Confessions of a Perfectionist

Abby and Zeke are in Fine Linen Drama's production of "The Pirates of Penzance," and have been rehearsing every Saturday (and some Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays too!) for the past few months.

Much to my consternation, at all of the past few rehearsals, there have been 2-7 people carrying around their very own cameras, snapping shots of whatever they please - you'd think that the era of digital cameras had just dawned or something! Now, I'm not going to lie, this makes me quite frustrated - I miss the theater days when you could wear whatever you wanted, not fix your hair or makeup, and not expect to see your photos all over facebook and the blog world the next morning (or even that same evening, depending on who it is that is taking the pictures).

Okay, I was just teasing. I love the fact that people take photos of the rehearsals - especially since I am much too lazy to bring my own camera and snap a few shots. However, I wasn't teasing when I said that there are a lot of people taking pictures. And, because of our modern-day social networks, namely facebook and blogs, these photos are available for "stealing" whenever I would wish.

But (and here comes both the confession, and the perfectionist part), I cannot for the life of me, bring myself to sort through the photos and post any! Why, you might ask? Several reasons:

1. There are simply too many. I think I could probably find about 20 different close-ups of Nathan Brown singing on stage, taken by 3 -4 different photographers. Now don't get me wrong - I have nothing against looking at Nathan Brown (he makes a rather dashing Frederic, in my humble opinion), but in my perfectionist world, I could not simply pick the first one I spotted. Rather, I would feel compelled to compare each of these photos, and pick only my very favorite one to post on my blog. Can you imagine, going through that process with each and every one of the lead roles, as well as each scene!? Ahhh!

2. Chronological order is also incredibly important to me. So is organization in general. Umm. . .like incredibly important. Like. . . I wouldn't ever, ever imagine posting random pictures from the scenes if those photos weren't organized by scene, in the order in which they happen. This takes time, and patience, especially because it is sometimes hard to determine which scene photo comes from. I get a headache even thinking about it.

3. Then there is the fact that, after the performances, we will have so many more pictures. . . and guess what - these are going to be of exactly the same people, the same songs, and the same scenes. However . . . the actors and actresses will be in costume, with props. The set will be beautifully painted and the lights will be working as fully intended. So why take the time to sort through rehearsal pictures, when I can wait and do the same thing, but have the result be much more aesthetically pleasing?

4. But the first, primary, and most incredibly compelling reason - I'm lazy. :D

Check out the Nisbetts' blog, The Riefers' blog, and Ashley's blog if you want a sampling of the photos that are out there. I'm going to work on compiling and posting sometime in the near future, once I conquer my laziness.

Your favorite perfectionist,
Becky