Awesome.

Fantastic.

Wow.

What a run of four shows! I am so proud of the entire cast and crew of "High School Musical." It was a pleasure to serve as your director for our seven-week adventure.

I made many new friends and watched so many of you (both onstage and backstage) learn and grow as theatre artists. The music and choreography were strong and memorable, but I especially enjoyed the dialogue scenes, which is a little strange for a musical. There was some outstanding character development in those scenes, from our leads right through to the entire chorus. Maintaining focus and staying in character is especially hard if you're sitting or standing in the background, but you were all Awesome.

Thank you for all of your hard work. It wasn't easy, juggling work and family schedules for a summer show, but each of you who had to miss rehearsal time were diligent in picking up the missed vocal and choreo work. And your positive attitudes and smiles made the whole process enjoyable for me, Ty and Joanne.

I hope our paths cross again someday, I'd work with any of you again without a doubt. For those of you considering starting college locally at SC4, please stop by my office in the Fine Arts Building anytime to learn about the Theatre Discipline program. And feel free to friend me on Facebook if you haven't already. I use Facebook primarily for family and my theater friends.

Thanks again, and good luck in your future theatrical pursuits!

Tom Kephart
Director

Opening night!

Our long journey is near its end.

I am very proud of each and every one of you. It's been an hono(u)r and a pleasure to direct such a talented group of performers, and to lead this great creative team.

Go out tonight and show our audience why we've worked so hard on this show.

Thank you,

Tom

Posters and tickets

If you still have posters you haven't put up, please find a place to post them ASAP. There are several businesses downtown that don't have posters. Check the restaurants and stores that have community bulletin boards.

Tickets are on sale at ticketmaster.com and at the McMorran box office. I think we'll have strong walk-up ticket sales, which is good, but if your friends and relatives want to guarantee good seats, make sure they stop by the box office in advance to avoid the lines at showtimes.

Remember the Saturday matinee has a special $10 price only for students with ID. These tickets can only be purchased at McMorran, either at the box office in advance or on the day of the show.

And a couple of reminders...

• No food or drinks other than a water bottle (with a cap) backstage or in the house. Don't leave water bottles (or anything else) on set pieces.
• Please don't sit on set pieces. There isn't any reason to be sitting in the wings in any case. Stand, wait, make your entrance.
• The two small makeup rooms are exactly that: makeup rooms. Only makeup and hair should be done in those rooms. Everyone should be dressing in the two large dressing rooms.
• Be where you need to be on time. Four key times: Your call, mic check (45 minutes to one hour before show), circle (15 minutes before show), and places (5 minutes before show). Don't make others go looking for you.

You are always auditioning. The person next to you could be your next director or be sitting on the next audition board. Your attitude and professionalism (or lack thereof) will be noticed, and tends to affect those around you.

You have been a wonderful group to work with... keep the positive attitude and stay focused on the goal, which is to entertain and amaze our audiences.

Director's notes from Tuesday

Good job, everyone! That was a solid tech run-through. But there's still plenty of room to improve. Here's my Top Eleven list to watch for tonight's second tech run:

1. Microphones: Always assume your mic is on. Always. Offstage, whispering is essential, whether you're wearing a mic or not... you may be standing next to someone who is.
2. Play downstage! The audience won't bite and neither do I (hopefully you know that at this point). Don't be shy, you've worked hard for seven weeks, let's show off what we can do.
3. Know your lyrics. Then be confident in singing them! There are still a few places in chorus numbers where the sound disappears because quite a few of you are unsure of the words. Those places stick out badly.
4. Learn to watch your friendly conductor out of the corner of your eye. That's why we have the pit partially open. It's not always possible to hear the monitors perfectly, especially if you're center stage, so watch for the beat and for entrances from my conducting. Learning to watch for the beat in your peripheral vision is a valuable musical theatre skill.
5. Be aware of nervous movements and habits. The most natural neutral pose onstage is feet planted with hands loosely at your sides. It doesn't feel right, but it's the way we usually stand when we're not conscious of ourselves. Avoid playing with the bottom of your shirt/blouse/top, hands on hips or crossed arms. This is true of chorus and character parts!
6. Unless you've been told otherwise by our hair and makeup designers, keep your hair out of your face! We need to see your expressions from both sides of the audience.
7. In the full chorus numbers, fill the stage left to right. Make sure your head isn't buried behind someone else's head. Stagger the lines so everyone can be seen (and heard).
8. Stay in character from the minute you enter the stage until you make your exit. In the numbers where we're in clique groups, don't watch the other groups when the focus isn't on yours. If you miss a line, a lyric or a dance move, just keep going! Don't make a face or giggle, it highlights the fact that you missed something for everyone instead of just the few who were watching you when you made the mistake.
9. Non-stage makeup is shiny under stage lights. Please don't add your own non-stage makeup unless you really want your character to look wet all of the time. I'm just guessing about this from what I saw, which was about half a dozen shiny faces. Trust your makeup people and learn from them.
10. Think ahead! If you have an entrance or a scene change coming up, be ready for it. Stand next to the set piece you're responsible for and get ready to move on cue. The scene changes were remarkably good last night, the few that weren't will get better. Let's make them all quick and sharp, it'll really add to the overall presentation.
    
11. Enjoy yourself! This should be fun. It looks like mostly everyone was happy to be in the show last night, let's make it everyone tonight.
    

Microphones

The actors who are wearing body mics are:

George T., Cheyenne, Kavik, Gabrielle, Jordan, Lindsay M., Phil, Maggie, George L., Pam, Drew and Whitney

If you have an elastic ACE-type bandage that will wrap around your waist, you may find it useful to help hold the mic-pack in place. We will have some available, but you may prefer to have your own. If you're not familiar with wearing a body mic or fastening the mic to your face/head, please check with Ray Kuznia or Tom Kephart before trying to put the mic on.

Sound check each evening will be at 7:00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m. for the matinees. All mic checks must be completed by 7:15/2:15 so the house can open.