Does anyone else notice that these lists are growing less and less childish? Next thing you know, she's going to ask for a car. I'm feeling old, friends. Feeling old.

What's that Garth Brooks song? Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)? Before you know it she'll be all grown up. Cherish the moment, Nick.

I used to SM a lot in college (have I told you this before?) and usually got volunteered to do a lot of other things. I was production stage managing a series of new plays when I somehow got suckered into designing the sound for it--with NO SOUND EXPERIENCE. I remember (painfully) endless nights of audio real with me and an exacto knife trying to splice tape together so that the precise sound I was looking for would emerge.

Ugh. That was my first and last trip into the world of sound.

designing the sound for it

Are you crazy? Haha. Though, half the things I like about the theatre is how often I'm just flung into new things. For the first couple of months, I walked around asking the most inane questions. This production? I'm not the new guy anymore, and people are asking me questions. I don't get the low shit-jobs, either.

I'm trying to appreciate this In-Theatre business, because come January, we enter grants season. Type-type-type. Our next performance isn't going to be until sometime late March, mid April.

I like this job, mostly. There's a lot of crap and hand-holding that goes with it. And oh, did I mention the suck-up and kiss-ass aspect of it? The perks though include a lot of vacation time, paid lunches, make your own breaks, and impromptu roadtrips to see other performances. For free.

Good news is, in the future I might be able to go to a performance course in Banff, and further in the future, arrange to go to another in New Mexico. The last woman I worked with also invited me to go with her group to New Zealand, if she gets the funding for it.

Do you miss it, Meghan?

Cherish the moment, Nick.

sounds like good advice. But I still can't help feeling that this is all bittersweet.

[qutoe]Why ruin it with negative feelings?[/quote}

Exactly... Those who eat what they want then bitch about it afterwards not only give themselves hearburn, but annoy the hell out of anyone who happens to be in earshot.

these lists are growing less and less childish

While mine grow more and more childish the further over 40 I get

Wow, 9 uh? That's a cool birthday list for a girl too!


Have a safe and wonderful holiday too Nic!

Hey nic, I forgot to ask if you have read any of Gregory Maguire's other books?

I saw him at a reading at one of our local bookstores. I think it was after the book, Mirror, Mirror was published.

My favorite is Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister.

My favorite is Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister.

I loved that book! I haven't read much else, but have read a lot of interviews that he's done, about the idea of using established writing as a jumping off point. I loved the fact that he's taken some very old stories and added so much to them to make them his own.

but back to the call center I go today...ugh.

that's how I always felt about it, Sabrina. I mentioned to a friend how it feels that those last 2 + years were such a waste of time in my life, but she pointed out that it was honest work, and I was only doing my best to keep it all going. So true. Keep on, keeping on, my friend.

While mine grow more and more childish the further over 40 I get

hahaha. I'm like that, too. I'm dying for a pair of heelies, but I don't think they make them in adult size.

Wow, 9 uh?

Yeah, its going sooooo fast.

Happy holidays to you, too!

Do you miss it, Meghan?

Every day.

I mean there are certainly aspects that I will never miss. Getting home at midnight after a grueling rehersal and having to type out line notes and production notes, only to have to be back at the theatre for an 8am production staff meeting. I will never miss the lack of sleep that I got during productions -- I did the majority of my theatre stuff in college so when I would finally get done with all of my play notes, I'd have to start my school work. I'd go weeks sleeping no more than a couple hours a night--I could literally call shows in my sleep. I also remember several evenings where I slept in the green room or in our technical directors office because it was easier than going home!

But I did love it. It was constantly a challenge--thinking on your feet, using your imagination to get you out of jams. What do you do if the light fails to turn on when it's meant to? What if the tracks for the moving set pieces get stuck and your set piece is half way on stage and halfway off? What happens when someone accidently cleans (read throws away everything on) the prop table the afternoon before opening night? Remember all the while that the answer to every question was "the show must go on!"

I worked with a great department--they allowed the students (ie, me) to really just dive right in and they really helped hone our strengths and find work-arounds for our weaknesses. For example, I am musically challenged. I can't count beats, I can't carry a tune, I don't do music. Sure it sounds lovely, and I know what I like, but I that's as far as I go.

However, after two months on campus, I was asked to stage manage the dance concert. Every single lighting cue was written on the music sheets--which I don't fluently read. I was convinced that I was screwed when on of my favorite set design professors asked me why I looked so worried. I explained it him, and we sat down and brainstormed ways for me to call the show without reading music. Eventually we taped a rehearsal, and I spent hours watching it and precisely timing where each cue went with a stop watch. Every single cue was called off the stop watch for the entire run of the production.

It's strange because I definitely worked on much bigger and "better" productions after that (and I used that techique repeatedly) -- but that one really sticks out as one where I was faced with a huge challenge and the theatre staff helped me figure a way to over come it.

I honestly think that theatre is an integral part of any liberal arts program because it doesn't simply teach a subject, but putting together a production from day one to the final strike is about learning how to learn, how to recognize strengths and weaknesses, how to over come challenges, and how to work together to accomplish a united goal.

This is getting really long--I apologize for rambling on and on. One final thing--that favorite set design professor used to always keep our spirits up when things were going wrong on the set by asking: "Where you responsible for (fill in some world event)?" He usually said "100 kids dying in Africa today?" We'd answer no, and he'd respond, "well, it's nothing we can't fix then, is it?"

My favorite lighting designer says "If there is more than one way to do the job, pick the simple one." So many times, performers ask for so much to be set up, when really, they're there to perform, not to get all nitpicky about things. We try to break everything down to the simplest way possible without sacrificing artistic intent, and everyone seems to end up a lot happier.

I honestly think that theatre is an integral part of any liberal arts program because it doesn't simply teach a subject, but putting together a production from day one to the final strike is about learning how to learn, how to recognize strengths and weaknesses, how to over come challenges, and how to work together to accomplish a united goal.

Excellent, I agree.

Every single cue was called off the stop watch for the entire run of the production.

I didn't know how much went into behind the scenes action. I had no understanding of lighting and sound cues, let alone the difference between a hazer and a fog machine, and why pink is favoured over green. I'm learning, and it is a lot of fun, though tiring.

The last production was on Saturday, then strike, and now the office and storage room is in shambles. We're getting tiles laid for the dressing rooms, new sinks and mirrors put in, so everything that was stored there, is now upstairs in the office. It's been a lot of tedious work completing inventories, and compressing everything from large random boxes and bags to smaller containers.

The bonus has been editing. I'm spending hours this week making dvds of the last 4 or 5 productions.