So now, it's like, this is it.

It's opening night!  After a quick transition-through of the show this afternoon (with things we learned during our preview), we are ready for our first official performance.

I am officially excited (and still officially exhausted.)  From here on out I get to sit back and enjoy...

Well, that and participate in the talkbacks that are held after every show...  Tonight's special guest is Ralph Remington, the Director of Theater for the National Endowment for the Arts.  We're looking forward to discussing the show with him and with the audience after the performance.

To everyone involved:

Break water!

A sneak peak...

Playbill.com published a few of our production photos this afternoon.  Take a look at the show here.  (More photos will follow soon!)

Pregnancy Props

Only at Pregnancy Pact would the prop table include a retainer case, a can of tuna, lipgloss, and pregnancy tests.

Day Twenty-One

The time has come!  We had our dress rehearsal this afternoon.  The cues are mostly written and the transitions are mostly worked out.  We've still got time to rehearse some tomorrow to put whatever finishing touches we need before the official opening night.  But as of tonight, people are paying to see Pregnancy Pact.

People are going to start to come into town tomorrow and I'm going to be a host and be social and all that.  But before that happens, I'm going to enjoy having one last night with just me and my show.  Actually, I'm going to enjoy having one last night with just Julia, Joe, Rich, Andrew, Jess, Molly, Jakob, Krystina, Katrina, Caitlin, Lauren, Jed, Margo, Dana, Tim, Jen, Joel, Ed, Meghan, Sydney, Jeremy, Lorenzo, Anthony, Ro, Sean, Steve, Mal, Tim, Stuart, Bridget, Aidan, Peryn, Kaylin, Kelsey, everyone...  and OUR show.

Break water, everyone!

Day Twenty

Tech has come and gone.  We had another really productive day - working up to the finale of the show.  It continues to look wonderful and Joe is a master at figuring things out on their feet as they differ from the rehearsal room.  The steady focus of everyone involved kept us moving through the show.  It was amazing to see some of my very favorite moments in the show in their full theatrical glory tonight - sequences like "I Can't Wait" and "Leave Me Behind" that go beyond the realism in a lot of the script and can only live on a stage.  I can't wait to see it all the way through at our 2:00 dress rehearsal tomorrow!

And then, of course, there's that little fact that tomorrow night at 7:30pm, Pregnancy Pact gets its first paying audience.  It's a little overwhelming to even begin to think about.  There's a huge part of me that is thrilled and proud to show off the work that all these amazing people have done.

Then there's the part of me that wants to run and hide at the thought of opening it up to the world.  I know it's what every writer dreams of, but I never thought I'd have so much anxiety heading into the big day.  In a weird way, I almost feel like I'm losing a little bit of myself by putting it out there for the world to see.  It's almost like a line from "Hummingbird Heart" - "She's like a tiny secret that nobody gets to see, but I can feel her little hummingbird heart and I'll keep her from the world so it's only her and me."  There's something so private about my relationship to this show and it's scary to think that it's no longer just mine.

Baby analogies come easily with musicals (and have always been a part of the way we talk about this show.)  So when I got home from tech the first thing I did was check to see if "birth anxiety" was a thing and there it was, clear as day.  Message boards abound with postings from soon-to-be mothers talking about their fears and nerves - knowing that it's what you've planned for all along but scared that it's actually about to really happen.  I think Jaimek000's June post on the community board of babycenter.com just about sums up what I'm feeling right now:

Any others out there that are FTMs that are starting to get nervous? Obvs, I have known all along that I will have to deliver, but now that the time is fast approaching, I am starting to get nervous, worried, anxious...when, where, HOW??? LOL. The anticipation is both exciting and nerve-racking not knowing how its all going to pan out. I have the standard concerns of will my birth go smoothly?; will my baby be so big that I will need a c-section?; will everything be OK with baby? etc, etc, etc...ANY COPING STRATEGIES? I am starting to have butterflies over it daily!

Now I first had to realize that FTM in this case has nothing to do with the trans community and instead means "first time mother."  Then I read responses and the one idea that stuck out was that no matter what concerns you may have, you must remember that women have been doing this since the beginning of time.  Everyone worries, but it's part of life.

Now I'm thankful that what I'm going to experience tomorrow won't include any pain or require an epidural (hopefully), but I can't help but feel some of the same things.  And recognizing that this is part of the life of a writer is so important.  Yes, I'll probably mourn a little bit while I celebrate how amazing the production is.  But it just means that it's real!

The Commons

The Pregnancy Pact article in The Commons, Windham County's independent newspaper, has been published!  You can read it here.

Thanks to Weston's marketing intern Alek Deva for getting us such great word of mouth in the area!

Where to stay in Weston [REPOST]

So say you've already gotten your tickets and you know how you're getting to Vermont.  Now where do you stay?

The Inn at Weston

If you're looking to stay in Weston itself, the beautiful Inn at Weston is just down the road (walking distance) from the Playhouse and has beautiful rooms, a fancy restaurant, and swanky breakfasts and teas for their guests.  The Apple Knoll Inn is at the other end of Main Street (still walking distance) and is a bit less expensive.  The Colonial House is just a little bit further away (and still even a bit less expensive) but just as accessible!  You can make reservations online for all three!

If you're game for staying a little bit further away, you can look at the Best Western Colonial or the Governor's Inn in Ludlow (just to the north of Weston), the Motel in the Meadow and Stone Hearth Inn & Tavern in Chester (just to the east of Weston) or the Swiss Inn in Londonderry (just south of Weston.)

As if a musical is not enough to do in Southern Vermont, there is also a cool farm with a petting zoo, artisanal cheese, apple orchards and berry picking all within an hour's drive.  The theatre is also right next to the amazing Vermont Country Store (where you can eat your weight in cheese samples!)

Getting to Weston [REPOST]

So you've gotten your tickets to come up to see the show.  Now how do you get here?

The easiest way to get to Weston is to drive.  If you're coming from NYC, the drive takes just under 5 hours going up I-87 through New York or up I-91 through Connecticut and Massachusetts.

(Find out for yourself by entering the Playhouse's address: 12 Park Street, Weston, VT 05161.)

When it comes to public transportation, there are a few good options.  If you don't want to drive yourself the whole way, either Megabus or various airlines can take you to Albany (about a 90 minute drive to Weston).  Amtrak trains run daily to Rutland, VT (about 45 minutes away.)  And Dartmouth College runs a bus service between NYC and Lebanon/Hanover, NH (about an hour away.)

Day Nineteen

Tech began today.  This is my first time really tech-ing a show as a writer (and I haven't been involved in a real tech in any capacity since college) and these 10 out of 12 hour days are exhausting!

The big takeaway of the day?  My goodness we are so lucky to be surrounded by the people working on this show.  I've spent weeks singing the praises of Joe and Rich and the 7 actors and 3 stage managers (Jess, Molly & Jakob) who've been in the rehearsal room all along.  And they're all still immensely praise-worthy - the work they've been doing is on full display here.  But when you add in the work of the designers and their crews it becomes a fully realized show.  You've read about Tim, Joel, Jen, and Ed.  The work they have all done is fantastic from the start.  From the hyper-real bathroom set to the washes of beautiful color in the lights to the parade of pitch-perfect hoodies and the full sound coming out of the pit, they've found a way to illuminate this story that goes so far beyond my wildest imaginings.  And they're supported by such a wonderful group of people, working literally around the clock under the supervision of Production Manager-extraordinaire Bridget Sullivan, to realize this world.  I can't wait to see the rest tomorrow!

I wrote a whole long description of everything I saw today - the amazing popcorn counter, the pink glow of "This Is It," Kaylee's incredible red jeans (to name a few) - but there is no way to truly get across how wonderful it is to see this all come to life.  I feel like a fountain of gratitude - trying to say "Thank you" as much as I possibly can.  Even that can't really be enough, though.  I know that this is what they all do, they're professionals, and they aren't just doing this for me and Julia.  But I can't help but look at the proof for the program and see all of the names and feel humbled that what was a couple of new songs three years ago is now no longer just mine.  And while that was a pretty scary thought a month ago, I couldn't be more excited to share this with everyone in that theater.

We've got another 10 out of 12 tomorrow, so look for another late-night update then!

New England Cable News story

New England Cable News did a piece on Weston's recovery from Irene that included some rehearsal footage of Pregnancy Pact.  Check out the video featuring our wonderful stage manager, Jess Johnston, and the Playhouse's Managing Director Stuart Duke - along with Rich and the cast.

Irene: One Year Later

I distinctly remember logging onto Facebook a year ago today.  I had been at a friend's wedding just outside the city the night before that was certainly soggy, but the great fear of Irene tearing through the New York area had subsided and it seemed like little damage had been done.  So by the time I got back to the city (by cab, since public transportation was still shut down) I was shocked the see the first photos coming out of Weston.  Every photo was more startling than the last.  At this point, I had only spent a week up here in the middle of the winter, but even without knowing the full, green lay of the land it was obvious that something major was happening.  And all we could do from New York was keep on watching the photos as they were posted and send all the positive energy we could muster northward.

The photos on the second day, though, were inspirational.  We got to witness an entire community come together - the volunteer fire department were pumping out the remaining water, Weston residents showed up with tractors to help clear out all the debris, the entire cast and staff of Saint Ex broke out their galoshes and started shoveling mud.  Over 100 members of the community showed up to help.  For every heartbreaking photo of a baby grand piano over-turned in the orchestra pit, there were ten photos of the Weston family working together and unearthing treasures and turning everything around in short order.  Within five days, Saint Ex had been re-staged (without an orchestra pit) and re-opened for the remainder of its scheduled run.

And that's what is so magical about the Weston Playhouse to me.  It isn't only a regional theater, it isn't only an artistic home - it is a full-fledged community.  My time here has been made so much more special and the work we've done here has been that much more rewarding because of that.  I can walk to rehearsal on Sunday morning and run into someone coming out of the church next door who asks how the show is going.  The cast can call up the Klonskys and request some quiet time with their dogs over a home-cooked meal.  You get to know the guy at the candy register at the Country Store and you can invite your waitress at the Bryant House to the show.

What I've always valued most about working in musical theater is the collaboration and the community.  It's what inspires me and what gives me the most joy - finding more in yourself because of those who surround you.  And I'm so grateful for the year-and-a-half I've spent getting to know everyone up here at Weston, because this is a community in the truest sense.

Thanks to the Playhouse community in Weston and everywhere across the country, a full and exciting season is wrapping up with Pregnancy Pact.  Yesterday I took a walk around town to take some photos to show you just how different it was up here one year ago today.  The first photos in each set were taken by Producing Artistic Director Malcolm Ewen on the day of the flood - I tried to re-capture each photo this year.

The dam behind the Playhouse flooding.

The same view today.

More photos after the jump!

Jeanelle