CHILDREN OF EDEN Update: 3 Days to Opening Night

Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Children of Eden is now less than 72 hours away from opening (June 20th and 21st at 7:30 p.m. and 22nd at 2:30 p.m., with the same times for June 27th-29th). Everyone involved has been working whatever time they can squeeze in to get this thing ready. This past Friday night I worked with some other cast members in getting the lighting set up ('cuz all cast members are expected to work at least one day during "Tech Week" and I wanted to take the opportunity to learn some stuff about lighting, since it might come in handy with videography). Most of the other cast loaded the props on Saturday. And Sunday was our first technical rehearsal: going through the show with everything going full-bore so as to tweak the lighting cues, the sound levels, and the props.

The thing about Children of Eden is that this is a very props-intensive show. The first part of Act I involves moving lots of foliage on stage very quickly so as to create the Garden of Eden. And even then, it's not static: stuff gets shifted around all the time. And there are two scene changes - one in Act I and another in Act II - that also require certain items to be brought on and taken off. Those alone have taken significant time to consider and then re-consider how to best do it. One of these is something that I've been assigned to, and if you know anything about Children of Eden, you'll know what I mean when I say that it's possibly the most mysterious part of the story.

So Sunday was our first tech rehearsal. It ran from 2 p.m. until past 9 p.m. that night.

Last night we did it again, practice starting at 6:30 p.m. and then running to about 11.

Tonight was our first full dress rehearsal. We began going through the show at around 7:30 p.m., and finished just after 10:30. Almost average for a typical production of Children of Eden. We have definitely come a long way since where we were just two days ago.

Tomorrow we'll be taking pictures and maybe shooting some video. I can't post any video, but I will certainly try to have a pic or two up of what this is looking like, including me in my getup as Seth :-)

Categories: art, children of eden, drama, musicals, theatre guild of rockingham county