"Without Our Traditions..."

"Our lives would be as shaky as... As a Fiddler on the Roof!" bum, bum, bum. Boom, Boom. The music still echoes through my head. And it will still. for years. but I'm okay with that. :)

Getting ready for Fruma-Sarah to come back from the grave

Being goofy :P

Elizabeth!!!!

Abby-Doodle and I

It would have been scandalous for a Russian Jewish girl to even look at a Catholic priest, much less wear his hat. But, as you can see, I am a very scandalous daughter.

My and Katherine's pre-show dance... another one of my favorite traditions

Our devotion committee praying before devotions one evening... this was one of my favorite parts of the entire day.

Crew and Libby

Brye... and a random penguin found sitting on a stool

The tv in the makeup room

Our amazing bottledancers

6 perfect shows... never dropping a bottle

My family :)

Full cast, crew and staff. If we had been missing a single person, none of this would have been possible. (And Breilen's sign reads "Peter Sinko..." Peter was really, really sick and so had to be represented in that way. :) )

Another Example of Working Prayer

Our leads for Wonka have been working hard. exceptionally hard. Final dress rehearsal went amazingly well. They sang. They danced. They improv-ed. especially Breilen. He belted so hard that Friday morning (Jan. 27) - opening night- he woke up with a sore throat.

The day went downhill from there.

When we arrived at HPA, his momma was pinning a sign on his shirt that read, "I'm on voice rest. Mum's the word from me!" As playful as this seems, Breilen was not smiling.

We didn't hear him speak until he sang the opening note of the show that night and as he worked his way through both acts- with the help of tea, raw honey and gargling salt water in the kitchenette- my heart hurt for this young man who had worked so hard, yet had to perform under circumstances that were beyond his ability. The moment the show was over, his parents swept him home to rest.

That night I prayed and went to bed. Around one I woke up. and no matter what, I couldn't go back to sleep. God brought Breilen to mind. So I spent about an hour praying for him.

We were up bright and early, at HPA by 9:30 to be ready for the two more shows that day. We poured out effert, prayed hard and cried. We -the crew- poured out ourselves to do anything -anything- we could to help this cast.

By the end of the day, I had talked to 5 other people who, from 1-2 that morning, had been awake and praying for Breilen.

That night I had chills.

It was amazing to me that I was able to be a part of something bigger, something stronger. Never before had I experienced being part of a group prayer... when the "group" wasn't together. Mrs. C told me that she had told Breilen that he was being bathed in prayer, but she hadn't known how much. Only God could unite our hearts to lift up our "Wonka" during a time when we all should have been asleep- but were petitioning on our knees instead.

(For those wondering, that Saturday's shows went better than could be expected. God came through, answering prayers, giving strength and voice. This weekend's show were amazing. A healed Breilen did wonders for this cast and no pain enabled Breilen to be Wonka- to be himself- and to be better then we ever could have prayed.)

Opening scene- a healed Breilen Wonka. All praise due to Jesus Christ.

"I have created Two Hundred Original and Sensational Candy Bars- Each with a Different center and each one sweeter and creamier than the last...."
Photo Copyright by our show photographer

Prayer- It Works!

Don’t ever tell me that prayer doesn’t work.

Jesus uses it to work miracles.
~~~~~~~
I don’t know if you know how much work it takes to design lights for a show. It takes hours. Hours and hours of dedicated, intense work sitting over a computer and running back and forth changing light bulbs and checking scripts. For Wonka, we have three geniuses who designed the lights: Breilen, Peter and Adam. They have put in over 20 hours and we are all so thankful.
~~~~~~
A few days ago, I was helping Adam finish up a few final light cues for the hour as people practicing swirled around us. He and Breilen had already worked for over 3 hours that morning and we were crossing one more thing off the never-ending list. Adam was typing in the final cue when a message flashed onto the screen.

EON has encountered a problem and needs to close.

“No way.” Adam whispered as my pulse picked up. He kept up the whispered “This is not happening!” as he began pushing buttons and when the system rebooted, nothing was there.

The song floated through my head “If we’ve ever needed you, Lord, it’s now.”

His face drained of any color, Adam sent his chair flying. “I need to go get Breilen.”

Me? I sat there and prayed, prayed harder then I ever had for a computer system and a bunch of lightbulbs.

A few minutes later, Adam and Breilen were there again. Breilen sat down-he too a bit paler then usual. At his first move of the mouse, the screen lit up and cues filled the space we all stared so hard at.

“Well... I think I see everything...” Breilen glanced at each of us, a bit puzzled.

“That was so not there a few minutes ago.” Adam choked out. Glancing at me, they knelt around the board, watching all their morning work load before their eyes.

As Breilen went back to practice, (the show’s kinda named after him, he’s Willy Wonka!) I looked up into Adam’s face towering above me.

“I was praying so hard... Jesus is here, Adam. He’s watching out for us.”

I can still hear Adam’s reply, his voice still a bit trembly as his fingers took a break from pushing all the save buttons.

“Lindsey, I think that’s what saved us because both you and I know... Our work was gone. He really is good.”

~~~~~

Yes, Adam. He really is.