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.