From the Inside Out

Wow, I can’t believe it’s already Sunday night.  This weekend passed so quickly.  I guess the saying is true – time flies when you’re having fun!  And when you have that much fun, it makes you really tired so here’s my brief “weekend in review” summary:

• Nicolas’s Belt Test:  We got up early Saturday morning to watch my nephew’s black belt test.  Gary received his black belt a few years ago, and it’s a big deal.  Anyway, I’m really proud of Nick.  He’s a great kid, and it’s so cool to see him achieve such a special accomplishment at a young age. 

• Pirates of Patmos:  After the test, we headed back to the church to prepare for Saturday’s performance of Pirates.  I’m happy to report that it was a great night.  We had a terrific crowd, outstanding energy and no major missteps.  A couple of the cast members were still battling sickness, but they made it through the entire performance.  You would never have known they were feeling terrible.  After the performance, we received rave reviews.  We even had kids and adults taking pictures with the pirates and the “princess”.  It was really cool.  The best thing is that one of the ladies who helped build the set made a decision to be baptized last night!  That makes it all worthwhile.  Isn’t God amazing?
• Sunday morning came quickly.  I had to be at church at 8 am for praise team practice.  I was wiped out — physically and mentally.  Somehow I managed to make it through both services even though I was close to losing my voice (please remind me to not sing after doing a play next time).  Jeff Manning preached today on “Jaws” (all of our sermons this month have been related to the ocean, pirates or boats to coincide with the Pirates production — they called it our Summer Blockbuster Sermon Series — cool, huh?).  Anyway, I really enjoy hearing him minister.  He’s just so entertaining, and he always manages to weave a great message into the midst of the entertainment. 
• One Life:  After church, we rushed home and prepared for the One Life young married’s group meeting which was being hosted at our house tonight. 
• Travel to San Jose:  Unfortunately, I had to miss the One Life meeting.  I really wanted to be there because Ben Sanders was speaking about faith.  He’s a good speaker, and I was looking forward to his discussion, but that pesky thing called a job was sending me elsewhere.  After cleaning the house, I had to get packed and ready to fly to San Jose.  I’m here now and will be here for the rest of the week.

Well, there you have it…my weekend in review.  It was amazing!  I can’t believe Pirates is actually over.  I have been working on it since January.  It doesn’t seem real yet, but I know it is. 

Now we move on to the next event:  Saturday Night Life, October 4, 2008

Have a great week everyone!

Lights…camera…action! Pirates of Patmos opened tonight, and we had an outstanding crowd. The energy from the audience was amazing; that’s what makes acting so much fun.

After a “so-so” dress rehearsal plagued with costuming issues and sick actors, I was really nervous about the performance tonight, but I’m pleased to report that everything went flawlessly. God was definitely listening to our prayers!

I couldn’t be happier about tonight’s production. We received rave reviews from the friends, family and guests who were in attendance. We posed with the kids who wanted photos with our characters and had a really fun evening.

While the play is intended to be a lighthearted and fun pirate adventure, it does have a message. It’s one that I hope people will remember long after tonight. Even though I really enjoy putting on these productions, we don’t just do them for the fun of it. Ultimately, our goal is to minister to people through drama, leaving a message of hope and redemption.

Well, it’s really late, and I have to get up early tomorrow. I’ll try to write more about the Pirates experience when I have more time. In the mean time, you can check out the new photos in the Photos section of the blog.

Thanks to everyone who came out tonight to support us.

We will do it all over again tomorrow, and I can’t wait!

The final week of rehearsals kicked off tonight with chaos, costumes, and a bit of fun. All three stages are set, and things are finally starting to come together. We have another rehearsal tomorrow night, and the final dress rehearsal is on Thursday night. It’s going to be a very busy week.

Luckily, I’m off work on Thursday and Friday. It will give me time to tie up all the loose ends and run last minute errands for the performance.

It’s really late (around 2 am), so I’m cutting the blog short tonight.

Have a good week everyone!

I know, I know…by now you are probably sick of my blogs about Pirates of Patmos, but I can’t help it. It’s my life. I’m not sure if a moment goes by that I’m not thinking about it. If I’m not running lines, I’m working on some other aspect — promos, props, playbill copy, concessions, sound effect cues, recruiting volunteers — you name it, I’m probably doing it.

I’m in a good mood tonight because we had a decent rehearsal this evening. Things are finally starting to come together. Most of the performances are beginning to gel, and we made it through the entire program twice. Sounds simple, but it’s a big feat for a rehearsal to go efficiently enough to get through it more than once.

The tech crew joined us tonight, so we started working with the microphones and experimenting with the lighting. Next week, we’ll fine tune everything — lighting, sound, multimedia and performances. We’ll also add costumes into the mix to make sure we don’t have any “wardrobe malfunctions” during the performance (it’s a family show, folks).

This is when it gets really exciting. Wow, I can’t believe how fast time has flown. We are opening next Friday — exciting, yet delightfully frightening!

With only ten days left until Pirates of Patmos opens, it’s crunch time. This is the time when I get really nervous about our ability to pull off such a large undertaking. It feels like it’s impossible for it all to come together in such a short amount of time, but miraculously it always does. Each time I just have to move forward in faith that this time will be no different. It will come together and be brilliant — well, I hope so.

Tonight’s practice was a bit chaotic. We added the tech crew, backstage crew, and had the costuming/make-up directors watching the rehearsal so there was lots going on tonight. Luckily, Katrina only took one week off after having her baby (yeah, she’s amazing). It’s nice to have her at the helm managing the bulk of the directing duties. I didn’t think she’d be back after the baby, but I’m so glad she is. Love her!!

Well, it’s already after midnight. I’ve got to watch the “dailies” from our rehearsal, so tonight’s blog is going to be a short one. To make up for it, I’m giving you some fresh new pics. from this evening’s rehearsal…enjoy!