Opening/Closing

This has been...quite a summer.  It's been a whirlwind eleven weeks of activity and information, a lot to process.  We just celebrated opening night for my first professional show which was coincidentally, my last show to run the backstage.  Fortunately, with previews I've had a pretty good run working backstage with an audience.  With a cast of four, it was a rather tight knit, laid back group which made the process very enjoyable indeed.  The Equity stage manager I was working for was very easy-going and had a wonderful style (in contrast to some of my earlier experiences for the summer.  On Monday, I move on.  While I am sad that I won't get to finish the run of the show, I am super excited about going on to the next place.

This is my first truly cross country trip, and essentially I am going across two sides of the United States.  I get to see many, many friends and family members as my trek will take me through Washington D.C., Atlanta, Pensecola, Houston, Waco, Austin, Tuscon, and finally, Los Angeles!  It'll be a great blitz of people seeing broken up by long stretches of road.  Or rather, long days of travel interspersed with precious visits.

I. cannot. wait.

check it out!

Picnik Time

Earlier this summer I discovered a great photo editing website (picnik.com) and was thrilled to find that they let you do collages as well.  The free membership lets you do a lot of awesome things (although the for-pay membership lets you do even more awesome things).  I was playing around with the collages and ended up making one for each of the nieces and nephews.  So here are the children, from oldest to youngest.

A Phenomonon

I call it "Leaving the Theatre While There Is Light In the Sky"

This is the most extraordinary of phenomenons and perhaps only possible during the summer.  Yes, the end of yesterday's rehearsal occurred BEFORE the sun had completely slipped below the horizon.  Spectacular.

The reason this was remotely possible is that I have started my third and final show with New Jersey Shakes.  My other two shows went well considering the small amount of support they are given.  I'm still glad I had a chance to work on those two shows, but it is much simpler now that I'm on a mainstage.  My days are shorter, my cast is smaller (only four actors), and it's amazing to see how quickly notes are addressed -- with notable exceptions of course.  A stage manager's schedule is never truly predictable.  Things come up at the last minute which require us to stay later than planned and finishing our day before the sun finishes it's day is still a remarkable event, but there's a pattern to the daily chores that I've picked up pretty well.  Busy days and long hours, but it's a relief to finally have a straightforward schedule.  And the occasional sunset.

Independence Day

You know those times in life where you just have to do something simply because it's available?  Yesterday, when I finished rehearsal at 6:00 instead of 10:00, it was clear that I needed to go to the fireworks display in Manhattan.  I called up a college friend (Shelly) who is summering in NYC and (as I hoped and suspected) she was meeting a group of people on the roof of an apartment building to watch the show.  I took my first American train ride, Shelly met me at the station, and we got there in perfect time to savor some watermelon and enjoy the fireworks.  As it turned out, we only saw about half the show, specifically the top half, since there were several taller buildings in front of us, but we didn't mind -- it was a beautiful night and we beat the crowds being further out.

It was a simple trip, but great to catch up with Shelly and get away from campus for a bit.  I hope yesterday was a holiday for everyone!

 

Could've Licked the Liberty Bell

Last Saturday, I found myself with an entire day off and took advantage of the time to go to Philadelphia.  I was able to spend a casual day in the Independence Hall area, visiting the Hall and nearby buildings along with the Liberty Bell.  After I saw the stuff downtown, I went to the Edgar Allan Poe house just to see what it was.  There wasn't much there in terms of artifacts, but the house was well-preserved.  It was very pretty, but also a great place to tell ghost stories and the people that worked there were extremely welcoming and friendly.  I very much enjoyed my day and the fact that I'm close enough to do this sort of thing.  Now if only Boston were a bit closer...

Picture time!

Title quote is from an episode of 'How I Met Your Mother'

Independence Hall

Revisting an pose from when I didn't have to reach down to hold the handle

Edgar Allan Poe cellar.  Creepy.

   

Jersey: Weeks 1 and 2

Okay.  I have now been at the Shakespeare Theatre for two weeks.  The first week there was not a whole lot going on for me.  I spent a lot of time waiting for essentially nothing.  The second week was extremely busy.  We're rehearsing from 10-10 every day with lunch and dinner.  The good news is, we staged the entire show and put the whole show together after one week of rehearsals.  The bad news is, there's not much time to work on show stuff (much less anything else) outside of rehearsal.

My second show starts rehearsing this week.  The girl who is stage managing this one will be my assistant for the next one and it's all the same actors (different directors).  There are days we'll be rehearsing for both plays in the same day.  Eventually, the actors will be taking both the shows to various places around New Jersey (there's a third stage management intern that will be traveling with them; I'm not going to do any traveling).  It'll be interesting to see how it all works out, but I'd say we've made good progress so far!

The atmosphere up here is wonderful, although I've been told that Madison is not like the rest of New Jersey.  Whatever the case, I'm enjoying this little borough.  Here are some of the things I have run into up here.

Passed these folks on the way to the post office.  You know, no big deal.

This is my first picture of a chipmunk next to my successful picture of a chipmunk.

I met this guy on my dinner break one night.  He was in our kitchen.

 

Goof Up

Too funny not to share...

I received an email today, boldly proclaiming that my pictures from graduation were ready and I could order a professional shot of me with my diploma in front of various fake backgrounds.  The thumbnails in the email looked odd, so I went to the site and quickly realized what the problem was: it's not me.  The girl in the photos is actually the girl who graduated directly before me.

So.  If anyone wants pictures of the music major that went before me, I can hook you up ;)