This is Cameron Doucette at the keyboard, prisoner and scene shifter for Far Away:
My interaction with theatre production has, up until this point, revolved primarily around acting, and usually never much more. It’s not as though I hadn’t considered working the technical aspects of the show or didn’t appreciate their contribution to the piece as a whole, it’s simply that my passion has always been on-stage, under the lights as opposed to backstage, trying to avoid them. So when I was asked to help shift scenery in Far Away, I was confronted with a first: I was now working behind-the-scenes rather than as part of the visible action. Not to say that actors don’t pick up a basket or two on their way to Stage Left or set up a chair to sit on when the lights come up, but for the most part any shifting I do is both minor and temporary. To be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect.
What I was faced with was an environment that was completely team-oriented. Shifting requires knowing where and when everyone is on stage. It requires a full awareness of the eventual goal to be met and how that goal will be reached in the minute you have to achieve it. In order to have a smooth transition, each member must work like a cog in a machine: accomplishing their assigned duty with efficiency and consistency. As a result, you come to know your squad well and learn to trust that they’ll be where they need to be on time. Your success or failure is inexorably linked to your performance as a group. In this way, I began to view the crew as a family of sorts, a team bound by unstated trust, ready to tackle any problems that might arise.
Now that ”Far Away” has come to a close, I for one know what I’ll be taking away with me. Certainly, I can’t help but absorb some of the show itself, but what I’ll truly remember about my experience this time around will be the wonderful shifters with whom I have developed so much trust and a greater respect for what happens in-between the scenes.
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Look, I have red hair!!! I have had a lot of fun with everyone in the production of Far Away. Steve has been a great wrangler. He is funny and fun to be around. Helena is the older version of me. I think Helena is a lot like me. Thank you all for making me feel welcomed to your production. I thought I would tell you all a little bit about myself. I am 10 years old and I am in 5th grade. My favorite subject in school is science. I am in the chorus at school. I had to decide to do Far Away or to do district chorus for my school. District was going to be the same day as a show. This has been a wonderful experience for me. This was only my second production. My first play was The Stinky Cheese Man by Stagedoor productions. My sister and I were in the Fairy tale Chorus. My favorite food is chinese and spaghetti with meatballs. I collect Littlest Pet Shops and I like to play with my webkinz Wuffles. He is a pug. I am also on the summer swim team for my neighborhood. I have been swimming since I was 5. I have lived in many different places. My Dad is in the Navy. I was born in Winter Park Florida, then we moved to NewPort RI. I was only two weeks old then. Then we moved to Jacksonville FL. After that we were in Dalhgren VA for a few weeks before we moved to Hawaii. We lived there until I was 4. Then we moved to Monterey CA. The aquarium is awesome there. Every night from the bay I could hear the Sea Lions and Harbor seals talking at night when I was trying to sleep. I lived there until I was 6. Then we drove across the US. That was really fun. It took us 5 days. We moved back to New Port RI for a few months. Then we moved to Virginia Beach. My mom and dad learned to surf, but I was to scared. My mom and dad would take turns in the water on the surf board while my sister and I would look for sharks teeth in the sand. One time my mom was out surfing and she said she felt something that felt like hair in the water. After a few minutes of being out of the water she had red marks and bumps on her arm. She said it didn’t hurt to bad. She had been stung by a jelly fish. I met some really great people when I lived there. Delaney is my best friend ever. I will always love my Grammy, HayHay and Rusty. We moved to Fredericksburg this past June. This is my blog. I hope you enjoyed it. Hugs, Ashley
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