Cogs

"Cogsworth is stuffy, snobby, uptight, and absolutely hilarious. He does a British accent as well."

-- http://thekidstheaterco.blogspot.com/, from 2/9/2009, announcing auditions for Beauty and the Beast at the Kid's Theater Co., based out of L.A.

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Script is out. Lines are highlighted.

Rehearsals begin tonight with a read-thru and song-thru. Because the basement remains unfinished, we will be in an abandoned storage room with half-removed carpeting. Right now, the room contains the leftovers from the move: some garment boxes, broken chairs, many large empty tubs. Sad clutter. Rumor has it that our Monday staff meeting will be devoted to the clearing and cleaning of said room of said sad clutter.

Downstairs, the continuing renovations sound like the Tyrannosaurus in Jurassic Park. At least to me.

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Props for Henny Penny are on my to-do list (or rather, my to-buy list) as well. Among the sought properties are several pieces of large chalk, two varieties of plastic whistles, and a shepherd's crook. The search for the whistles led me to this singular website, which among other things sells a Shofar whistle, which we will not use in the show but may make its way into my everyday life.

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At TCTC, we are also toying with (and by that I mean, planning to introduce) a program that would allow staff members to teach regular classes. These would be offered to the public in packages (a la workshops) or single sessions (lessons). The hope is threefold, I think:

a) To bring in revenue,
b) To provide alternative training tools at cheaper rates,
and
c) To make better use of the teaching artists in TCTC's employ.

I'm all for it. Especially if that means that at least once a week, I can talk to a small group of people about theatre, improv, character choices, physicality, verse, etc.

And, of course, we'd be paid extra for the classes we teach.

Now, none of this is official yet. But I am really hoping this project will see fruition, because frankly I think it's the kind of thing we should already be doing.

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Back to Cogsworth.