The little things...
So this is the third year we are doing Zombies Attack Chicago at The Spot. The previous two years it was produced by a theatre company, who ended up butchering Zack's script and said theatre company believes that Zack as producer made a bunch of empty promises that disabled them from doing the show they wanted. They had a falling out and unfortunately I've seen less of the two girls who run the company than I would have liked to since then.
Anyhoo Zack and The Spot itself are producing the show this year, and this year instead of the Green Room, we get the entire upstairs to perform in. Its super fun to watch Zack work - he shakes hands, remembers names, buys drinks for people and is a promotion machine. When he's not getting face time with potential audience members or promoters he's at home updating the ZAC FB pager, finding ways to fundraise for the show or making hundreds and hundreds of buttons to hand out. Jordan is the writer this year and as always, I am the Props and Bloodmaster. We ran into a snag and he ended up having to fire our orignal director because she couldnt' give us enough time. When Brian changed up a bunch of dates on Monday because of football scheduling, we almost canceled the show completely. Zack looked super upset on Monday nite when he came to this conclusion and talked to me and Jman about it. When Seth finally got back into town Zack and him had a super long phone convo with him on the back deck while we watched RAW that night. Seth agreed to step up as director even though it would eat up alot of his time.
Last night Seth biked over for his first pre-production meeting with the producer and the writer. I sat in the other room watching TV because this meeting was all about vision/how the show moves/characterization/character arcs and relationships... all that writing/acting/directing mumbo jumbo. Once they decide what blood effects, weapons, hand props and costumey stuff they'll set up a meeting with me. Then I get to tell them, "No you can't have this giant rifle for your military character, its to expensive." and "You're an idiot if you think your Stage manager is gonna be okay mopping up that much corn syrup(fake blood ingredient) at the end of each show."
I gotta say thou, with all the stress this show is already, not to mention the bad idea of putting on shows with your friends because you end up wanting to kill each other by the end... what I heard coming from the other room last night was music to my ears. My boys collaborating, talking business, coming up with ideas, sounding like grownups. The dream team is back together! And we're putting on a show... my little disfunctional family and I. It's why I came here in the first place... to do something great, and new, and different... that I love... with the people that I love... last night I was very happy.
Anyhoo Zack and The Spot itself are producing the show this year, and this year instead of the Green Room, we get the entire upstairs to perform in. Its super fun to watch Zack work - he shakes hands, remembers names, buys drinks for people and is a promotion machine. When he's not getting face time with potential audience members or promoters he's at home updating the ZAC FB pager, finding ways to fundraise for the show or making hundreds and hundreds of buttons to hand out. Jordan is the writer this year and as always, I am the Props and Bloodmaster. We ran into a snag and he ended up having to fire our orignal director because she couldnt' give us enough time. When Brian changed up a bunch of dates on Monday because of football scheduling, we almost canceled the show completely. Zack looked super upset on Monday nite when he came to this conclusion and talked to me and Jman about it. When Seth finally got back into town Zack and him had a super long phone convo with him on the back deck while we watched RAW that night. Seth agreed to step up as director even though it would eat up alot of his time.
Last night Seth biked over for his first pre-production meeting with the producer and the writer. I sat in the other room watching TV because this meeting was all about vision/how the show moves/characterization/character arcs and relationships... all that writing/acting/directing mumbo jumbo. Once they decide what blood effects, weapons, hand props and costumey stuff they'll set up a meeting with me. Then I get to tell them, "No you can't have this giant rifle for your military character, its to expensive." and "You're an idiot if you think your Stage manager is gonna be okay mopping up that much corn syrup(fake blood ingredient) at the end of each show."
I gotta say thou, with all the stress this show is already, not to mention the bad idea of putting on shows with your friends because you end up wanting to kill each other by the end... what I heard coming from the other room last night was music to my ears. My boys collaborating, talking business, coming up with ideas, sounding like grownups. The dream team is back together! And we're putting on a show... my little disfunctional family and I. It's why I came here in the first place... to do something great, and new, and different... that I love... with the people that I love... last night I was very happy.