Astonishing

Ah, to have my life back. Whatever that means. The musical is over, I'm back from preteen camp, and we have a whole week at home before we head out for vacation.

Hanging out the night of our final performance

This is my first opportunity to sit down and write my official Little Women post, hence the reason it's a week overdue. After debating whether or not I should even write this post, I decided it was too big of a chapter in our lives to leave out. Plus it was awesome. There, I said it.

Our simple but effective set. I had several scenes in the "attic" (the platform). Scary!

Kendra, Matt, and I got the crazy notion almost three years ago to start up a community theater ministry through our church, and we presented You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown in the summer of 2008. It was a huge undertaking (to say the least), but the church leadership and congregation rallied behind it, and it was a smashing success. I have a feeling this post will include many cliches. You've been warned.

Kendra (Sally), Me (Lucy), and Matt (Charlie Brown) in YAGMCB

Our director, Kendra, who also played Sally in YAGMCB, did Little Women with her high school kids (she's a theater teacher), so she had some set stuff, props, a fully orchestrated soundtrack (which translates to no dealing with orchestra rehearsals) and lots of costumes. I've loved the show since I saw it on Broadway (um, Sutton Foster, hello, can you say amazing?!?), and it doesn't require a huge cast so it seemed like the perfect choice for our next endeavor.

 Pre-show warm-ups. (L-R: Steve (Mr. Laurence), Mom (Marmee), Chris (Braxton), Michael (Laurie), and Katherine L (Meg)

And it was. After opening up auditions outside the church, God brought together the best cast we could've imagined. Eight of the 13 were from the church, three were from DTS, one was from DBU, and one was Matt's former student (who will be at DBU next year). The group just clicked from Day One, and it's a good thing since we only had five short weeks to put the production together.

 Director Kendra with Allison (Beth) selling tickets after church

The actors are the ones who end up getting all the credit, but our director is fantastic. She has such vision and passion for the creative, and she challenged us every single rehearsal to get outside of ourselves and become our characters. We also had a stellar crew of techies who mastered the details like nobody's business.

The four March sisters...FOREVER! (after the preview the Sunday before opening)

I can't overlook the fantastic babysitters who helped take care of Avery while we were rehearsing. Shout out to Debbie, Holly, Chelsie, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Tina, and Brooke! You guys are amazing! I know it was a sacrifice of your time to help us out, and we appreciate you more than you know.

Haley (Amy), Mom (Marmee), Shalimar (Aunt March), and Katherine R. (Clarissa)

I'm not gonna lie, I was a little skeptical of whether the show would actually come together, but I never should've doubted. The show went smoothly all three performances (well, with the exception of the freak power surge on opening night that left me singing the climactic song a capella; talk about not breaking character-- yikes!), and the post-show feedback was glowing. I never made it through a performance without bawling during my song with Allison. Oh well, the tears were appropriate. We had great audiences every night, and it was just fun.

Sisters on stage and off

Side note: When people say they're going to be somewhere and then just don't show up, it's hurtful. Especially when it's something you've put countless hours into and were really proud of. I'm so thankful that I had so many family members come and support the show, but my friends were really a let-down. I know people have lives, and I don't expect them to just drop everything, but it was very, um, telling when all was said and done. I miss having close friends (and I'm sad that my closest friends live so stinkin' far away). Now I sound like a loser. Rant over.

Backstage with the brunette March sisters. Haha, we kind of look alike. :) 

I'm so thankful that we had the opportunity to meet such great people and work together to create something that was so beyond our capabilities but not the Lord's.

I truly believe that the goal was accomplished: To glorify the Creator by being creative. The arts can be performed well in a non-secular setting, and I think people are starting to see that.