Rehearsals: DAY 1

Monday was our first rehearsal. To be honest, I felt a little unprepared, because it seemed like everything was happening all at once. Getting ready for disco fever took longer than I expected. We've been cleaning, painting, and decorating for seventies dance night, which has taken up lots and lots of time--but hopefully lots of people will show up.

And so, on Monday, I felt a tad bit unprepared. Thankfully, everything ran pretty smoothly anyway. Our cast of bugs is going to be great together. I think they all fit their roles perfectly. Sabrina Grant is playing the motherly Miss Spider; Sidney Thomas, the worrisome Ladybug; Heather Grebel is the blind Earthworm; while Danielle Powell is the "guy's guy" Centipede.

Preston Messer will be playing the musically talented Grasshopper.

The rehearsal had me smiling from ear to ear. Even if I had wanted to, I wouldn't have been able to stop. All of the bugs-- some theater veterans and some newcomers-- are going to be phenominal. And Aden, the young boy playing James, surprised me. It's not that I was expecting him to crash and burn, I was just thinking it would take a little more prodding to get much emotion out of him. But-- like I said-- I was surprised.

From the time he opened his mouth, he was already James. He had obviously gone over his lines prior to rehearsal (Shout out to his mom, I suspect!) and was able to deliver them without issue. I have a sneaking suspicion that he could've done both of the scenes we covered without the script altogether.

Now that the first few rehearsals have broken ground, we'll start to dig deeper into the blocking and mannerisms of each character. I hope things will continue to go so well, and that I can make sure to be fully prepared from now on.

Broken Plates, Loud Singing, and a Lackluster Broom

Once the theater is turned over to us for the Youth show, things really start picking up. Normally, we dive right in-- painting, building, rearranging. This year, things are going a little differently. First things first, you know?

And the first thing needed: A CLEAN THEATER.

It's hard to clean the theater. I mean, have you seen the place? Floor to ceiling beams, a million nooks and crannies, uneven flooring, and on top of that-- it can be very dark in there! My first attempt at cleaning was Thursday night. It was me and my broom versus the theater. And the theater fought back. My puny little broom wasn't cutting it, and everything was way too quiet. Except for the creaks of the building... the bumps in the dark... and the noises outside...

I tried singing at the top of my lungs. I sang every song I could think of to drown out the creepy noises of Cotton Hall... alone... at night. In the end, I gave up. My sweeping wasn't accomplishing anything-- and to be perfectly honest, I was scared out of my mind. Once I had shut off all the lights, I ran out of the building.

DAY TWO of CLEANING:
Saturday. Two o'clock.

I resumed sweeping and made a bit more progress before breaking out the vacuum cleaner. It IS amazing. Truly, it is. To conquer the noises of the building, I brought with me speakers and music-- and I had it blaring. Sometime during all my vacuuming and incredibly loud singing, Kate snuck in behind me and tried to unplug the vacuum. I saw her before she did it, but she scared me none-the-less.

Then, after the surprise attack, Susanne showed up and the cleaning continued. Mr. Tully was otherwise occupied. We cleaned up cornstarch in one corner, and inch of dust under a staircase, and shards of broken plates from Swamp Gravy. We also did a bit of cleaning in the dressing room, but mainly stuck to the theater.

We cleaned for about nine hrs over three days, and STILL, we couldn't see much difference! I mean, the floor is the color of dirt as it is. No, rhe difference might not be visible, but we know its clean. We have a clean canvas now-- and the art is about to begin.