Posts from — July 2008

With only two performances left of our final show of the first season, everyone is feeling all kinds of mixed emotions around here – The Foreigner inspires a kind of joyful, giddy feeling, but we’re also exhausted from this wonderful summer and sad to see it almost at its end.

Of Mice and Men closed to a fantastic audience that included the president of Christopher Newport University, Paul Trible.  As fate and luck would have it, my family and I wound up sitting right in front of him!  It was nice to have the opportunity to chat with him about TRR as a member of the company, but it also meant a lot as a recent graduate to talk to him about my experiences at CNU.  The show was really stellar that night – we couldn’t have asked for a more wonderful closing night.

Putting up The Foreigner during our two-day turnover was a challenge and a half!  Our fantastic crew worked crazy hours to get up the biggest set of the season, and we had a lot of technical work to do in a short amount of time.  All our efforts lead to a thrilling opening night – I’m so glad we’re ending the show on such a high, happy note with this show.  It really is a feel-good experience.  We had a great time at Brian Hutchins’ opening night party – his house was so beautiful nobody wanted to leave!

Between word of mouth and the broad family appeal of The Foreigner, our ticket sales have been picking up and we’re looking forward to a really special experience this Saturday night at our closing.  We still have tickets to sell for our last two performances, though, so if you’re reading this and you haven’t already told everyone you know about TRR – you know what to do!

Well, after getting fantastic pre-show coverage in the Daily Press for Of Mice and Men as well as having some lovely reviewers in the audience opening night, TRR is well on its way to becoming a great presence in our community!

The energy in the audience on opening night was something very special to behold. As the lights went down and Jim and Matthew came into our Barn as Lennie and George, you could feel the world of the play come into complete fruition in front of you – and all around you. I’ve felt that way all throughout the rehearsal process whenever I watch any of our 10 actors work, but to feel it with an audience was unforgettable. The themes of this play are universal yet specific and they touch us all – and I believe they make us grateful for what we have in our lives.

There were a couple performances on this opening weekend where we had light houses; the July 4th weekend is certainly responsible for that, but I can’t think of a more fitting time to put up an American classic with such strong themes of personal freedom and the pursuit of dreams and happiness.

After our opening performance, Bobby & Vicki Freeman were kind enough to open their beautiful home to us for a fantastic opening night party. It was a very welcoming environment for artists – between the art in their home, the food, and the drinks, it couldn’t have been better!

With the show up and running now, I finally had a chance to peek in rehearsal for The Foreigner.  They had their design run through on Thursday evening and I caught the first half hour or so – I’m ready to see the rest!  In particular, seeing Jackie Prucha as Betty Meeks after watching her as Mama (and others!) in Quilters was great fun – she and the rest of the cast are going to have everyone in stitches.

It’s been a great weekend, and we’ve all been working hard – even though we all finally took a day off for the 4th.

Tonight we’re doing something really special – our production stage manager Lara Maerz has put together a reading of the contemporary play Fat Pig by Neil LaBute in our other home besides the Barn, the Ferguson Center for the Arts. We never seem to get enough theatre around here I suppose.

If you haven’t gotten your tickets for Of Mice and Men yet, now is the time to get them. If you have seen the show already, it’s the time to – yes, you guessed it – tell everyone you know! We anticipate a really exciting closing week and we’d love for anyone and everyone to be a part of it.

And it’s hard to believe, but in just 9 days we open our final show, The Foreigner! So pick up your tickets for both of these great American stories, and we’ll see you at the Barn.