I've been rehearsing for the
Ramona Pageant, which I am taking part in for the 21st time. There's a new script this year, and the revised play looks really good, from what I've seen.
We performed the play for the 4th grade students of the local school districts today, and they seemed to like it. It was a shortened version, so they didn't get to see everything, and the buses showed up early, so a lot of them missed the ending. Hopefully, some of them will come see the full show with their families.
Because it's an outdoor show on a natural, 5-acre stage, there's a cast of over a hundred actors, mostly local. There are also horses. This year, it's very, very dusty because of California's ongoing drought (climbing the hill from the cast house to the stage is like climbing a sand dune in a long dress -- pretty challenging).
The outdoor location sometimes means that the wildlife that lives in the canyon is encountered -- the show can be stolen by a covey of quail looking for food or an alligator lizard doing pushups on the rock wall between the audience and the stage. Of course, nothing can distract the audience (and induce panic) like a snake, venomous or not (one year, there was a large rattlesnake behind a rock where a group of us wait for a scene; the guy who killed the snake took it home and made rattlesnake taquitos to share).
I encountered one of the wild creatures while walking backstage today. A lizard fell out of a vent and landed on me. I was startled, but I think the lizard was more surprised. It took off pretty fast. I didn't scream when it landed on my shoulder (lizards don't bother me; they're everywhere at home and they eat bugs). Now, if it had been a spider, I probably would have rivaled the cannon for noise with my screaming (I really don't like spiders, especially black widows).
