"This can't be happening..." Well, it is. Deal with it.

There is a set for us to play on and it is incredible. Rob, our set designer, has designed something truly perfect for our show. The thought of it completed with lights, makes me do somersaults inside! The scenes where the house is being attacked and - EXCLUDING DETAILS HERE UNTIL YOU SEE IT- made it so much more real to us. Sarah and I genuinely screamed a few times and almost jumped out of our skins, haha. (BTW, to check out Rob's process: http://u-studios.blogspot.com/).

The incredible rendering...

Oh, and not only do we have a set, but I got to finally see all the actors (save for Pheobe) in their outfits. Everyone walked out one by one and the somersaults got bigger. They were exactly like the pictures in my weird brain. Every said that they feel comfortable and "right" in their outfits. All that I could ask for!! :)

I keep finding more and more depth to Barbra. Every night when we run the show now, I find something new about her and how she would react even in her "catatonia". She is so incredibly scared out of her mind that she stops responding to the world around her. But, there are these moments that even though I find them hard to ignore, I don't think she could either. Everyone around her is in a severely heightened emotional state and though she retreats inside herself to get away from it all, there are times when she must come back to the surface and observe it. I mean, these complete strangers take it upon themselves to take care of her. They don't know her name, where she's from, and she won't even speak to them. But, they still care for her. I think that shows something about the human spirit - even when in a tragedy, we still try to help one another.

Mary Beth (Judy) sings one of my favorite songs in the show. It's about the woman whose house they are in and how she and Tom used to drive by it on the way to the lake and see her outside. She would wave. This song absolutely breaks my heart. It's the recognition of all the little things that we take for granted until they are really gone. Sure, the show may be about the dead coming back to life and killing people- YES- but as I've mentioned before, it's about their attempt at survival. They come face to face with themselves while they are trapped in this house with a bunch of strangers and it's not pretty or okay. It's tragic and sad.

And as much as I don't want him to know it...Zak (Ben)'s songs give me goosebumps. His first solo, just like in the movie, describes what he went through up until when he got to the house. He sings about the screaming he hears when he watches a man's truck catch fire- it's chilling. I want to describe how amazing his last song in the show is...BUT! I shall not. You'll just have to see it for yourself...

NOW THAT I'VE THOROUGHLY DEPRESSED YOU ALL...I'm going to call it a night. We still have some significant fixes to be made and a ways to go as a cast to tighten the tension of the whole production, but I believe we are in great shape. I may suffer from cardiac arrest as a result of excitement once the band is introduced...but that is yet to come. Can't wait to share this with you all!!

Spooky times and spooky dreams.