It’s Called Hell Week for a Reason. . .

The week prior to a play's opening is often called Hell Week. . .and with good reason. It is the week the entire production comes together. Yesterday was the Tech Rehearsal for The Little College on a Hill which opens next Friday. It was a day devoted to all the scene changes and setting the sound and light cues that provide the ambience, if you will, in which the audience will see the production. As Tech Rehearsals go, this one was not too bad, it only ran for 7½ hours. This particular production has about 100 cues, i.e. points at which sound and/or lighting changes are introduced. We went through the entire play "cue-by-cue," starting lines, stopping them and moving on to the next cue and so on until everything is set.

The below photos were taken during the Tech Rehearsal and give a hint of how things will look on stage at various points in the play:

This evening we begin 4 nights of dress rehearsals. Costumes and makeup will be worn and adjusted through the week as needed. Props will be introduced and actors will get accustomed to working with them. In this particular play, there are some videos that are part of the storyline and they too will be integrated into the production. For the final dress rehearsal on Thursday, we will have a small audience so the cast can get an idea of what to expect in the way of laughter and other reactions from out front once we open.

So it's a week of late nights and perseverance. If this production is like most of the others in which I have participated, the opening night result will make all the long hours, hard work and hell well worth it.