Pride and Prejudice #5

The play is over :(

The Bennet Family

I really have mixed emotions about it. For one, I am glad to be able to rest. Go home and do nothing. Actually watch television and go to bed at 9:00 p.m. Have time to clean house, spend time with Chris and Bear. Chris has been so patient during this whole process. :) He was the first one I talked to about this, because I wanted to make sure we were on the same page. He has done laundry and fixed his own supper. God love him! Bear just knows that I have not been at home that much. Everyday when I get home I go and check on him, so he is going to be glad I am done with the play. He actually has someone to protect now.

On the other hand, I am sad that it is over. It has been a small routine for the past three weeks. I am going to miss everyone and just being at the theatre. I am going to miss putting on my costume, doing my hair (thanks Sherrie), and putting on gobs of makeup. It is just something unique that is hard to explain unless you have done it before. Friendships have been made and experiences have been had.

Last night was our last performance. It was at 2:00 p.m. After the show we had some more pictures to take (one big group picture and a couple of individual scene pictures). Then we had to clean up and get the theatre ready for the next play. My job was to gather costumes and make sure they were all in one place. One fun thing that is done (I assume at every play) is all cast and crew put their hand print on the wall of the theatre backstage.

Mine is on the bottom left, straight down from the "r" in pride.

Our photographer said it would be around 2-3 weeks before pictures are done. So, I am going to hold off until she gets them done. I don't want to do anything illegal!

Pride & Prejudice #4

Wow, I made it through my first three performances! Four more to go. This has been a fun but exhausting experience.
Friday was our first performance in front of a paying audience. It was for the patrons. My question is, who in their right mind lets the important people come the first night? They should come to like the third for fourth performance. Let us get warmed up! But anyway, we had a patron party afterwards. All I wanted to do was go home and go to sleep, but guess what....they had wine! I was not about to miss that. So I stayed for about 30 minutes and some food and wine. I would have stayed longer, but I was tired and really didn't know anybody but the cast and crew of the play.
Kim and Sherrie gave me three beautiful pink roses. Sherrie has been doing my hair for me during the week. They called me into the bathroom at work and had them waiting for me there.

Saturday, Chris, Joyce, Danny, Miranda, Sterling, Ashley and William all came to the performance. I was so glad that Ashley got to see it, even though she might not have understood everything. Chris said she was waving at me. Wish I could have seen her.

Sunday, Chris, Mom, Dad, Mawmaw, Aunt Amy, Aunt Mary, Terry, Amy, Triston and Brody all came to the performance. We went out to eat at Top O' The River afterwards.

I still get called to speak louder. Look....I am a soft spoken person...this is pretty much not going to change, unless you make me mad. I have had to move my mic to my cheek. I previously had it pinned to my costume in the front. At least I am not the only one who needs to speak louder.
I am tired, tired, and tired...did I say I am tired? This past week has been rough. Working from 8:30 - 5:00...play from 6:15-9:30. Plus it takes about 30 minutes to drive to the theatre, so I have not had much time to rest. I did take four hours off from work Wednesday, but it was spent catching up on household duties.
This week we had Monday-Wednesday off. Which I did nothing those three nights, but lay on the couch and watch TV. I have really missed the couch! The play starts again tonight and goes through Sunday. Kim, Dylan and Sherrie are coming tonight and a couple of others from work are coming Saturday night. I told Chris he didn't have to come every night, since he has seen it twice already.
I will be so glad when we can get pictures from our photographer. I promise to post several of them.
Here are some gifts I received on opening night.

The pillow was made by a cast member and her mom (I believe). It has a small book on the front with my stage name (Mary). On the back it has P&P and the date.

Pride & Prejudice #3

It's getting closer...9 days and counting! Wow, where did the time go? I will tell you where it went...PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, REHEARSAL, REHEARSAL, REHEARSAL!!!!!
I wanted something to keep me busy, so I got it!

Mary Bennet

All kidding aside, I have really enjoyed this. I would love to do another play, just need to find one that I can fit into. I would love to do Grease, so I will be on the outlook for it.

So what has been going on with the play:

•We are currently rehearsing Tuesday-Friday 6-9, doing the whole show. This is our second week of that schedule. This weekend we have rehearsal on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Our director said if we do good this week, we can skip rehearsal on Sunday.

•Costumes are getting finished. We were asked to wear each night our costumes and shoes that we will be wearing so we can get used to wearing them. I am really excited about this part, because I love to dress up in character. It makes it more real and helps me get into character. My only problem are my shoes, they hurt my feet. I am not a high heel type of person (bad feet).

•I believe today we start using mics, not sure.

•Started doing circle at 6:30 p.m. Different but...I will deal with it :)

•We ordered t-shirts - $15. They are white and long sleeve.

•Received our poster.

•Articles have been printed in local newspapers and aired on tv and radio.

•Finally got tickets for our families. I believe there are going to be 13 family members coming. Yay! 

Co-workers have started getting their tickets.

•I made an invitation. Only mailed out one :( I wanted to do more, but didn't have the time to get them printed like I wanted.

•Taken more pictures. I love to save everything (pictures, newspaper articles, emails, etc).

Pride & Prejudice #2

Thought I would give an update on how things are going with the play.

This has been an amazing adventure for me. Doing something that I would have never done before and I thank God and our director for this opportunity.

Let me just say this first. I know I talk softly and I knew I would have an issue with this going into the rehearsals, but gracious I had no idea I would have to scream (almost). So that is really the only thing that I get called out for (so far). I don't mind it, it is just what I have to learn to be better at. After all, I do want this to be a great play.

I have taken some pictures at rehearsals but I may or may not post them, because I am not sure if the other people would want to be posted on here. So who knows I may come back later and do it, once the play is over. We do have a photographer, Monica Martin, who has come to rehearsals and taken several photos.

We are currently having practice from 6:30-9:00. It was 6:00-9:00 and that will start again at the end of this month. I don't have to go every night, only the nights in which I have a part to rehearse. This week I have been there every night and trust me it has been a busy week. I do have more time to go home from work and eat, change and get some things taken care of.

One thing I really did not think about when I auditioned for this part was the fact that I will have a lot of down time during the play. Mary has about 17 lines in the whole play, so that means that I spend some time sitting around backstage (memorizing my lines).  I know that once the play starts I will have to be aware of when I go on stage.

We are doing some school shows as well. (I think) Right now they are scheduled for February 13th at DAR and New Hope. One is at 9:00am and the other at noon.

We have been measured for our costumes. There is one dress that fits me perfect in length, but the waist is quite snug! HA! Kim our costume lady said she could fix that. Lets hope she can, HA! I have also been trying to get some character shoes. I would rather not have to buy them, but it looks like I may have too. I have a pair of shoes that I am going to show her tonight and see if they work. Lets hope they will. Because since I have a small foot I am having a hard time finding some. There are a couple of dancewear shops up here, but they don't have the size I need.

Pride and Prejudice #1

Guess who gets to play Mary Bennet in Pride and Prejudice?..............ME!!!

I am really excited, because I have NEVER done anything like this before in my life. I have gotten up in front of people and played charades and once in college did a skit for my sorority, but nothing to this extent.

Lydia, Kitty, Elizabeth, Jane and Mary Bennet.

For a while now I have been looking at a couple of the theatres up here and looking to see what they were putting on. I have always wanted to perform on Broadway in a musical, where I could sing and dance. Well since I can't sing I thought this would be exciting to partake. 

So I found where The Whole Backstage Theatre in Guntersville was having auditions for Pride and Prejudice. After work that Monday I went to the Albertville Library and got a copy of some of the parts that I thought I would like to audition for. Let me remind you, I had never seen the movie nor knew anything about the play or what I was getting into. So, I went home and started researching it on the Internet and reading over the part of Mary Bennet. She had the fewest lines! HA! Tuesday a co-worker brought me the movie to watch. I went straight home and started watching it. After that I knew that I should try out for Mary Bennet for one reason: since this was my first attempt at anything like this, I needed a small role. Wednesday I started trying to remember my lines and I watched the movie again. Thursday was the first day of auditions. Boy was I nervous! My heart was beating so fast, I know the director had to of known I was nervous. I read through my lines twice and learned I had to speak with a British accent. Oh boy!!! What have I gotten into? Friday was a long night. I got there at 6:00 and left a little before 9:00 p.m. I didn't read my lines but I stood in for a couple of other parts. Saturday morning was the last of the auditions at 10:00. I read my lines once and left at 10:45. 

It was a waiting game to see if I had made it. The director emailed a list of the cast on Monday and glory to God, I made it!!!! I checked every Facebook and Twitter page I could find to see the cast list.

Mary Bennet

Now the fun begins! (At least that is what others tell me). I am excited and nervous at the same time. I am so excited to see how this all comes together. I am a planner and need to know NOW how this is going to work. Something I need to just sit back and wait for. We have a read-thru on December 17th at 10:00 and start rehearsals on December 20th (Chris' birthday). The play opens February 10th!

I am excited to see what I get to wear!

There is some amazing talent in this play! Some of the cast just amaze me how they can jump into character so fast. I guess it is because they have been doing this for many years now.

Again, I want to thank God for giving me this opportunity in life!