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| Chamber Tour 2009: Oct 18 to Oct 25 |
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
Let the Games Begin!
Ok, so we left for tour on Wednesday morning after a grueling 2 straight weeks of tech. The techs went rather smoothly, but the long hours and days just kept adding up!
Wednesday, we left Boston, heading to Scranton, PA. This was a familiar route to me: I-90 (or, the Mass Pike) to I-84. We stopped at the I-84 Diner in Fishkill, NY which I first went to at the end of my first summer at TriArts in 2005. Hotel check-in went smoothly, and everything was moving right along.
Thursday morning we left the hotel at 7:10am. I had not received confirmation of our arrival time at the hall, which turned out to be 8 rather than 7:30, so we were nice and early. Of course we couldn't unload the truck or get started since it was a IATSE hall. The truck unload took 24 minutes, which I'm told is a very good time. The set up took longer than I'd hoped. We opened the house with the main curtain still out so that we could focus the DS booms. Yikes! (I heard that this sometimes has to happen, though, so I don't feel as bad about it as I did at the time. And I'm glad my instinct to do so was right.) I ran the light board during the show for several reasons, among which were that there was no com and my ME wasn't done with load in. We started 14 minutes late. Intermission ran 5 minutes long. The crew (not any of my people) ripped the house cyc with one of our set pieces during the show. The truck was loaded by 2:45pm. I'm told everything will get faster, so on a scale of one to the first time we've tried doing this by ourselves, I'd say we deserve a round of cookies!
After the show we drove from Scranton, PA to Mechanicsburg, PA. I drove the truck for the first time, and Jesus was my co-pilot. Literally. I was feeling stressed, so I bought myself some Tension Tamer Tea (by Celestial Seasonings) and a salad, and took a bath. A little later, one of my cast and my house manager said they were going to buy beer, so I put some cash in, and the bath, the tea, and the beer turned out to be a winning combination!
Today I navigated in the truck. It was a drive day, meaning we did not do a performance. We had 333 miles to cover, and it was supposed to take 5.5 hours. We left at 9:30am and finally arrived at 5:30pm. 5.5 hours my ass! Among the highlights of the day were my driver turning too tight and putting a dent into the gas station with the 26' truck, and getting flagged at the NC weight station to find that the truck is 1640 lbs. overweight. We had to shell out $65 for the necessary permits, and the company was slapped with a $535 fine. My supervisor is going to brainstorm over the weekend as to what our options are for alternative packing since it will be next to impossible for us to purchase the necessary permits (which are only good for 3 or 10 days and which must be purchased at truck stops prior to entering the state).
I am very glad I was in the truck for the weigh station incident today. Being the responsible party and having the company debit card eliminated a lot of confusion. I also very much enjoyed today's drive: I-81 south from Mechanicsburg thru MD and WV to I-66 just south of Winchester, VA. Then route 17 to I-95 and south to Rocky Mount, NC.
I have to run now. I've got a date with my cast for Ruby Tuesday's Salad Bar in 10 minutes!
xoxo
D
Wednesday, we left Boston, heading to Scranton, PA. This was a familiar route to me: I-90 (or, the Mass Pike) to I-84. We stopped at the I-84 Diner in Fishkill, NY which I first went to at the end of my first summer at TriArts in 2005. Hotel check-in went smoothly, and everything was moving right along.
Thursday morning we left the hotel at 7:10am. I had not received confirmation of our arrival time at the hall, which turned out to be 8 rather than 7:30, so we were nice and early. Of course we couldn't unload the truck or get started since it was a IATSE hall. The truck unload took 24 minutes, which I'm told is a very good time. The set up took longer than I'd hoped. We opened the house with the main curtain still out so that we could focus the DS booms. Yikes! (I heard that this sometimes has to happen, though, so I don't feel as bad about it as I did at the time. And I'm glad my instinct to do so was right.) I ran the light board during the show for several reasons, among which were that there was no com and my ME wasn't done with load in. We started 14 minutes late. Intermission ran 5 minutes long. The crew (not any of my people) ripped the house cyc with one of our set pieces during the show. The truck was loaded by 2:45pm. I'm told everything will get faster, so on a scale of one to the first time we've tried doing this by ourselves, I'd say we deserve a round of cookies!
After the show we drove from Scranton, PA to Mechanicsburg, PA. I drove the truck for the first time, and Jesus was my co-pilot. Literally. I was feeling stressed, so I bought myself some Tension Tamer Tea (by Celestial Seasonings) and a salad, and took a bath. A little later, one of my cast and my house manager said they were going to buy beer, so I put some cash in, and the bath, the tea, and the beer turned out to be a winning combination!
Today I navigated in the truck. It was a drive day, meaning we did not do a performance. We had 333 miles to cover, and it was supposed to take 5.5 hours. We left at 9:30am and finally arrived at 5:30pm. 5.5 hours my ass! Among the highlights of the day were my driver turning too tight and putting a dent into the gas station with the 26' truck, and getting flagged at the NC weight station to find that the truck is 1640 lbs. overweight. We had to shell out $65 for the necessary permits, and the company was slapped with a $535 fine. My supervisor is going to brainstorm over the weekend as to what our options are for alternative packing since it will be next to impossible for us to purchase the necessary permits (which are only good for 3 or 10 days and which must be purchased at truck stops prior to entering the state).
I am very glad I was in the truck for the weigh station incident today. Being the responsible party and having the company debit card eliminated a lot of confusion. I also very much enjoyed today's drive: I-81 south from Mechanicsburg thru MD and WV to I-66 just south of Winchester, VA. Then route 17 to I-95 and south to Rocky Mount, NC.
I have to run now. I've got a date with my cast for Ruby Tuesday's Salad Bar in 10 minutes!
xoxo
D
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