In Which Something Goes Wrong and Walkabout Advisors and my Mother Get Excited that I'm Learning Life Lessons

So, Sunday night I got a Facebook message from Chuck (Rachel), telling me she was really sorry, but she couldn't do the show anymore because she and her mother would be out of town on the weekend of the show and there was no way to move around the trip.  It was incredible how instantaneously my brain started working in thinking of solutions to this impromptu problem.  The first solution that bounded into my brain was Alexander Bell, who had watched rehearsal one night and mentioned briefly that he would be interested in doing acting.  I had berated him for not telling me that earlier, as I could have used him.

But then, Sunday night, I sent a message to Xander asking him if he would be interested in taking over some very small parts that Chuck was leaving behind.  He said that he would love to do it, anything to be able to help.

So Chuck was in five scenes in which she had lines.  Boys Will Be Girls, Skins (parts 1 and 4), Dead Poets Society, and Saved!.  I did some quick rearranging, and I've decided to give Chuck's lines in Dead Poets Society and in Saved! to someone else - DPS to Bailey, probably, and Saved! to Amber.  That leaves Boys Will Be Girls and Skins.

For Skins, the two parts that Xander will be taking over really don't need to be gender-specific.  The first part is a friend of the group - her name is Jal, but no one ever says her name and there's nothing in the script that references her being a girl.  In Skins part four, Chuck was playing the mother in the scene.  I honestly don't mind changing the mother into an older brother or something, since Tony (who in the scene is being yelled at by his mother and father), never says "Mom" to Chuck's character - he only ever addresses his father by name.  Xander can easily play the Mom as the older brother, even though Tony has no older brother.  Either way, it doesn't matter.

The scene that I am having qualms about is Boys Will Be Girls.  The whole point of Boys Will Be Girls is to have the boys act like girls and the girls act like boys.  If I put Xander in the part of a girl, it would completely defeat the purpose.  It absolutely has to be a girl.  I told him about this, and he said he didn't mind doing whatever, as long as I was happy.

I decided that I would keep Xander only for the two scenes, and of course for the rest of the scenes in which Chuck was in but had no lines - just as a student or as an extra or whatever.  But for Boys Will Be Girls, I needed a girl.

I talked to Britt about it, and after the initial shock that something like this happened (which is extremely unfortunate, but not Chuck's fault), we came up with the idea that maybe I can switch around the order of the scenes, so Boys Will Be Girls will be the first scene we perform, and I could just fill in for Chuck's part, as a cameo appearance, and then disappear into the light booth.

This is obnoxious, because I really didn't want to be acting for this Walkabout, at least not involved in what I was directing.  This is partly because Columbus Civic Theater's Walkabout was meant to be a directing walkabout and partly because I don't want to seem like the overly eager theatrical jerk who wants to direct and star and do the light booth and produce and costume and blablablablabla 'it's all about mememememememe."  Obviously I know nobody thinks that of me, but it's still enormously disappointing that I even have to deal with this situation at all.  I wanted the focus of the acting to go on my ACTORS, which EXCLUDED me.

As of right now, I think my filling in for Chuck's part is the simplest and easiest way of resolving this issue.  Chuck didn't even have that many lines - just like one or two.  I guess it would be different if I was filling in for someone who had ALL the lines.

Still, I wanted to stay off the stage entirely.  I wanted to come onstage and give the curtain speech, then disappear into the light booth and hide once the show was over - you know, what real directors do.  I wanted everyone to gush about the actors, because that's the real way I know I've done my job right.  If everyone rushes at the actors, screaming about how well they performed, I need no other validation, because thank you very much, I directed them to perform that well.  If people rush me and talk about how well directed the show was, I don't know how much that is the acting or just the choices I made as a director.  I want the fact that I was ever involved in the process to be an afterthought, like, people leaving the theater and then suddenly thinking, "The director did a pretty good job," but then going on to say, "Dude, did you SEE Sierra in Saved!?  She was hilarious!"  (She's going to be hilarious.)

BUT I SUPPOSE EVERYONE MUST MAKE SACRIFICES FOR THE SAKE OF THEATER AND WALKABOUT AND WHATNOT.  It was a weird day.

In other news, the literary magazine is 95% done.  I just need some artwork to decorate, and then I'll be able to send Evan the digital copy to have it printed.  I know, I know, really freaking late in the year, but in my defense - I'm the only one doing it.

ANYWAY, I don't have to work at the theater today because SCHOOL WAS CANCELED BECAUSE OF THIS ICE STORM AND SO THERE ARE NO INTERNS AND THEREFOR NO PRACTICE AND BRITT DOESN'T NEED ANYTHING DONE AT THE THEATER, SO I AM SITITNG AT HOME, STEWING IN MY OWN SELF-PITY THAT SOMETHING DIDN'T GO ACCORDING AS I HAD PLANNED IT.

But the good thing is that I was accepted into Bennington College, my top choice.  No word yet as to what kind of financial package they're awarding me - I'll know in about two weeks.

Until Thursday, stay warm.