It's just after 6 p.m. on a Thursday night, and Sandy Boren-Barrett is still hard at work. The executive director for Stages Theatre Company is pulling double duty right now - not just her already busy day job, but also directing the theater's latest production, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas."
And you know what? She's pleased as punch about it all.
Both hats are similar -involving scheduling, budgeting and a myriad of other details - and both allow Boren-Barrett to work with plenty of talented folks.
In the case of directing, that includes the 23 young performers that make up the bulk of the show's cast.
Of course, being the director means she gets to see the fruit of everyone's labor on stage.
"For me, getting the show before an audience is the most gratifying part," she said.
Stages' latest holiday show, now running through Dec. 28, takes Clement C. Moore's classic poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas" as a starting point.
"It can't just be the poem - that would last about eight minutes - so the play is about the events that inspired Clement Moore in his poem," Boren-Barrett said.
Playwright Jennifer Kirkeby and composer Shirley Mier took that concept and ran, invoking all manner of holiday traditions and artistic works to craft their piece.
"There are sugarplum fairies that dance in the play," Boren-Barrett said.
Work on the show began in fall 2008 when the piece was commissioned.
Boren-Barrett worked with Kirkeby and Mier, who have crafted several previous productions for the company, along the way as they developed the script and score. This included questions about tone - "you must be supremely mindful of your audience" - and ideas to incorporate.
From the beginning, Boren-Barrett wanted the show to include plenty of traditional Christmas and holiday tunes along with the work being created by Mier.
All of that work eventually led to six weeks of rehearsals this fall, as the company learned their steps and songs.
The cast features a mix of adult performers, veteran youth actors and newcomers, which Boren-Barrett loves to see. "There are layers of mentoring going on. The adults have mentored the veteran performers, and they in turn mentor the newer ones," she said.
The holiday show is typically the biggest piece of the year for Stages. This year, it will run for 42 performances - 10 to 20 more than other shows on the schedule. That means the piece is a huge commitment for the young performers, both during rehearsals and the run, which - of course - coincides with a busy social time.
"I tell them that this is really a family commitment," Boren-Barrett said. "Everyone is going to have to make sacrifices for this show. That's why it is such a gift to this organization."
The idea of gifts runs both ways. This year, Stages has teamed up with Toys for Tots to have a toy drive at the theater during the show's run.
"Every year, the staff at Stages has committed to giving gifts to several families," Boren-Barrett said. "This year, we wanted to open that to our entire audience."
Last Thursday was the show's preview (Boren-Barrett spent the final few minutes putting a new curtain call in place).
This week, she gets a bit of a rest before heading right back into the breech, as she is directing the company's next production, "The Snowy Day."
"I'm really excited to do that show," Boren-Barrett said. "It will be very different than anything we've done before at Stages."
