OPENING NIGHT!!

I am speechless.

Basically, most of my day was a blur.
Today I did a live television interview with CHAT TV News, our local TV station, for their noon news segment. And I HAD A BLAST. Those guys are so much fun, and are HUGE Evil Dead fans to boot. It was fantastic. Of course, that whole 'paying job' thing was also in the mix today, thankfully, I had many jobs that kept me busy for most of the day. Thank you to my patients that picked the perfect time for me to be stuck in the lab swamped in custom jobs all day, so that my brain was focused elsewhere!

Okay. I have been on stage MANY times. I have been a lead actress MANY times.
I have never felt the nerves and the panic as I did today, on any opening night EVER. I was a wreck. Mostly, because my OCD needed to take a back seat, because as of today, the show was no longer 'mine'. It was in the hands of the cast and crew that I had so maticulously selected. And although I have complete faith in each and every one of them.... I was still a paranoid freak. I was mostly okay until I peeked through the bar curtain and saw strangers in line. The gravity of the fact that I had a real, live audience hit me like a tonne of bricks. Whoa. We're DOING THIS.

BUT....

WHAT A NIGHT! Aside from a few panicky technical glitches, we have ONE HELL OF A SHOW! I have to remind myself that the audience probably wasn't the wiser, and that whatever I deemed as a catastrophe, was actually solved efficiently and quickly. A character's mic wasn't working for the first 2 scenes.
The bulb in my spotlight burned out, and during intermission we had to scramble to set up our old backup shitty spotlight. etc. etc. etc. These are all minor problems in the long run, that really had no lasting effect on the quality and pure awesomeness of the show. (And yes, I just used the word awesomeness. In fact, I found out that it's officially the International Day of Awesome. And this certainly held true in the CTAC tonight.)

The audience loved it. They joined in on the familiar lines. They cheered, they 'awwwed', they applauded.....


Ladies and Gentlemen.... we have done it. It's one hell of a show. And already, the rave reviews are flooding in on the Facebook event site.

This is the best theatrical experience of my life.
Hey..... I've got an idea!!! LET'S DO IT AGAIN!!!!!! TOMORROW!!!

IT'S TIME!

Holy shit. "The time has come", The walrus said.

No more rehearsals left. Opening night, is tomorrow.

Are we ready? Can we do this? Is MEDICINE HAT ready? Are we going to be applauded? Brushed off? Branded and flogged?

Although I do have to say, we had 4 dress rehearsals in total. 3 of which we ran with the blood formula. I thought it was important to do so, so that we know where the splatter was going, how much of a chore it was going to be to clean, and if the costumes were going to take the abuse we were about to put them through. Am I ever glad that we did!! It got gorier and messier each night, and we learned from our mistakes. For example, we have now perfected the art of making blood packs, and discovered the sheer awesomeness that urine bags, ketchup bottles and syringes can provide!

So, I decided that to be fair, I would sit in the front row of the splatterzone so as to be a part of the bloodshed. Not only so that I could personally place myself in the audience's sticky shoes, but to give my dear cast members a taste of revenge for putting them through all of this! And they got me back. Boy, did they ever. In fact, at one point, I had an entire dismantled sprayer dumped on my head. I was sticky, I was wet, I was cold, I was red, it was in my eyes, my mouth, my hair, between my toes, in my butt crack.... and I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT!!! TOTALLY worth the extra $6 to sit there!! The Splatterzone is in for the interactive treat of their lives!

I've also been busy with more promo interviews! We have every radio station in our city talking about us (with the exception of the Christian station... go figure!), not to mention a province-wide radio station, newspapers covering our city and the rural areas surrounding it, both local television channels are doing multiple segments for us... We have certainly created one helluva buzz around this conservative community!! Of course, with all of the coverage and excitement surrounding it, comes added pressure that if we're gonna do this, we had better make it bloody good! I have all the confidence in the world that I have a kick-ass show ready to rock Medicine Hat.

I get the feeling that I will not be getting much sleep tonight. We have a night off before opening night, but of course, in my world, "night off" means heading to the CTAC to tie up loose ends, paint the stage floor, prep the actors' clean-up area, clean the 'dressing room' and sort out what we will be doing for more splatterzone prep. No rest for the Evil Dead!

BLOOD LUST

A lot has happened since my last post. This is because I have basically lived at the CTAC, and haven't had time to blahg. Why am I doing this again? Is anyone even reading my incessant ramblings? Oh well. If the answer to that is NO, then at least I'm getting shit off of my chest in a non-destructive manner.

The last few days have been hectic. And by hectic, I mean 'surgically remove my eyelids with a straight edged knife to keep me awake' hectic.
Started out with a giant miscommunication regarding the giant Necronomicon that needed to be built, and subsequently projected. Yes, there's a huge Necronomicon on stage, that opens on it's own, and then the writing in blood is projected on to the pages. It was originally designed to be on a remote controlled wheelchair base, and wheel itself offstage. However, after it was built, and seeing that, considering that it's HUGE and the splatterzone is right there in it's pathway, we nixed the remote controlled idea. It worked, it ran, but the worry about it smacking audience members in the face, and taking out a couple of legs was too much of a risk. Although, they ARE paying extra for the interaction.... We said SPLATTERZONE... your own blood should be sufficient, don't ya think?

So yesterday was certainly my 'Directorial Mental Exhaustion Day'.
It was Night Of The Living Dead... only she was directing a show. Bear in mind, that the majority of nights this week I have been at the theatre until at least midnight. Then it's up early for my 'paying job' (where I do nothing but think of Evil Dead, much to my employers' dismay), and back to the theatre. Last night..... ooohhh... I don't believe I have ever been that exhausted in my life.

When the majority of the cast and crew ask you what's wrong and give you a hug when you haven't said a word, it's a bad sign: Fact.


But, we plowed forth with our first dress rehearsal, and aside from me feeling like Tommy Chong at 4:20, it was AWESOME. We did the rehearsal using water, to see where the sprayers would hit. Water is insufficient.

BRING ON THE BLOOD!
After a glorious 6 hour sleep before meeting the construction crew at the theatre for breakfast, we got to work for tonight's dress rehearsal. There are SO MANY little things that take up a lot of time, yet are SO small, but important to my vision of the show. But, we got them done, got all of the movable parts up on the cabin walls, and prepared the SplatterZone for the ultimate in grueling terror! Which essentially means, turning the CTAC into a condom.

Thanks to our props lady who's family runs a greenhouse, we had huge rolls of black poly donated to us, which cover the floor.
Chairs dressed in industrial sized garbage bags.... squirt bottles prepared, sprayers ready, and blood mixed.
We flung blood. And it was great.

The best part is this corn-syrupy detergent smell that catches your nostrils when you get down there. It smells like a few hours of happytime. And that's what it was.

And really, my major note from tonight?

MORE BLOOD.

I LOVE THIS SHOW.

Quotent Quotables

It is now a week and a half before opening night. 8 rehearsals before opening night. I only have 2 words for this situation.... HOLY SHIT.

Crunch time. We are working at all hours to get this bad boy finished up. With such a high tech show, we've got so many elements that need refining!

Set is painted. We are now running with sound and lights. The witch is flying. The Necronomicon is being built. The kitch is being mounted. The moosehead is drying. The bar sign is coming together.

Today was another work day. And can I say, I LOVE WORK DAYS. Get up, go for breakfast, and then right into the thick of things, 10 people milling around, busy getting stuff done. It is such a fun experience, and the conversation is record-worthy. In between "tech talk" as we call it, is jokes, random songs, profanity, conversation... it's by far the most interesting place to be around showtime. It smells like metal, wood, paint and sweat, and everyone is in a high mood, because you are either elated because your plan worked, pissed off because you can't figure it out, or swallowed in the depths of concentration at getting it together.

And I love doing promo interviews. Especially when the people who are doing the interviewing are huge fan-boys like me.
There is something bonding and special about sitting down with someone, identifying yourself as a fan-boy (it is a common trend among us Deadites. If we know someone who is a fan like me, we MUST proclaim our adoration of the films, complete with quotes from the movies, etc). So most of my interviews have started with 3 solid minutes of nothing but BS-ing about the movies, saying quotes, rattling off our favorite scenes... and then realizing we should get to it, and starting the recorder/writing down notes. I don't know what it is, but the only thing I can liken it to, is when you're in the middle of conversation with a complete stranger... and in the middle of random conversation you throw in a Star Wars line... and then they laugh their asses off because they understand completely. And you feel a sense of joy and heart-warming happiness that THEY GOT IT. This is the feeling I get every time I hear a reporter toss around a line like, "SHOP SMART! SHOP S-MART!" It gives me warm-fuzzies inside.

Only true fans will get the following:



This is being written at 3:00am. Refer to last post.

Sleep? We don't need no stinking sleep!

Aaaaand... here I am. Again.

Lesson #2 of being a director. Sleep becomes an anomaly in your life. My bedtime is 10:00... PM... I know, I know. Way too early for someone so young and vivacious... ;)

But it seems that, in these past 2 weeks, it doesn't matter WHEN you go to bed.... it doesn't matter how many glasses of wine you have consumed... it doesn't matter if the temperature's right, the pillows are fluffed, the shallow buzz of the fan is on... IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER. No matter how hard you try, no matter how many NyQuil you take... it does not happen. The pullstring on the mind lightbulb is broken, and try as you may.... you will NOT fall asleep.

I now have to keep a pen and paper on my bedside table. Too many nights I have sat up and scrambled for my housecoat because I have come up with a brilliant solution to a blocking/splatterzone/whatever problem.
My reflexes are so good, that the synchronicity of which I turn on the light and reach for my pen is rivaled by olympic swimmers and pairs skaters alike. Eat your hearts out Brasseur and Eisler... if it were the "World Idea-Writing At 3:14am Championships", you'd settle for silver, bitches. It would also be the early 90's and I'd be sporting hammer pants and snap bracelets whilst playing Pogs, but I digress....

The whole purpose for me leaving Zombieoke was to go to bed early, as to get my rest for my upcoming trip to Calgary to attend Theatre Calgary's matinee performace of "The Drowsy Chaperone". (Zombieoke: -noun {zom-bee-oh-kee}. Def: Evil Dead cast gored themselves up to go sing karaoke and consume mass quantities of fermented grain... all things I am a huge fan of).
Although it pained me to leave, I did so, to sleep. But no. Instead, I am lured out of bed, in the hopes that blahging about my current woe will cause me to fall into a much needed coma. Well, it's 12:23am, a long weekend, I have a 3 hour drive to make at 9:00am.... Tim Hortons, let your Gods shine upon me and replace my blood with your caffeinated goodness tomorrow.

Of course, there is a duel purpose for this trip. One: The Drowsy Chaperone. Two: 2 Gallons of Liquid Latex for the masks in the show. For all of you who don't know the complexities of liquid latex and it's PMS, let me explain. The reason that I have to drive 267km from home to acquire said liquid latex, is that there is nowhere that will ship it in the cold winters of Canada. Because if liquid latex freezes, that's it. Lights out. Ring the bell, watch the dollar bills freeze into an oblivion of icy Hell. And, if my nifty Weather Network app on my iPhone is accurate, it is currently -23 degrees, both in Calgary AND in Medicine Hat. (BTW, the current weather conditions in Calgary read as "Ice Crystals".... WTF does that mean? A whole lot of Mother Nature and her bad attitude, that's what that is.).
Therefore, I have a stock of self-heating foot warmers, a cooler, and towels for the ride home. Pre-planning, my friends. I am not letting $200 worth of liquid latex do anything but travel safely and enjoy the Stomp-inspired concert that will be going on in the van-ride home.

So, I shall attempt, yet again, to let sleep come to me and embrace me in her warm, restful arms. "OOOOOH!! WHAT IF WE........ "

Gold medal.

The Soup Thickens

I wish I had more time to blahg. But the very thing that I am blahging about has a stranglehold on my life! Couple that with dental work, a broken car, and that whole "Paying Job" thing, and that means less time entertaining others with my directorial adventures.


So, since the people invovlved in theater are basically those "Type A Personalities", we're also egotistical self-indulgent pricks who want credit for all of the work we do in our adult playtime. Enter: Photos for Cast

And, since we are doing a cool demon musical, isn't it appropriate that we do a THEME!? Why, yes Amber, it sure is! The cast photos took place this past Sunday. With hysterical and amazing results. Everyone in the cast was instructed to dress like "Horror Movie Poster Victims". You know those awesome old horror movie posters, where there were the awful monsters attacking some scantily clad big-boob bombshell? That was the requirement.





















My prosthetics team and I did our arms up to look like rotting zombie arms, and the photos were staged so that the guys and girls were being attacked by the arms. That, and a lot of other very cool concept photos all in the same style. My email request to the ladies basically went like this: "Bring your push-up bra. I want to see boobs." And my gals did NOT disappoint, I tell you that much! Oh, and the guys were great too. Far less boobs though.





My extremely talented photographer has sent me the pictures, and they're unbelievable. But, to see them, you'll have to come to the show. *Ahem*...... http://www.ctacmedhat.com/ *cough*

Also, the cast has been very appreciative at the awesome set that has been built. It's nice to bash your head against a real wall, as opposed to a pretend wall. Well, maybe not for them. But for me, it's stunning!

We have also incorporated sound into the rehearsals. There are about 1,375 sound cues. Luckily, my sound guy still has yet to throw up his arms and say, "SCREW THIS!". He's got one hell of a job ahead of him, and I'm incredibly impressed at his dedication! Same with our lighting guy... he has been coming in around the clock taking down and putting up lights. The crew has even installed an additional lighting bar in the audience area for the show, which will be tres cool to see once the lights are positioned and focused. These guys mean business!


Also, intimidatingly enough, I have been told that I am to be interviewed for various media spots, not only locally but provincially as well! Seems that this show has created quite the buzz, and I'm more than happy to help get the word out! Newspaper, radio... all sorts of media will surely get the tickets sold quickly (not that we've had a problem with that thusfar!)

Onward, HO!

PS: Have you any idea how much fun it is to have meetings where the discussion is about covering actors and audience in blood, and the aftermath of cleanup? Yeah. As technical as it gets, you can't help but smile at the thought of, "Hey.... we're actually doing this!".

The set is set!

Wow, do things ever progress quickly!

This week, I have a set! And it looks amazing, and it's SOLID. I mean, most of the sets in theater are flimsy enough that, if you slam a door too hard, the whole thing wobbles back and forth like a bar fly at happy hour. But THIS SET... it looks like it's framed to build a house! Considering the amount of abuse it's probably going to take, thank goodness for that! And SO MANY little unexpected little surprises for the audience which help with the tech. It's just... uber cool.

I'll post pics of parts of the progress... but not the end result. That, my friends, will require a ticket to see!!!! (*cough* www.ctacmedhat.com *cough*)

Tonight was a bit of a marathon, for me at least. I had so many departments in attendance, I was constantly switching my brain between set, props, dance, blood, promotions, sound, masks, blocking, audience... I really do feel like a one-legged guy in an ass kicking contest. But, it's certainly fulfilling to know that my departments are working so well and I've answered most of their questions (for now). And I'm happy to have most of the answers. I've realized that one giant skill that a director MUST HAVE is decisiveness. You can't just leave a department hanging because you can't decide on what you want. Most of my decisions are made right then and there. Very rarely do I find myself saying, "Can you let me think on it for a bit?". It's intimidating to have to make up your mind immediately, but VERY worth it in the end.




AND it was our first full run-through of the show! Start to finish, and let me tell you, it looks incredible. I was mostly impressed with how well the lines were memorized in Act 1, they all seem to have it down pat. Act 2 was a little bit more of a struggle, but I have confidence in my cast that it will come very shortly. There is also a lot of action going on in Act 2, so it's hard to remember, "oh, I have to run here, grab this chainsaw, say this line, shoot this gun, pop out of the cellar..." I get it. But for a month away from opening night, they're doing extremely well.

I finally have my long lost production manager and producer back too... yes this husband and wife team were off galavanting in Europe. AND my vocal director came back from Mexico this week. There were FAR too many tanned people at rehearsal tonight, I'll tell you that much.

IT'S OFFICIALLY ONE MONTH UNTIL OPENING NIGHT! Let the fun begin!

Casting the cast

Things are ticking along quite well!

This past week, we were elbow deep in alginate and plaster! Well, not me. The cast was. We're making custom latex masks for the characters for when they turn into Candarian Demons, so my poor cast was forced to sit for an hour at a time with crap over their faces and straws up their noses. A few little claustrophobic episodes later, we finally had most everyone done! My Prosthetics team is amazing, they have been working like demons to get the molds done so that they can get "playing"!

We also had a screening of "Army of Darkness" before rehearsal. Just a tidbit for the future, it's not a good idea to rehearse after consumption of a few wobbly-pops.... lots of giggles, and say goodbye to LINES!! However, it was a heap of fun, and we all felt refreshed and excited!

My set crew has been pushing me to get my lighting crew going, because they want to put the set on stage by the end of THIS WEEK! Unfortunately, my lighting crew wasn't expecting to be prepared so quickly, so we're in a bit of a scramble! A scramble between lighting and set construction, 5 weeks before opening night..... I CAN HANDLE THAT!

And finally, I'm on the uphill stretch towards recovery, and may finally direct a rehearsal without drugs running through my system! Last week, I got blasted with a sinus infection, and yesterday I had dental work done. So I've been on antibiotics, Benelyn and Advil for about 2 weeks! Better now rather than opening night!

So, we're well on our way! Next week I get my vocal director back from Mexico, and we can start running the show! Honestly, I don't think I've ever been able to say that I've been involved in a show where we were running complete acts a month before opening night... there are a lot of firsts involved with this show!

And to top it all off, we've already sold out the equivalent of one night out!

So last night, it was a cast member's birthday. I brought a cake, decorated in true Evil Dead form. Happy birthday Shelly!

The adventure continues....

In the beginning....

Oops. I'm late.

I have been meaning to create a blog about my directorial endeavor, but said endeavor seemed to eat my life up and chew it up like a Chichlet. So, I'm about a month into rehearsals, and I've finally found some late night I-should-be-in-bed-but-can't-sleep energy to get this shit started.

In this, the day and age of the glorious iPhone, I rarely get to a real PC anymore, so I will try to update this as often as humanly possible. Or, shall I say, Amberly possible. It will be a first-time director's account of putting on a community musical production.

So, what the hell am I babbling about, you ask? And what am I directing?

Evil Dead: The Musical!

It's my directorial debut. I have been involved in theater for as long as I can remember. School plays, drama classes, then straight into local theater companies.
I have assumed the roles as (in no particular order): Lead Actress, Supporting Actress, Chorus Member, Dancer, Pianist, Props Department, Makeup Department, Head of Makeup Department, Set Painter, Bar Staff, Stage Hand, Dialect Coach, Choreographer... and now, I am trying my hand at that all ominous dictator.... THE DIRECTOR. *cue flashing lights, fog.


I have been obsessed with Evil Dead: The Musical since I learned of it's existence about 2 1/2 years ago (maybe longer). I can remember scrolling through the Samuel French, Inc.'s website at scripts, adding to my 'cart' as shows in the Musicals column caught my eye...... "Clue: The Musical"... okay add... hmph.... "Doctor! Doctor!", write that one down ... E's..... Evil Dead: The Musical.


No. Nuh uh. No fucking way. Nah, it CAN'T be based on the B-horror movies I so dearly love. There's just no fucking way. Let's see... "Based on Sam Raimi's 80's cult classic films, EVIL DEAD tells the tale of 5 college kids who travel to a cabin in the woods and accidentally unleash an evil force...."

I didn't get past the E's. I don't even think I read the entire description. I stopped there, pushed 'ADD TO CART', threw my Mastercard number at the Samuel French Gods,
and sat at my mailbox for a week, giggling in anticipation of receiving this little book of theatrical gold. In the meantime, I spent every spare minute Googling this little off-broadway smash hit musical. I was in love. And it exceeded my expectations.

In summer of 2009, we heard that a Calgary company was putting on my beloved Evil Dead: The Musical. We got a team of thespians (who I had recently recruited to love this musical as much as I did), and we took the 3 hour trip to watch it live and in action. Dressed as zombies (of course), most of us sat in the Splatterzone where we were introduced to an interactive flood of blood, and laughed until we couldn't see straight
(or was that because my contacts were stained pink due to the bevy of Candarian demon blood?). In fact, I enjoyed the show so much that I ended up going back up for their closing night again, just to sit in the front row, dressed all in white (what the fuck else would you wear in the front row of a demon killing spree!?).

So here I am. 2 years later. The CTAC. I didn't ever think it would come to fruition, but suddenly, I find myself having a full production team, a full cast, posters, advertisements, ticket sales... sometimes I just stare at the incredible actors on stage, singing the refrains of "Cabin in the Woods", in awe that it's reality and that it's actually happening.

Shit yeah.