Hello my long-neglected blog!!! I have missed you so, but my life has been so unbelievably busy. Because I have been so busy, It’ll probably take a few posts to really catch everyone up. This post summarizes the first of many life changing experiences that you will be reading about this on this fine blog. I hope to update soon! I produced, directed, and starred in my own show at my school. It was an amazing experience. I really went all out and made a show that was truly enjoyable. I also gave the best performance I’ve ever given in my entire life. My whole family has started taking my goals really seriously for the first time. The show was “Crimes of the Heart” written by Beth Henley.
The show is about a family of three sisters who reunite after my character, Babe Botrelle (the youngest sister) shoots her husband for reasons that are not immediately clear. He’s fine, for the record. The show promotes female empowerment. I chose to put on the show, because my school has a really exclusive theatre program that isn’t actually very good at all. I wanted to give more opportunities for non-theatre majors to continue their involvement (or get involved in) the arts. It was a smash! We also made a set out of mostly recycled materials and charged a can or more of food as admission so that we could donate the food to a local homeless shelter.
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- Why Lenorah Josephine! Don’t be such a noodle!
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- “Don’t you just hate his voice?”
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- “We used up a whole big box of Kleenexes!”
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- Tension you could cut with a kife!
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- “He say’s he’s got some blackenin’ evidence he’s gonna use to help convict me of attemptin to murder him in the first degree!”
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- Sure, it’s no Broadway set. But with our budget it was a freakin’ miracle!
The wonderful and incomparable Matty Mouse was my Technical Director. And Val was my life-saving Stage Manager. I think we were all surprised by how professional the show turned out to be despite the fact that we were working with a gaggle of people who didn’t have the benefit of working in theatre for the past fourteen years (like yours truly).
One major obstacle to overcome in our staging of the show were the insane stage-dimensions. The venue is the only one we could afford and Matty put it best when he said:
This place was designed by someone with no experience in theatre to make a lecture hall look like a theatre.
Anybody who knows anything about theatre knows that this stage is awkardly long, unusually thin, and crazily curvy. Also, there is no wingspace. Still, we managed to fit a fridge, shelving, a stove, counter, sink, table and chairs in there while still having room to act! Go us!
Despite the fact that Matty, Val, and I have a combined experience in the business of more than 27 years, this is the first show that we’ve ever put on without adult supervision. Rather, we were the adult supervision. We all learned so much.
"He say's he's got some blackenin' evidence he's gonna use to help convict me of attemptin to murder him in the first degree!"
I learned that I can, in fact, cry on cue when I’m in the moment, I’m capable of managing tons of people (even if they have no idea what they’re doing), I’m great director who can pull amazing performances out of first-timers, and (most surprisingly) people take me seriously and respect my work. Oh! Also, I learned how to build a couch and a cot (that you can actually sit on) completely out of cardboard scraps, but more on that later…
Matty learned that he can build and paint things. This is no small feat. “But Eden, why would you ever have a technical director who didn’t already know how to build and paint things?” Well, for one: Matty has been working in technical theatre for years. Candidly, I assumed that he was well-versed in stagecraft even though his obvious specialty was lighting and sound design. Apart from that, we went to high school together and he was in charge of a tech department that, because of his dedication and astounding work, now awards the certification required to work on Broadway. He really stepped up to the plate (after freaking out) and helped us accomplish some amazing things. We painted a desk and some cardboard to make it look like a granite countertop with a stove and a sink, among other things. Not bad for a budget of basically $200!
Sure, it's no Broadway set. But with our budget it was a freakin' miracle!
Val was instrumental in helping all of us to avoid nervous breakdowns. She’s our build-expert, and the one who taught me how to make a cot out of cardboard boxes. We dumpster-dove until 2am finding cardboard boxes to cut up and stuff into other cardboard boxes. It was amazing. We actually got some unintentional publicity for the show because so many people in my dorm (where we were building) were confused by the sheer number of cardboard boxes we kept bringing through the door. Her big revelation was when she realized that one could actually put on a show where the director never raises her voice once and everything still goes off without a hitch. This is because, to reiterate, I’m a freaking fabulous director. Haha! She actually called Matt the day of the show and said:
Matt! Something’s wrong with the show! I saw Eden today and she was totally calm! Something must be wrong. She must have forgotten something crucial.
Then he went over the dorm, checked on all the props and set before checking that everything was okay with the venue only to conclude that we all (much to are surprise) knew exactly what we were doing!
The show opened and had an amazing run. People came down from home to see the show, which got AMAZING reviews. We had huge audiences both nights (60 people the first night, 85 the second; the venue was very small).
Why Lenorah Josephine! Don't be such a noodle!
I worked with my dorm’s Hall Council which was ridiculous. Nobody helped out or did their job and they all complained the whole time, which really just makes the job that Matt, Val, and I did more incredible. None of them even came to see the show. I think they were resentful that I had to work with people from other dorms, because they didn’t know what they were doing. People don’t expect a show to be as much work as it is. I wound up putting in about 45 hours a week on top of schoolwork (if you include the 15 hours a week of rehearsal that I ran).
Rehearsals were really a blast though. They took my mind off of all the stressful stuff that was happening on the technical side. My “co-director” only came a few times, so I got billed as “Director” in the end, which was pretty cool. It was so necessary to be able to stop living my life and start living someone else’s. You can only deal with your own stress for so long, y’know?
"Don't you just hate his voice?"
My cast, however was astonishingly helpful. They helped sew/find costumes and brought in props to help us with our small budget. I became really close with everyone in the cast, especially the girls. The two who played my sisters are even sharing an apartment next year. It is a strange feeling to know that something I created actually changed people’s lives.
At the time, I thought I’d never do anything that time-consuming or stressful again (just because I didn’t freak out doesn’t mean I wasn’t continually on the verge of a heart attack). However, now I know that my dreams of being a showrunner are totally possible and I’d definitely do another show one day… in a few years… 
I got all my sistas with me!
