Back in the saddle again
Here we are, many months later, and the time is rapidly drawing nearer to another Christmas. From plenty of experience, I know that it tends to creep up on you rather quickly and suddenly you’re only a few days from opening night. There are too many things to take care of and not enough time to do them. I’m determined this year to get ahead of the game.
Around mid-July, I pulled out the old scripts and materials to get a state of the union on what needed to be done this year. There are a bunch of new magic illusions and stage effects that I’m hoping to work into the show. I intentionally don’t want to go overboard (especially after I’ve railed against the gratuitous use of special effects in other productions) but just want to enhance the story a bit.
July was the time to get some new publicity photos done too. Publications usually have long leads for Christmas time (and the ones doing season previews in late August) so I got in touch with Alessandra Mello of Mellopix and she did some lovely shots, which will eventually go online in the press section.
On the technology end of things, I had to update this blog and the Web site with new information (including that cute little widget on the right side that counts down to opening night…just to keep me on my toes).
My script came out and I tried to go through it, refreshing my memory with a fresh eye on the story, the flow and the places where the script was shortened for the European tour. There were a few typos in the script that I didn’t fix last year so I decided to go through more meticulously and really clean things up. I like to have a clean script with all the necessary details included. I incorporated some of the major blocking elements into the script itself so the tech guys could follow along easier. So after a few weeks of that process (basically the month of September), I now have a solid foundation from which to prepare for this run.
I was hoping to have a producer this year, but it looks more and more like I’m going to do it myself. It’s a co-production with the Ross Valley Players this year (in recent years, it has been my own production) and there’s a shortage of producers there. The benefit is good on both sides. There are certain producer tasks that I don’t have to deal with (like arranging insurance, getting a liquor license, etc.) and RVP gets a holiday show, which many patrons have been asking for. The show is part of the RVP season so that mitigates most of the financial risk in that the subscriber base is guaranteed to attend. The show is minimal on cost (most of the investment was made by me the first year) but advertising is expensive and eats up most of the budget.
Another thing I’m working on is getting a local sponsor to give out free copies of A Christmas Carol at the Christmas Eve performance. Cheap copies of the book are .99 from Borders or other booksellers and since there are around 150 seats, that’s around a $200 donation. Since there are only 8 performances, it would be great to get a $1500 or so donation to give out free copies at every show. It would be a very nice Christmas gift for audiences so we’ll see how that goes. (Hint, hint…contact me if you’re interested in being a book sponsor- scrooge AT humbugtheatre DOT com).
So I’m back in the saddle and getting things going again. The script is out and I’m working diligently … kinda …sorta…. 
Stay tuned for more…