Today Auntie Linda picked me up to go site seeing. We started on Granville Island. We saw some great galleries/gift shops and then spent some time in the Market.
It was great. There is just about everything there. Plenty of fruits and vegetables, fish and other meats, chocolate and pastries. I bought some great tarts and then some fish and chips on the water.

Then we headed downtown to check out some of the sights I haven't explored alone. Robson Square's skating rink, the performance areas, the shops. Here are a couple of buildings that have HUGE billboards.

The other side of the flag wraps around the building.

While walking down Robson St we discovered Auntie Linda's Eagle. Richmond Holdings donated to have their name on an eagle among many eagles that are placed around the city. Here she is with her eagle at Robson and Burrard. Great location. And great Eagle. Haida art. (many of the other eagles we have seen have not be so great.)

Tuesday off

Yesterday we were given a bonus day off. The show had been held for a "bought house". No one bought it. No show.

I decided to go to the Museum of Anthropology. This museum was created to house the Totem Poles "rescued" from the beaches of Ninstints. The entire plot of our play.

Quick overview: The real life Anthropologist Wilson Duff (Lewis Wilson played by John Mann in our show) and his friend Bill Reid (Max Thomson played by Cam MacDuffee) go to Ninstints to remove select totem poles so that they can be preserved in a museum to be studied etc. The argument was and still is to this day, that they shouldn't have taken them. That the cycle is not supposed to be broken, a tree grows, it is chopped down, carved, it decays and nourishes new trees that will be chopped down and carved. The argument on the other side is that the families were killed by small pox and the village abandoned for 60 at the time of the expedition. The cycle was broken.

The experience was so much for these two guys - and all of the people on this expedition - that it affected them for the rest of their lives. The Anthropologist ended up committing suicide and Bill Reid found inspiration to learn to carve, to re-discover his own past. He is one of the most famous First Nations artists (turn over a $20 bill and you can see his work!)

In the "backyard" of the museum they recreated a piece of Ninstints - Bill Reid carving 2/3 scale replicas of the totems they rescued - and turning it into a long house and a small house as it was/might have been in the village.It was beautiful. The real village was built with all buildings facing the ocean. So was this one. It was quite the sight.Inside the museum you can see the poles that they chopped down. It was pretty powerful. To see the actual poles that I watch fall every night onstage. Usually I just do theatre, but to see that this is actually someones history, heritage, turmoil. It was pretty cool.

There is always a lot of research that goes into doing a play. Even if it is a work of fiction you still have to learn about the time and place that you are working in. This one was intense as Bruce Riddell, our playwright, has been working on this for 20 years. He worked with Duff, with Bill Reid and many other elders and chiefs in the creation of this story. The bits and pieces that we have learned about this expedition is incredible. We have even seen pieces of footage from the actual expedition. Of them chopping down the poles, cutting them into pieces, putting them in crates and floating them down the water in a train-all tied together behind a boat. To see those actual pieces...
Also in this picture: The painted board on the wall was the original entry way into the building that stored the poles when they first returned. The canoe was carved by Bill Reid in the traditional way - we talk about canoes a lot in the play. And the two boxes in front are bentwood boxes. They are a thin sheet of cedar that is steamed and then bent into a box. That is how our story starts - with a bentwood box and a mask.
The four pieces seen here are all one pole. The left is the base, the right is the top - the watchman, just like Tom Jackson is in our play.

There was tons of other things to see. Most of them I had no patients to take a long time to read about. There was so much other stuff to look at. Like other work by Bill Reid. He started out as a metal smith. He worked mostly in Gold and Silver. Here are some things I thought were cool.
The museum was originally a building to protect Vancouver during the war. One of the key architectural features is the gun turrets. They weren't sure what to do with it when they were
"remodeling". So they commissioned Bill Reid to create a piece out of a huge, solid piece of yellow cedar. He created a carving of the creation story. I think it is interesting that in the gun turret there is a carving of creation. (The Raven is a huge player in the story telling of the Haida. The Raven was walking along the beach after the great flood and he noticed something shiny. It was a clam shell. Within the clam shell there were little creatures, some curious, some unsure, some not interested in what was going on outside of the shell. The Raven convinced them to explore the new world. And thus the first people stepped onto the beach.)

I am glad I went. I enjoyed the sunset on the water before the houses of Ninstints before I left.

After my trip I met up with Matt for dinner. He took me out for sushi. He is so grown up and cultured.

After Sushi I got to see his apartment. He had part of my Christmas Present waiting there for me. It was the new Monopoly City game (that I was sad no one got me for Christmas). We opened up some beer and played for three and a half hours. It was great fun. Matt whooped my ass. Final net worth: Matt $75 Million, Stacey $35 Million.

Day Off

Yesterday I slept until noon. What a great feeling.
After watching "Star Trek" with Munish (the room mate) over eggs and sausage I got ready for the day.
Uncle Bob picked me up and drove me to Richmond. I had a great meal of Prime Rib with Uncle Bob, Auntie Linda and Jackie. It was great. Relaxing.

One week to go until Logan gets here!

I am a bit better

Thank you all for your concern. Some very nice comments, emails and text messages. I appreciate knowing that there are people that care.
Yesterday was a better day. We still had rehearsal in the afternoon, and it was just as bad as always. In the evening was Opening Night.
The show went well. The show was a bit "under pressure". But the audience LOVED it.
Auntie Linda and Uncle Bob came to the show. So did Matt and his date. We had a chance to chat a bit after the show. Being a week night they all left rather quickly.
I joined the rest of the company at the reception. I chatted with a number of people I haven't seen in years, and others that I have seen everyday but are leaving now that we are open.
I had a couple of beers and really started to enjoy myself. I was enjoying myself enough that I let the boys convince me to go to the after party with them.
We went to The Lamplighter. (The two girls in our show know the band that was playing.) As soon as I walked in there were shots lined up. Tequila. We had a couple. I had a great time. They all agreed that it was about time I let off a little steam. We danced, drank and apparently I had a smile on my face the entire time.

Touch

When you are away from home for extended periods of time there are obvious things that you miss. When you are away and are with people you just met, the list of things is longer. One thing that I miss is touch.
I am a touchy-feely person. I love hugs. When you are with your friends there is a different level of intimacy which allows touch. It can be as simple as sitting beside them and your leg or arm touches; when you are laughing at their joke give them a little nudge or touch their arm; if they say something rude you can give them a little twap on the arm. All little things that you don't necessarily think about when you are with people you know and love.
On other out of town shows that I have done there has been the obligatory opening night hug, closing hug and that is it.
I am thinking about this right now because it is Opening Night tonight and I am thinking about hugging some people that I really don't want to. But this company has been touchy from the get go. When we broke for Christmas on Christmas Eve, just five days into rehearsal, everyone was hugging. Same thing on New Year's Eve and again on the last day of rehearsal in Calgary.
I am also very fortunate to have a handful of really good people on this show. Guys that I have worked with just once before, or one guy that is just a staple in the Calgary theatre community. We have all been having a rough time on this one, but certainly they see what I have been going through. They make a point of putting a hand on my shoulder as they pass me in the wing, or giving my arm a rub as we wait in standby, or a hand on my knee before they get up from a conversation. (Keep in mind they also approach conversations with their heads tilted and a soft tone in their voice.) But these three cast members are really making the difference for me. To know that they can see how hard this is on me, that it isn't just in my head or I'm a suck.
Touch can make all the difference when it is truly meant.
Then there is Tom Jackson. He is as nice as he appears on TV. He is sweet and kind in action and in word choice. At the top of every show he seeks out each person for a hug. (Most people just hug those around them, if at all, or hug specific people). The nice thing is that I am standing by for a cue at that time but he will seek me out "Where is my Stacey" to make sure I get one. Yesterday I sat beside him during one of my favorite songs in the show and he turned to me and said "I am glad to share this song with you."
All that being said it is still just as bad as it has been since we got here. Yesterday was better as we didn't have rehearsal, just two shows. But the crew is still a problem, I am working incredibly hard as a result. Considering that before I came I was told me problem would be that I am not allowed to touch anything, things are pretty upside down. I do the entire preset and intermission change myself. My props man vacuums and fills waters. I am glad that I get to do it, cause I can trust that it is done and done right. But then I would have insisted that my apprentice come with me so I don't have to do it alone.
Oh well. One more rehearsal in Vancouver this afternoon and then we Open. Should be an interesting day.

I guess that means we keep going

I almost quit my job yesterday. Sometimes I mean that sarcastically, or I exaggerate. But this time, I almost quit my job.

The first week sucked. We knew it was going to suck. That doesn't make it an better, but it is what it is. The day off I decided to clean the bathroom at the apartment I am staying at. It was gross. It was so gross that I had used hand soap and kleenex to clean a spot for me to put my towels on the vanity top. But after a week of that not being remedied by my "room mate", I decided take things into my own hands. At the end of cleaning crud that had been around for months I thew out the once yellow sponge.

The dirty bathroom incidents was only one great aspect of the day off. I got some groceries and returned home to eat some dinner. After eating, the "room mate" returned with a friend. The friend went out for a bit and the two of us enjoyed a movie together. The guest then returned to "crash". I went to bed, the "roommate" lowered his volume, but the "guest" was not.
When I woke up in the morning the "guest" was on the futon that took up the entire living room.

Spending one weekend with a person crashing on the couch underlined how bad the last week here is going to be. The place is double booked for another theatre tech to stay here starting Feb 1. So I started yesterday upset by my living arrangements. I got to work and the five hour rehearsal was ridiculous. I don't even want to go into how stupid everything was. But suddenly all of the things that had upset me in the past were all piled up together, and each individual problem was amplified. I try not to cry at work. I can't say that I am very successful, but I usually only do it in front of one specific person. I was backstage on the verge of crying for at least an hour when that person walked up to me to ask an innocent question. He saw the look on my face and his face changed. I declared that he can't talk to me nicely or touch me cause I would cry. Only business. At the break I quickly escaped to my office and cried. The stage manager came in a caught me. He reacted just like a guy does "What's wrong? Who did this to you? Can I go punch them?"

I may not have mentioned that the stage manager that I am working with is a seasoned professional. He is one of the best and I am glad to be working with him. He is having just a difficult a go of this as I am. He said that he was going to serious consider putting in his notice. He was going to sleep on it, but wanted to let me know.

I had to sleep on it as well. I came into work having decided:
1) If Rick stays, I stay.
2) If Rick quits;
a) I would quit but would need to be done by the end of the week. If I give two weeks then I am going home just when Logan is coming here and we would have to be two months apart. Which I don't want to do.
b) I would stay on the show and convince Rick to stay until the end of the Vancouver leg of our show. Once we get back in Calgary things should improve - in my opinion.

He came in today and had decided that we can' t let them win. So I guess that means that we are going to muscle through. Complete what we have started. Grin and bear it. And all the rest......

Vancouver : : Day 6

Almost a full week here. In this dreary, rainy and dark city. In the last six days I have spent (Mon=2 hours, Tues=13 hours, Wed=10 hours, Thurs=13, Fri=14, Sat=13) 65 hours at the theatre. I don't even know what to say about it.

Last Saturday in Calgary we were certain that we would never have a show on Saturday. That we would have to cancel our first preview.

The the theatre here is a city theatre run by a union crew with a capital U. That means that I am not supposed to touch anything. I am there as a personal assistant to the actors and to double check the work of the crew. That is my understanding of how it is supposed to work.

I arrived on Monday to meet the crew. I gave the running notes (list of what to do when) to the Head Stage Carpenter-the Foreman. He told me that he works for the city, and he usually doesn't like to take any cues so that he can be available to respond to alarm calls and deliveries. He took the running notes I gave him and put them on his desk and has yet to move them since.

He then wanted to give me a warning about the Props guy. He was injured awhile back, a broken neck that hasn't healed properly. He works through the pain and because of that can get a bit irritable. He has been known to snap and take a piece off of people and then not remember that he has done it. Also, he doesn't work from paperwork, but he has a pretty good memory.

I gave running notes to the prop guy as well as a preset list for the props, he has put that down on his work station and has not picked it up since.

The fly guy is great, but he is only there to do the flies.

Our first rehearsal - Tuesday, the Foreman and I had a bit of a disagreement and when I walked away I knew that we were not going to have a good time. In the last hour of that day I sat in the crew area and listen to those three old men (all confirmed over 65) tell me story. I gave them my full attention, laughed at all the right places, agreed with them and generally tried to mend the bridges. I think it worked. My prop guy works hard for me, I have to tell him what to do next but I think that will get better. And because the other guy told me he doesn't take cues - I have been doing all of the cues I had assigned to him. Which suits me just fine.

I have worked my ass off to make this show run. And it did. We shall see how this continues.

What a Day

In my business things are predictable in its unpredictability. The framework is always the same though. We have three weeks of rehearsal. First we block the show, then we go through the show a second time to work the scenes, then we clean the scenes. We move to the stage and space the scene on the stage. One by one we add all of the technical elements; lights, sound, special effects, and costumes. Then we try to do it all at the same time. We try it again. We have a dress rehearsal and invite the people to watch.

This time we had seven rehearsals, broke for Christmas, returned to discover that most things slip out of your brain over the holiday. Have a week of rehearsal and got a new script-starting all over again. The new script was Jan 2, day off, yesterday we tried to talk through all of the changes.......
Today, today we had a weird opportunity. A truck pulls out of Calgary tomorrow with our set, props and costumes to Vancouver. Before it leaves they set everything up on stage here. We had the opportunity to work on the set today. Well before we were prepared to do so. We got to walk through things that we have only looked at once or twice (and in some cases haven't even looked at yet).
It may have been a great opportunity for the show. But it was a really stressful day for me.
Well it started very stressful. It was until we worked the "Flotilla" scene. This is a scene were 10 of our company members wear sisal rugs as coats and carry a 8' pole. On the end of these poles there are 15 small canoes the size of an envelope on wires. They all have to work their way from backstage through 3 single doors in the house of the auditorium, through the audience, up onto the stage, and through the obstacles of wires and trees onstage. It was so impossible and a disaster that I couldn't help but laugh. So I laughed for the rest of the day.
Ah well, tomorrow is another day.

Beyond Eden

Beyond Eden is the crazy show I am working on right now.

I go to work in a room full of Canadian Celebrities.

Tom Jackson, the native Canadian actor you have seen in nearly every Canadian movie as well as North of 60 and Shining Time Station.

John Mann, the lead singer from Spirit of the West.

Bill Henderson, lead singer of Chilliwack and many other works as Musical Director.

Our lead actress is referred to as "Canada's own Jennifer Lines" by the other actors.

The choreographer has choreographed the opening ceremony of Commonwealth games etc and the 1988 Olympics and 2010 Olympics.

I am sure that pretty well all of the people in the room are the best at what they do.

Being my first post back I don't want to get into all the gorey the details. All I want to say right now is that they have put so much money into this thing that even if we were to open tomorrow the show will still be spectacular. Hopefully, with another week and a bit of rehearsals it will be even better.

Theatre Calgary has placed a link on their website to an MP3 of the title song "Beyond Eden". Imagine it with a six piece rock band, John Mann on a stage full of totem poles as the curtain goes up for Act II and a cast of 13 sing beautiful 8 part harmony of oohs and ahs in the background.

Title Song Download/

Blogging Again

I took a little time off. I stopped blogging about the same time I started Christmas Carol again. When you only have 8 days of rehearsal before you are onstage (usually you have three weeks) things are busy.

I finished on Carol two weeks early. They moved me over to another show at Theatre Calgary Beyond Eden. We put in a week of rehearsal before Christmas.

Christmas was great. My parents came to Calgary and we spend Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing day with the Glass Family. It was great. It was one of the shorter holidays I have had. I was back to work on the 27th.