A Tempting New Theater Situation

My youngest is in the middle of two exciting and stressful weeks. She's doing Shakespeare camp at Crystal Sea Drama Company here in town. This is a theater program aimed mostly at homeschoolers; they have classes in various theater arts all day on Thursdays and perform two or three shows a year, I understand. We found it online when we moved to town and SO wanted my girl to be involved . . . but Thursday is a school day for her. No go.

But summer camps, she can do. And she's enjoying this one, even with the stress of memorizing lines from five Shakespeare scenes in a week. And I'm fascinated by this new theater (new to us, that is).

They have their own building. A great building -- a small theater, but quite adequate, tons of backstage and storage space, "classroom" areas, box office. How awesome to have your own building! No clearing out all evidence of your presence after every rehearsal so the church can have its space back. No lugging props and set pieces back and forth. Wow.

They have a huge stash of costumes AND a woman who makes costumes for them. She's making lots of beautiful new Shakespearean costumes for this week (out of Goodwill finds, my daughter tells me). A costume genius -- wow! What a joy to have on hand!

The director makes the kids help clean up the building every night before they leave; it's just part of the routine. In fact, taking the trash to the dumpster has apparently become a social event for the regulars in the group. Love that.

The director was asking about my drama experience and how I might like to get involved here . . . if I am interested in getting involved here. I told her the stuff she probably needs (techie stuff -- that's always what every theater needs) is the stuff I stink at. I mostly write and direct. "Well, actually," she said, "I'm the only director here and I could use someone to take some of that burden . . . "

My first thought was that I simply won't have time for that with my teaching load this fall. But a summer camp . . . that's a possibility. And then I thought some more. When we did our plays in Sioux City, we practiced two hours a week for four weeks, then added another two-hour rehearsal each week for another four weeks. A total of 24 hours of rehearsal for each show. For this two-week camp, they've met from 3:30 to 9:30 for nine evenings to prepare for two dinner theater performances. That's 54 hours of rehearsal time.

54 hours. I'm not sure I would know what to do with 54 hours of rehearsal time. Holy smokes! How cool would that be to do a show with 54 hours of rehearsal time! And a costume genius! And a building! And a significant budget! Oh my goodness . . . this is sounding quite tempting.

But for now, I'm anxious to see Shakespeare Comes to Dinner this Saturday night. And pay a buck or two to have the servers deliver Shakespearean insults to my husband. Maybe I'll even have him thrown in the stockade. Sounds like fun!