Update 6: A Failure to Confirm

So, we were supposed to meet with Mr. L today to do lighting things (basically cue the whole show), but unfortunately, we forgot to confirm with him in advance and he forgot. This wasn't a huge problem, though. Maybe a little inconvenient, but we rescheduled for tomorrow. 

Since we are unable to do the lights today, we've decided to spend our time working on the Final Presentation and figuring out what we want to say in our Final Reports even though we have to do them separately. We are also planning to go around town and drop off and hang posters wherever we are able. 

In other news, Lena and Bryce met with Brian Marshall from Mercury Summer Stock yesterday to discuss publicity options. When I scheduled this meeting, I forgot that I had to attend the Spring Sports Banquet, but I think it went just fine without me. I'm told that things went well and found out that a Board Member from Mercury will be present at the show to explain the My First Musical Program before the performance starts. 

We're still working to secure a drummer for the show, but we are optimistic that someone we've talked to will come through for us. 

On Friday, we are planning to record (in higher quality) more of our rehearsals to promote the show. 

Update 5: A Company Rehearsal

Today marks the day of my first on time blog post! It also marks the day of our first rehearsal with all four of our cast members. Everyone seems to be more familiar with and more comfortable with all of their material which is great. Since one of the men in the cast is also directing another show and is only available to us during the week on Fridays, we've decided to hold another rehearsal this Sunday so that he can get some more work in on his music. Unfortunately for this rehearsal, Gary is unavailable since he has other jobs, so we've asked another student, Ben Wu, to play for us that day.

In other news, we were finally able to set the poster for the show and have printed a bunch out on colored paper and handed them out to the cast at rehearsal today. I put one up today on the board at the Giant Eagle in Legacy Village and we should be able to post more around Cleveland over the weekend and throughout the next week or so. In addition to the posters, we're trying to schedule a meeting with one of the higher-ups at Mercury in order to discuss more publicity options.

Update 2: First Rehearsal Antics

Alas, late again. I'll have to get better at this. I guess I should say I will get better at this. Maybe the free schedule is going to my head.

So, on Friday, we had our first rehearsal with 3 of our 4 cast members and Gary! Lena, Bryce, and I were all a little nervous going in since we had never heard them all sing in real life. Suffice it to say, we all breathed a deep sigh of relief when it sounded alright. More than alright, really. Especially for a first sing-through.

Despite all the good, there were inevitably a few kinks, but nothing that should be a major problem. First of all, even though Lena told us that Mrs. Libbey confirmed we were able to use the Chapel as long as there was a faculty member present (in this case, Gary), one of the janitors questioned our presence. Apparently there was paperwork that never got filled out or never found its way to his desk, but he eventually seemed to recognize Gary and left us alone after that. I don't know what the problem was, since Lena said she talked with two different people about using the space and they both said we were good to go. C'est la vie, I guess.

Secondly, there's a minor problem with doing an "underground" show like Edges. Since it's not hugely popular and not widely done, there are several different versions of the show with different songs which all have variations lyrically. It's just been a bit of a hassle trying to make sure that we're all using the same version or figuring out which one we want to use. Other than that, things are going rather smoothly, although sometimes it's hard to remember to eat when we're so focused on project. *Cough* Lena *Cough*

That's it for today, folks.

Update 1: The First Meeting

Off to a bit of a late start on project, but everything should work out in the end. What with track still being in season and me not having a car, my schedule is just a little busy and transportation is tricky. Our first meeting went pretty well in my opinion. We went to Peet's and worked out a bunch of little things. To help stay organized, we made Google Doc with a list of things to do. We also created a rough version of the poster we're hoping to use to publicize the show. In addition to creating a working poster, we came up with a list of places in the area we might be able to leave them once they are printed.

Other than working on publicity, we started to contact people who might be able to help us out along the way. We spoke with Mr. L about set and lighting and we sent our rough poster to Phillip to see if he could tweak and polish it and he promptly responded with a shiny new design!

While Hawken has always provided a certain amount of freedom, it's a little strange to have so much autonomy, so much independence throughout the day. Like, basically, we're able to create our own schedule due to the nature of our project and it's kind of surreal. Looking forward to the rest of the project!