BWW Blog: Cheyenne Dalton - THE NUTCRACKER or the Week of Finals

Every year, Auburn University Theatre hosts the East Alabama Community Ballet's The Nutcracker in early December. For the past three years, I have been a part of this process, running sound for many dress rehearsals, performances, oftentimes morning shows, and tea parties. It truly is an experience. From Monday to Sunday this year, I worked 40 hours, which sounds like a pretty normal workweek for the average person. Except I am a full-time student, and this is in the middle of finals week.

This gig offers new challenges that I am not used to: having children running around onstage, backstage, and, during rehearsals, through the house; the fact that I actually see the parents of the performers; the realization that many children are not going to know what is happening; and that ballet is very different from the kind of dance that I am used to running sound for. The same challenge from years past remains, however: the stress of finals. Last week, I had one performance art piece to perform, a group performance project that was twenty minutes long, an online final exam, and 75 pages of a script due.

Luckily, I am not alone in the stress of this gig. Two other students, Amanda and Hallie, both stage managers, work alongside me, so we all share the stress of the week and help each other out when times get tough. Lots of laughs were had during the run of tech and performances with these two, which makes the process go by a lot quicker. Serious moments are definitely had, when snow drops and candy drops and Christmas tree drops are flying in and out, the grand drape is coming in, the scrim is cutting the stage in half, the snow bags are dropping snow, mics are cue'd on certain lines, and light cues are being called. But having hardworking people by my side makes the end of the day a lot more rewarding - knowing that we will all pull our weight, respect each other, respect the production, and that we are all truly in this together.

That is, hands down, my favorite part of production. No matter where I go in life, in the world, in whatever position I will fill in the production, the crew and even the actors are in this together.

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