A famous song says, “Another opening, another show!”  Sunday, July 29, we closed the comedy “Unnecessary Farce” and Wednesday, Aug. 1, opened the musical spoof of 1950s horror films, “Little Shop of Horrors.”  Our campus was full of busy worker bees doing a variety of tasks to move one show in and the other out, all within three days.

This process amazes me: not just the feat of its accomplishment, but also the dedication of the staff and interns to give their all to see the project to opening curtain.  Many hours of time, sweat and occasionally some tears go into the rehearsing the play and its songs as well as into construction of the set, sewing costumes, gathering props, hanging lights and painting platforms.  When the applause thundered at the close of the opening performance, its clap and echo was for these busy bees as well.

Theater is a collaborative art form, and the final days before the opening of a show at the Players continually demonstrates this to me.  The entire company chips in.  As I removed carpet staples from the stage floor Sunday night, I worked beside actors who had just finished their final performance and the artistic director who is now in “Little Shop of Horrors.”  Elsewhere, in the costume shop the musical director and choreographer attached snaps, zippers, elastic tabs and straps to a variety of costumes.

Dedicated staff members and enthusiastic interns not only work on various tasks during the day at their production assignments but they also perform duties at night like ticket taking, working the Will Call window, helping to park cars and ushering.  Then, at curtain time, they also work running crew assignments as dressers, fly operators and scene shift crew for the show backstage. 

The magic happens backstage. “Little Shop of Horrors” holds quite a bit of “magic.” Some is visible to the audience and some is out of sight, hidden behind the black curtains.  Walls of the set are built to open and close to allow for the growth of the plant named Audrey Two.  Walls and curtains fly up and down; 35 costumes for eight characters are stored and changed; Audrey Two evolves from her seedling beginnings to an overgrown, man-eating flytrap. 

All of this magic has our staff and interns pulling ropes, manipulating puppets, moving scenery, helping with zippers, buttons and Velcro-rigged clothes backstage and operating the light board, sound boards and follow spots. For giving their all to make this happen, they have earned the thundering applause audiences so generously give.

If you would like to see the magic of “Little Shop of Horrors” for yourself, hurry because tickets are going fast, and the show closes with a 4 p.m. matinee Aug. 19.  Visit our website at peninsulaplayers.com or call the box office at 920-868-3287.  Perhaps I’ll see you by the bay, where the sun shimmers over the water, the curtain rises, the stars shine and the Audrey Two grows.

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Please contact our box office at 920-868-3287 for more information.

 

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