A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With A First Step (or 39 of them)

Tonight I'm going to sit in on auditions for Brunswick Little Theatre's next show, The 39 Steps. To say I'm happy and excited understates it quite a bit. I didn't get to be much of a part of this summer's big musical production of Beauty and the Beast due to vacation and time conflicts (mainly), and with its run finishing up this past weekend, I am getting really itchy to be a part of a show again.

It's disingenuous to say tonight is the beginning, the first steps.  This show began when the director looked into The 39 Steps as a possible play she'd like to propose. She read the script, maybe watched a few YouTube videos and started thinking. There's A LOT of thinking involved in this. She proposed the show to the BLT board, they approved it, secured the rights, secured a venue and off we go.

While auditions aren't the beginning, they are a milestone and this time the beginning of my part in the adventure. My involvement with last summer's Wizard of Oz began at the first rehearsal, so this is a new and exciting thing for me. The director of this show, as if I need to even say so, is my great pal Jen. She is allowing me to try my hand at stage managing again, this time on my own. I'm really looking forward to the experience. This will be a very different show from Wizard; a cast of four rather than 50, minimal props, a small stage with next to no backstage area and at most a handful of crew rather than the 50-some we had backstage last summer. It's going to be a very different experience and I have no idea, in large part, what to expect. That starts with tonight. I don't know who will come (aside from a couple actors who have said they are) or what Jen has in mind for those who do try out. That is the best part, the not knowing. I love new experiences.