The Show Must Go On

Wind, rain, storms and even tornadoes…nothing can stop us from rehearsing MRT’s melodrama! The director scheduled an extra rehearsal tonight, and it was an interesting evening.

Our regular practice venue wasn’t available so he booked a room at a dance studio in Allen. The evening started out normal. We arranged chairs and benches to represent the chairs and furniture that will be on the stage.  Then, we started going through the scenes.

Not long after we started, a woman entered the room:

“We are under a tornado warning and sirens are going off in Plano. I’m watching the radar and will keep you posted.”

Now, if you live in Texas, you know that the tornado sirens go off frequently. It doesn’t necessarily mean that a tornado is coming your way…so we kept practicing.

A few minutes later, the woman was back:

“They are saying a tornado is on the ground and more sirens are going off. We’ll meet in the room at the end of the hallway if we need to take cover.”

Undeterred, we kept practicing. After all, the show must go on!

We were immersed in our own little world, working through the blocking of a scene and then….the lights went out.

Our plans were foiled!

*cue melodramatic music*

Hmm…maybe the storm was more serious than we thought.

*run to windows to check it out*

Looking through the blinds, we got our first glimpse of the dark, menacing clouds hovering nearby. We waited and watched. The clouds passed overhead, and then the flood came. Rain poured, winds blew, and trees were bent over.

*cue more melodramatic music*

It was raining so hard that it was difficult to see outside the windows.

*the females gasp and shiver with fear; the strong, manly men run to comfort them*

Eventually, we were able to move to another room that had power. Rehearsal started again.

*everyone cheers!*

While the storm raged outside, we continued because we knew that one day audiences would be watching our show.  We had to be ready!

*applause for the brave actors*

The storm finally calmed, and we had a productive night even with all of the distractions. We made it through the entire play, and I got to start adding in some of the live piano music!

*more applause for the brave actors — c’mon, we live for applause!*

We’ll do it all over again tomorrow… and Friday…and Saturday (hopefully without the storms).