Opening and One-Nighters

After a quick and mostly pain-free process in tech, we moved the show to Raleigh and opened.  It was a great accomplishment on all of our parts to bring this production to fruition on all levels.  What a great success.  I'm most certainly proud of my crew and myself.  After a week in Raleigh we took on a week of one night engagements.  In one week we played Hamlet NC, Chattanooga TN, Morganton NC, flew to Boston for Thanksgiving, followed by three days of matinee (4 or 5am starts) in Lowell MA, New London CT, and New Brunswick NJ.  Our stage manager figured out that the crew worked between 50-60 hours over the weekend on 8-10 hours of sleep.  Ahh the life...  In my state of delerium Sunday between shows I took this great picture.

We load into Miami tomorrow for the week.  The space is enormous.  I'm excited to do next to nothing all week, aside from get caught up on weeks of advance work.  But my workbox is all hooked up so I'll be able to jam out and chill beverages in my office.  Also, our bus driver wants to take us to the clubs in the bus, we're not sure what our fictitious band name is going to be yet...I'll keep ya posted.

PS...I can't believe it's already December.

Annie Tech

We load in to tech tomorrow morning at 8am.  This means that we unload four trucks, two with scenery, and one each with audio and lighting equipment.  Hopefully, if the stars and planets all align, it will be a mostly painless process...hopefully...

The entire crew is new to the show, inclusive of myself.  We have two people here to help us only with the load in, one carpenter and one props person, who have both been on the show in the past.  They will be great resources for us.  This next week will be one of the slowest and potentially most difficult of all.  Once the crew knows this show, it should be a pretty easy gig.  This is the week where we have to learn it all...

Only time will tell.  Wish us well...

Beginnings and Endings

Today I began in the office prepping my next tour.  As I working, I saw my mom's name pop up on my phone.  

First, I said a little prayer, then answered.  

She had called to tell my my grandmother had passed away. 

 After 90 years of life, the last 4 or so have been in assisted living/nursing home care of some sort, this is possibly the best thing for her.  I mean that in the most well spirited of ways.  As I've told other people, I'm not entirely sure how to feel about this whole deal.  Don't get me wrong, I love my grandma very much.  However, it hurt me so badly to see her lonely and depressed whenever we visited over the last year or two.  I was fortunate enough to see her twice this summer.  The first time is when my family realized that the train was on the tracks, and her time was near.  The second time, the day after her 90th birthday, she seemed a little more uppity.  She even said a few words, those being a reprise of our, "Happy Birthday!"  I got a chuckle out of her.  She always had a way of looking at me with that, "How the heck do you think I'm doing?" whenever I inquired.  God love her.  None of us will ever forget making candy cane cookies and the unnecessary stresses it caused in the kitchen.  As she would say, "Ahhh fiddlesticks!"

I love you Grandma.  I'll be by your side on Monday and Tuesday.  Worry not.

This is the hardest part of tour.

Annie Prep

The time has come for me to begin prepping Annie for tour.  In true tour fashion, I had about 3 days notice that I was going to be leaving for tour.  This was due to me heading to the office 4 days earlier than planned.  Nothing beats having to do a fly by visit with my friends between Minneapolis and Sioux Falls.  Las night my friends from work in SF threw me a little going away party.  It was nice to have everyone together for a drink or 8.  My parents even joined in the festivities.  The kids from the building gave me a Starbucks gift card and socks.  As I say, you can always use extra socks and underwear on the road.  Coffee is a bonus.

I was sad to leave my mom and dad behind at the airport.  My dad always says something that makes me cry and my mom does her best to hide her tears.  Today he said, "Be the best damn head carpenter you can be."  With that, I walked away, I was a hot mess.  I must say, that the biggest drawback from being on tour is being away from those you love for extended amounts of time.  Unless something comes up, I won't see my family until February of next year.  This means that I'll spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and birthdays away from those I love.  Thankfully, my family and friends support me in my career, which is more than some of my friends can say.

I start my prep tomorrow.  I'm sure it will be lots of procedure and policy, but I'm excited nonetheless.  I've been staring this challenge in the face for a while now, and am ready.  Bring it on!

From the East to the West to the Midwest to the East to HOME!

Atlantic City is dead and gone.  Hopefully forever.  Unfortunately, my life doesn't work like that, and I'm sure I'll end up there on some continuation of a ridiculous adventure.

Portland was great.  Not only was it a vacation away from work, I got to enjoy it with one of my best friends.  It still boggles my mind that we've only known each other for 5 years and neither of us talk to the person who introduced us.  Thanks Matt!  Anyway, my buddy's birthday happened to be the day after I arrived.  Celebrate, we did! We also went to "First Thursday," an event downtown filled with yuppies, art, free drinks, and attractive women encouraging me to buy things.  It's amazing what 8 free beers will do to my judgement.
I rushed home to return to work, go figure.  I had experienced 6 days without it and hit it hard after only 2 hours on the ground in Sioux Falls.  I certainly love working outdoor festivals at 2am, driving golf carts through the city streets like we stole them.

Last Friday I received a call from my Production Manager (PM) who was looking for a favor.  He needed me to leave for Florida, in 36 hours, for 24 hours.  So I did, naturally.  I spent less than 23hrs in Gainesville, FL loading Wizard of Oz into rehearsal spaces.  The best part was that I got to see Jen and Kaitlyn, the hair and wardrobe dept. heads, respectively, from my last tour.  Not to mention, I ran into another graduate from my university in the hotel while waiting for the elevator.  It turns out he's in the show.  Small world.  I put a bug in my PMs ear about going back out there for more of an extended stay, we shall see if that comes through for me.  Anyway, this was all a week ago today.

I've since had the opportunity to see an old boss from my last tour here in town, he was coming to check out a show that came through the theatre I'm currently working at as a local.  True to my style, I had only been in town for 10 hours before I was back at work.  Has anyone noticed a pattern developing.  Ahhhh life on the road!

This past weekend I was down in Omaha with my parents, AKA roommates, for a wedding reception.  It was great to see my cousins and extended family.  Due to my career choice, I wasn't around for the holidays last year, and will be gone again this coming season.  Has anyone ever noticed how your little cousins aren't always so little anymore?

Ok, time for bed, I already have a cold, and it's not even October.

New gig

Soooo, I just accepted the head carpenter/TD position for Annie on tour.  I was supposed to be the flyman, but alas, I've been asked to step up...and I did.

I've spent the last 6 days thinking about this decision, finally I've made it, and now the office knows of my decision. 

I think I made the right one.  I know that this is the direction I want my career to go, only it is moving faster than originally predicted.

My vacation in Portland, OR has been a perfect place for me to bike, eat, sip coffee, read books, make phone calls, drink beer, and be merry.  I need to relax, read and vacation more often I think.

Tonight is my last night here, we'll be going to an event called "First Thursday."  Apparently it involves music, art, food, and music.  It sounds like this could end up being a good last night in Portland.

Dilema

My time here has honestly been a lot more fun and exciting than I had thought it would be. That's not to say that it hasn't had it's ups and downs.  It's been good for me to get to know some of the people I'll be on tour with next year. I really do enjoy most of the people in this company, and I certainly enjoy the local crew as well.

Last night was our closing night party.  In true fashion, we all had lots of fun.  Some people decided to come to the party dressed as other people in the company.  It's always entertaining to see a black guy dressed as a blonde Texan girl.  Also, let's not forget about the guy dressed as Harrah's itself.

Management is in town to close the show.  Load out is tomorrow night.  We're packing 5 trucks with 4 separate destinations.  The loading situation here is quite possibly one of the worst.  The trucks have to back up about a quarter of a mile, up a ramp, around three corners, between the building and the bay, and you can only get one truck in the hole at a time, so you have 20 minutes of down time between trucks.  I'd like to meet the guy that drew this one up.  Oh well, in 48 hours I'll be in Portland, OR visiting a good friend for a week of vacation.

Tonight my bossman made me an offer.  It's a big step up.  I'm flattered...and flustered...and interested at the same time.  I know I want this in my life.  However, do I want it now?  As they say, "when it rains, it pours."

PS  Can we talk about how tasty Simply Orange OJ is?  Also, I have run like 3 times in the past week.  Look out Usain "Lightning" Bolt.  Oooo, I forgot about my tasty blizzard in the freezer.

Return to Harrah's

After much trepidation, I have returned to the place I loathed for 10 weeks last summer.  Albeit, this time I’ll only be here for two weeks.  Hopefully the experience is far less painful this time around.

I’ve come back to help run and then load out The Wedding Singer at Harrah’s Casino.  I was originally offered this same position earlier this year.  I would have been out here for a full two months had I taken the gig.  Instead, I chose to turn down and brave the unknown for one reason, and one reason alone.  The housing situation is less than ideal.  I’ll be able to hack it for my short time here.  If I had to endure another two months at the Clarion Inn located in Egg Harbor Township I would have been highly upset, and probably suicidal.

So far, after 36 hours, things are going quite well.  I shadowed the person I’m replacing, as he has to go prep another show, twice and ran most of his track once.  I’ll probably fun the whole deal tomorrow.  The show is a short 90 minute casino version of the three hour full length.  It has been great getting to meet a new crew.  I have yet to really meet anyone from the cast.  Also, I’ve had a lot of fun chatting with the local crew.  Many of them were on the calls last year when I was here with The Producers. As I told them, I certainly never expected to return, but here I am.  Only time will tell how this will go.  

Off to bed for me.  I’m going to attempt going for a run tomorrow.  I’m sure it will be much more of a jog.  Perhaps I’ll catch a little pool time.  Anything to get me out of this hotel.