Huron Journal - A doctor a day and audiences keep coming

HURON, Ohio -- Week six and we're counting the days left at the Huron Playhouse. We're down to the fourth and fifth shows of the five-show season, and everyone is hitting their mental/physical exhaustion points. It seems as if we're sending two or three new people to the doctor each day. I was one of them today. Working in the scene shop with the ripsaw kicking up sawdust gave me a swollen throat. But no one complains. We all understand it's part of the job. The wear and tear is something you have to deal with.

This week we have "You Can't Take It With You," in which Meagan plays Essie, one of the principal characters. She's doing an outstanding job, particularly since this is one of the first non-musicals she has ever performed. It has kept her from worrying too much about her voice and focus on pure character development, which will be great experience.

She's very lucky. The audiences are going to love the show to death.

Marcus and Mikey, our scene shop guys, are finally getting to slow down a little bit. They've been working themselves ragged making sure every piece of scenery of the "You Can't Take It With You" set was ready to go. The set was an absolutely massive undertaking. After Cinderella was struck, it took us until 2:30 a.m. to get it assembled. Marcus is widely respected here as one of those guys who seemingly knows everything. When you work in the shop, it's rare to go five minutes without hearing someone say, "Hey Marcus! Can you explain this to me?"

Mikey is finished with all of his sound design duties and gets to focus solely on running the sound board and working in the scene shop now. He has been working non-stop here, doing duties he never knew he'd have to, not the least of which was designing the sound for each show. He'll have an entire new wealth of knowledge to use when he gets back to school. Of all of us from Southeast, Mikey seems the most ready to leave.

It's funny how the moods are changing here. Some company members have the attitude that they want to make last-minute efforts to become friends with those they haven't gotten to know very well. Others are becoming somewhat catty and are not even attempting to mince words with people who have irritated them. They figure at this point that it's pointless to pretend liking someone they'll never have to see again after Aug. 4.

The summer romances are gradually either becoming more than temporary or falling apart. We've had some Playhouse flings end the last few weeks. There are only two standing couples left now, one of which is my girlfriend Tara and me. With as little time as we've got, we're doing remarkably well. Obviously, one can't exactly date here, but we do what we can to get time to see one another.

It seems unreal that we have just two shows left, with all of the work still ahead of us. But we're still throwing ourselves into it 100 percent. We do whatever it takes to keep going.