Dream Center is what I call whatever it is that comes up with dreams that I have while asleep, not dreams as in aspirations. It is easier for me to write about a dream in the present tense. Because it's a dream, it does not have to make sense, nor does it have to be logical. Therefore...
The theater is sort of a Hershey Theatre, sort of not. I'm crew on this production. It's a community theater production. This is the dress rehearsal for the show which will run for one performance only. None of us is happy about that. We've been told that a full house in this theater is as many people as would see it in a longer run at our former venue. I've been assigned to lights. The control board is an old tower with lots of switches, lots of dimmers, and nothing to indicate what any of the switches and dimmers control. The main curtain isn't quite down to the stage. Bright lights shine through the gap. I don't see anything on the board indicating anything is turned on. The director angrily asks me about "the crap" against the back wall. He's somewhat mollified when I tell him there's a backdrop that will hide it. He tells me what he wants for lights. I tell him no one's told me how the thing works. He tells me to do what I can and leaves. I snap on some switches and play with dimmers. The orchestra tunes up. It sounds like we have an audience. For dress? Were they charged admission? Was it reduced, since this is a rehearsal? Regardless, I'm glad people are out there -- it will make it feel like we've done two performances. As the show progresses, I play slowly with the lights. I notice we have a full house, not just "some" audience. The cast is doing well. At the end of the act, I hear shrieks of laughter and see feathers flying in from the house. When the curtain is closed, I walk up to the balcony to look over the rail to try to figure out where the feathers came from I see a couple of white doves flying around the ceiling and a net over the orchestra pit. Retrieving the doves is not in my job description. Then I hear a fight between the director and a younger person, probably the set designer. Apparently, a lot of fake white doves and some live ones are caged somewhere and are released with some force. The net is supposed to fly out over them, catch the live birds, drag down the fake ones (filled with helium), and drop them into the orchestra pit. The director screams what a stupid idea it is. The designer defends by pointing out that the audience loved it. The director points at the flying birds. "Who's cleaning up the shit? And why didn't the net catch them? And how did you think you'd get away with dropping that heavy net on the orchestra?" "We can work on the net during the day tomorrow," the designer says. As for dropping the net over the pit, "I asked each musician and every one of them thought it was a funny idea." I notice the net is still over the pit, a few white feathers attached.
Good one, Dream Center. Thank you. But where the hell did that come from?
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