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| UGA's Dept. of Theatre and Film Studies Production of 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee |
I must say that doing crew can be a long exhausting run, nights can be long and things can get tedious. But for what it is worth, I can now add a little something more to my resume (light board operator)
I for one was dreading having to do it, but there is always a lesson to be learned or something I can observe.So I can say that there were two takeaways from the experience of working crew for Putnam. (And just a warning I can be sappy about things so these takeaways are a little more on the sappy side )
1. It is refreshing to see talented actors on the stage
I don't want to brag too much about the theatre department I am a part of but hey, we have talent. I worked crew from Oct. 25th- November 14th seeing the show over 30 times and it never got old seeing the cast perform. I do not think I could say that about every show I will see in my lifetime. And maybe it is just me being a sap for everything but it felt good to see my peers onstage receive laughs and applause for their hardwork. And it is a plus to see actors who can effectively sing, dance, and act for two hours with no intermission. (Talent at UGA!!!) There were nights when things just did not go as planned but these actors were able to camouflage the mistakes and keep the show going. It is scary yet inspiring. Could I be as clever to keep moving? I like things to go as planned, I do not know if I could handle unexpected things onstage. And I am horrible at improv. (Who ever said that an actor had to be good at improv should be shot!...j/k ) But nevertheless there are people who are my peers who have a great talent and I enjoy learning from them.
2. The cast family
On the last two days of the show, I observed as cast members signed cards for the director and a cast member who fell ill during the run. The director got them all small tokens and letters of appreciation. The assistant stage manager made cupcakes. The cast got the musicians toys. And even though the crew came into the production scene late, there was still a sense of family that was cultivated. I guess when you don't do a show for a while you forget about those small things. To this day, I can be around former cast members of Once on this Island (a show I was in 3 years ago) and we can just bust out singing songs from the show. Of course this is not to say that the cast family is peachy clean and there are no disagreements or tension here and there. But in the end, a show has to go on and when the show ends we laugh and enjoy the memories that were created.
So even though I was dreading this crew assignment, it was a great...good experience.
I for one was dreading having to do it, but there is always a lesson to be learned or something I can observe.So I can say that there were two takeaways from the experience of working crew for Putnam. (And just a warning I can be sappy about things so these takeaways are a little more on the sappy side )
1. It is refreshing to see talented actors on the stage
I don't want to brag too much about the theatre department I am a part of but hey, we have talent. I worked crew from Oct. 25th- November 14th seeing the show over 30 times and it never got old seeing the cast perform. I do not think I could say that about every show I will see in my lifetime. And maybe it is just me being a sap for everything but it felt good to see my peers onstage receive laughs and applause for their hardwork. And it is a plus to see actors who can effectively sing, dance, and act for two hours with no intermission. (Talent at UGA!!!) There were nights when things just did not go as planned but these actors were able to camouflage the mistakes and keep the show going. It is scary yet inspiring. Could I be as clever to keep moving? I like things to go as planned, I do not know if I could handle unexpected things onstage. And I am horrible at improv. (Who ever said that an actor had to be good at improv should be shot!...j/k ) But nevertheless there are people who are my peers who have a great talent and I enjoy learning from them.
2. The cast family
On the last two days of the show, I observed as cast members signed cards for the director and a cast member who fell ill during the run. The director got them all small tokens and letters of appreciation. The assistant stage manager made cupcakes. The cast got the musicians toys. And even though the crew came into the production scene late, there was still a sense of family that was cultivated. I guess when you don't do a show for a while you forget about those small things. To this day, I can be around former cast members of Once on this Island (a show I was in 3 years ago) and we can just bust out singing songs from the show. Of course this is not to say that the cast family is peachy clean and there are no disagreements or tension here and there. But in the end, a show has to go on and when the show ends we laugh and enjoy the memories that were created.
So even though I was dreading this crew assignment, it was a great...good experience.
