For Better Opens-Off to NYC for meetings

Opening Night went fine. We had a lovely audience of about 150, small for a 350-seat theatre but it was a Tuesday, who were mostly from a Southern Baptists Church group. This was a terrifying thought for me at first, how would an older group react to a show that is untraditional and revolves around technology? I was pleasantly surprised with their reaction! More than pleasantly, just surprised! They laughed at random jokes, clapped after every scene and made comments during the big fight scene. On top of that every time a phone ringed on stage each of the checked their cell phones, looking at their friends with that “didn’t you turn off your phone?!” look. After act one they got the picture, it was apart of the show. My favorite moment of the opening was when an audience member answered her cell phone in the middle of act one and preceded to chat on it for a solid 3 minutes as she made her way out of the theatre. Talk about life imitating art. At the end of the show this lovely audience gave my hard working cast a standing ovation. I’m not sure it was an earned standing ovation, but it was nice to see the audience responding so well to the show. The evening ended with a small opening night party at the theater where my cast was joined by the cast for the next show, Run For Your Wife, including the always joyful Tim Cox and Larry Lesher. Larry and I see to have parallel summers at the moment, he just finished at Stagedoor and now I am heading there. Him, Tim, and I spent a good hour just talking shop over a drink. I retired early and left the party rage on into the wee hours of the morning.

The staff at the Playhouse seemed to be pleased with the work I did, especially Miss. Charlotte, the wife of the man who built the Playhouse 61 years ago. Holly and Robby gave me nice compliments on the show itself. While I'm not entirely sure that FOR BETTER was the best choice for the Playhouse audience I hope they enjoy it. Now, if my actors could only get those lines right at the end of act one.

Early this morning I departed for the airport for my 10am flight from Lexington to Detroit. Lucky me, I was delayed several times, and may finally land around 8:30pm. Now you may be thinking, Katherine, that’s not too bad. Unfortunately for me I have to be back in New York tomorrow morning for meetings at work, which means I will have a good 10 hours to return home, do laundry, pack, get things together for said meetings, and then kiss my parents goodbye again before hoping on the 7am flight to NYC. Phew.
Needless to say, I’m not the happiest of campers right now. The good news is that I got a lot of documents organized on my computer, worked on my website, and wrote this entry.

Danville was a lovely way to spend two weeks, despite the unending heat and rollercoaster that is having to cast the artistic director, the people all have the best intentions and are oh-so sweet. We will see if I get asked back next summer. Either way, I had a nice time and I wish the whole Pioneer Playhouse gang the best with the rest of their season!

In case you forgot on Sunday, August 1st, I leave for Stagedoor Manor in the Catskills. Stagedoor is about two hours from New York, which means that Nick will be driving me up on Sunday. Send good travel thoughts my way for tomorrow and Sunday, one day of non-stop travel was enough for me!

Opening Night of FOR BETTER

After two long weeks in Danvile, KY the opening night is finally upon us.
This morning will be our final rehearsal/run through and at Noon we are all done before the 8:30 go.
I have to say I am excited to get back to NYC, there are a few projects brewing there, but Danville has been a nice break. The people here are all very sweet. While I did feel like a fish out of water at first the last week it's sorta grown on me. It's like being at camp.
So! for tonight let's all hope it doesn't rain, that the pace keeps up, the actors remember their lines, projection is with them, and that the audience likes it.
This afternoon I will be packing everything up for my 10am flight out tomorrow.

On Sunday August 1st I wil be heading up to Stagedoor Manor for 3 weeks, I am extremely excited to be with them this summer.

Heres to Opening Night! 11.5 more hours to go....

Tech

Tech has begun!
This morning the crew spent the entire morning painting the set. if all goes as planned we should have the entire thing (minus the big floor) all set by 7:30pm tonight. I will be setting the chairs and furniture at 6:30pm.



UPDATE:
Just after I finished typing that a HUGE thunder storm came through and (more or less) soaked the stage....

I guess tonight may be longer than expected.

24 Hours until Load In

TGIF does not apply here at the Playhouse since tomorrow we go into our tech rehearsal.
Woo hoo!

Today I spent the entire day working act one. Lines are still an issue for a few of the actors and personal drama keeps creeping into my rehearsal hall. But i assume that is what happens when you have been staying with the same people for 8 weeks. I am always trying to be a positive force in rehearsal and so far I thin all is going well. I do have to admit that I will be excited when the show opens on tuesday night.

Here is a run down of the next four days:

Saturday Morning: Work Act 2
Saturday Afternoon: Run of show in Rehearsal Hall
Saturday Evening: Final performance of The Dillenger Dilemma
Directly following that STRIKE of Dillenger set and Load in FOR BETTER SET (we begin at 11pm)
11pm-2am: Entire Backstage Change over (Costumes, Props, etc) while the sets are being switched
2am: People working on Costumes go to bed-Crew continues to work on the set
Whenever: Once the entire set is complete Crew goes to bed

Sunday:
9am: Paint Crew (whomever went to bed first) Touch up on sets begin
from 9am-Noon: Paint touch ups, set fixes (installing the chairs), setting all props, costume parade and anything else
Noon-One: Lunch
Afternoon OFF (extra time for set work)
7:30pm-Cue to Cue begins

Monday:
9am-Noon: Tech Run Through
Noon-One: Lunch
One-3: Rehearsal in the Hall
3-6 Off
6-7 Dinner
8:30pm Dress Rehearsal

Tuesday
9am-Noon: Tech Run
Afternoon Off
8:30pm Opening night of For Better

Wednesday-10am Flight back to MI

Week One Complete

Saturday is the final work day of the week here at Pioneer Playhouse which means I get Sunday and Monday to do....something.
I dont have a car, and most people are leaving town this weekend and Im at least 90 minutes away from any friends so it looks like I will be heading into Lexington to see a show with the Artistic Director, her brother, and her cousin. Hopefully I will be seeing friends afterwards but who knows, when you don't have your own car it sucks. The good news is that on Monday morning I will be working on the show and in the afternoon/evening I'm taking myself to the movies (I can borrow a friends car that day).

This was a really fun first week for me at the Playhouse, and a productive one at that! I got the entire show prelim blocked, had 2 production meetings in each department with a big one after our run through this afternoon, and finally made some nice additions/modifications to the set. Overall I think we are in good shape going into next week, our only week of rehearsal before tech next Sunday and Monday. The cast is small hard working group, good to have. My biggest concern are those lines. I hope they work them this weekend....

Well I can hear the show outside ending which means it's time for me to get ready for Playhouse Prom, yes thats right, PROM.

FOR BETTER Press Release and Photos

The fourth show of the Pioneer Playhouse is a comedy called "For Better," by Eric Coble and stars the creme de la creme of the Playhouse acting company. Playhouse artistic director Holly Henson will be making her only stage appearance of the summer as a scene stealing femme fatale. Kabby Borders, daughter of Lexington physician, Dr. Jim Borders, plays her impulsive friend, who is arranging her entire engagement and wedding...online.

Ms. Borders was selected from over 800 auditionees at the Southeastern Theatre Conference, held in Lexington last April. Joining her are comic standouts Chris Kateff, Katie Sawhill, Jay Thomas and playhouse favorite Daniel Hall Kuhn, playing a father who is befuddled by it all.

The characters interact via cell phone and computers, for most of the play, with the
father's "living room" anchoring the entire stage in real-time, while the rest of the playing areas could be satellite stations, for all that the actors ever meet face-to-face.

"For Better" is a hilarious romance for the digital age, making fun of our love affair with speed and technology. Directed by New York director Katherine Carter and playing Tuesday - Saturday, July 27 through Aug. 7.

Pioneer Playhouse Day 1

I am at the end of my first full day at the Pioneer Playhouse in Danville.

This morning, after a run around the campus, I finished up auditions in about an hour and went right into the first read through. Directly following that I met will all of my designers for our first design meeting. Because everything in the show has to be set on Saturday (including blocking) the next three days are action packed with meetings and revisions. I'm spending tonight in my room blocking the show. The hardest thing about the Playhouse is that everyone pretty much shuts down by 4pm because of the heat, and you want to keep going but darn that weather wipes you out! Nap times are a must here in this weather.

This evening I was lucky to have dinner "off campus" with three of the actors and one of their parents. We went to this delish pizza place in Danville, brand new. I was starving! I don't think Pizza ever tasted so good! I love how friendly people are here, especially the volunteers here. All of them work so hard every day, two of them re did my entire room before I even got there. Apparently they are taking bets as to how long I last in the room, I told them I am as happy as a calm since I have AC. Also, everyone is involved with the actors and staff. I have invited the volunteers into my rehearsal process since many of them expressed interest after meeting me last night at the opening night for THE DILLENGER DELIMA. I get a lot of questions about New York.

Tomorrow my goal is to get the entire show blocked with entrances and exits, the set will be finalized tomorrow afternoon so I can start to sketch everything in on Friday. I booked a designer run for Saturday-which I think may be a new thing here since everyone sorta looked at me like I was from outer space. All of the designers have great ideas and I am looking forward to getting things set so we can get to work.

Well, I had better get back to work if I want to wake up early to tape the space. Goodnight!

Pioneer Playhouse Tomorrow

Tomorrow afternoon I will be at the Pioneer Playhouse in Danville, KY
I'm going to try and update daily on the process of rehearsal but I've heard from a friend who is down there that the internet is not always the best, so we will see.
I spent this morning saying goodbye to Nick before sending him back to Boston and the evening with my family and packing. Right now I'm waiting for my laundry to dry. Even though I leave tomorrow afternoon I have a few things to take care of in the morning and will have lunch with my parents. It's always hard to leave the family, even if its only for two weeks.

I'm still waiting on more information from Directors Lab West in CA. I hope to hear from them in the coming weeks.

Looking forward to the next two weeks in change, rumor has it there is some sort of Prom on Saturday night, which I hope is true!

Thats all for now

Summer Vacation Update

After almost two weeks of family vacation, this one including my main squeeze who came all the way from NY/Boston, I am getting geared up for Pioneer Playhouse starting on Tuesday. As you know I am directing FOR BETTER by Eric Cole, a romantic comedy about technology in our lives. One of the fun things about directing is that you never know what issues are going to come up in the process, especially when you are going into a theater you have yet to see or a casting pool you have yet to audition. One of the things I am working on is to prep the show as much as I can, without having seen the space, so I can go into that first week with a plan. Its a quick schedule-Tuesday afternoon I arrive to unpack and check out the space before watching the opening night of the show before mine. Wednesday morning we have auditions with a read through that afternoon. What is nice/tough about the rehearsal schedule is that my rehearsal days end at 3pm, giving me the entire afternoon and evening to having meetings and prep. This is great because I can always be as on top of things as possible (taping out the rehearsal space, prod meetings, etc) but I lose time with my cast in the room. Overall, I am looking forward to getting down there and to business.

On the Stagedoor Manor front I have been told what show I will be directing and all I can say is that I am beyond excited!

Right now I am also planning a move in August, a downsize! After five years of living in New York with more stuff (I have 15 extra binders...just in case..why!?) at the end of August I will be going through ALL of my stuff in storage and either throwing away or giving away everything that I do not use on a weekly basis, the only exception of this will be my book collection. The reason? As I (knock on wood) start to travel more for directing and life, even if its only a few times a year, I want to be able to pack easier and smarter. Downsizing will allow me to focus more on what I need rather than what I want. I've been very inspired by Unclutter.com and Tiny Ass Apartments (blogspot). On top of that I can stay cleaner quicker and hopefully it will help my style just a bit, hey a girl can dream!

Now off for lunch at Rainforest Cafe and Despicable Me with my Aunt Vicky and Cousins.