When some people hear the words “church play,” they sigh, look for an excuse not to accept their friend’s invitation to attend, and think to themselves “yeah, I’ve seen dozens of church Christmas plays.”

But once they see “An Evening in December” their comments are often “wow, that was unbelievable,” or “are you sure those aren’t professional ringers?” or “that was incredible, that was better than (fill in the blank with something familiar like ‘the Nutcracker’ or ‘Music Circus’).”

The cast gets just one chance in front of each audience to tell a brilliantly written story, deliver vocal sounds that will vibrate through to the farthest seat, or execute explosive choreography by Devin LePage, John Plastow, Jennie Johnson, Carolyn Melville, Karla Harris, and Morgan Ortiz.

But when we get that many unprofessionals onstage, how does John inspire us to raise the bar to the highest level? Calling upon his experience with hundreds of productions and passion for excellence, he inspires us with what I call “the director’s message.”
Last run-through, he gave us just six things to remember:

E – is for Energy. I interpreted his comments personally as follows: Overcome my tiredness, overcome the fatigue or the distractions from our work or family life. Give my all.

F – is for Focus. Concentrate on the moment. He’s put me through the show dozens of times, rehearsed me through the dance steps more than 50 times, had me memorize the entire libretto, trained me to know my cues. So, focus on that alone for 90 minutes.
F – is for Fun. We’re singing about Christmas! Snow! “this gift!” When the audience sees that I’m having this much fun, their own experience will reflect that.
O – is for Offering. We have all been blessed with individual gifts and talents. I’ve been blessed. The months of practice and sacrifice of family time (when I could have been sleeping, or blogging, or eating) are mine by choice, so give my performance as an offering.
R – is for Rejoice! Look it up in a dictionary. ’nuff sed.
T – is for Team. When you take a 40-member children’s choir that’s on stage for six songs; a dance company doing some killer moves, lifts, and turns; a talented and brilliantly cast troupe of character actors; a 60-member adult choreography team (of snowmen and snowwomen) doing precision drills through nine numbers; and a hot brass section kicking up some hot licks; we MUST be ONE team. One VISION. One PURPOSE.

It all comes down to our EFFORT. If we the cast can remember all those six points, we will be surprised by the level of performance we can achieve. And the audience will be blessed with the experience.

Thanks John for an inspiring message!

How do we survive ten full-cast run-throughs, back-to-back-to-back shows Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon? Ten performances, two weeks in a row?!

What survival tips do the veterans have for the first-time AEID (An Evening in December) cast member?
I brainstormed all the tips and tricks that I have picked up over the years from other veteran cast members, and from John’s notes to the cast. That’s my mindmap on the left. Go ahead and click on the thumbnail to see a full size image.
And the top ten tips are:

1. Name that Tune

Play your practice CD all the time. Memorize lyrics early. (Lisa and I have been known to wear out several CDs…apiece…each season.)

2. Make it a Date

Double-check family and work schedules, block off your calendars, double-check rehearsals, full-cast run-throughs and dress rehearsals. Plan vacations AROUND AEID.

3. “Consider Yourself Invited”

(Yep, I couldn’t resist stealing a song title from AEID 2007.) Invite friends and coworkers early. Get tickets early. The 10,000 seats sell out surprisingly quickly, especially the matinees that are popular with the older crowd and the youngest crowd.

4. Dress for Success

Study the costume guide carefully. Get your costumes checked by Pati (costume-queen). Acquire hard-to-get pieces early.

5. Know Where to Go

Use a scene-by-scene checklist, detailing every stage direction, cue, and sequence. Then, start practicing your timing with the checklist.

6. Take Care of Your Props

Work with the stage managers and crew. “Set your own props” says John. Work together, coordinating with others in the cast using similar props. And, we start our children’s choir early learning the rule of props: “if it’s not your prop, don’t touch it!”

7. Take Care of Yourself

You won’t last the grueling AEID race if your engine isn’t in tune. Nourish your body with healthy foods. Hydrate! Get some rest. Work out to build stamina, strength, and conditioning (especially the partnering guys who do lifts). Hydrate! Take your vitamins. Wash hands often, (we’re right in the middle of cold and flu season). Hydrate! Take your prescribed meds as instructed. Did I say “Hydrate?”

8. Make Memories to Last

Take photos. Exchange phone numbers, emails, myspace, and blogs with similar cast members.

9. “Cry out to Jesus”

(Yes, again, another song title from AEID 2007.) This one should be first and last. Pray for the cast, pray for the crew, pray for those who will come, pray for John and his family, pray for Pastor Ted and his wrap up message, and above all, pray during his wrap-up message.

10. Recover

When John says, “save your energy between the shows,” obey him (youth choir, you listening?). Schedule a vacation day the Monday after the final show. Not only do you need a mental health day, but you probably neglected your household a bit probably during the weeks. Get caught up with all the honeydew lists that you ignored during the run of the show.

So cast members: your thoughts? Feel free to leave a comment.
(note: the mindmap of my top ten items was done in MindManager 7, my favorite tool for thinking, organizing, and presenting information.)

John’s message to the cast last night during our final dress rehearsal is succinct, clever, memorable.

Fun! - Now that we know the show, have fun. Our performance level will go up accordingly.
Attitude of Service - Be humble, it’s not about who is the star or who has the solo or who is standing center stage. It’s about focusing on serving God and serving the audience.
Committment to Excellence – Now we must give 100% effort every night, because God deserves our very best. Because when Jesus died for us on that cross, God was giving us His very best.
Energy - Some of the audience is coming in to the show bearing problems at home or work, fighting traffic and parking, standing in lines, a stranger in a strange place. We must help them forget all that and do it with an incredible energy that leaps off that stage.
Smile – If you’re having fun, tell your face. Smile at an audience member, especially the one that looks like they really need it.

Put those all together and all five are expressed in our F.A.C.E.S.
Come to think of it, these are good words of instruction for living a Christian life.

You ought to give the stage a try, just once. If you do, besides the obvious memorization of lines and following directions, actors have to keep remembering the fundamentals of stage acting.

I use the acronym SOFA to remind myself of the four things John has directed the actors to remember during these first weeks of rehearsal:

[S]tay in character. Once you’re in view of the audience, you are no longer “you;” you are the character. In facial expression, mannerisms, body movement, action and reaction, you cannot let your usual self be seen.

[O]pen your body to both audiences, stage left and stage right. Don’t fall into the trap of conversing with a character, turning toward them, and showing half of the audience your back. The trick is foot position, keeping them open to both audience halves.

[F]ill the room. With your voice, your movement, and your character. The person sitting in the back row must hear you, see you, feel you.

[A]wareness of your upstage, downstage position relative to the key actor. Know the directions “upstage” and “downstage.” Don’t force the key actor to turn upstage to talk to you, exposing their back to the audience.

Wow, just seven weeks to opening night. We’d better get off the SOFA pretty soon!

Lessons learned from past “An Evening in December” productions…follow a script.

A Script Keeps You Organized
Your brain has a lot to hold before, during, and after a production. Costumes, props, stage entrance and exit, actors’ lines, dancers’ positions, music cues, lighting cues, scenery movement, wing curtain locations, upstage, downstage, stage right and left.

You can commit a lot to memory, or prepare well ahead.

I prefer to prepare well ahead. Like several others in the cast, Lisa and I keep notes that spell out song sequences, identify which costumes to have ready, provide stage directions for entrances and exits. We block it out in a spreadsheet gridand keep it offstage in the dressing rooms.

If this seems like a no-brainer, then why do we see several uncertain cast members more than once wandering backstage, asking “what song is next?”