Comments on: Performing in Simultaneous Shows

By: Ty Unglebower

Ty Unglebower — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:14:00 +0000

Thanks for comments, all. And Maureen makes an excellent point that I didn’t address in the column…performing in one show while doing major technical or backstage work for another, at the same time. I am almost never in a strictly technical position in a show, so such things tend to slip my mind. But from what you say, it certainly can be just as draining on a person!

It did bring to mind someone I once knew who started directing a show while still performing in another. That also I would figure, would be too exhausting to be worth it in the vast majority of circumstances.

By: Maureen Roult

Maureen Roult — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:29:40 +0000

I just finished a 2-show overlap. Between tech & production for one and rehearsals for the other, I had a 17-day stretch with only 2 nights off – tough on my long-suffering husband, and I had to miss 1 or 2 rehearsals for the 2nd show, including a blocking rehearsal.

The only other time I ran into this, I was in one show and costuming another that opened a week before the one I was in. Not as bad as trying to *perform* in simultaneous shows, but still hard enough that I wouldn’t deliberately do it again. (And thank heaven the cast I had to dress was small, and that both the director & producers were veteran costumers.)

By: Chris Laning

Chris Laning — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:36:43 +0000

I just got done doing this. Though not originally by choice. Last April I had promised a dear friend I would reprise my role in a Christmas show he wrote which he wanted to do a full staging off (I had been in a staged reading of it three years before). I promptly forgot about it and when August rolled around I auditioned for a local production (in DE) of “A Christmas Carol”. I did it because my daughter was auditioning too. It was three weeks into “A Christmas Carol” rehearsals before my friend called. The production schedule worked out (friends show was one night only, the night AFTER the other closed).

But I did run into several rehearsal conflicts including missing final dress for the friends show. But in this case it all worked out. I am exhausted but both shows were successful.

Still, I agree with you. I would not recommend it!