The Lost Show

After launch, The Kablooey Group jumped into pre-production on an intimate theatrical experience. Then we hit the brakes. Here’s why.

Since our inception, the Kablooey Group has wanted to DO something. For a while it looked as though we were going to do a smaller show in cooperation with the Decatur Area Arts Council. A “quick-fire” show that we could get up and running relatively easily. We landed on a two person musical that was hilarious with a capital H and started laying the groundwork for the show.

Then we stopped. Hard.

Nothing troubling. No drama. Just an opportunity to do something bigger coupled with a schedule that would allow only so much to be done. Here’s a breakdown of what led us to benching our intended first show:

A second project started brewing. This particular project — one Jerry and I have long wanted to mount in some way, shape, or form — is a wholly original beast, meaning everything needs to be produced from scratch. And its a musical! With a rather large technical component! A sizable chunk of time is required to develop and produce a show like this properly, and that’s difficult to manage when producing and performing a show on top of it. Strike one against the quick-fire.

A non-Kablooey project (likely) this Fall. All four acting members of the Kablooey Group are also active in Theatre 7, who is currently putting together their 2015-26 season. The proposed Fall show will be directed by yours truly with Jerry, Rachel, and Doug all involved in some capacity. This one isn’t an original but will still be a beast of a production; easily a good two-plus months of hard commitment. Strike numero dos.

Timing. The original project mentioned above is intended to debut in late November/early December. What that means is, with the Theatre 7 show playing in late October, we’ll be jumping directly into production of the original right after that. So the original needs to be one hundred percent written and pre-produced prior to starting the Fall one. Third strike, y’all.

What it really comes down to is us wanting our first theatrical production to be something really special. That’s one of the advantages to making things up as we go: if we’re not happy with the quality of fun we’re presenting, we’re not above hitting the brakes. All it means is we’re jumping into a shinier vehicle with better gas mileage and heading towards a sunnier destination. Or something. Did I lose the analogy there?