Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Better late than never

So, I promised a post on Friday that I didn't deliver on. And it's not like the screaming masses were knocking down my blogging door, so this one's for you, Shannie.

We did a ghost play called "The Woman in Black" at the theatre for Halloween. I was, in fact, a glorified prop, but it was fun none-the-less. We had four women dressed in identical period dresses to play the ghost (and title character). Because there were four of us, we could be strategically placed throughout the theatre and hit with light at just the right moments to make it look like ONE ghost was appearing in various spots just moments apart. It seemed to work well, as we got plenty of gasps and nervous laughter from the audience.

The really fun part was that the four of us were also responsible for scene changes, but we couldn't do them in our costumes. (Even though the scene changes happen in a near blackout, we couldn't risk the front rows figuring out that the ghosts were up on stage changing the furniture around for the next scene.)

So, we had alter egos that we changed into for the scene changes. Off with the bonnet, dress and gloves and on with a fedora and vest over my stage blacks and I became "Kurt Diligent". At one point I had about twenty seconds to come down out of a balcony, go down three ladders, change clothes and get on stage for the final scene change. Ah, the glamor of live theatre!

My husband did brilliant sound design for the show as well as run the sound board (Thanks, Mr. Buntz!), so it was something that we got to do together. It's been quite some time since we've worked on a show together, so that was nice.

We sold a lot of tickets, made some money for our theatre (which sorely needs it) and spent Halloween weekend doing a ghost play in an already haunted playhouse. Not our typical method of celebrating the macabre holiday, but definitely an interesting one!

3 comments:

Shannon said...

I have been anxiously (and sometimes not very patiently) awaiting this update! :)

The play sounds great and I think your role in it helped add to the dramatic element, I love it! Im really impressed with your quick ability to change outfits, very impressive!

♥ Lovfer♥ said...

That play sounds so cool! And wow, 20 seconds to do all that? I'm so happy you didn't break your neck coming down the ladders!

Audrey said...

That sounds so cool! I wish I could come see it, how perfect for halloween!