On Friday, January 17, the fifth-ever Creative Writing Senior Showcase was performed by Nola Crumpton, Avi Goldberg, Ash Pierce, Jaid Sconiers, and Bete Slocum. The five did a wonderful job and shared beautiful, complex poetry with dynamic sets and fluent speaking in what I would call the most complexly set up showcase we have had thus far.
I worked as deckhand one, operating on stage left to (mostly) manage mics, props, (much less so) direct seniors when to go on, and occasionally touch base with other members of tech and Adam Stermer (big thank you to Mr. Adam for all his help) over a wireless comms system attached to my belt. By the time we reached the performance, and most of them before that, every one of the seniors was confident in their timing and no longer needed direction. On the other hand, mics were a bit unpredictable. We had a stationary mic at the stand by the small table, by piece eighteen (Ash Pierce’s “Family Heirloom”) there was a mic stationary in the stand between the armchair and couch, and other than that, there was meant to be at least one freely moving mic on each side of the stage.
Behind the scenes, things went very smoothly. One of only two times I was concerned was when an extra mic (stage left was meant to have one travelling mic since the show’s fully stationary mic was immediate to this side of the stage) ended up on my side. This was, however, quickly remedied by one of the seniors exiting the stages, walking through the scene shop and taking the mic to Alex Viles (deckhand two; stage right).
The other was moving the props. You may remember that there was a flower on the table. Since there were two pieces where the table needed to be used for, I had to move the flower for those pieces (Jaid Sconiers’ “Chasing Isomalt” and Bete Slocum’s “Bleeding Heart, Part II”). This is a pretty minor change in set but what made me paranoid was the fact that our last run through before the real show (which ended about 30 minutes before th real ho began) and I had forgotten to put the flower back after “Bleeding Heart, Part II” and didn’t win dup putting it back until after “Chasing Isomalt.” For “Chasing Isomalt” itself, in the run through just before the show I had taken the cards Jaid used out just before the piece, but we wound up leaving the pack in the table’s drawer, which was less moving pieces to manage. Gathering the cards changed a little throughout the rehearsals, the second to last rehearsal Jaid gathered the cards but it made the timing a little awkward, and it was unexpected since in the one time before that we had practiced with the cards I had picked them up. The final rehearsal on the day of the show, the same one where I took the card deck out instead of putting it in the drawer, we both picked up the cards, which was fine but we got in each other’s ways a little bit so for the actual show I just picked up the cards, which seemed the easiest and smoothest.
In short, most of the “problems” I encountered with the show were small hiccups that were easily fixed. Much of my nervousness was likely the result of the crew having less time that usual to prep due to Mr. Adam having other engagements surrounding the showcase and myself being absent the day before the show. All in all, I’m honoured to have been able to help these wonderful readers and hear their beautiful pieces. The enjoyment of the crowd and happiness of the readers made every stress completely worthwhile.
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