Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Woes of a first time high school drama coach

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed right now. It seems like everything is against the production I'm currently directing. Here's a brief list of the things that have been falling apart on me:

1. Our scripts were not properly ordered back in July and by the middle of August, when I was calling the school on a weekly basis, they still hadn't come, I called the publishing company and they never received the order! So we ordered them rush delivery. Four weeks later we called the company and the scripts had been back ordered! By this time we were already 3 weeks into rehearsals so I said forget it we'll just stick with the few copies we already had.

2. H1N1 hit our town and hit hard. There were only a few confirmed cases because the number of children sick was so large the doctors said that not to go to the clinic unless there was a dangerously high fever b/c there wasn't anything to be done . Of the 12 students that I have in the play, 5 have been out sick.

3.At the beginning of the rehearsal process I had to have surgery and my energy level was way low. So I let quite a few things slide which are now returning to kick me in the butt. Focus is a major issue and I'm not sure how exactly to get these students properly motivated.

4. Costumes of course for a period play are always an issue, but I thought we were covered when a grad student from UNL said she'd pull some costumes from a recent show. To my great distress the show was accepted into a competition and now we can no longer use the costumes.

5. As always there is lots of drama and such going on in the lives of high school students, mine are no exception. Sadly the most frustrating is the drama between my sister and I. I am not the greatest sister in the world, but lately I seem to be doing everything that upsets her. Its frustrating because I tend to say things I don't mean at rehearsal and whether I apologize or not she stays pissed for a few days.

6. At the beginning of the school year I was told that I had a $3500 budget for the year. Today, I was informed that we have used all of our money in our account, $510! This was what the previous director spent last year so its the budget the financial committee at the school gave us. Needless to say I was pissed, and confused since I was given a much higher number to begin with. I don't how to handle it all but I think I've got it figured out, for now.

While much of this is out of my control, I still am feeling hugely overwhelmed and incapable of making this a truly successful show. I hate feeling so inept. I knew that it would be tough and that I would be learning a lot during this first play, but currently I am not seeing any blue sky ahead.
I want to keep doing this, I won't give up, not yet at least.

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