[Balurina]

So I'm doing the lighting design for a Children's theatre in the Fargo-Moorhead area of ND-MN. We come back today after the fourth of July holiday and I think all of the kids have gone braindead....Just fyi the kids range in age from 13-18 most of this cast is rather young. They are extremely talented when they are on and paying attention...The director is around my age 25 or so..I think she spent half the rehearsal pulling out her hair. I have to admit this is the first time I've seen them rehearse as I've been working on the design and what not...oh my it's amazing what a holiday can do. It was rather funny at some points though especially when we came to the determination that one of the boys probably had his voice change over the break and we rehearsed the song we noticed it in several times and each time we could pick out his voice easily. Poor music director is trying his darnedest to figure out what to do with him. If it hadn't made for such a long rehearsal today it would have almost been funny..not to mention we only have another 11 days before the show opens and some just don't seem to grasp the concept that if they don't buckle down and throw 100% into it they are just going to end up looking silly. I think they'll get the hint, but we had to give them a little tough love today and told them where the door was if they didn't want to give their best effort and had to rearrange a few parts because some just couldn't seem to get their lines and what not. This is the first time I've worked with a Children's Theatre as one of the adults...I know I'm an adult crazy thought the thought may be sometimes It's definitely an experience I tell you..and it's fun if a little trying at times