show update

The details are a bit too gory to go over here but let me say.... THAT WAS SOME NOSE BLOW! I can breath now!

The show is going fairly well, but I am nervous about relying on the students to organize and sew the things that need making. Today, I spent almost $400 of the budget on thread and fabric. Tomorrow, I plan to spend about half that. There is little more than three weeks left to build the show. The director e-mailed me today to ask about adding 16 new costumes to the budget. That is more than 50% of the costumes we already have. Of course, I said it wasn't financially possible and that time just wouldn't allow us to build them. I suggested adding masks and shawls to the "dream scene" instead of whole new costumes and she likes the idea. Well, I will cut this off here so I can get some sleep. I have to get up early to pull rental costumes.

Snow Storms Coming

A drive to Albion College is just over an hour in good weather. We are expecting 6 to 12 inches of snow in the by tomorrow evening and my contract with Albion College states that I will be there two days per week, Tuesdays and Fridays. Damn! Well, I do have Maalox and can get up early. The show goes up in just over three weeks so I will cross my white knuckles and pray for the best.

Ready, set.... GO!

I finished paining the costume sketches for Fiddler, last night, and finished the plot today. It is such a relief. Now, I can concentrate on pulling, renting and building.

whiling away the hours, playing with some water

The sketchs for Fiddler are complete and inked in on watercolor paper. All there is to do now is... paint them, scan them, make a costume Bible and pull list for the costume shop, sew, drape, shop, rent, schedule and follow though with fitting and put it all together in the next three weeks. I'll keep you updated.
An aside: Porscha was just okayed to get her own apartment is very excited about it. I am happy for her as she has wanted this since she was about four. Although she and Beau will be living by themselves, they will be just blocks from her present roommates and other friends. I'll give her a couple of months to get comfortable and go for a visit.

lighter shade of pale

It snows then freezes, drizzles and snows. Don't get me wrong I am not complaining. The cold, slippery weather outside makes staying inside easier. It's cozy and warm in my down layered bed and I have been able to sleep, wake and then sleep some more. With all this rest I have been able to push through one illness only to find another on the other side. My sinuses are no longer stuffed and the sneezing, body aches and swollen eyes are yesterdays' problems but they have been replaced by a sore throat, tired, weak and pale.
Tonight, I painted over my ghostly pallor and ventured out to to see Dream Girls with Cynthia and Denis. It was refreshing to be out in the crisp air, chat and sip a late at Amer's. The short break has lifted my spirits and given me hope that my health will soon be restored and my energy will return and see me through the work I need to complete Fiddler and Pirates.

freezing drizzle

A 3p meeting at Albion was scheduled to go over lighting and set design. Well, I would have shared my costume designs with the rest of the team (the director has already seen and approved them) if I had made it to the meeting. It takes at least an hour to drive to the college on a good day and, although it was bright and sunny, freezing drizzle can not be classified as good weather. I scraped a bumpy, icy skin from my windshield and headed for the highway. My doubts about driving an hour for a meeting that involved my very little accumulated with the new frozen mess that blocked my view of the road. No... not worth it. I turned around and went home to a nap. -Of course, I called the others involved to let them know I wouldn't be joining them.

a short day

There's not much to say about today as it was an extremely short day.... I woke up at 6p. Evidently, Nyquil has a strong effect on me.
I had planned to have lunch with Denis but moved it to dinner and am very glad I did. We tried a new (at least, new to us) restaurant named Lotus Thai. A small, unassuming establishment within the Target shopping center, we were surprised to find a 20 minute wait to get in and an interesting menu. To start we ordered fish cakes and a papaya salad. Denis chose the duck and I had lobster tail with asparagus in a chili sauce, for main dishes. He was wild about the duck, making sure he didn't leave any behind. Even though the lobster could have been more tender, the sauce with peppers, onions and chilis was amazing. I would try it again. Yum.
Prompted by my illness, we made a quick trip for tissues and Immodium A-D before catching the sweet, little movie, Under the Sun.

sleep, sleep, sleep

On the way home from the theatre I picked up Dayquil, Nyquil, vitamin C, Zicam and Kleenex with lotion. I slept until 10a, went to the bathroom, woke at 2:45p, said good by to Cynthia and slept, again, until 5p. Tonight, I am reviewing Fiddler and drawing until I can't stay awake any longer. Tomorrow.... sleep, sleep, sleep some more.

lack of sleep takes its toll

Adam walked into the theatre, last week, with red eyes and nose, sniffling, coughing and pale. Fear struck me and I wished he would just go home... to his bed/couch. For the last week, I had been getting just enough sleep to open my eyes and make it to work the next day. Sentence 1 + sentence 3 = a sick me. Today things finally added up and I am miserable. My union job is very important to me and I don't want to pass this plague onto any of my co-workers and especially the singers so I am loading up on vitamin C and homeopathic remedies. Wish me health!

icy chill

It's been warmer than usual all winter until last weekend. It was unseasonably warm and began to rain. As it rained a chill took over and the rain turned to a thick slush, coating cars, electric lines and trees. We woke to a 1/2" of ice, yesterday, and added an 1" of snow to it last evening. Branches large and small are littering the ground and piled on rooftops. Many people are without power and many, if not all, of the school are closed. The roads are passable at this point but the thickly coated branches threaten to dump ice on cars and pedestrians.

comcastic?! @#$%*&

Gradually our Comcast internet connection slowed to a snail's pace, making dial-up look like a dream. Although the time is late, I decided to call and complain. After 5 minutes of pushing buttons and being re-re-redirected a congenial man helped me restart my modem and router and with a short diagnostics procedure he found the modem to be gone. "It is 108 days old and hasn't been reset." Since when is 108 days longevity for a piece of equipment? They will replace the modem but tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day and they are closed. I will have to wait until Tuesday and set aside 3 hours to wait for they to come and exchange it. That's fine. Only a few days more and I will be able to do business from my home!!! I do think I should get some sort of discount on this last month and the next couple days of less than adequate connection. Com-man says he can only offer me 2 days otherwise Comcast calls it stealing. Is that a dig? Insult? Should I be insulted? Because I feel as though I was just called a thief. "I would like to talk to your supervisor?" After 20 minutes of hold I hung up. Within a tick of a minute they called back and... They are going to credit us for the last month of service. Well thank you, Com-man.

Silver River

Silver River closed tonight and we said good-bye to all the actors, directors, musicians, designers, etc. It was a crazy week of long hours, leaking troughs, schredding jackets and drama (before the show opened). I love meeting the wonderfully creative, energetic, intelligent people of theatre and hate saying, "Adieu." However, this leaves the stage for a new cast to enter my life. For now, I will work on my other jobs, designing shows, websites and newsletters whilte trying to catch up on my sleep and spending some time with my family. I hope they remember me.

early call tomorrow

This entry will be short as I have to get up in a couple of hours. Technical rehearsal went fairly well today but at 10p this evening I was told we would be doing laundry in the morning (8a) and work until 11:30p. Union rules has it that laundry cannot be done during a rehearsal call and working after the show (for an additional call - laundry) would put us into double time pay. The problem is an early morning call for laundry doesn't leave time for the handwash to dry and... I won't have enough time to get Liz's newsletter out tomorrow or sleep tonight!

long day's night

I was hoping to get 4 or 5 drawings done, today, but had my call extended from 1-5p to 1-11:30p. To make my day even busier, Liz just dropped a "newsletter" bombshell on me. She wants to know if I can have one out by Friday. Ha. I don't know if I will have time to breath between now and then. I'll do what I can but I would like to get some sleep.

keeping things interesting

Keeping Things Interesting

At 10:30, I was making a delicious breakfast of poached eggs and toast when I noticed a very frazzled looking Greg drive up in a strange car. ???? Apparently, his business trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula was today, not tomorrow, and he was scheduled to leave at 12n. To make matters much worse, he had just spent an hour on the side of an icy road waiting for AAA to pull him and the ugly, grey rental car out of the ditch. A few minutes ago, I got his calm call telling me he was in the U.P. and resting in front of the Ohio State game.

The Fiddler's Update

Today, I did roughs of two of my favorite characters in Fiddlers. The director loves them.

working at home

I am working at home next to the large livingroom window. Outside a curtain of rain and polk-a-dots of ice blows this way and that. Icy puddles form at the edges of the street and cover the depressions in our rocky driveway. A backdrop of monotonous greys and lifeless trees completes the picture. Your pictures bring back memories of sun and warmth. I am very much looking forward to seeing the sun again!

working hard

My blog entries will probably be infrequent for the next couple of months as I am working on 4 shows. Today, I finally recieved the script for Fiddler on the Roof and sent a couple of rough sketches off to the director. Attached is my first sketch for Tevye and Motel.