The Show Must Go On (Experience #7)
04-18-2020
If you haven't been living under a rock for the entirety of the year 2020, you've probably noticed that there is a massive pandemic shutting down entire countries, including ours. Naturally, this has led to the cancellation/postponement of almost everything requiring people to gather in-person, as it should be. However, if you recall my very first post on this blog, I talked about being in rehearsals for a show at TCU called Miss Molly. It was scheduled for performances on March 26 through March 29. Obviously, that didn't happen, but initially we believed we would come back to TCU on April 2 and pick up where we left off. The show was essentially ready to go on. The cast had all four acts memorized, the costumes were nearly completed, and the set was all but done. The department went ahead and rescheduled the dates of the show so that it would happen in April, no problem.
Then things with the virus escalated, and universities, including TCU, went to online classes for the rest of the semester, which was probably the right decision, but it definitely put a massive wrench in our plans to produce a show. Suddenly all of us who had been working on Miss Molly were faced with a massive disappointment. The thing we'd poured our hearts and souls into almost daily since February was suddenly up in smoke. We were faced with a question of whether or not we could salvage anything of the work we had put into the show. After the initial shock, the answer was simple: the show must go on, as they say, regardless of what form it takes.
Miss Molly was the Studio show of TCU's season, it was entirely student-produced from the director to the designers. Fortunately, we had an amazing faculty sponsor who helped organize a way for us to continue our show. Classes were on Zoom now, so why not a show?
After talking things through, we all settled on times to set aside on the weekends for us to film our show over Zoom. We ended up filming two different things. The first thing we did was film certain scenes and clips to use in making a promotional video for Miss Molly. The second thing was to, naturally, perform and film the show in its entirety. We might not have had our costumes or our set, but all you really need in order to put on a show is someone to perform.
We all had a great time playing our parts, even if it wasn't how we imagined it. We all got into whatever suggestion of a costume we could find from home and played our parts through Zoom. It was a strange experience, to say the least. We played around with filming in different ways. Looking to the sides to talk to other characters, for instance, proved itself to be incredibly difficult. Getting up-close and personal with our webcams, on the other hand, was a lot of fun. It was incredibly refreshing after nearly a month of quarantine to be able to act with my friends, even if it wasn't quite the same as being in the same room.
Fortunately, our performances were bolstered by some great news. The theatre faculty made the decision to stage Miss Molly at the beginning of the Fall 2020 semester since, as I mentioned before, the show was essentially ready for an audience. The only things that could stop the performance in August would be myself or the director not being able to return to Fort Worth since both of us are graduating seniors. The decision came rather easily for me. I was planning on being in Fort Worth for the rescheduled graduation ceremony at the beginning of August, so I would just have to stick around for the month in order to see the performance through. Even if I hadn't been thrilled at the opportunity to actually perform the show I'd dedicated so much of my time to, I knew I would have to do it so that the rest of my cast who would be returning in the fall would be able to perform as well.
Pending the decision to open TCU back up again for Fall 2020, Miss Molly is going to miraculously happen and hopefully give our audiences a much-needed laugh. If you're going to be at TCU, performances are currently scheduled for Friday, August 28, 7:30 PM; Saturday, August 29, 2:30 and 7:30 PM; and Sunday, August 30, 2:30 PM in the Studio Theatre. Hopefully then, the show will really and truly go on!
If you haven't been living under a rock for the entirety of the year 2020, you've probably noticed that there is a massive pandemic shutting down entire countries, including ours. Naturally, this has led to the cancellation/postponement of almost everything requiring people to gather in-person, as it should be. However, if you recall my very first post on this blog, I talked about being in rehearsals for a show at TCU called Miss Molly. It was scheduled for performances on March 26 through March 29. Obviously, that didn't happen, but initially we believed we would come back to TCU on April 2 and pick up where we left off. The show was essentially ready to go on. The cast had all four acts memorized, the costumes were nearly completed, and the set was all but done. The department went ahead and rescheduled the dates of the show so that it would happen in April, no problem.
Then things with the virus escalated, and universities, including TCU, went to online classes for the rest of the semester, which was probably the right decision, but it definitely put a massive wrench in our plans to produce a show. Suddenly all of us who had been working on Miss Molly were faced with a massive disappointment. The thing we'd poured our hearts and souls into almost daily since February was suddenly up in smoke. We were faced with a question of whether or not we could salvage anything of the work we had put into the show. After the initial shock, the answer was simple: the show must go on, as they say, regardless of what form it takes.
Miss Molly was the Studio show of TCU's season, it was entirely student-produced from the director to the designers. Fortunately, we had an amazing faculty sponsor who helped organize a way for us to continue our show. Classes were on Zoom now, so why not a show?
After talking things through, we all settled on times to set aside on the weekends for us to film our show over Zoom. We ended up filming two different things. The first thing we did was film certain scenes and clips to use in making a promotional video for Miss Molly. The second thing was to, naturally, perform and film the show in its entirety. We might not have had our costumes or our set, but all you really need in order to put on a show is someone to perform.
We all had a great time playing our parts, even if it wasn't how we imagined it. We all got into whatever suggestion of a costume we could find from home and played our parts through Zoom. It was a strange experience, to say the least. We played around with filming in different ways. Looking to the sides to talk to other characters, for instance, proved itself to be incredibly difficult. Getting up-close and personal with our webcams, on the other hand, was a lot of fun. It was incredibly refreshing after nearly a month of quarantine to be able to act with my friends, even if it wasn't quite the same as being in the same room.
Fortunately, our performances were bolstered by some great news. The theatre faculty made the decision to stage Miss Molly at the beginning of the Fall 2020 semester since, as I mentioned before, the show was essentially ready for an audience. The only things that could stop the performance in August would be myself or the director not being able to return to Fort Worth since both of us are graduating seniors. The decision came rather easily for me. I was planning on being in Fort Worth for the rescheduled graduation ceremony at the beginning of August, so I would just have to stick around for the month in order to see the performance through. Even if I hadn't been thrilled at the opportunity to actually perform the show I'd dedicated so much of my time to, I knew I would have to do it so that the rest of my cast who would be returning in the fall would be able to perform as well.
Pending the decision to open TCU back up again for Fall 2020, Miss Molly is going to miraculously happen and hopefully give our audiences a much-needed laugh. If you're going to be at TCU, performances are currently scheduled for Friday, August 28, 7:30 PM; Saturday, August 29, 2:30 and 7:30 PM; and Sunday, August 30, 2:30 PM in the Studio Theatre. Hopefully then, the show will really and truly go on!
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