You Better Think Twice

Here are Aaron and Maggie singing "Think Twice" from These Are the Voyages. For upload purposes, it's in 3 chunks. Do see all three; it has a great finish. (You'll notice from the beginning and the end that this was a separate take, which we filmed after the show was over. Randy ran out of camcorder video memory just before their song finished!)Monika played Eugenia Friday night and I hope to get video of her as well.

Maggie plays President Eugenia of the planet Abaddon, and Aaron plays her Chief of Staff Quinlan. Somewhat like Sirens, they make their living off of aliens who come to their "pleasure planet" and then never leave. Quinlan wants to let the crew of the Enterprise go because Lt. Joelle is different - "she doesn't want to give in to temptation."

Just before the song, Eugenia says, "When have we ever let anyone go?"





(part 3 temporarily unavailable; will post asap)

Shop! Shop!

The people of Abaddon in These Are the Voyages love to shop. We got in some of our own shopping yesterday. So many black ankle boots - but which ones fit? Which ones don't come with 3-inch spiky heels? And can you dance in them?

We took in 6 actors and found 4 pairs that fit. Guys are harder to find black boots for than girls. I will be conducting more tours of the Goodwill shoe department soon.

Meanwhile, I noticed yesterday that our wonderful acting coach and choreographer has also purchased black ankle boots. Hm. I might get myself a pair, just to fit in.

Casting is Completed!

In record time, we figured out who would play which parts in "These Are the Voyages." I have never sent out the cast list the same day as the last audition before.

And while I'm thrilled with the cast and very much looking forward to working with them all to create a great show . . . I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with everything else I have to do: design sets, help build them, work with the costume makers, order wigs and Vulcan ears, build props, work with volunteers on painting and sound and light and concessions and a bunch of other stuff, work with others on getting the word out . . . not to mention blocking scenes and actually directing!

I am very thankful that I have two choreographers, one adult and one student, and an acting coach, plus Randy, to help me out.

We probably had more fun at these auditions than any others I've ever done. A big part of our enjoyment was how talented the kids were. I loved hearing and seeing different interpretations of the characters. As usual, casting is a puzzle - and one in which you're not guaranteed that you have all the right pieces. I take that back: I felt that the Lord had promised the right cast for this show, and He definitely provided. He even provided a couple of innovative solutions to the inevitable casting difficulties.

Some say that casting is 90% of directing; others say it's 60%. I think I go with the latter. While the actors are learning their lines and their songs, I will be working on sets and blocking and directing notes and a myriad other details. And I will also be re-reading the script, because even as its author, I keep finding more things inside it.

These are the Voyages, these are the voyages . . .

That's the title song of the show we picked for our summer musical theatre workshop. Everyone seems excited so far. I'm busy re-working the script. The original had to be kept to under an hour, but now I'm free to expand it, to have Randy write new songs, to explore new characters, to boldly go where this musical couldn't quite go before. (CUE: rising music.)

One other difference in this show is cast size. The original had about 40 cast members. The challenge then was to create a few extra parts - maybe just a couple of lines or as part of a small ensemble - so that the kids felt they had something to do. Now, with 19 actors, I'm taking some of those extra parts and re-apportioning them to the other characters. We'll also have a fair amount of doubling and even tripling of roles -- which is great fun for the actors, who get to play not one but three roles. Three costumes, three identities.

Big Props

I just put up instructions about how to make a stela on the website (see left for the link). It's under the Games and Props tab. We used the stela for Louisiana Jane and also as a random prop in last summer's Where Do I Go From Here? There's a great picture of our old stela too.

Our other proposed show for this summer is These Are the Voyages. It also has a big prop: a beacon. I modeled it part on Nomad, from the episode, "The Changeling." Sadly, the beacon was trashed after the original tour of the show, so I can't provide a picture. (It was pretty fragile and someone decided to toss it.)

I will tell you that it involved a lot of hot glue. I think it was my first experience using hot glue. And my beacon was much fancier. It had more color and parts sticking out. If we do These Are the Voyages again, I will create a new beacon. I will build it stronger and better - but I won't spend 6 million dollars.

Back to Writing

With all the administrative stuff I've had to do lately, and all the talking about sign-ups for the summer workshop, along with the rest of the stuff I have to do in my life, I haven't had much chance to sit down and actually write.

So when I finally get to a time when I can think about characters and what they should say, and do, I breathe a sigh of relief. Oh right, I actually enjoy writing! I enjoy listening to the characters in my head. I enjoy coming up with fun things for them to say. I enjoy fitting together different parts of the plot, even when it's difficult. ('But if A says X, then B has to give the mulligan to C to give to A first . . . ')

I'm working on my expanded version of Louisiana Jane right now. When that's done, I'll work on an expanded version of These Are the Voyages. Both these shows had to be kept to 50-55 minutes before, which meant that I couldn't develop some characters or parts of the plot as well as I would have wanted. Now that I can produce longer versions, I can develop those characters and put in the songs that Randy had written but would have made the show too long.

So what have I been adding?

I always liked the three professors in Louisiana Jane. They're experts in antiquities who can't agree on anything. Haley is a cheery chap. Lahr suspects everything of being a fake. Before we developed this through the song, "What Have We Here?" Now, I was able to add a scene in which they argue over the hors d'oeuvres. It was fun writing it. I'll also be adding the professors to later in the show. They're fun characters to play.

By the way, the three professors are named Bolger, Haley and Lahr. Anyone have any idea who they are named after? (Not that their characters resemble these people.)