commitments but he couldn't... AND he was the one with access to the critical window seat for the dead bodies that is central to the action of this play.

MEANWHILE another parent is starting in on me regarding a phrase (again not one that either of her children speaks) suggesting a connection between eroticism and religion. I told her it was a "throw away line" meant to be tossed off playfully and not the focus of the dialogue; that I would consider her concerns but I didn't think it would be a problem in the playing of it.

Fast forward to runthroughs: this parent attended a runthrough and fired off an angry email "surprised and disappointed that the 'throw away line' wasn't TOSSED OUT."

Feh!

So I emailed with my board who agreed with me and wrote to her:

I regret that you were disappointed when you heard the "throw away" line at the rehearsal Monday. I regret that I was not clear enough when we spoke; by "throw away line" I meant a line meant to be said as light and funny, not as a line of no value. The line is just a part of the scene, not the focus of the scene. I did consider the change you proposed; however, I am confident that the scene plays well as written.This particular line is a character note, that communicates that Mortimer is an intellectual person, and Elaine is someone he needs that keeps him grounded. As I have mentioned, I feel that the play is clear in its writing, and in my directing, that Mortimer and Elaine clearly are interested in a wholesome marriage; this teasing and flirting is just before Mortimer proposes marriage.It is my strong conviction that in no way is this play smutty or prurient.I have spoken to my board of directors about this, as it was clear that this is important to you, and I did not want to speak for myself alone. The board is in agreement with me on this. Our troupe is a troupe for teens, rather than children. We want to be able to do plays that allow young people to think and stretch creatively. While we always hope our troupe is fun, it is not for fun alone, but also to encourage growth in leadership and creative excellence.Again, I regret any discomfort that I may have caused by being less than clear in our previous conversation.

***********

So then I waited to see if THESE TWO actors would drop; but no, they attended and continued helpful as ever and no reference was ever made again.

Fast forward to final dress rehearsals, and wrapping this up quickly:

At final dress rehearsals, one of the (double cast) leads was clearly not solid on lines!! I spoke to her firmly, and "just in case" made sure that her "twin" was on hand the next night for opening... So, on that opening night, she came early, worked lines with me, then with her brother, then with her co=actors.

STILL-- about half an hour before the performance was to start, there was a mini-conference happening of lead actors -- without the one under discussion-- IS she ready? CAN she do it?

I broke this up, spoke with our actor: can you do it? She said yes. I said, well we have to tell the team that and so I directed a return to team bonding and confidence and then, sure enough:

THEATER MAGIC

The opening was fine, great all went well...
and in a twist of karmic justice, the "twin" that everyone was counting on and hoping to put in on night one, on HER opening on night two, stumbled multiple times!!

THEN
last day, last performances: and a stubborn little teen (female playing a male) suddenly refused to remove her eye make up... which she HAD removed the day before...HUGE stubborn scene, again about 1/2 hour from opening...She threw down, okay if I can't perform unless I take off my make up, I won't perform.

I said, fine. If you decide you will take off your make up in the next five minutes, great. If you decide you won't perform, fine.

I then made arrangements for her "twin" to be on call.

At the last possible second, she caved and took off her make up; I let the twin know she could stand down. I also made nice so the team ensemble spirit remained.

I even got an apology after the show.

And the shows, miraculously, all went well.

Note on personal growth: I did not take this teen's tantrum personally AT ALL. I was very clear it had nothing to do with me and tons to do with the family dynamic and I was just caught in the crossfire.

Yep, this comedy was a lot of laughs.

Now, the age old dilemma: vodka or valium? I choose vodka!