Waiting for Donelan

In 1996, the indie film Waiting for Guffman hit select theaters throughout the country. The story is set in the town of Blaine, MO, where a musical revue called “Red, White and Blaine” is being produced to celebrate the town’s sesquicentennial. Corky St. Clair is praying that this show will be his ticket back to Broadway. Mort Guffman is a Broadway theatre producer who everyone is expecting to show up on opening night.

Waiting for Guffman (a mockumentary) perfectly captures what it’s like to participate in small town theatre. If you haven’t ever watched the movie – you must. I laughed, I cried, I gasped, and held my breath through parts.

This blog was created so that the cast and crew of Heathers the Musical could document and share our experiences during the production process. Great idea, but difficult to pen what the experience has truly been like. First and foremost, it’s just difficult to be honest – you don’t want to offend anyone or hurt anyone’s feelings. It’s also difficult to find time to write – we all have lives outside of this production and other commitments (not unlike the characters in Waiting for Guffman who were travel agents, a dentist, a Dairy Queen employee, a taxidermist, etc. – we’re a cast of cupcake bakers, a film maker, a bartender, a safety coordinator, a make-up artist, a Kings Ice Crew member, etc.). Ultimately, however, I do think it’s important for non-theatre folk to understand that what we do on stage doesn’t just happen overnight and it’s not all BIG FUN. A great deal of work goes into these small town productions and we really do take ourselves that seriously.

To date, I’ve logged about 116 hours of rehearsal time. Collectively, that’s approximately 2,000 hours of rehearsal time for the cast and production team and we have about 1000 hours of rehearsal and performance time left to log together. In addition to rehearsal time, I have spent countless personal hours memorizing lines and learning music.

I work a full time job, nine hour days. I literally walk two blocks from my office to rehearsal most nights. That means I leave my house at 7:15 a.m. and don’t come home again until close to 10:30 p.m. (and sometimes later) on nights we rehearse. I am not alone. Every person in our cast has a job or goes to school. We're burning the candle at both ends to make sure that the show you see is worth the price of admission.

The last two weeks before a show opens are always the hardest. If you haven’t been sick during the rehearsal process, you’re waiting to get sick during tech week. I fall into the latter category and I’ve basically become a germaphobe, washing my hands two to three times a night during rehearsal and taking extra Vitamin C. Of course, the fact that we’re rehearsing in a school and touching desks and chairs isn’t helping my neurosis.

An unusual twist to a normal production experience for our cast is that we recently said good bye to our director, Jenny. She had a project that conflicted with the last week of rehearsal and run of the show. This was not a surprise, we knew it was coming, but it was surprising to me just how much Jenny’s absence affected the dynamics of the last couple rehearsals.

I’ve been performing locally for thirty-five plus years. I’ve been a part of some amazing productions. I can honestly say that this cast is one of the most talented groups of people I’ve ever worked with and they LOVE theatre. THEY LOVE IT. And, they make me LOVE it, even when I’m tired and hungry and I just want to go home and watch Vampire Diaries. It’s the kind of infectious energy that you want to be around. It makes me want to go out and audition again, even though I always say “this is my last play”.

I know we’re all nervous about opening night. One of our local theatre reviewers, Charles Donelan, is expected to make an appearance. Any actor who tells you that they don’t read their reviews is a liar. We all do. His opinion and every other person sitting in that theater has an opinion that matters to us all. We all want to knock your socks off! Be the best we can be! 

What will Mr. Donelan think of our production of Heathers the Musical? Will we exceed his expectations? Will the production be so magical, so inspiring, that we make all of his theatre dreams come true?

To be determined. We still have five rehearsals left before we have a live audience and I really want this show to be AMAZING. With this cast, I know it can be. Uber talented cast. Seriously. I feel honored to share the stage with them. They have made this whole experience worthwhile.

Five rehearsals left until we open. Fan-freaking-tastic!