Shout Out: Cast & Crew

I simply do not understand how they do it.  Memorize those lines, add in body language, facial expression, inflection, gesture... all to make the characters on stage "live." Having never been on stage myself, I can't begin to comprehend.  Hats off to the actors who have lent their amazing talent to this work.  These are all busy folks, many with other full-time jobs, spouses, kids/infants, prior commitments, rapidly approaching weddings...  I don't care to think about the sacrifices they have made for the sake of this play and I thank them heartily for it.  Director Michael Lilly has also gone above and beyond for this one.  And he was the right man for the job;  it's clear he knows football fandom and got the tone right.

Anna Franklin, Andrew Gall, Jeff Messer & Paul Trani on stage.
Director Michael Lilly in the ball cap.

More than once this week I have found myself remembering the movie Shakespeare in Love where people would ask Jeffry Rush's character how something was going to be possible and he would reply, "I don't know.  It's a mystery."  Indeed.  The process is mystifying to me.

Thank you too, to the other folks behind the scenes.  Ami Pisano (who has worked on sound, scheduling and countless other details that have fallen through the cracks until they landed on her lap) needs her own standing ovation.  I can't help but to rock out to the sound during rehearsals and I think y'all will too!  At times, you honestly feel like you're in a stadium and not a theatre.  And of course there's Bruce.  No Parkway Playhouse production is complete without a little Bruce-set-magic.

Ami and Haven working the many light and sound cues.

I don't have a good picture of the final member of the cast,  Doug Shaw, who anchors the whole play. (hahaha)  But I'll let his appearance be a surprise for you.

Thank you all.  Many times over.