Christmas Carol Chronicles, Part V

I'm glancing at the calendar realizing that we are already just three weeks from cue-to-cue.  In one moment I'm feeling stressed about the amount of lines I need to learn in relation to how much time we have left, in the next I'm feeling completely moved, watching Tim Heggie as Bob Cratchit, in the scene where we find out that Tiny Tim has died (in Christmas Future land).  Surrounded by his family, played by Michelle Cormier (Mrs. Cratchit), Reese Stanley (Molly), Neil Scott (Peter), and Camryn Hannigan (Martha), Tim has brought me to the edge of a tear each time they have done this scene.

Director Jacqueline Russell uttered the three most important and powerful words last night, words that need to inform what we're feeling in these heady early days:  "Trust the process."

I found myself repeating that phrase in my head a number of times driving Ben home from rehearsal last night.  Trust the process.  Trust the process.

Karen Sturgis, a delightful and talented addition to the company and the community, was trying to get a sense as to how all the pieces, technical and otherwise, will fit together. The truth is that the artistic team will continue to add layer upon layer to achieve the final result over the next four weeks.  It's an exciting and transformative process that I've enjoyed writing about in this blog.  Trusting the process has always been key.  

Stephen Cantwell is another newcomer at Keyano Theatre Company, playing Fezziwig and Topper.  I'm enjoying watching his natural instincts emerge.  He took an idea from the director last night and absolutely nailed it on his first try.

We are still marching through the blocking of the show, likely to finish this evening, all in preparation to be able to stumble through the whole thing for the lighting designer next Wednesday.  It is important for him to be able to see how the action of the play moves around the stage as he begins to do his lighting "plot", a plan of where hundreds of lighting instruments will be placed up in the grid, largely beyond the view of the audience.  He will also contribute to many of the "insert magic here" spots in A Christmas Carol, the complicated bits of theatrical trickery that will communicate the essence of what Dickens had in mind when he created the novella back in 1843.