Yep. Just when you thought that it couldn’t be more awesome.

I can’t believe that opening is only ten days away. Evan and I started freaking out a little bit at all the stuff that needed to get done; we could have have handled it in the past, because everyone on the Kiki team is their own capable entity, but we were still missing Direction.

Enter Reason Number Four: Greg Tavares. Greg is a founding member of the Have Nots!, Charleston’s premier Improv Comedy troupe, and is also part-owner of Theatre 99 itself. He’s the reason we’ve always done Kiki Proper at ‘99, because I’ve known him since the day he moved to Charleston and we’ve been fast friends for more than 10 years now. He recently directed me in Santaland Diaries, and it was one of the best times I’ve had, working with someone, so when we were wondering who could possibly lend a spare eye and ear to the various pieces of this show coming up, he was the first person that came to mind.

The Kiki shows are structured unlike anything most Theater People have experienced before, and it generally freaks them out to watch our process. The musicians get together to learn songs, and the dancers meet separately, the writers write bits and actors rehearse their skits. Then, close to the show, we just throw everyone into a room and say “GO!” and hope for the best. We’ve had surprisingly good results before using this haphazard “hope for the best” rehearsal process, but the frustrating thing is that if there is any amount of direction needed, it probably won’t be able to come from Evan or me, because we’re too busy on stage, and that direction is just as haphazard as everything else. In the past we’ve had our writers Joe and Summer act as “police” of sorts, telling us when things need to go more smoothly or aren’t funny, but they’re also busy being writers.

This time we wanted to have someone in charge. Thankfully, Greg agreed to do it. Not only has he already lent a spare eye/ear, but he’s tidied up some skits and helped us find a real rhythm to the show. And that was in his first day of work.

Seriously. Do you have tickets yet?