Open Forum

Not sure if this will help, but can you do the early rehearsals (or the smaller scenes) in another space? An empty classroom, the cafeteria, even a quiet hallway somewhere? That way you can utilize the stage for the later rehearsals when you're working on larger scenes.

For years we have rehearsed before school.  We rehearse from 7 AM - 8:15 AM, 4 mornings a week for about 10 weeks.  The last two weeks we rehearse after school from 3-6.  I do try to set the play dates around half days, when possible so that we can get  longer rehearsals in.  We lose time for table work and blocking must go fast.  I have to work scenes sometimes during lunch.  Since we audition the 2nd week of school, students know that if they are in a sport that last two weeks, they committed to the play/musical first and they miss those meets.  Coaches do work with me for those few days.  I have a friend who color codes scripts with blocking for individual characters and the time for blocking rehearsals is eliminated since it is already in their script.  I've never had it together enough to do that.  

Our school starts before 8 a.m., and the doors don't open until 7:30, so before school rehearsals would not work for us. However, thanks for the suggestion!

Some of our rehearsals are in the classroom. Some nights we are getting the gym, and some nights pee wee basketball is getting it. We have even been known to rehearse in a hallway or the school library.

Hello Jennifer,

And I thought I wore a lot of hats! You certainly have your hands full, but it sounds like you are managing it all despite the stress.

I would think one of the Radio plays would be the easiest to pull together as you they can easily be rehearsed in a classroom or other area, the trickiest part might be the "sound effects props" that are needed, so that would be my first priority or focus.  I don't know if the straight play version of "It's a Wonderful Life" has many different sets, but I have seen the radio play version done and it only has one set, which simplifies everything. I think costuming for this would be simpler as well.

And if you run into time constraints with busy kids and learning lines, you can always resort to the the "on air" portion of the story actually being written on the pages that are read. 

Just my 2 cents.  Keep us posted on your progress.  It sounds like you have a good idea of what you want to accomplish.

I think you are amazing and ambitious.  If there is equity - all groups get the space for the same amount of time - great, but if not...I noticed in Piggott there are several churches and a community center.  Would they be willing to allow you to rehearse in their spaces ?  I'm sure that students and their families attend and worship in those spaces, perhaps the "powers that be" can work something out with/for you!  Regarding time...our mainstage productions generally have 21-25 rehearsals of 3 hours in length before we open.

Be thankful for a stage in the gym -I didn't have a stage at all! We put up a stage in the gym and there were some years my cast only got a week on stage before show time. 

We had one rehearsal space (mpr room) which was shared with cheer, band, etc.  We rehearsed wherever we could until we could get in the gym!

As for a play to do, I agree with It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. I did it a few years ago and the people loved it!  Since it's done in a radio studio, using scripts is perfectly fine! You could also use class time to study the radio era, sound effects , etc, which could easily lead to some rehearsal! 

Good luck!