Open Forum

My school generally does our big musical in the fall.  I'm beginning to wonder if I need to begin to lobby my admins for a new date in the second semester. Are any of you who generally invest big in fall shows feeling similarly? How about those of you forced to cancel your big shows this spring? Were you able to recoup any of the investment? While I am throwing out questions here... I have a spring show that was cancelled a month prior to opening. All of the design work was done and we were down to polishing with the cast but my best performers were seniors.  Would you consider recasting and doing the show in the fall or is it better to just view that show as a lost dream and begin fresh? I am eager to hear your thoughts. These are strange times indeed!

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MD
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Original Message------

My school generally does our big musical in the fall.  I'm beginning to wonder if I need to begin to lobby my admins for a new date in the second semester. Are any of you who generally invest big in fall shows feeling similarly? How about those of you forced to cancel your big shows this spring? Were you able to recoup any of the investment? While I am throwing out questions here... I have a spring show that was cancelled a month prior to opening. All of the design work was done and we were down to polishing with the cast but my best performers were seniors.  Would you consider recasting and doing the show in the fall or is it better to just view that show as a lost dream and begin fresh? I am eager to hear your thoughts. These are strange times indeed!

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MD
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IF we are allowed to convene in any way, it will be with social distancing for the entire year, I'm guessing.  I would plan a small cast and to use as much space as you can that is taped in six feet distancing.  The experts say no vaccine or herd immunity for at least a year.

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Karen Cooke
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-27-2020 08:56
From: Maggie Ward
Subject: scheduling?

My school generally does our big musical in the fall.  I'm beginning to wonder if I need to begin to lobby my admins for a new date in the second semester. Are any of you who generally invest big in fall shows feeling similarly? How about those of you forced to cancel your big shows this spring? Were you able to recoup any of the investment? While I am throwing out questions here... I have a spring show that was cancelled a month prior to opening. All of the design work was done and we were down to polishing with the cast but my best performers were seniors.  Would you consider recasting and doing the show in the fall or is it better to just view that show as a lost dream and begin fresh? I am eager to hear your thoughts. These are strange times indeed!

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MD
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@Maggie Ward

I have just gotten permission to put our lost Spring Musical(cancelled 2 weeks before Show date) on the Fall calendar (1st week of November). We will be using the same cast. The graduates who don’t come back will be recast. I may recast an open lead role(s) with Alumni who have a cameo this year. Every 5 years we have an Alumni Anniversary year where they are invited back. This is our Anniversary year. Once the fall date is set, it will either be on Stage or on Zoom because then we start auditions for next season. We will hold all other things on time online if needed like auditions, rehearsals, Acting Classes, Cabaret auditions & rehearsals, Talent Contest, Forensics, Debate, etc.

Maria Stadtmueller
St. Augustine School
Kendall Park, NJ




Original Message:
Sent: 4/27/2020 8:57:00 AM
From: Maggie Ward
Subject: scheduling?

My school generally does our big musical in the fall.  I'm beginning to wonder if I need to begin to lobby my admins for a new date in the second semester. Are any of you who generally invest big in fall shows feeling similarly? How about those of you forced to cancel your big shows this spring? Were you able to recoup any of the investment? While I am throwing out questions here... I have a spring show that was cancelled a month prior to opening. All of the design work was done and we were down to polishing with the cast but my best performers were seniors.  Would you consider recasting and doing the show in the fall or is it better to just view that show as a lost dream and begin fresh? I am eager to hear your thoughts. These are strange times indeed!

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MD
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I actually usually have my musical in fall. I find it had less conflicts with the choir kids (but more with band). This year we had actually planned to have our musical in April. I also had many name roles cast with seniors. I decided to let the show go entirely and start fresh next year. I, personally, think it's better to start with an entirely new show to ensure the cast is truly balanced and the students are able to work from a blank foundation rather than comparing it in their heads to the way "it would have been". It will vary by community and student population though. You know your kids, so you should go with your instincts. I am currently planning on a fall musical but am already planning how to stage it with safety in mind. 

I lost quite a bit of money when I had to cancel this spring. One of the reasons I chose the show I did for fall is because I know I can produce it for less the my original choice for a musical. 

I agree that the answer will vary by state. It will also probably keep changing over the next 6 months. I would plan for what you think may occur, stage creatively no matter what you choose, and be prepared to make sudden changes. (We've had a lot of practice with that the past few months :^/ ).

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Shira Schwartz
Chandler Unified School District
Chandler AZ
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-27-2020 08:56
From: Maggie Ward
Subject: scheduling?

My school generally does our big musical in the fall.  I'm beginning to wonder if I need to begin to lobby my admins for a new date in the second semester. Are any of you who generally invest big in fall shows feeling similarly? How about those of you forced to cancel your big shows this spring? Were you able to recoup any of the investment? While I am throwing out questions here... I have a spring show that was cancelled a month prior to opening. All of the design work was done and we were down to polishing with the cast but my best performers were seniors.  Would you consider recasting and doing the show in the fall or is it better to just view that show as a lost dream and begin fresh? I am eager to hear your thoughts. These are strange times indeed!

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MD
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We are typically a fall musical school, and we've decided to move our musical to the winter for 2020-21, for a couple of reasons.  One, we feel like we've been out of school for so long that we need to ease back into it.  Two, we typically audition for our musical in June, start rehearsal in August about 2 weeks before school starts, and then perform end of Oct/beginning of Nov.  Because of the shut down we weren't able to audition, so we'd have to audition in September, then we'd only have about 5 weeks of rehearsal before we'd need to perform (based on school calendar and needs of other programs).  That didn't sound like fun to anyone, so we switched our fall musical and winter main stage play and will do a fall main stage play and winter musical instead.

As far as shows, I've scrapped the 2 we had cast and just started rehearsing and we will start from scratch.  The group we will have is not the same, and they bring different strengths with them.

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Laura Steenson
Theatre Director
Reynolds High School
Troutdale OR
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-27-2020 08:56
From: Maggie Ward
Subject: scheduling?

My school generally does our big musical in the fall.  I'm beginning to wonder if I need to begin to lobby my admins for a new date in the second semester. Are any of you who generally invest big in fall shows feeling similarly? How about those of you forced to cancel your big shows this spring? Were you able to recoup any of the investment? While I am throwing out questions here... I have a spring show that was cancelled a month prior to opening. All of the design work was done and we were down to polishing with the cast but my best performers were seniors.  Would you consider recasting and doing the show in the fall or is it better to just view that show as a lost dream and begin fresh? I am eager to hear your thoughts. These are strange times indeed!

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MD
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Maggie,

This is a great discussion. We do four productions a year, three musicals and a straight play. We finished our musical the week before everything shut down but cancelled our production of Anatomy of Gray. We only had two seniors in that show.

We worked with the rights company and they allowed us to move it until next year with no additional fees. My producing/director plans on keeping all the returning students in their roles audition the two roles vacated by the seniors.

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Crit Fisher
Lighting/Sound Designer
New Albany High School
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-27-2020 08:56
From: Maggie Ward
Subject: scheduling?

My school generally does our big musical in the fall.  I'm beginning to wonder if I need to begin to lobby my admins for a new date in the second semester. Are any of you who generally invest big in fall shows feeling similarly? How about those of you forced to cancel your big shows this spring? Were you able to recoup any of the investment? While I am throwing out questions here... I have a spring show that was cancelled a month prior to opening. All of the design work was done and we were down to polishing with the cast but my best performers were seniors.  Would you consider recasting and doing the show in the fall or is it better to just view that show as a lost dream and begin fresh? I am eager to hear your thoughts. These are strange times indeed!

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MD
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