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| Chamber Tour 2009: Nov 2 to Dec 5 |
Thursday, December 10, 2009
On The Road (Still)
Well, as I might have been able to predict, the tour got a bit busy and I didn't keep up the blogging as much as I'd hoped and planned.
To sum up, we performed the short story play for 4 weeks in October and then switched to the math play for the last week of October and up through Thanksgiving. The final three and a half weeks of tour are the short story play and the math play in rotating rep. Not only is each day a different city, but also a different play!
This evening finds us in Boston, MA. Again. At the Holiday Inn Express. Again. Since the Monday before Thanksgiving, the tour has been about 50% venues and hotels we've already been to, and the familiar faces and surroundings have been comforting amid the chaos of learning the new truck pack and finding storage for the set and props we're not using.
Yesterday we had a snow day in Springfield, MA which was so nice. We had the morning off as we waited until check-out to drive up to Concord, NH. The normally 2-hour drive took us about 3 hours plus stops, in the aftermath of the storm.
I've grown oddly accustomed to small injuries. I've dropped things (flats, platforms, pelican cases) on my fingers about once every two weeks. This morning it was one of the SR extensions which are pretty heavy. For once, my injured finger is swelling and turning color, and I'm oddly thankful for the visible signs of the pain I'm feeling.
I've also had a good time (though it has also been exhausting) getting in touch and visiting old friends along the way. Since tour began, I have seen 3 hometown friends, 7 college friends, 8 former co-workers, a former roommate, and 3 cousins. And that's not counting the 3 friends, 1 cousin, and 2 pairs of aunts & uncles I saw over TG.
One of my cohorts on tour wants to write a work of nonfiction based on our experiences over the past several months. I think it would make a good story...
I'll try to get more pictures up this weekend--sometimes the hotel interwebs are not very fast, but for now I need to sleep.
To sum up, we performed the short story play for 4 weeks in October and then switched to the math play for the last week of October and up through Thanksgiving. The final three and a half weeks of tour are the short story play and the math play in rotating rep. Not only is each day a different city, but also a different play!
This evening finds us in Boston, MA. Again. At the Holiday Inn Express. Again. Since the Monday before Thanksgiving, the tour has been about 50% venues and hotels we've already been to, and the familiar faces and surroundings have been comforting amid the chaos of learning the new truck pack and finding storage for the set and props we're not using.
Yesterday we had a snow day in Springfield, MA which was so nice. We had the morning off as we waited until check-out to drive up to Concord, NH. The normally 2-hour drive took us about 3 hours plus stops, in the aftermath of the storm.
I've grown oddly accustomed to small injuries. I've dropped things (flats, platforms, pelican cases) on my fingers about once every two weeks. This morning it was one of the SR extensions which are pretty heavy. For once, my injured finger is swelling and turning color, and I'm oddly thankful for the visible signs of the pain I'm feeling.
I've also had a good time (though it has also been exhausting) getting in touch and visiting old friends along the way. Since tour began, I have seen 3 hometown friends, 7 college friends, 8 former co-workers, a former roommate, and 3 cousins. And that's not counting the 3 friends, 1 cousin, and 2 pairs of aunts & uncles I saw over TG.
One of my cohorts on tour wants to write a work of nonfiction based on our experiences over the past several months. I think it would make a good story...
I'll try to get more pictures up this weekend--sometimes the hotel interwebs are not very fast, but for now I need to sleep.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
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
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Introducing: Vanna White
The past two weeks have been super busy. We had meetings with our sound and projection designers, talking through all the moments that use both media. We have run the show for the producer twice, made changes, and in the middle of all that, put the 2nd show up on its feet.
The upcoming two and a half weeks should be quite the challenge. We load out of the rehearsal space this Wednesday, load into the tech space Thursday, and begin tech for the math show Friday. On Saturday at 12:30pm, we have to run the math show for the producer again (even though it may not be completely teched yet). Next Monday and Wednesday are math dress rehearsals (notes Tuesday), and then after a day of photo call, we will tech the short story show, and do 2 dress rehearsals before hitting the road!
Here are some pictures of the 15-passenger van (which I believe has acquired the name Vanna White) and my amazing parallel parking job:
The upcoming two and a half weeks should be quite the challenge. We load out of the rehearsal space this Wednesday, load into the tech space Thursday, and begin tech for the math show Friday. On Saturday at 12:30pm, we have to run the math show for the producer again (even though it may not be completely teched yet). Next Monday and Wednesday are math dress rehearsals (notes Tuesday), and then after a day of photo call, we will tech the short story show, and do 2 dress rehearsals before hitting the road!
Here are some pictures of the 15-passenger van (which I believe has acquired the name Vanna White) and my amazing parallel parking job:
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