Full House

Day 125 – May 5, 2018

Mentor  – DWP

And as quick as this show snuck up on us, in a snap it ended.  Three shows, 2 sold out houses, 1 very happy cast.  I have to be honest, I really had my doubts that we would close our season with any resemblance of a show.  Three weeks really isn’t enough time to stage a full musical, learn the music, the dances, get together with the pit, with no time other than our class time (which is 3 hours a day). A typical musical takes 6 – 8 weeks to rehearse.  The schedule is really tight with rehearsals planned and a full production team working as one to put the show together.  We didn’t have that with this show. We scrambled to throw this together, and I actually was regretting the decision to do this.  And on Thursday afternoon I told them just that.  With an audience who bought seats, we had no choice we had to present the show, for better or for worse.  And dammit, if they didn’t do it, for better.  Much much better.  They did it so well we had people come back and see it every night.  The show that ran at a 2 hour 10 minute run time (our final dress) was paced down to 1 hour 50 minutes.  And only so because of the rolling laughter we carved through.  It is one of the things that frustrate me so much, but makes me so proud at the same time.  These are my kids.  30 of the hardest working, most dedicated, full of passion, students one could have.  I have been blessed to have 20 years of classes full of the same talented, dedicated students.  The most special thing about it is that they consider me more of a mentor than teacher. That is a label I try to live  up to.  It’s important to me that those qualities are modeled and then passed to the seniors to serve as mentors to the underclassmen.  And as each year passes the proverbial bar is pushed continuously up and up as each class looks to pass it, even raising it to the next level.  It is this focus that drives me and keeps me on my toes as the expectations and demands increase every year.  At the same time it is awfully exhausting.  Stay safe!

3 of Many

Lesson Plans

Wind Down

Work Ethic