Saturday, December 8

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I just got up from a well-deserved nap. What a day!!

It started with getting set for a dress rehearsal for Lost and Found on Christmas Eve - The Musical. I am running sound and lights for the original musical program that will be presented at Centenary United Methodist Church on Saturday December 15 at 4pm (hint, hint...you should come!). The music is all original stuff created by Danny Moore, the Director of Music and there are several catchy tunes that are hopelessly stuck in my head. Currently I have When I Sing Noel running around in there.

My sister Denise wrote the play around 13 of Danny's songs and will be directing. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about some of the preparation that was going into the show...today I actually got to see a good bit of it all come together. It really is going to be amazing. Although it doesn't have the polish (or budget) of a Broadway show or the Virginia Christmas Spectacular - it has a cast that will steal your heart. If they can affect the Grinchy-Chris of this morning, you don't stand a chance.

I am running about 11 microphones on this show, including six wireless that keep getting handed off from cast member to cast member. This morning I was patching all of that into the sound board - trying to explain to each of "my" performers (ones who speak or sing solos) who their mic goes to after them - helping our director make sure a poster was level in the dorm room set - getting the rest of the mics placed... And that was on a Saturday morning on about 6 hours sleep!

But when the rehearsal started, I could not help but be amazed by hard work that the whole cast has put in! From the opening number to the finale, everyone has made great effort to learn the lyrics and their lines. The scene painters are making good progress on the sets (the paint may not be dry on Dec. 15, but it will be there!) and the head of scene shift (Dad) has his instruction sheet. He may be seen reading it during the performance - but he has the gist of it. I just had to explain that "strike the table" means to remove it - not hit it with anything. Got to remember not to talk in theatre-speak.

Rehearsal actually ended about 15 minutes earlier than planned. Wow. Unprecedented.

After lunch, I had a different assignment. My friend Carl decided to use our church as the subject of his last project in a class for his Masters in Engineering. The only problem was that he needed some better pictures for his report (the project has something to do with heating and/or cooling efficiency). One area he needed pictures: the roof. And actually, I'm not afraid of heights. I do have a healthy respect for heights. As my Dad would say "it's not the fall that kills you - it's that sudden stop." But the ladder to the roof was a little sketchy. And a puddle of water (combined with my flip-flops...hmmm....) made exiting the ladder at the top a heart stopper. Dad offered his hand to me and when my foot slipped I felt like I nearly pulled him off the roof. He said it wasn't that close...and we would have only fallen one floor to the porch roof.

But after the climb, the reward was this beautiful view. It is rarely seen (folks are not generally allowed on the roof) so I wanted to share this picture with you.

This is one of the last big projects before Christmas (also playing handbells tomorrow). I'm looking forward to just focusing on shopping or decorating the tree. Maybe I'll get the lights on before Christmas Eve!

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