"Esther" - First dress rehearsal

I'm leaving on a weekend trip tomorrow and still need to finish packing, but I couldn't resist sharing some photos from this afternoon's dress rehearsal. "Esther-Ordinary Faith" is coming together well!

We took cast pictures today, then started the first full run-through with no stops.

"Zerox the scribe" serves as part-narrator for the story

Mordecai and the "Susans" provide a lot of drama

There are so many faces involved... 55 in the cast

So many sweet faces!

Things are coming together! We have just over a week to go...

I'm trusting that God will bring the final details together for this one - He always has in the past! And, though there's much to do and I look forward to sorting more pictures, I need to finish packing. The break away will be nice too. :)

Picture credit: Robyn Clement

Costume organizing for "Esther"

Last Saturday we had our first rehearsal with costumes. Before that could happen, we had to decide what everyone would wear - no small task for a cast of 55!

So, the Saturday before, my sister and 4 other girls I lovingly call "adopted younger sisters" helped me sort through our costume supply. Because of all we've made and gathered over the years, plus some things the cast members gave us to borrow, I only ended up having to make about 6 new things, plus alter a few more.

It's always a bit overwhelming to know where to start. First we brought everything we thought we might need into the fellowship hall, and then started working through the costume book. Characters first, then through the ensemble by age...

No matter how well organized we start out, extra things always end up in a jumbled mess! But, many hands made the clean-up quick.

The costume notebook records each item for each actor, to keep things straight and know if it's property of The King's Courts, or borrowed.

Food and music were necessary for an upbeat afternoon. :)

Sometimes the girls doubled as models for the costumes. We decided that a girl trying on a guy's costume (in the above case, the one for King Xerxes) always made the costume look girlish...

After almost 5 hours, we were finally done. A lot of work, but made fun by all the good help. Thanks girls!

Come to "Esther-Ordinary Faith"

Posting on this blog hasn't happened recently, mainly because of the above event! This summer I'm directing two productions, which has kept me quite busy. Auditions were June 6th & 7th, and two weeks from today, we'll present the first one, "Esther-Ordinary Faith!"

With a cast of over 50 from 24 families in the community, this has been a fun but challenging musical to direct. It's extra special for me, because this was the first musical I directed 6 years ago. It's been fun to revisit it, but challenging, as my cast is 4x as big as the first time! But, God is bringing it together, and I'm excited to see how He will bring it to completion.

Lots of work to do before then, though! :)