Rain or shine!

When working in the theater in the great outdoors, one needs a plan B. Actually, when working in the theater, one needs a plan B.

Sometimes, in fact, one needs a plan B, C, D...

But when working - all summer long- on a production that only has 4 performances on one weekend, one MUST have a plan in case of rain.

Usually, having a plan in case of rain is enough to keep the rain away.

This year, with a new venue, we had lots of rain through the rehearsal period. And discovered that much of the venue had a tendency to flood.

Not good, especially since we need to string lots of extension cords to power our rented lights and sound equipment.

AND this time, it actually rained. On our last performance day, which included a matinee and an evening performance.

And we used plan D.

Plan B was to move the audience on to the (covered) band shell and reverse the set. Looking at the set, we decided, unless it was Noah's downpour, the work of reversing the set really wasn't worth the time it took.

Plan C was to move the portable awning/gazebo tent that we had erected (to protect the sound equipment from the hot, hot sun) to the center seating area, seat audience there with a few umbrellas to the side. We would move the vulnerable sound equipment on to the stage and trust the audience to ignore the sound crew (a la the Wizard of Oz "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!")

Well, that didn't work because the awning, when center, blocked virtually all sight lines.

So we used plan D: put sound crew on stage, left the awning/gazebo on the side and allowed audience to sit under it, and issued umbrellas to those few audience members without them.

And it worked.