It’s been a long time since I’ve consumed coffee past 11 am. But these days it has become a common occurrence. Directing with a two-and-a-half-year-old is a different thing. Up at 5:30 or 6, not back to bed until 11 or midnight. I’m not complaining though. I love working on this show. I don’t want to jinx myself – but I seem to have developed a knack for casting actors that are really talented but sans the attitude. It’s a genuinely, a really nice and fun group of people. So that makes the process really great.

But normally right around now – 6:30 p.m., I need a boost.

Tonight is the designer run. So the designers get to see the show for the first time – and by show I mean actors running the show in a rehearsal room with props but no set or costumes. There are still major chunks of the show that haven’t, and won’t be dealt with until we get in the space. For example, we have changed the way that Marley enters Scrooge’s room compared to the last several years here. We think we know how this will be done – but there are a few challenges having to do with getting him in there without the audience seeing him and safely – since the whole bedroom rotates. So we have to be sneaky, and safe and not run over Glenn, and we’re not entirely sure if what we have planned will work until we do it on the set.

The same can be said for the Ghost of Future. We know how we want Future to come alive – but until Future is built, it’s a little unclear. So the designers have to watch this to get a picture of what happens and when, and to help them finish their designs for sound, light, effects, set, props and costumes. All told there will likely be about 33 people in the room tonight.