Performance Name: The Secret Garden
Location: Bush Theatre – Central Michigan University
Date/time: Friday, November 13, 2009 – 7:30 p.m.
Performance Type: Dramatic Musical Play
Websites: Wikipedia Entry, CM Life Article
Thoughts: The topic of secrets can bring a lot to mind. My first thoughts of secrets this evening began when the orchestra were taking their places in the pit. I thought about what talented musicians these people are and how they don’t really get noticed and they blend in behind the scenes. That made me think about all the people who are behind the scenes for a theatrical production, who basically remain a secret from the audience. The make-up artists, the lighting designers, the costume crew, the set builders, the director, the set crew, and the list goes on and on. These people get little more recognition than their name in the program (if anyone even reads their name). Yet they are an integral part of the production and they are happy to go about their work all in secret to put on the show.
This doesn’t just apply to theatre productions or even the entertainment industry. Everywhere you look you (don’t) see all the secret people working to keep things moving. When you turn on a light – there are the secret people working at the power plant. When you take an item off the shelf at the store – there are the secret people who stock that shelf. When you call a company and they look up your information in their computer – there are the secret IT people (my favorite!) working to keep those computer systems going.
Just like secret people are important, other secrets can be too. Should you keep a secret or not? Based on what I gathered from the play – listen to your heart and follow it – on whatever wonderful journal it may have in store for you.
Pet Peeve of the Evening: This evening’s pet peeve is when they tear my ticket wrong. I’m a saver of my programs and ticket stubs, so I like having a nice neat ticket stub. I will usually prefold the ticket at the perforation so that it tears easily for them. So I dislike (like tonight) when they tear the wrong stub off and thus the other stub is already bent and ready to fall off or when they don’t make a clean tear.
Repeat Rating: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being calculating pi on an abacus and 10 being having a lot of pie to eat, the chance I’d see this performance again is a 9.