Caution. This will be a very long post.
Lots has happened since my last post. Especially with the tech side... In fact, almost everything technical has come together to collide. So let me try to think back.
We had load in which was... interesting. I've never worked in the space before. I knew what things had to get done but I wasn't familiar with anything in the space. Everything moved along very quickly which was kind of frustrating to me. One person would learn how to do something and just start bossing people around. The much more organized and efficient way would have been to have a couple of people in different areas so more than one person is learning how to put crap together. We could have worked as a team but like I said... Everything was moving so fast and some people (not from New Line) seemed to be in a fucking hurry to get the hell out of dodge... so whatever. We got it done. Now that I know what happens, perhaps strike will be a little more organized. Poor New Line has been a bit nomadic, so we'll have have to start all over again when we move to the Ol' CBC place.
Next we had a couple rehearsals in the theater. I sent off my last line notes this weekend. The cast has been doing incredibly well taking the line notes and trying to correct themselves.
Then on Saturday, we had our Cue to Cue. Just like with the load in... I had absolutely no idea how this was going to work. It's up to the designer and where he is in his design. Whenever I do get used to a particular designer and how he works Cue to Cue, we go and have a new guy come in for the next show. We've had C2Cs where the designer actually writes the cues. We've had C2Cs where the designer goes through the show and edits. I think this is the first C2C that I actually ran the light board. I had a dry tech with Michael and then we ran through Act 1. We had a lunch break while he fixed some things and then we ran Act 2. I wish I could tell you how the design looks but unfortunately with the way the booth sits... I get to watch the show from behind... Very weird.
Excuse me for a minute... I have to figure out why this CD is deciding to skip while I'm trying to tape the damn thing...
As I expected. There is nothing wrong with the CD. Stupid CD player... I'll explain in a bit. Where was I?
Oh yeah. So with the way we've got the box set up, I am in the corner completely opposite of the band. It's very weird. At first, I was worried about being able to hear them. K. Well, that's no longer a worry. Phew.
And then yesterday, we had the sitzprobe. My lovely fiance (one of the two guitar players) wakes up fifteen minutes late. I'm trying to get some props together and battle him for being the first to take a shower (I win). We load up the car with his two guitars, an amp, music stand, his music, my backpack, a bag of ten or so beer bottles, and a strip of cardboard that I had spray painted black two hours prior. We're on Forsyth when my phone rings. It's ten till 1pm. If we were really good we would have been there twenty or thirty minutes ago. It's Scott. I answer the phone with, "We're on Forsyth." I can already tell that he's starting to get stressed.
The sitzprobe. Hum. It got off to a slow start because Steve (my adoptive little bro who is and will always be the New Line baby) was trying to figure out how to get Jeff to come through the band's monitor. I'm sure he was trying to figure out how things were hooked up. Being in a totally new place takes some getting used to... but once you figure it out, everything seems to fall into place.
But anyway, time is ticking away. Scott knows this. He knows how much work there is to be done. The cast is bored. Things are taking a long time. The band is trying to figure stuff out. The whole process is kind of painful... but not too painful... It's painful like - I want to say like ripping a band-aid off but I know some people like to do it really fast and get it over - No, this was like going really slow so it hurts just a little but it takes a really long time to get through it. And when you finally do get through it... you're good.
Me? I laid low the entire time. I spent most of my time underneath the risers setting up the prop table and Xmas lights. Kimi and I also put up our makeshift air vent cover. So now, the back row won't be blasted with cold air during the show and the actors below have a nice stream that they can step into while waiting to go on.
Although, you can still feel it if you're sitting in the two last rows on the stage right side. So, if you sit there... bring a jacket.
And the band sounds great. This show is going to sound like a rock concert. I asked Mike how he liked his partner (the second guitarist) and he says that he's awesome. Thank God. Mike can sometimes be pretty picky when it comes to playing guitar. And Jim has played with New Line before... He frightened me during Urinetown as the trombone player. He was awesome... but I have a fear of trombone players... possibly related to my fear of robots. Playing the trombone looks very robotic to me... Okay. I'm rambling. Anyway, Jim is a lot less frightening as a guitar player. :0)
Anyway. We got through it. Scott didn't kill anybody. I've actually seen him at his worst... maybe it was his worst... the Ivory was a nightmare.
Lastly, poor Chris Peterson! That poor guy went like... a whole five hours without having a cigarette. And Holy Christ was he doing a great job of not lashing out due to lack of nicotine. You wouldn't of even known it 'til he stood up after sitzprobe ended and excused himself to go take a -much needed- cigarette break.
And that pretty much brings us up to date. As Rob would say. Right now, I'm winding down after working midnights, where I spent most the night rewriting the light cues in my prompt book (It was dead out there last night). Having myself a black cherry rum and coke. Which would explain the fragmented sentences and bad grammar and random punctuation... Aw, who am I kidding... I hate grammar and I like random punctuation. I'm putting together the preshow music. Yes, I actually found a job to steal from Scott so that he can do other things of more importance. So after work this morning, I went to Walmart (I know. Ew. It was the only place open at 7am that sells cassette tapes) and get this... I had to actually ASK where the blank tapes were. It's virtually an extinct form. There was only one brand and they came in a pack of five for about seven dollars.
And I'm going to go do some laundry. I need to get some clean black shirts... I'll need 'em this week. And maybe some dishes. Then I'll join the fiance in the bedroom and take a little nap until it's rehearsal time.
I'll make sure his ass is on time... Well, we have to drive separately anyway because he'll have to leave for work.
Alright. Congrats if you've read this entire thing. I'll write more later.
... I love this Beastie Boys song...
Peace out,
Trish
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