Talent Show 2007

It was crazy. It was stressful. But it was fun.

Diana, Mary & I got there really early. The lady in charge this year could only get the doors opened at either 11:00 am or 4:00 pm. Since the show was starting at 5:30, she opted for 11:00. That meant she had to kind of sit around for a long time. We came early to keep her company, and set things up as much as we could before all the troops showed up.

My girls had made their banners from sheets, and we wanted to have them up as a backdrop. I was all for creating stands for them from PVC pipe, because I didn't want to take time in rehearsal to try to hang them. I was assured multiple times that it wouldn't be an issue (I even had bought the pipe at Lowe's as a precaution). Know what time we got the sheets hung up? Around 4:45 - during rehearsal - *sigh* At least I was able to return the leftover pipes and get a refund...

As always, things were crazy. The guy who had arranged for us to use the theater at the High School is new at this job. When the director had explained what we were doing and what we needed, he said "No problem." He wasn't listening. He only got us ONE tech student. No one else is allowed to touch the theater equipment. Last year, I had 5 helping us. And they came before dress rehearsal started. Poor Rowdy (the tech) only showed up at 4:00 - he'd been told to be there at that time. He had to set up all the music, sound, microphones, backdrops, lighting, Slide show and anything else that goes with a talent show in about 1 1/2 hours. I made sure no one complained to him - he would have just walked out!

The guy who had arranged this, just about had a nervous breakdown. Rowdy showed him how to man the cables to lift my girls' sheets up & down. That's all he did. And he didn't even do it right. They were supposed to reach the ground - he left them way high. He actually told me we were asking too much to do a show like this there. I was worried he wouldn't let us come back :/

I helped as much as I could pre-show. Once it started tho, I was videographer, so I had to man the camera (yay!). Other than some pauses in between acts, and the mic levels going up and down a bit, it went off great.

Our membership coordinator knows the guy who set this up - she smoozed him up and we're good for next year. Now that he's done it once - he knows better what we require.

We may also set rehearsal for a different day - it might cost more, but it saves us a lot in stress...