Producer’s Update (by Marie-Louise Juslin)

Here's a peek at the behind-the-scenes of V-Day Lafayette's "The Vagina Monologues" benefitting The Gretta Foundation.

If you were to walk into the Lafayette Veteran's Memorial building tomorrow, you might wonder to yourself, as I did, how are they going to pull off a theater performance here? The venue is beautiful, yes. Neutral tones, tall open room with polished hardwood floors, windows and exposed wooden beams. But it's a community center. Nothing says theater. No stage. No lighting. No curtain. Nada.

But, lucky us, with a production like "The Vagina Monologues" we hardly have to worry about being "alternative." So that's where our all production crew comes into play.

A word about our team. All professional. All volunteer. All cool. Actually, totally awesome. You may get bored reading if I were to continue on about how incredible the team is, so suffice it to say: they are amazing!! (and I don't usually use exclamation marks, so that should really mean something here).

How did I meet them? Marian (our director) was a referral of a referral of a referral, and I knew from the moment we spoke that she's is not only The One (and there's a lot of very intentional weight in capitalizing the T and the O) but it turns out, she is incredibly also my long-lost twin; Sean (our stage manager) was serendipitously at a 10-year reunion party where I announced that, "eh… if anyone wants to be involved in The Vagina Monologues, dot dot dot" and to my incredulous delight Sean spelled it out for me: "you know, I AM a stage manager by profession" (though, pay attention non profits, he's making a career change into the realm of charity… snatch him up if you want him before The Gretta Foundation claims him); Maura (our set designer) replies to a blind classified ad "seeking set designer…mrrrwrrr"—who knew that those ads actually procure someone fabulous(!) (oh there's the exclamation again) who has a vision for the set that you will L-O-V-E; Ben (our lighting designer) I love the guy, and he's not afraid to bonk me over the head when I ask things like, "Can we put the generator outside?" Yes. ML. Duh.

And, wait until you meet our costumes/props designer, audio designer and hair/makeup… Ya, I'm still waiting too…

So here we have a team that is not only committed to a rocking production, but they're also completely gung-hoe on The Gretta Foundation. I'm serious, and I'm not just saying that because I'm on the board.

So there's your inside scoop on who's gonna make it happen—but to see how this crew is actually going to pull it off, you have to check it out for yourself. Get your tickets online.

www.grettafoundation.org/vday.htm

See you in March!

Marie-Louise

Director, The Gretta Foundation
V-Day Lafayette 2010 Executive Producer