Thomsen Talk: April 2015
Savannah has four days to get her mama to California. QCT has four weeks to get MAMA WON’T FLY ready for an audience. I think we understand the time crunch Savannah is feeling. Four weeks is a very short amount of time for a community theatre rehearsal period – – we read and discussed the play, took a break for Easter, blocked Act One in a week, we’re blocking Act Two this week, next week we’ll review, then we’ll tech, and then BAM – we’ve arrived. This is one wild road trip. Thankfully, we have an incredibly gifted and dedicated company that is working overtime to be ultra-prepared for rehearsals, and this show is shaping up to be something quite hysterical. I am so impressed how the people of Quincy, and in this case, the volunteers at Quincy Community Theatre, will take on a challenge and meet it with courage and finesse!
Next week, QCT is beginning another challenge: STELLALUNA. I am so excited for our audiences to see this beautiful piece of theatre, in which the story is told by actors, singers, puppets, a pianist, a tap dancer, and a sign language interpreter. I sincerely hope our students will embrace the opportunity to be involved with a project unlike any other by auditioning for this Lab Theatre production. Though they will have six weeks of rehearsal (as opposed to MAMA’s four), that cast will no doubt be faced with challenges of a different kind, but, as we discover with each show we work on here, those challenges are actually opportunities to think and grow as artists. It turns out that that wild road trip of challenges was actually a life-changing and deeply-satisfying journey. I’m glad I turned the key.