Adventures in Theatre

Two weekends ago was our first "Pirates" show, and it was an adventure, to say the least!  We performed in Wonju, a few hours south of Seoul for a children's multicultural festival/camp.  Since it was a ways away, we had to get up at 5:30 am to meet the chartered bus that would take us there.  Side note:  Getting 3 hours of sleep before the day of a show is definitely not ideal.  Anyway, after arriving in Wonju, we were supposed to have the rest of the day to rehearse and get accustomed to the performance space.  However, there was no piano!  I'm not sure how they thought we were going to perform a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta without a piano.  So our stage manager set off to see if there was a piano or keyboard somewhere on the campus, while we were stuck to rehearse acapella.  We were warned that if they couldn't find a piano or keyboard, we would have to perform the show that way, which would have been the most enormous disaster the theatre world has ever seen.  Luckily, our stage manager found a keyboard, so we didn't have to be a part of that disaster.  The rest of the day felt like just mass chaos.  There were no wings off of the stage, and no backstage, so we had to use dividers off to the sides to create wings.  There were no dressing rooms, so people had to change in random storage closets and behind dividers.  Not to mention, the biggest set back of all: our director and Pirate King was out with a broken leg, so our stage manager, who is a girl, was taking over this bass role.  I am a firm believer that shows always come together, but this combination of circumstances was challenging my beliefs.

Finally, it was show time.  A big group of Korean kids piled in to watch the show.  They were excited to see the pirates in the first scene, but after that, they got bored.  Maybe because the show is in English, and they don't speak English.  Hmm.  I can't say that I blame them!  So there was a dull roar of chatter throughout the entire show.  At least the chatter covered up the blemishes in the show.  Anyway, we made it through, and it was good to run the show in its entirety, since we had never done that without stopping.  We did a meet & greet afterwards with the kids, and they were all really cute and excited to meet us and get our autographs. :)  Then, we boarded the bus for home.  It had been a long and crazy day.

I don't like being really negative, so here's the silver lining in all of this:  No matter how crazy and chaotic things have been with this show, I have loved being able to create this character and sing the beautiful music that goes along with it.  I thought I had to give up this part of my life to come to Korea, but here I am, in the midst of it again.  I feel so lucky to be able to perform again, and to have the opportunity to be stressed about theatre.  So yes, I will complain and be frustrated when things do not go the way I want them to go, but deep down, I'm still so thankful that this is a part of my life here.  This weekend we have three shows in Seoul, and then it's over!  Let the adventure continue!