Dream? or Omen?

Last night I had another crazy dream. I was directing a play with 4000 kids-- It wasn't really 4000 but it really felt like it.  (maybe it was a memory?) We were doing Seussical, one of my favorite plays.  I didn't really know any of the kids, they weren't "my" kids but they were enthusiastic.  Melodie was with me-- my usual partner in theater crime-- and we were quite overwhelmed with it all.  The dream went very fast, casting, rehearsing and opening night were in a blink of an eye.  (ha ha, insert pun here)

I walk in Dodd's Hall and the audience is already there, I realize that we have no ushers, no one to stop them.  Kids are running around everywhere, eating (a cardinal NO in their costumes), they are running on the stage and through the crowd (another NO, you can't let the audience see you before the performance), I realize we have no backstage moms to corral them.  What a mess.  Mel and I decide to just go with it. Let the silly play go on, we'll figure it out later.

So we are sitting together opening night, I remember some of our old theater buddies coming in and being sort of embarrassed for them to see this play because we had slapped it together and didn't have the talent we were used to. We kept looking at each other with our Mel/Linda look, nervous but smiling and nodding.  Gratefully, the lights went down and the show started. We realize immediately that we had forgotten a very important part of the show:  SOUND.  No microphones, no body mikes, no overhead, no speakers, nothing.  We panic. "oh my gosh, how could we forget such a major part of theater?  it's been too long, we are out of practice, we shouldn't have done this..." But we decide we'll just call it a dress rehearsal and none will be the wiser.

Suddenly, we hear this odd voice coming from stage right.  "Who is that?" 
Melodie says, "oh yeah, remember it's that weird kid with the red hair, I can't remember his name" (again, a cardinal NO, we always know our kids really well by performance time)
I'm squinting trying to get a look at him... and I exclaim, "wait a minute, why is it so dark on stage?!!!!!

Yep, we forgot the other REALLY important part of theater:  LIGHT. I freak out, run out of the auditorium, run to the overhead light switches and flip them all on.  Only 3 work and they are over the audience and worse; I only catch the tale end of the last song of the first act! How could we go through the whole first act without realizing there's no LIGHT?

I'm running around in a total panic, "get me up on the bridge, I'll do the spotlights!!"
"you can't get up on the bridge, I sealed the hole to make an air vent"
"WHAT???"
"well grab a ladder and we'll put new overhead stage lights in"
"you can't, we lent the ladder to ____ and they won't come back for at least a month and besides, the congregation decided they were too bright, we like a dim light..."
"WHAT???"

Holy moly, I woke up in a sweat. What a nightmare!  I came downstairs to make coffee and it dawned on me that maybe it was a sign.  I've been really crazy busy this month and part of it has been because I've been trying to plan next year.  Trying to leave space in the calendar to do a play.  I REALLY miss doing plays.  Everyone tells me I'm crazy to try and fit it in.  I brush it off.

But SOUND? and LIGHTS? Kinda important.

Better make sure to get that covered first --(she says with a giggle)