When The Lights Go Out
I have never been in a play that ever had a cancelled show. I've never, as a director, cancelled a show. Today, I cancelled my first show. It was very difficult to do, but there was no other choice.
About an hour before curtain, the power goes out. At first, I was hopeful it was a fuse or something that could be fixed. Turned out, it was a significant power outage in the town, so we weren't getting electricity back. Thus began the tough process of figuring out what to do.
I contemplated performing outside, but there were a number of issues. Most could have been overcome, but the biggest was that there were a few students who were clearly not interested in the idea. For the outdoor performance to work, I'd need everybody committed and giving 110% percent. And I just wasn't going to get it.
So, for the first time, we turned customers away and gave out coupons for later performances.
About an hour before curtain, the power goes out. At first, I was hopeful it was a fuse or something that could be fixed. Turned out, it was a significant power outage in the town, so we weren't getting electricity back. Thus began the tough process of figuring out what to do.
I contemplated performing outside, but there were a number of issues. Most could have been overcome, but the biggest was that there were a few students who were clearly not interested in the idea. For the outdoor performance to work, I'd need everybody committed and giving 110% percent. And I just wasn't going to get it.
So, for the first time, we turned customers away and gave out coupons for later performances.