minor setback

I have talked a lot about those databases my son and I did nearly two years ago. Well, apparently, I quite romanticized them in my mind and that has led to the minor setback, hence, the title of this post.

The databases, of thousands of church organizations in the St. Louis area, are quite extensive with names, addresses, city, state, website and such, but no email addresses. I worked on these before, as did my son, and thought I really knocked out a bunch. That's where the romanticized part comes in - I have waaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy less emails than I thought. It's not a major catastrophe, I just need to make around 1500 phone calls. Seriously.

But here's the thing that flabbergasts me: so many of these organizations do not have websites, if they do, often do not post emails for their staff OR, they have one of those forms you have to fill out so you have no idea what the email actually is. (That's the one that aggravates me the most!) You can hunt for them on the internet but I know it will generally take 1 minute to call the church and ask for the contact email. My first bit of stickiness is that I have a 1500 minute family plan with all my kids. Usually, there are no more than 400 minutes used, most of them by me - the one person who likes to talk to people, not just text them. Mkay, if my phone company charges me a minute for each call, I'm going to hit my family limit in about 5 days and you know I don't want to pay $$$$$$ for the extra minutes.

So, I'm going to be tied to a land line for the next couple of days, probably at my mothers. It's all good though. My first newsletter is ready to send I am jazzed!

Good news from this last week:
1. My crown of thorns is ready and looks super-awesome.
2, I found a cache of costumes that will be perfect.
3. First press release goes out this week.
4. I have conquered Constant Contacts, Paypal, and a Facebook page.

If you need me this week, I'll be on the phone.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

This past week has been one of filling in tiny bits to complete the picture. I looked at costumes at the Rep, but I will need to fill them out with other theatre company's costumes. I have been finishing my PowerPoint presentation, endlessly tweaking things to show to possible stakeholders. I am working on the newsletter and getting all the links correctly inserted (don't want to have the PayPal button pay someone else!) I spoke with a friend who I hadn't seen in such a long while, and am fairly certain I convinced her that she needed to be in PASSION. It was all over the map but every little gap filled in now, is one I don't have to worry about later.

Next week is more of more of the same. Meeting with a friend on Tuesday, waiting to hear back from a possible music director, scheduling costume warehouse visits, getting the crown of thorns for a photo shoot, talking with Actor's Equity Association to secure contracts, finally uploading those databases!!!!!

A phone call, a text, a Facebook message, an email. It all leads to the production of PASSION. It seems like busy work but it is amazingly fulfilling to complete a task, lock in a designer, agree to a FONT!!!, if it gets the job done.

I had to explain to my 14 year-old tonight what is keeping me so busy. She said, "you have been working on this all day." Keeping in mind that the last time I produced she was 9 years old, she has only a vague idea of what it takes. But instead of a script that I was already written, it is my creation, my vision, my music selections, my projections, my concept. That takes a bit more time. And she's grown up enough to notice that.

Aside from all these super-important bits and pieces, I really do need to complete casting and that's a arduous task. There are seventeen actors in PASSION. Ask anyone who does theatre, attends theatre, supports theatre - that's a ginormous cast. (And that's with people doubling!! )I only have about six of the 17 right now. And that needs to change soon. And it will.

Lighting

Last night I met with lighting designer John "JT" Taylor to discuss PASSION. I have been talking with JT about the show for a couple years now and I am so thrilled he is on board. One of the things I'm most excited about at the Skip (as those in-the-know call the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts) is that we have a cyc. I'm pysched! (Those words sound the same, heh heh.)

A cyc is a white or light blue scrim that can be lit (yes, I prefer lit over lighted. I never got the memo about that change for the past tense). They are extremely versatile and generally only available at big theatres because of the expense. The Skip is a state-of-the-art facility, though, so YAY! Last year, while doing a show at the Touhill, my husband asked what that scrim was because it created such beautiful effects. (Shout out to John Wylie for The Wizard of Oz). A cyc is an amazing addition to a lighting plot and I am so grateful that we get to use one.

In other news:
1)  I have sent out my first test-email via Constant Contacts. It ain't perfect, but it's out there and I am breathlessly awaiting feedback.
2)  I have made an appointment to look at costumes.
3)  Casting is beginning and I've got some really great people wanting to be involved.

Coming up:
1)  Find a musical director
2)  Hire a Technical Director
3)  find rehearsal space.

Producing is hard. But I am loving every minute of it!

Contact

I have made contact. Or rather, I'm going to have lots of contacts. And in addition, I signed with Constant Contact. This past week has been about getting ready for a huge marketing launch to about 2500 organizations. I think it's that many. You see, it's been two years since my son and I did the nitty-gritty dirty work on getting emails for all these organizations. The contacts are stored on my old dead computer so I took it into BestBuy and they pulled all that stuff off for me and technically, I'm ready to go. (Now, if I hadn't left the charger for my other computer at the lodge over Labor Day!)

In the meantime, I have signed up with Constant Contacts to create email blasts. With 2,500 contacts, I cannot afford the postage, paper or time it would take to send direct mail pieces. I also don't want to kill that many trees. So the marketing has to be 98% viral, through emails, social media, and regular ole telephone. But the first month or so is a free trial so I am working on fonts and colors and all kinds of stuff to get the look I want and the look that people respond to. So if you're a close friend, you'll be getting these test emails. And if you want to be on the list of folks who get these preliminary blasts, let me know and I can add you.

I go back to the PASSION script at least every two days and something new always strikes me. Lately, I've been spending a lot of time on the Roman soldiers, their movement and their sound. I've also been reviewing technical stuff that some playwrights (and I'm not claiming to be a playwright) don't understand because they write in an almost movie-ish fashion. In movies, you can stop the camera, change hair, costume, makeup and location. I've been in plays where I've had to do all that in about 14 seconds. I'm happy to say that I have given time for things to move, for people to get to a new entrance, for the action to continue forward without make actors sprint around the space.

I've spoken here about pictures and everyday, they become clearer in my head. Stage pictures are what stay with us after we've left the theatre. Words help, but I really feel they are secondary to our connection with the play. (Here I am saying this after a paragraph about the script!!) But the weight of the words is much more if we have an accompanying visual. Otherwise, I am back to square one - the reading of the Passion at my church. Bleh. I know after people see PASSION, they will 1) re-envision the pictures they saw in the production; 2) feel cheated without the accompanying visual; and 3) want to see PASSION again.

That really sounds like I have a huge case of hubris, but I don't. I do have confidence in pictures though, and the visceral reaction we have to them. You'll see. (Get it? You'll see?)