A little girl, a move & the last assembly

Today we had our last Christmas assembly and it went soo great. It feels kind of sad that it was our last this year, but we're fully loaded with work with the new assembly and don't have the time to mourn about it. Just breath and keep up the good work!

Behind the scenes info:

I'm working on the music and soundtrack for the new assembly. The song is going to have Sam as the main voice and myself on the choir. Sounds great!

The soundtrack for the new drama is going to be awesome! I don't want to give out to much but I can say that it has a great jingle in it that I've created with help from the library of Logic. Love Logic!

Now it's strange with no Sam in the office. Yesterday was the day he officially had moved. The day that they got the keys to the new house. Last weekend, we, the three volunteers, helped the family to pack stuff into a van and taking care of kids. It was fun but sad. Little cute Rosie slept in my arms and I felt like, I don't know. It's just crazy that a little girl like that can touch your heart<3 like that! Now I need to work on the music again. Have a nice day!

Peace out!

Coffee is nice and hot

Here I'm sitting, shivering in the office. It's cold inside, but I'm also cold because of the radiator is next to me. That doesn't make sense, you think. But I'll tell you, it gives me a hope of a warm wonderful atmosphere, but it's an illusion, because when I turn towards my desk instead, I start to freeze even more than before. The cold is also coming from within me. I mean, I know I slept last night, but still I have this feeling that I just got up and there's nothing I'd rather do than go back to bed. But! There's something wonderful that can cure that. A warm dark fluid that makes you feel alert and excited at the same time... It's Coffee!

Now let me tell you something else.

This morning we had an assembly in a school in Essedon. The kids weren't as loud as kids in other schools, but I could see it, I could see that they were enjoying it. It feels great when the smallest kids are like watching every move you make, and look at you with that big excited face. It's just a pleasent feeling spreading inside of me and then I really know how it feels to be warm inside.

Day out in London

Yesterday Sam took us out on a nice day in London. We met up with him after the morning assembly in London and headed for one of the buildings of University of London. We went to a lunch session about Storytelling and Theatre. It was nice, I thought, even though it was a lot of english words and terms from the academic world I couldn't understand, I succeded to get the point. I think.

After the session we had a race. Which team were going to get to Covent Garden, the piazza, first. Lea and Joe, that took the tube, or me and Sam that walked?! Think about it.

At the piazza we went looking for street performances. We studied them carefully and thought about why some people are just embarassing while some just are wonderful and you really don't want to walk away from them. What is it that makes a good performance good?! Why did I feel uncomfortable when nobody wanted to stop for that guy, which made me stay longer in pity and encouragement?! These were some of the thoughts that popped up while we're observing the performers.

The rest of the afternoon: We went looking for a play and couldn't find a cheap one so we gave that up. Instead we went to the National Portrait Gallery and met up with Sam's sister, their cousin and his friend. So...it was a little bit of a Sam's family reunion... haha.. but it's was nice! We went to nando's and ate some spicy portuguese food. Really nice!

Everybody went their way, and left were the three volunteers. We went to Nero, the coffeshop, had a coffe (at least me, the others had hot chocolate) and talked about the future. Now I'm really inspired to consider my opportunities.

And yeah! Me and Sam were the winning couple in the contest the tube vs. walking. Oh yeah!!!

Additionaly I just want to tell you that we now have a youtube account and here's the link: ActFourCharity

Love, Linnea

A quiet day at work

Today has been a quiet day at the office, no assemblies and no Sam, less phonecalls, less people in the office and a actually a great deal of concentration.

I need a break so that's why I'm writing now....

I runned into some problems on the website and are really low on sugar, or as I usually say: chocolate. This means if the webpage doesn't in some peculiar way fixes itself or me having myself doing somthing else, I'll going to explode of frustration.

Let me write about the others instead!

Lea has finally got her money on her phone that the mobile company told her were gonna pop up into her mobile. Her courage was on top and she finally called them. The mystery about her missing money is now solved. And on the other hand she is now finished with the database that she's been working with the last two months, yey! :D

This day is a victory for Lea!

Finally, Joe's been working on the promotion video for Starcitizen and he's almost there. He's been working hard, and I helped him recording Sam for the voiceover.

Now I'm feeling better! So... have a nice day!

Linnea

I'm putting up a picture too, this is us with Abraham, taken the other week. Aren't we a cute team!?

This is the new blogger writing

Now it's time to get this blog up and running again!

This is one of the three new volunteers at Act4 writing. Let me introduce myself.

I'm Linnéa, turns ninteen really soon and have been working for Act4 like two months and one week, exactly. I'm the swedish girl and hope I'm the musical one, my thing is sound and recordings. I'm a part of a team of three people and we realized that we're fitting really well together with our skills. The oldest is the american guy, also called Joe, and he turns 23 soon. Joe is the one that has a major in theater at the university, I mean, how cool isn't that!? The youngest in our herd is Léa, the french girl, 18 years old and a great great dancer. She can, if she wants to, make me cry, just by doing her thing, she's is pretty amazing!

So... that's us!

You're going to find out more about us this year, but I'll leave it your imagination for now.

With our skills we've been doing our first set of assemblies and enjoyed it as much as kids in a candy store. Last week we went to train with another Time To Act team, that's the new name for a team that's delivering Act4 material in primary school assemblies. Currently we're no longer one Time To Act team, we're two, and you can find the other team in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. If you want to know more about the changes in Act4, check Act4's website.

We are the champions, my friends

It's done.

We performed 51 shows in 49 days. It was a long seven-week journey, but we came out on top. Yesterday we had our grand finale show at the Wyllyotts, right here in Potters Bar. We had a fantastic show in a fantastic venue with a fantastic audience. It was definitely the best way to wrap up this attempt. We want to send a big thank you to everyone who has supported us throughout these past 6+ months. It was well worth it.

The team is not as exhausted as we thought we might be, but definitely ready to slow things down. This morning we had a meeting about what worked and what didn't, all in preparation for the next time. ;) Things will definitely be different, but this isn't the last you've heard of Star Citizen.

This week we're gathering all the evidence for Guinness World Records, tidying up the office and getting things ready for the next school year. Keep an eye out on the website where you will soon find some fact and figures about the Star Citizen tour.

It's the Final Countdown

We have been performing for 6 weeks, and now we have one left.
We began with 50 shows (actually 51), and we have successfully completed 40.
We have just 11 shows to do ... in 6 days.
It's the final countdown.

Today we are running a marathon, 3 shows in Hertford, Hitchin and Potters Bar. The team is psyched up and ready to take on this challenge (yet again), but this time we know what to expect, and the weather might be cooler. After today we seemingly race towards the end with two shows each of the next three days. Then we coast to the finish line.

We are family

We've been out of Potters Bar and living on the road for a week now. Well, not really living on the road as much as living with families. From Thursday to Sunday we were based in Shrewsbury for a show and a wedding. The Bacon's home was a bit crowded with family in-town for the wedding, so Annika and Disa got the pleasure of sleeping in a tent in the garden. It was great! We even laid out in the grass one night looking up at the stars, shining so bright. The wedding was beautiful, the Ceilidh dancing was a blast, and the family was generous and welcoming.

Bright and early Sunday morning we drove down to Westgate-on-Sea. Before an afternoon show, we got the chance to relax, swim in the sea, get cleaned up and meet a mass of Sam's family. A whopping 18 of them (5 children included!) filled out our audience that day. After the show we headed down to Brighton, our base for this week. Show load this week seems light (at least when we compare it to what next week will be), so we're getting a lot of time to relax. The girls have spent a good amount of time reading, and Sam has even managed to watch some movies. Sam's family, like Moira's, are generous and welcoming, making everyone feel comfortably at home while we're here.

In other breaking news, we had our biggest audience to date - 265!

We'll do it all

Of the crazy weeks that we've had thus far in the tour, this week is it's own kind of crazy. It all started last week when the schedule started getting juggled around after we had to cancel some shows. We cancelled two of the original five shows this week because we couldn't get an audience for a couple theatres, putting both us and them in tight spots. But do not fret, because we did manage to get two last minute venues, so we still have 51 shows on the schedule. A huge round of applause to Moira, Luisa and Trisha for handling this schedule change and coming out on top!

To the ordinary onlooker, this may look like we now had two free days ahead of us, but things are not always what they seemed. Yes we did not have any shows on Tuesday, but we all did some time in the office, and Thursday may look like a whole day off, but a chunk of it will be spent driving to Shrewsbury. We did make a point to get some rest on Tuesday and have some time to ourselves, but that was also to recover from Monday and get ready for today. You see, on these days we had 10 o'clock shows in places over an hour drive away. So in order to beat traffic and get to the venues in plenty of time, we left Potters Bar at 5.20am. We did manage to avoid traffic and get to the venues hours before we were expected, so it's a good thing we all had things to read. When showtime finally rolled around, we performed to audiences of 7 and 11 people, but we still gave it our all. These audiences may have been small in number, but they were big in participation. After performing, packing up and eating some lunch, we'd hit the road to come back home. Unfortunately we did hit traffic on the motorway and didn't get back to Potters Bar until roughly 11 hours after we left. A few long days to make up for our "days off."

Turn Around

Today we knocked out two more shows, putting us only 23 performances away from the world record! I believe that today's shows were little answers to prayer. Not only did we have audiences at both of our shows, but they were also great audiences. The first was only one, small class. They were so enthusiastic and interactive that they filled out the whole church. The next show was at Cuffley School, a school where Act 4 has regularly performed assemblies and run 'R' Rights sessions. At this performance we had over 80 people! And that is the largest audience we have yet to get in a school. The kids at Cuffley are always excited to see Act 4, and we did our best not to disappoint. Let me tell you, it is so much easier when there's an audience. ;)

Bittersweet Symphony

Today we performed our 25th show, 25 out of 50. That means that we are halfway to claiming our world record. Exciting, right?

Right, but excitement was not the primary emotion felt by the team today. You see, we are all a bit frustrated, everyone from the world record team to our small but mighty administrative team. We are struggling to get audiences for too many of our remaining shows. I've mentioned before that Guinness World Records does not require that we have an audience, but it is difficult to perform an interactive show when there is no one to interact with. I will amend that statement now to say that it is difficult to perform an interactive show for children when there are no children in the audience. It takes a lot of energy to perform a show (in addition to the energy spent moving and setting up all the kit), and usually a performer can keep his/her energy up by feeding off the energy of the audience. Without an audience (or children), a show can become really draining. When we're performing 50 shows in 50 days, we can't afford to lose our energy; too much has gone into this project already.

We are still excited about what we're doing and giving every show our very best, but we ask for your support. Pray for the whole team, especially Moira, as we continue to work to find audiences. Pray that schools will work with us to get their kids to see a show. Pray that we can stay focused on what really matters and not get too stressed about any particular thing. If you can think of anything else, by all means, pray for it too.

Another one bites the dust

Another week down with a total of 22 shows complete. Sorry that it has been so long since the last post, but this week has been a bit crazy. Let me explain.

We came away from a nice weekend off with a show at a school where we do assemblies. Our first show of the week brought us our first serious (at the time) technical problem. It forced us to switch to some back-up kit , which we fortunately had ready to go. We all felt a bit off during the performance and had some slip ups, but we managed. Only one show on Monday, but we were all a bit nervous for the next day.

Tuesday the 16th had been looming over the team for weeks, ever since the third performance was confirmed, giving us three shows in one, short day. At least the anticipation put us in top form. We made it to the first venue in plenty of time and actually set up quickly, leaving 45 minutes to spare before the show! It helped that we could drive Clancy right onto the stage. ;)
We packed up after a great show, and then made it from Dunstable to Potters Bar in half an hour! We encountered some sound problems at the next venue in the form of a radio station interfering with sound system. We couldn't stop the radio before the show began, but it eventually went away. We made it to the third venue, still standing, and performed Star Citizen like it was the first of the day. Not only did we survive three shows in one day, but we also faced different situations that owe were able to adapt to and still deliver our show.

Our flexibility came in handy the very next day, where we encountered our most interesting performance space yet. It was a very old and beautiful church, with a shape not ideally suited for performing a show to a hundred children. We saw what we had to work with, moved some bits around and made the best of the space we had, all part of the world record challenge.

Wednesday evening we had a show in a primary school we have never been to before. It was a lovely school with a nice space to work in, and we got the opportunity to perform the show for a predominantly non-Christian group. Afterwards we got some encouraging feedback about how we deliver our message effectively, using Christian values without being exclusive or offensive.

Thursday was free of performances, but the team got together with some of our trustees for lunch and prayer. Our trustees have been overwhelmingly supportive, from finding venues and organizing prayer, to coming to shows to help with front of house and packing up our kit. This time of prayer and spiritual support is just one more way that they are keeping the team and this record attempt on course.

Friday the team drove to Cambridge to perform in the church of another TFG volunteer. The audience was small, but we still gave them our best. As difficult as it was to get 50 venues (now 51, actually), it has proven more difficult to get a substantial audience at each show. Moira has been incredible, phoning and re-phoning schools, but it's difficult work. Now that the team is feeling more confident in our abilities to overcome space issues and technical difficulties, we ask you to keep praying for Moira's task and for our audiences. This record attempt has never been just about getting a world record, it has been about spreading the work of Act 4 to other parts of the country and sharing the messages of hope and of the potential that children DO have to make a difference. We can do our part in performing Star Citizen, but we do need people to see it and be open to what it offers.

We shall overcome

We understood that going for a world record was not going to be easy, 50 shows in 50 days and all. This week we realized how tricky it really is to do those 50 shows in 50 different places. We have come across some interesting venues that have forced us to put on our thinking caps. For example, churches come in all shapes and sizes (we've gone into 3 churches this week), so it always takes a bit of quick thinking to figure out the best space for our stage. Often times we have to move different bits of furniture out of the way and work around various steps and platforms. These venues can bring added stress to our setup time, but we have always managed to get everything in order and still put on a great show for whoever comes to see it.

With the added obstacles that churches (and sometimes schools) can bring, we have really come to appreciate our theatre venues. The spaces are always ample, there is technical staff on hand that are willing to help out, the lights look great, and WE GET REAL DRESSING ROOMS! Needless to say, we were excited to get back to a theatre this morning, until we found out that the theatre was on the third floor, and there was only a tiny lift to move all our equipment up there. It's a good thing we got there over two hours before the show. We had our doubts at first, but the theatre people were really nice and helpful. Packing up went much quicker with extra help and a big, lift-sized trolley.

Tomorrow Star Citizen goes international! All the way across the border to Wales. Yes! See you back in Potters Bar next week.

On the road again

'Star Citizen' is officially on tour this week. Yesterday the team drove up to Shrewsbury in Shropshire with Clancy and the Frankel family. We settled into our home base in Shrewsbury and have been getting the lay of the land. Today we will be exploring the town and checking out some of the venues before an evening show at St. Chad's Church.

After such a busy week (10 shows in 6 days, 20% of the attempt!), the team is looking forward to only 5 shows in 5 days this week. We hope to have more time for dealing with press releases, updating our website with pictures and reviews from last week's shows, and piecing together our world record evidence video. As I said, we hope to get these things accomplished, but we also intend to get some rest. So just keep checking the website, and see if you can spot any changes!

Lucky number 7

7 down, 43 to go! And yes, 43 to go because our lovely trustee, Trisha, got us our 50th venue today! We were confident that we would get 50 venues, but it's very comforting to know that we actually do have 50 venues.

We have completed 3 shows since the last post, 2 yesterday and 1 today. Let me tell you, it was a nice break today to only have one show and to not have to worry about rushing to the next venue and setting up in time. Although, we are getting much better at setting up and taking down our set. In the next few weeks, we will become so good at it, that we could do it in our sleep (which might be the case some early mornings). If nothing else, the three of us will have bigger muscles after all this heavy lifting. ;)

The show must go on

Today was another busy day for the world record team, with a shows at 10am and 6pm. The morning show was at Watersmeet Theatre in Rickmansworth, and it had a funny loading door. It was in this alley-type passage, with not much room to maneuver Clancy, so it started out being difficult to get a good position. Then the platform was more than a metre of the ground, making it a very awkward height for moving our stuff. Overall it was a nice theatre, and even though it took awhile to warm-up the audience, by the end they were joining in like the best of them.

It was nice to have a break between the shows. While Annika and Disa spent their time eating and sleeping, Sam had to deal with some crisis management after we found out that there would be nobody coming to our show at Creswick Primary School tonight. Although we don't need an audience for the world record attempt, it is very difficult to perform an interactive show without anyone to interact with. We called in reinforcements and ended up with an audience of 10 (4 children). They may have been small in number, but they were a fantastic audience.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

World Record Attempt Update

Show #1 - check
Show #2 - check
Day 1 - check, check, Hallelujah!

We could not have hoped for a better first day for the world record attempt. We didn't have any problems getting to the venues on-time or having the show ready to go on-time. At the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage, we had a crowd of about 40. The show went smoothly, and we even had a talent act called 'Shooting Stars'. How perfect is that? The theatre itself was a really great venue. The technical staff was so helpful, and they made our transition to St. Mary's in Potters Bar so much easier.

At St. Mary's we had a great crowd from St. John's Prep. Those kids are always such a good audience; they can sit quietly and listen, but they also know how to participate. It was a great feeling to stand backstage while the credits were rolling and hear them belting 'Be a Star'.

R U Ready for This?

WE ARE!!!

We are so ready to get this world record attempt started. All week we have been putting the final touches on the show and making sure that everything is ready to go for Monday. We took a trip to Ikea on Tuesday to purchase storage boxes in various sizes (as well as eat some delicious meatballs) and popped over to B&Q to get some tools and a ladder.

Wednesday was spent rehearsing at St. Mary's Church in Potters Bar. We wanted to get an idea of how the show would look in a church, since we have already set up in schools and a theatre. Turns out that it is still going to look awesome!

Thursday was a big day, as we were introduced to arguably the most important member of the Act 4 World Record Team. His name is Clancy, and he's got style. See for yourself -

We were very excited to meet him and are quickly becoming the closest of friends.

There are only a few more things on our to-do lists, but mostly we are just waiting to start the clock. The next time you hear from us, we'll be making history!

Thanks for all your prayers and support. =)

Come together, right now

In one week from today, our World Record Attempt will officially begin!  It's crazy to think that we have been preparing for this for over six months, and now we have just six days to get everything finished.  No worries, though, because we are so close to being ready.

Last week we took a break (some more than others) to rest and relax before we hit the road for 50 days.  We decided to ease ourselves back into work by doing our first dress rehearsal in front of a live audience.  It was a lot of work to get everything for this one, since we had to take multiple trips in the green car and hadn't rehearsed in over a week.  Fortunately, the audience was great, and the show went off without a hitch.  It was eye-opening to dress rehearse in a more realistic setting, and I think it gave us confidence in our ability to work through any difficulties during the actual attempt.  Plus, it was great to finally perform for some children after working on this for so long.

So this week we are back in the office, polishing the show while continuing to invite people to see Star Citizen.  Keep an eye out this week in the Hertfordshire Mercury and the Barnet & Potters Bar Times for articles about the show, and don't forget to buy your ticket!

When the going gets tough, the tough get going

Up to 48 venues, only 2 more needed! So we are getting there. The last two weeks have been spent rehearsing the show. It has meant long days, but it is all worth it when it eventually comes together.Not only have we been rehearsing in the hall at the office, but we have also had the opportunity to test everything out at the local theatre. It is strange to think that the next time we set up there it will be for out last show on the 19th July!!

It was great being on the stage and having the lights and the set; it looks brilliant. It is amazing what only three people can put together. We have also been trying hard to get audiences to come to the show its going to be great! So if you're reading this - don't miss out.

A holiday next week for some of us. Hopefully it will help us get our energy back so we are ready for 50 amazing performances.

Under Pressure

So many excited things are happening in the office right now, and they're happening at break-neck speed. Here's what has been going on, in numbers:

• We now have 48 out of 50 venues! Only 2 more to go!!
• Our awesome team of volunteers has contacted 180+ primary schools around the country, inviting them to our show.
• We have made initial contact with over 250 media outlets in Hertfordshire and the surrounding area, including local papers, magazines, radio programmes, and even TV!
• We have officially confirmed the dates of our record attempt with Guinness World Records
• The team has put in countless hours this week trying to work on elements of the show so that we can begin rehearsing next week.

As you can see, we have a lot going on and a lot of people to talk to. Our volunteers have been tremendous help phoning around, but the list just keeps growing, and our helpers are limited. We are starting to feel a bit under pressure as the team tries to juggle getting the show ready and handling all of these new administrative tasks. We are trying our best not to let it overwhelm us, but the attempt begins in just one month. We ask for your prayers that we can successfully manage all that we need. We appreciate all of the support that we have received.

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!

Great things are happening in the office, and they are happening fast!  We returned to the office after a successful week at Dalesdown, ready to take the next step toward attempting the world record.  On Monday, we had 43 out of 50 venues booked!  

That next step is contacting schools near each venue and inviting them to the show.  We gathered a great team of volunteers to phone the first group schools and sell the show.  They hit the phones hard on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Our wonderful callers generated a buzz of interest, but all we can do is give the schools the information; now it's up to them to make a decision.

And they have!  This morning we sold our FIRST TICKETS!!  Sam couldn't even finish taking the information because he jumped out of his chair in excitement.  After spreading the news around the office and doing a little happy dance, we called to finish the sale.  We have people coming to our show!!  We're all still a little shaky with excitement.  

It's all happening, and you don't want to miss out.  Tickets are on sale now.  Make sure to check the Booking Plan to find the show near you, and BUY SOME TICKETS!

Give me a break, give me a break ...

...we're going to take a break forthe Easter ho-li-days!

That's right, after finishing our last "It's more than just an assembly" this morning, the team is doing a little tidying up before taking a much needed break.

Just after our holiday Sam, Annika and Disa will be heading down to Dalesdown to work with Through the Roof doing praise parties. So you won't be seeing any new blog posts until the 20th April, but we will have a lot of exciting things to tell you about!

Enjoy your Easter holidays as well!

Here comes the sun ... do-do do-do

Isn't the sunshine just fantastic?! It is almost like it has magical powers because when it finally peeks out from behind the clouds, it makes everything better, just like your mum putting a plaster on an injury or having a hot cocoa. The sun makes everything bright and warm, and those are definitely not bad things. The sun also makes for great filming conditions. The great outdoors gives us unlimited movie locations, but gray skies do not make a pleasant backdrop. So when the sun came out, we rushed outside with the camera. It was a short day of filming, but fun and productive all the same.

As wonderful as it is to have the sun streaming through the windows, it causes problems when you're trying to use stage lights. In order for the new lights to be dramatic and effective, we need to make the hall as dark as possible. Because of this, we found in some schools that the sun was shining too strong and too bright! We did everything we could to battle those bright rays (without blocking the fire exits). But that's the thing about light, it can't easily be stopped. You can put up barriers, but a glow still sneaks around the sides, through cracks or other weak places. That is exactly like God's light. It cannot be dimmed or blocked, but it can be reflected to others. So get out there, rain or sun, and shine God's light!

Just keep going. Just keep going. Just keep going, going, going.

The past week and a half has been busy for the whole team. Sam, Disa and Annika focused their attention on preparing a new assembly, the last that will be performed this school year. The theme is Keep on Going, encouraging the children to keep on going when they face a challenge or difficulty. The assembly seems very appropriate at this time when Act 4 is taking on such a big challenge ourselves. This preparation gave us the chance to seriously work with some of our new equipment, including editing, sound recording and presentation programmes on the Mac computers, and focusing and programming the new stage lights. We premiered the new assembly at Cuffley on Monday, and the new lights seemed a big hit.

Luisa and Moira continued to hit the phones hard, and their efforts were not wasted. We now have over 30 venues! That's HUGE for us because it confirms that we CAN do this and that people are willing to support us. We have even been contacted by venues interested in our show. We have gained momentum in our booking, and now we just need to keep on going.


Not only has the team stayed busy during the week, but we also had a very busy weekend. On Saturday we transformed Tilbury Hall into the Orient Express and held a Dinner & Dance for almost 90 people. There was delicious food, raffle prizes and a live band to fill the evening with a good time for all. On Sunday morning Sam, Disa, Terry and Annika traveled around to 6 different churches in Potters Bar to share with them what has been going at Act 4. We gave them an overview of the charity's work, introduced them to the Star Citizen World Record Attempt and announced the development of a new and exciting Community ‘L.I.V.E.’(Leadership, Involvement through Voluntary Experience) Award, that will look to encourage, equip and recognise children’s contribution to their communities.

A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action

Last week was an abbreviated week in the office as we all took some much needed time off for half term. We did, however, return to the office on Wednesday and accomplish much in the next three days. All the girls went on a Risk Assessment course to ensure that our show will be safe and enjoyable for all parties involved. Sam continued to do everything, including planning our next assembly. Annika made great steps in learning about our new lights, and Disa got to know the newest member of the office team, Mr. Mac (a.k.a. our MacBook Pro presentation laptop). Friday was a great day to learn about our set as we set up the whole kit and our technical director came in to give us a tutorial on stage lighting.

All of this was well and good, but the real stars of the week were Luisa, Moira and Sam, who hit the phones hard and got us some more bookings! We have altered our booking strategy and this tenacious trio put it into action with positive results. Now we hope to keep up this momentum and continue filling our calendar. Sam came across a great passage from Romans this morning and shared it at our meeting. Now I share it with you:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Don't Stop...Believin'

This was another whirlwind week of emails, phone calls and...snow? Yes, just as the last of the snow had melted away, a fresh blanket is covering Potters Bar. At least it will be gone by the time we start touring the country this summer! Actually, the office team will be escaping this weekend on some half term holidays. We sure need a break after this week. We are all feeling the pressure of this immense challenge.
~Luisa is a ringing-machine, phoning venue after venue, leaving messages, following-up, and sometimes getting no response. Expending so much effort while receiving little in return can be quite draining, but Luisa is a trooper. Slowly but surely we are getting results and generating more interest in this great project.
~Annika spent the week juggling tasks involving the website, Act 4's Charity Weekend, set design projects, learning about the stage lights and many more odd jobs.
~Disa cranked up her creative juices to finish the next issue of the Act 4 Newsletter (a Special Edition all about the record attempt!) while also researching a new performance laptop.
~Sam worked with each of us on all of our jobs, as well as doing much, much more. Whenever any of us needed help with a project or a final decision needed to be made, Sam was there to support us.

At least we have made some accomplishments before leaving on our holidays. When we return next week we will be refreshed and ready to take on the world, or at least a world record. ;)

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland...Workin' in a Winter Wonderland

View from the office, 2.2.09 13.00

The biggest snowstorm in 20 years may have shut down the entire city of London, but it did not stop the Act 4 team from pursuing this dream. We braved the snowdrifts and icy paths in our Wellies and knit caps to come into the office and work on the world record attempt. But we were not the only ones undeterred by the foul yet beautiful weather. On Tuesday, the office was literally overflowing with friends coming to help. Our regular volunteers, Derek and Bill, were in to work on various administrative projects that are helping us to identify venues and marketing outlets. Act 4's newest trustee, Graham, came in to give us a hand with the phones, making brilliant phone calls to potential venues and supporters. With the schools being cancelled, Jonathan (our assistant technical advisor) was available to come and help us with our new light kits. And, our graphic designer, David, was home from university and came in to integrate his Star Citizen logo into poster and ticket designs. All in all, it was joyfully crowded in here that day.

We are continuing to contact venues and pursue bookings, but it is proving a slow process. We are trying to keep our chins up, but we ask for your prayers that the right doors will be opened for us, sooner rather than later. Prayer is wonderfully powerful thing, and we had several prayers answered this week. By the grace of God we are moving forward with this project, and by that same grace we hope to complete it.

This week was all about set design. Sam and Annika worked tirelessly over set designs and stage layouts, trying to figure out what we need/want. The set for Star Citizen is an adaptation of the setup for our last interactive performance about Hope. So to keep in the spirit of this new, record-setting performance, everything is bigger and better. We are using elements of the old set as starting blocks redesigning them to improve quality and durability. It is really important to us that everything in the show is at a professional standard, but everything also needs to be portable and capable of withstanding the stress of 50 shows around the country. Basically, we're taking a lot of care in getting the right materials for our purpose.

After weeks of drawing plans on paper and deliberating over products and materials, we now have something tangible to work with. We ordered some really cool items online, and who doesn't love ordering online?! We've gotten to open so many exciting parcels in the last few days that it feels like a second Christmas. =) Now we can start setting up different pieces and trying out our new stage lights (which were just delivered!).

In addition to making major progress on the set, we also did some preliminary filming with the Performance Team and met with Harvey Thomas, an international public relations and presentation consultant. Harvey was Press and Public Relations Director for Margaret Thatcher, so he offered a wealth of knowledge about marketing the attempt and covering all necessary angles.

Next week we aim to focus on filming. :)

Step by step we're moving forward...

We've actually been out of the office this week. Annika and Disa were away at a volunteer conference, Sam was ill and worked from home, and Luisa took some time off. We did, however, return to the office to find 2 MORE BOOKINGS! (with several more in the works). Sam also informed us that he has finished writing the new drama to be used in the show. Apparently it is unlike anything we've seen or done before; even he didn't expect it to turn out this way. In true Sam fashion, he did not reveal any details about said drama, just telling us enough to wet our appetites until the great reveal at our Monday meeting. At least we get to find out on Monday, you will have to wait until June or July. Aren't you excited? We sure are!

Next week we plan to start building our set, putting together a World Record Newsletter Supplement, filming with our Performance Team, and booking even more venues! So keep checking our progress and keep us in your prayers.

Gimme the Beat!

In our continuing efforts to put together a remarkable, record-setting performance, we're working on improving all aspects of our work. This week we focused on sound-recording.

It started with the arrival of our new digital audio computer interface, a.k.a. a fancy piece of equipment that allows us to record vocals and instruments into our computer so that we can mix it and make it sound cool. We love getting parcels at the office, especially when they contain exciting new things that we get to play around with. Unfortunately, we have limited knowledge about studio-quality recording, and even less knowledge about the intricacies of the equipment. Fortunately, we have friends who do. :)

Sam asked an old friend who knows quite a bit about recording (he hopes to own his own recording studio someday.) So Simon came into the office today and gave us an AWESOME lesson, not only about how to use our new equipment, but also about recording in general. We learned about sound and what the interface hardware and mixing software do with it and how we can control it. Simon did a really great job explaining the basics to us, because we can't expect to create quality soundtracks if we don't truly understand sound, or tracks really. Now we at least know something about it. We all took a lot from the afternoon and can't wait to start recording!

It was also a BIG day in the office, as we made several more bookings. We figured that once we got the ball rolling, momentum will start bringing in the bookings, and now it's starting to move! If you have any connections with a theatre, secondary school or large church (hall capacity of over 300), be sure to check out how to get involved. The more people we have supporting this project, the better chance we have of succeeding.

Let's Start From The Very Beginning...

...the VERY BEST place to start!

The team came back from our Christmas holidays refreshed and ready to go. We jumped headfirst into booking venues and publicizing our attempt. Over the break, we got our very 1st booking! only 49 to go ;) We will perform our grand finale show at the Wyllyotts Theatre, right here in Potters Bar.

The thrill from our first booking fired us up to work on getting more. We put together venue packs to both inform and, hopefully, inspire potential venues to support this project. Annika has also been tirelessly working to get the World Record Attempt website ready to go live. I hope that you all enjoy it!

We're still trying to get into a new rythm in the office, but hopefully things will keep rolling. Be sure to check back each week to see how we're coming along!