Well, we're terribly behind our deadlines. We planned to have all of our songs written by August 1st, and to then finish the script by the 7th. Laughable. At this point, we have one stubborn song left to write, and about a quarter of the script left. Ironically, it seems I underestimated the difficulty in writing the songs and overestimated how hard the script-writing would be. It might just be because we have a very solid grip of the plot (although the logistics are a bear), whereas the songs were more abstract and vague in my head. Especially the one that refuses the get written.
On the business end, things are a mix. We tried to put most of our promotional energies into hosting a zombie makeup tutorial, with the support of Philly Theatrical Supply. From the get-go, the event was a mess to pull together, then when Plays & Players came out with the same idea to promote their Fringe show...well...it got messier. We tried to make it a collaborative promotional tutorial / bar crawl event, but that's just too many schedules and concepts to work around. At this point, the tutorial / bar crawl is still up in the air, but probably won't happen until after Zombies Are Forever. We shall see.
On the other hand, we have had some successes. The good folks at Quirk Classics have decided to show some support, so we'll have some wonderful free goodies to give out at the show. We also have a handful of performances lined up. Next Monday (August 23rd) is the Fringe Preview show at Plays & Players, and we will be there to perform one of our new numbers plus a karaoke jam. If the timing works in our favor, we will also be at National Mechanics that night, so you may just get two chances to jump up and sing with us. Then the following Monday (August 30th) we will again be at National Mechanics. We are trying to reconstruct our promotional efforts in the mean time. Mayhaps you can catch us at some of Philly's regular karaoke nights (Sisters? The Troc? Even more National Mechanics? Who knows!).
While I'm still terribly excited and eager to put on this show, I have to admit that it's been draining. I abhor the business side of things, so writing press releases and trying to keep in touch with twenty different people (half of whom just don't care) has been a struggle. Even the parts of this I love (writing songs, making stupid costumes, figuring out fifty different ways to act like an idiot, etc.) have been touch-and-go. It sounds silly, but I really can't force any of that out. The terror of that last minute often gives me creative fuel and a drive like nothing else, but even then... it doesn't matter how much you have to poop - if you can't poop, you can't poop. If I've learned anything, it's that two people is not enough for this kind of production. Even if we constantly retained an idyllic level of productivity and efficiency, there's just so many different issues and areas of work demanding constant attention. At the same time, I've also learned that I never want to try coordinate anything involving more than a handful of participants. Keeping tabs on people can be just as overwhelming as doing all the work yourself.
Anyway, in 23 days, we'll be putting on a fucking fantastic show and shitting ourselves in terror/joy while you watch in amazement. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Love,
Brian Reignbow
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