Counting Actors, Not Sheep

By Perry Allison, Producing Artistic Director

This post appeared first on my Substack blog- Remember What You Know.

It is an ungodly hour in the early morning hours after daylight savings time. My trusty canine companion, Smooch, and I wait for the dawn. I woke up a couple of hours ago and lay in bed, willing myself back to sleep. No such luck. Some people count sheep in these situations, I count actors. Or at least I do when I am immersed in a big production of a musical with my small but mighty theatre company.

There are a million things swirling through my mind. I build my to-do-list in my brain and try to make some decisions. It is a big day for us as we are moving into the theatre where we will mount our show in less than three weeks. Yikes! I am thinking about dressing room assignments. Who will be in which room? Who needs the best access to their dressing room for quick changes? Which actors will enjoy being together as they prepare to go on stage?

My mind goes to publicity which is one of my biggest responsibilities for this production. We have a concrete plan with reviewers scheduled to come see the show, ads running in local papers, a Facebook invite circulating. We decided not to advertise on public radio this year as it wasn’t cited as a driver of ticket sales last year. Will we miss it? What else are we missing?

We decided yesterday that we might use the lovely grand piano in the theatre for its acoustic sound. But how recently was it tuned? Do I need to find a piano tuner?

There is a line in our play spoken by our lead actor. He says- “I’m on another planet when I’m rehearsing a play”. Truer words were never spoken.

But isn’t that how it is with any project that consumes our head and our heart? It is an immersion that often takes us away from the mundane details of our life.

At each rehearsal, we circle up before we begin, to check in and share how we’re feeling. It’s a lovely practice that this year’s director has brought to the company. Yesterday, one of our actors shared that the rehearsal room is a safe space for him. It is a place where he knows he can leave all the troubles of the world outside. And we all know the world is rife with troubles right now. None of us are immune to it.

And so this is what we do. This is our resistance. Dan Rather in a blog recently shared that people often ask him- “what can we do?”. And his answer was-“Help those less fortunate. Be active in community work. Keep asking yourself, what can I do for my country? All the while, try to stay optimistic and hopeful.”

So that’s what we’re doing. We’re telling a tender story about art and community and acceptance. And for all of the hard work involved, it feels great.

See you in the theatre.