It’s Saturday, one of only 3 “day’s off” if you are part of the Southeast Easter Passion Team. “Team” should be used loosely here since the entire group of volunteers that put on the show each night numbers around 1,000. There are around 260 "cast members" (meaning those who daily cover their bodies with makeup called either “Light Egyptian” or “Dark Egyptian” depending on whether you are playing a Jew or a Roman and flit about in hot, rough costumes that resemble artistic burlap sacks). Those who help put on said makeup run from 50 to 100 volunteers and there is a team of costumers who turn all of those burlap sacks into something nearly enviable.
Among the other batches of people there lies the “tech team." This group numbers “only” 40 crew members but includes all of audio, video, and special effects...a.k.a. the "Geek Zone," except for Julie and I who would be called "groupies." Megh and Kev are part of the Video Crew…they run 2 of the 11 cameras that are used each performance to project close ups of the show onto IMAG screens.
The IMAG screens are approximately 12 foot wide by 9 foot high. The camera crew has a team of people who sit up in a booth and who chooses which shot will be used and then sends it to the three IMAG screens. Kev and Megh are up front right next to the stage, which means there is no end of the “friendly” rivalry of who will get the best shots and who will have more “screen time.” As you might imagine, I stay out of anything that has “friendly” and “rivalry” in the same sentence since I can tell (being the astute linguist that I am) that “friendly rivalry” means that I, personally, will be in deep doo-doo no matter who I pick.
The little IMAG screens projecting the show (they are the ones that say "Jesus" in the family photo) are only impressive and huge if the other screens are not lowered. When we remade the Easter Pageant several years ago, we decided that it would be cool to attempt “mixing media” as part of the Pageant. “Mixing media” is nice to say in a sentence, but in practical application it means that we not only have a ridiculously huge cast (one of the largest in America) to put on this little skit, we also bring in live donkeys, doves, camels and a flying dove that lands (like the Holy Spirit) on Jesus, a good sized orchestra (I’ll have to count how many tomorrow night), and a backstage choir of over 150 people than come and sing into microphones to help fill out the sound but who are NEVER, EVER SEEN. And (here’s the “mixed media” part) we have two completely ridiculously huge retractable screens that are 52 feet wide and 31 feet high. The two screens together make a standard IMAX screen (about 72 feet wide by 52 feet high)…in other words the auditorium at Southeast Christian church is large enough to unfurl an IMAX-sized screen (divided in half) and still have room to see a bunch of other stuff besides!
This year I have added another label besides "groupie" status. I am also a "newbie mic-person." This means that I come in an hour earlier than the "groupies" to put on mics onto bodies. You can read about that in one of my previous posts but I thought you might like an artistic picture of what assails me each evening:
Meghan has also added another title to her belt; she is Check-In Trouble Shooter. All of the folks in The Skit and all those who help put on The Skit or who do makeup or play in the orchestra or sing backstage or work with props or feed those who are in anyway involved in The Skit come in through one door and check in. Megh helps to manage that area. The best thing about doing this present job is, as best as I can tell, is the walkie-talkie. She gets to run around and talk to everyone. Isn't that fabulous? I will get a picture to show you just how fabulous that actually is, but for now you'll have to settle for this:
I So Wish You Could See Our Little Easter Skit at: marcyjoybryan@gmail.com
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