CHILDREN OF EDEN at The Sanctuary in Greensboro starting this weekend!

Longtime readers of this blog know that my favorite musical is Children of Eden. This past summer I was extremely blessed to have taken part in a production of it by the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County. Well, if you've never had the pleasure of beholding this amazing show and you live near Greensboro, North Carolina you're in luck this weekend and the next. Jay Smith,...

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"Ain't It Good?"

Last night at Rockingham Community College the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County held its season-ending banquet, followed by the 2007-2008 Golden Guild Awards. That's the annual ceremony that honors those who volunteered during the previous season. The various award winners are chosen based on votes cast by the cast and crew of the shows. In addition to the Best Actor and...

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CHILDREN OF EDEN: The final performance and out-of-control strike party!

This is the way the world begins: not with a whimper but with a bang!Yesterday was the final performance of the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Children of Eden. After the amazing reaction that the show got on Saturday night, could Sunday afternoon possibly be any better? Judging by the approval of the packed auditorium at Rockingham Community College...

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CHILDREN OF EDEN: Performance #5!

Tonight... we brought down the house!!!Our best performance yet, playing to the most packed audience so far.Okay, off to celebrate now ...

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CHILDREN OF EDEN: Performance #4 and wild cast party!

Last night we had our fourth performance of Children of Eden. Widespread consensus is that this was the one thus far most plagued by mishaps. A keyboard went out, there were problems with the microphones early in Act I, at least one cast member fell ill (but bounced back and rejoined the show), Noah's Ark almost crashed, and I tried hard to hold back a sneeze immediately...

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CHILDREN OF EDEN: Final weekend of performances begin tonight!

The Snake (left to right: Jessica Reed, Ashley Meeks, Marlo Nall, Brittany Thompson, Samantha Toney, and Tisha Owens) tempts Eve (Rose Cutuli Wray) with knowledge during "The Pursuit of Excellence" in the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Children of EdenTonight begins the final three performances of Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Children...

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CHILDREN OF EDEN: More photos!

Here are some more pics from the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Children of Eden. Some of these were taken by my wife Lisa and others were taken by Dean Brown...Father (Neil Shepherd) realizes his dream and creates the universe in "Let There Be", the opening song of Act I in Children of EdenEve (Rose Cutuli Wray) listens as Father tells her and Adam what...

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CHILDREN OF EDEN: The Third Performance

Are we really halfway through our performance schedule already? Sure doesn't seem like it.This afternoon was the third performance of Children of Eden, produced by the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County. It was the biggest audience yet! And the show went great again. Today's performance was especially important for me personally because I was finally able to do something that I've been working on all this past week: have some serious tears flowing...

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CHILDREN OF EDEN: The Second Performance

Just got back from our second performance of the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Children of Eden. Somewhat larger crowd tonight than our opener last night. Hopefully word of mouth will bring in bigger audiences tomorrow and next week.Well, I honestly can't remember what much of the audience reaction was during the show itself last night 'cuz we were all so busy making sure we were in place for our cues and such, but tonight...

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After-Action Report from CHILDREN OF EDEN's Opening Night!

Tonight, the shared sentiment among the cast and crew of Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Children of Eden is TRIUMPHANT!The show went beautifully! It was the first time that it had ever been performed in Rockingham County. And judging by the applause and the kind words that members of the audience gave us after the show, this was a huge hit! Lots of people said that they loved the uplifting and powerful message of the story...

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Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of CHILDREN OF EDEN opens TONIGHT!

Father (Neil Shepherd) teaches Adam (Stephen Hale) and Eve (Rose Cutuli Wray) how to care for their new charges during "Naming the Animals" as the Storytellers watch in a scene from Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Children of EdenHere it is at last: Opening Night for Children of Eden, produced by the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County. The curtain opens...

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CHILDREN OF EDEN: 1 Day Left Before Opening Night

Here's a photo from rehearsal last night, from the end of Act I. This is right after Eve (Rose Cutuli Wray) has bid goodbye to Seth (me), Seth's Wife (Tisha Owens) and is now telling the rest of her descendants farewell. Also in this picture are Justin Marcellus, Jamia Parker, Jessica Wray, and Tyler Alverson...Rehearsal went extremely well! We've got one more left before...

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CHILDREN OF EDEN: What do I look like as Seth?

Okay, sure...Here I am as Seth (while holding the Staff of Adam) in the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Children of Eden:No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you: that is a good part of my Jedi Knight costume! I'm also playing a Storyteller and we needed something to differentiate me when I appear as Seth at the end of Act I. Children of Eden's costumer...

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CHILDREN OF EDEN Update: 3 Days to Opening Night

Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Children of Eden is now less than 72 hours away from opening (June 20th and 21st at 7:30 p.m. and 22nd at 2:30 p.m., with the same times for June 27th-29th). Everyone involved has been working whatever time they can squeeze in to get this thing ready. This past Friday night I worked with some other cast members in getting the lighting set up ('cuz all cast members are expected to work at least...

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CHILDREN OF EDEN Update: 14 Days to Opening Night

Two weeks from tonight, we will all be in makeup and costume, and about to take to the stage with the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Children of Eden.We have come a very long way in a short time. But there's still plenty more to do.The past few nights have been spent on cleaning up the choreography for the bigger numbers. Last night it was work on "In The Beginning" and "The Naming", and that one was especially fun to watch....

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CHILDREN OF EDEN Update: 25 Days to Opening Night

"Now uss dee time undt Schprockets ven ve dantz!"Okay who can tell me where that's from? Still can't believe that I thought of it Sunday afternoon.So yesterday we started doing choreography for two of the biggest numbers from the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Children of Eden: "Generations" and "Ain't It Good". Singing the songs? No problem, 'cuz like I've mentioned before after frequent listening to the soundtrack for almost...

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CHILDREN OF EDEN Update: 38 Days to Opening Night

I've a few nights off from rehearsal for the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Children of Eden ('cuz those are being used to focus on the solo numbers and I don't have one of those). In the past few sessions we've finished going over all the choral pieces. I'm still amazed at how much work we've done in so relatively short a span of time.The last major song from the show that we took on was "Ain't It Good" from Act II. I've thought...

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CHILDREN OF EDEN Update: 46 Days to Opening Night

It was a week ago tonight that I found out that my longtime dream of being in a production of Children of Eden was about to really happen. The cast came together for the first time a few nights later. We've now had three nights of practice and in that time we've done work on many of the major songs from the show ("Let There Be", "The Naming" and a few others).One thing about Children of Eden that makes this an interesting production is that a lot...

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Back from first meeting of the CHILDREN OF EDEN cast

We met for three hours tonight in the auditorium at Rockingham Community College. I got to know quite a few of my fellow cast members (Children of Eden demands a fairly large number of people for this show, which is one of the reasons why it hasn't been run on Broadway yet). As one of the principles I got to bring home a script, but it's not mine to keep and in order to have this copy I had to leave a security deposit. That gets returned to me...

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Guess who will be among the CHILDREN OF EDEN!

Well, this day has seen it all.I spent most of it working on stuff in my capacity as treasurer for my friend Eric Smith's campaign for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction. This mostly entailed finishing up the First Quarter Campaign Finance Report. Also had a few errands around town.When Lisa got home from school I gave her a birthday card and the new Mario Kart Wii (also got another Wii steering controller so that we can race...

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