compelled to post

I don't really have anything new to say. Today was our first two show day for this show. Two show days suck. Every time you turn around you are having deva ju? When we are doing a show everything I do is exactly the same - by design. I set everything in the exact same spot and I do it in the exact same order. To do it once a day is habit and order. To do it twice gets confusing. Did I do that yet? I have, but have I done it for this show or the last? You see where I am going with this.

This afternoon's audience was terrible. Today was a senior's tea matinee. If that was the actual story. What ever tickets the seniors don't buy they sell to high schools. So there were 68 seniors and just under 300 students. They were little brats. Now I have seen my fair share of bad student matinee of throwing stuff, cell phones, laser pointers and other such gadgets. Today they were talkers, mimickers and taunters. One of the first lines is the mom whispering to her daughter "Iris". These brats instantly started mimicking "Iris". The next highlight - the dad enters but doesn't fully go onstage to watch and over hear a conversation. The large group of kids that he was "hiding" in front of starting taunting him and telling him to F off, to go F himself and other stuff. The worst was near the end the mom and dad share this tender moment and then kiss - not passionately, very tender and loving - and very short. The kids started whistling and cat calls and other inappropriate things "way to go big boy" "give it to her". It was terrible. The actor left on stage after their exit waiting nearly 3 minutes for them to shut up before continuing the show. She nearly ended it - had it not been for the seniors that were there for a show too.

To all you teachers. I don't know how you do it. I wanted to throttle the lot of them. What were the teachers to do? 300 students spread out all making noise. The actors were really angry and it showed in our evening performance - which is not fair to those people. Oh well. I guess that is live theatre. However, I do know that those schools will be receiving some sort of follow up from the theatre.

Life in Regina

The show is open. I think it is a good show. The Globe put together a bit of a trailer on their site Globe Video Link. It is not bad.

Besides the show, not much to report. Hanging with my parents. Going to work. Trying to meet up with Regina friends. I guess I didn't put a lot of thought into everyone working regular jobs here. At home we all seem to work shift work and can meet up anytime - brunch, lunch, mid afternoon coffee, supper, drinks. Anything goes. Here it is tough to make plans cause I am working nights and weekends. Oh well.

Sunday, finally Sunday

In theatre Monday is our weekend. And tomorrow couldn't come fast enough.

The basic make-up of a theatre schedule goes:
Prep (just the stage managers for up to a week)
Rehearsal in the rehearsal hall - 2 ish to 3 weeks
Tech - a couple days on stage
10 out of 12 - up to 4 days that you work 10 out of the 12 hours you are called for the day
- this includes tech runs and dress rehearsals
Preview Shows with rehearsal during the day
Opening
Run of the show - 8 shows a week
Closing

Today is our 3rd out of 4 10 out of 12. I have been working 12 hour days all week to prepare for this weekend - which has been 14 hours a day for us stage managers.
I am pretty tired.
Tech run last night - which means we did the whole show with all of the tech (and usually you don't add costumes yet - but that is a whole other story)

Tonight is Tech Dress. The difference between a Tech Dress and a full on Dress Rehearsal is that professional theatre usually mucks things up by inviting people to watch the dress rehearsal. For this show, we are ready for an audience. For many others you are not. So tonight is our last run of the show before people start watching it for entertainment.

I am tired, I am sore and my eyes hurt. Wish me luck. (Common misconception that you are not allowed to say Good-Luck to a theatre person).

Life at Home

I have now been in Regina for over two weeks, living with my parents and working at the Globe Theatre. Moving back in with your parents, in the room that you grew up in, driving your teenage car, is a bit surreal. It is like I have travelled back in time. It is all very normal. I am not sure what I expected coming back to Regina.

The show is going well. For the most part I am having a good time. We switch over to evenings on Tuesday, and move into the theatre on Thursday. It is all moving very quickly.

Move In

We have a house!

Move in weekend has come and gone.
Friday Logan took possession of our new home.

Logan took pictures of the whole place for me before anything was moved in.

While Stef and Logan were handed the keys both sets of parents were on the road.

Saturday

There was a large group of people that came to help move.

We have a great family and a great group of friends.

We received some great house warming gifts. A ton of cash to help us get things going. A lawn mower (though it snowed 5 cm once they finished moving) and from our friends and siblings we got the patio set they are unloading from the truck!

Thank you to everyone who helped!!

A full weekend at home

I have been back in Regina since Thursday and it has been non-stop until today. I had three days of prep at the theatre during the days of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. After each of those work days I was off to family dinners - mom's side, dad's side and then Lorne and Andrea.

Today, however, I have nothing to do. I brought my knitting and have been watching TV and knitting. I pulled out the ole piano books and played for a while. Now I am at the computer. I had planned on bringing some editing but left the laptop at home for Logan to have something to do while everything is packed.

But only a couple days until move day. I am very excited. Which could be affecting my restlessness today. If I were home there would be plenty to do.

Countdown

I see from the countdown to possession that we have ten days to go. But sadly I only have two until I am off to Regina. I feel like it has been forever since we got the call saying the house was ours. And yet - I find it hard to believe that I leave two days and have to leave it all to Logan.

As you can see

we have done alot of packing. The kitchen is almost all packed up. All of our electronics are done. I am doing laundry right now - will pack my bag for Regina - and then will pack away the rest of my clothes. That leaves under the bathroom sink, and the necessities in the kitchen. He should be fine!

I am so excited about the house that I can hardly contain myself. If it were me home alone in our new house for nearly two months I think that there would be a lot of running around and screaming. That thought was brought about by all of the noise you get with apartment living. Our building is fairly soundproof. But this morning it sounded like someone was hammering down hardwood floors. That and the stupid Canadian Geese that fly up from the river beside our building to the roof of the building next door. They make the worst, loudest noise in the morning and evening - right around the time you are in bed.

I also started my taxes today. As a contract worker though I have to make sure that I get all of the paperwork/T4's mailed to me. I am missing one T4 and the statement of union dues. AGH. Looks like I will be taking it home with me.

Beauty and the Beast

Enchanted April closed last Sunday the 2nd. I fly to Regina on Thursday the 20th. Therein lies the problem with being a contract worker, sometimes there are weeks between contracts. This time I was a little more concerned because of the house and our bills going up very soon. To solve this I pushed for myself at Theatre Calgary.

The show after Enchanted April was the very large musical "Beauty and the Beast". There is a child in the show that plays Chip and he requires a Chaperone. The theatre waited a bit to long and all of the people that usually do it - or have done it before were busy. So I pushed that they should hire me for the two weeks that I am still in town. The Technical Director was all in favor and helped make that happen.

So I have been hanging out with Thomas for a week and a half. The show is huge! Until today we have been spending five hours in the afternoon rehearsing and then a four hour show call in the evening. (The show came from Edmonton and Thomas is the only new person in the cast). I stay with the show until Sunday and have three days off until I fly to Regina.

Packing has begun

As you may see, I have added a countdown to possession. Noon March 28th.
And as I feel the time begin to tick we have started packing.
Moving is no fun. I love thinking about our new place and planning. But the idea of packing - and worse - unpacking is daunting. (Although I should be in Regina for most of the really awful unpacking of those last boxes).
I do have good news - The Globe Theatre has allowed me Sunday off and I can be home for the Sunday Monday of the weekend move.

Decorating ideas have been flowing since we got the house. I think we have decided on Sage and brown for the living room. The long, large wall of the living room will be Behr 400F-6 grasshopper wing (terrible name), and the other two side walls and the entry/stairs/bathroom wall would be Behr 740C-2 Oat Straw. I think that with brown couches and brown, blue and sage accessories it should look nice. I haven't decided on the window coverings, but probably a nice pattern or solid brown with a sage band.

The kitchen has terribly orange oak cabinets which I will change at the earliest convenience (real wood so a little elbow grease and stain should do the trick). It also has terrible Blue counter tops (I think it is close to Southern Evening 550D-7). To start I think we will paint all of the walls the Oat Straw from the living room and see what to do from there. I really like Mountain Elk 740D-6. I think we can't choose a colour for the kitchen without knowing if we are changing the cabinets now or later and the counter top. If we can afford the cost of a new counter top and the time for the cabinets then the colour should be easy. But if we have to keep the counter top I am not sure what to do. I also like Blue Fox 540E-3 but am not sure I want to bring out the blue of the counter. The kitchen may need to be sat in for a bit to make colour decisions.

www.behr.com

Enchanted April

The show has opened and it is time to relax. These are the promotional pics I pulled off the website. It is a beautiful show. These two ladies are going through the motions in their life. They both have unhappy, childless marriages shortly after WWI. They attend the same ladies club and happen to read the same advertisment to rent a Castle in Nothern Italy To those who appreciate wisteria and sunshine...


After secretly corresponding with the owner they learn that it will be 60 pounds for the month of april and will need travelling companions, unhappy ladies, like ourselves, perhaps in greater need than ourselves. They place an advertisment and recieve two replies - they young socialite who enjoy cognac and dancing and the old, cranky lady who knew Tennyson and likes nuts.

The four ladies are lined up, they have met with the charming castle owner and have told their husbands they are going without them. Our two ladies get on a train to Italy and close the first act questioning their decision.

Act II stars with they craky old lady mistreating the cook while the socialite lounges on the terrace. Our two ladies race from their room in their nightgowns to start their adventure and their relationships with the other ladies.

After nine days the lady who started the whole thing reveals that she has written to her husband and invited him. This causes conflict with the ladies and we learn more about each of their pasts. Our two ladies have a heart to heart, we learn that one has lost a child. They return to tell the other ladies that both of their husbands will be joinin them at the castle.

The old cranky ladies cries out that men were not a part of our arrangement, that she would invite a guest, Kate Lumly, and she would see to no men - just as the very charming owner arrives to check on his guests. He dotes on the ladies and wins even cranky pants over.
As the husbands arrive it is revealed that on of the husbands is having an affair with socialite. All is revealed in a very funny event.
The final scene ties all of the stories up. The old lady has warmed up and becomes the match maker between the socialite and the owner.
The ladies share a kind moment together to reflect on their stay.

And the show finishes as it began with our lady delivering straight to the audience - the wisteria would return next april, we all would infact. And there would be a wedding, a new child and Kate Lumly. There is a beautiful curtain call with cognac, sunset and the love between all of them put to music.
It is a beautiful show. Not only visually but the story make you hug your spouse.

64 hours

It has been another tech week. Those weeks are really long. And this one wasn't even that bad. I put in 64 hours this week - and that is really low for most shows. Two days in the rehearsal hall doing runs and last minute stuff. Then we had to move all of the props and furniture down to the stage and re-organize. And then four 12 hour days of adding in lights, sound and effects. But I am glad that it is done.

This show has an actress that shall remain nameless, let's just call her the Queen (I do). She is a bit demanding of my time. I have my own job description that does not include slave of the actors, in fact there are 21 pages in the Canadian Theatre Agreement that acts as my general contract - and none of those pages include the word slave. On Saturday she walked off stage where I was to receive her prop (and reset it during a scene change). She then pulled her hat pin and held it out for me to catch - if I wouldn't have stuck out my hand I am sure she would have dropped it. Then she handed me her hat and pressed her jacket into me so that I had no choice but to grab it. I nicely said "Ok, let me show you where you can hang this up" "No. That's okay". With no other choice I hung it up. She followed me over to the wardrobe area and asked me where the mirrors where (she had been given a tour of the space already). I said "The mirrors are right beside the hooks that you can hang your jaket and hat on".
Yesterday she didn't hand her stuff to me, but put it down on my props area - not the correct place. If she had a quick change I would be more than happy to accomodate - but she has ten minutes. That is just one example of the way she has made me her slave.

Daily Challenge

It started Wednesday night. At 3am the fire strobe in our bedroom started flashing, followed by en extremely loud beeping. I was up and out of bed so fast. I was fully dressed and headed for my shoes and Logan had his jeans in his hand. My first thought was get out. We are on the 12th floor - we are on our own. (He went straight to the window to look for smoke and then the door to smell, but seemingly not in a hurry to get out.)

As I was ready to leave him behind the alarm shut off. I, of coarse, was shaken and certainly not going to sleep any time soon. I was wide awake through Logan's alarm at 4am. When I finally fell asleep again it was short lived. At 5:30am it went off again for about 4 rings, and again every ten minutes for at least an hour.

From this I have realized that fire is my fear. I always knew I was afraid of fire - but if everyone has that one fear - that is mine! I have been since I saw the baby-sitting video where they drop a cigarette butt in the garbage and the whole house is up in flames in less than 4 minutes. And made worse when we were in our old apartment and the alarm went off in the middle of the night and it was a bell that was so quiet once all of our doors were closed that we didn't know what was going on. And then Logan brought home photos of a fire he witnessed that took out three houses in less than 10 minutes.

(It ended up being a water pipe burst in the basement of the other building, it flooded the elevator and either the decrease in pressure in the sprinkler pipe or the flooding of the elevator set off the alarm).

Thursday.
Stef was to pick up Auntie Shelley and Uncle Gord from the airport. She called Logan on the way to say her battery light came on. And then 10 minutes later to say that her car wouldn't start again now that she parked. Logan called me, I picked him up and we went to save the day. We boosted her car with the new booster pack from Lorne and Janet for Christmas and thought we were on our way. We got to the intersection and she stalled in the middle! We crossed three lanes of stopped traffic to boost her again and pull her off the road. Our plan was to drive the car to a near by Canadian Tire and fix it the next day. It didn't move again. So we piled Stef, Uncle Gord, Auntie Shelley, their luggage, Stef's school and over night bag and Logan and I into our Jetta and drove them home. Half way through this trip our car started acting up. Upon taking it (and Stef's car) in - we were told that a bit of tube disconnected and sprayed oil everywhere. Sounds like a little fix - but it got everywhere, which means we had to replace all sorts of filters and the labour to clean it etc. $850.

Friday.
Stef, Tyler and Cris came over to have some tea and hang out. While sitting around I motioned toward a electrical outlet (that we never use) that had appeared to change colour all of a sudden the day before. I touched it and it was screaming hot. I called the resident manager right away. He said turn off the breaker and write up a work order Saturday. We looked for the right one but flipping the ones label to do so - did not. We had to turn out all of the power in the living space to get it to turn off. I called him back to say that it had turned off all of the light. His response was "it shouldn't". Thanks tips! The boys - not satisfied - cracked out the ole flash light and multi tool. Once they pulled out the plug they saw that it was terribly melted and the wires were black. Tyler said that if the manager didn't come up right now to cap off these wires he would call the fire department becuase this was certainly a fire waiting to happen. Very reluctantly, and a little angry, he came up and capped the wires so we could turn the power back on.

Didn't really help the fire fear!

At least we know it works

Hi from Logan

How it all began

This morning I was thinking about how I got myself into theatre as a profession. Many people play around with it during high school. I went a little further than most being in a Musical Theatre Company outside of school. However, I had never thought that I would go on to do it as a career. I had dreamed that I would and was jealous of people that had gone on to do it, or were certain that they would make it. I had never been so sure. And in my Gr.12 year the director of the musical that I was a lead in told me, very straight forward, that "I would not make it as an actor but that I had the right personality and skill to be a stage manager and that I should give that a try." I walked away from that conversation hurt and didn't think much of the stage manager bit but of the insult.

Then Alexis and Aaron and I went away to England. No one thought that I would go through with it. I had many confessions upon my return of doubt in me following through with a trip of that magnitude. But it taught me that I can do scary things and succeed. I learned a lot about myself. And mostly that many people will tell you things are hard, or to difficult so don't bother trying. "Travel abroad, do you know how many tourists are killed everyday?" "It rains all the time in England" "Theatre, what are you going to do with a theatre degree?"

Then I had to go to school. And this is the part that I had forgotten. I had planned to get a Fine Arts Degree in General Theatre Studies and a Certificate in Admin - create my own Theatre Admin Degree. Three years in Theatre, transfer to Admin, and transfer back.

I think that plan petered out after one semester. In my second semester I was called upon to stage manager a show (which was unheard of for first years) and I guess I have not looked back since.

I wonder how different my life would be had I not made that leap into stage manager in that second semester and finished out a Theatre Admin degree?

Home decor

When I first moved from the room I shared with my sister into my basement bedroom my parents allowed me to paint the room what ever I wanted. We bought a blue bedspread with large, abstract flowers in purple, pink and green. My dad helped me sponge paint those colours onto the wall - at the tender age of twelve (?). Since then I have been involved in all of the home improvements in my family home. I was always told that it was practice for my own home.

We tried everything. We laid lino and vinyl tiles, painted bathroom tiles, painted cabinets, tiled a back splash, laid laminate and painted nearly every surface. Stencils, texture paint (the stuff with sand in it), a chair rail dividing two colours on one wall, a red feature wall, faux finishes, colour stripes and monochromatic matte and glossy stripes. I was always encouraged to go crazy when deciding what to do with the next room. (I was going to list my personal favorite in this bracket but can't choose.) I love the gold and navy that Stef and I chose when we redid Mom and Dad's room - chair rail with navy on the bottom in matte and glossy stripes, with a light gold/yellow on top, a great rich bedspread and home-made roman blind. I love the brush stroke technique of three blues we did in the upstairs bathroom and the difference painting the ugly 70s tile made. I love the painted cupboards, laminate and tiled backsplash of the kitchen and I love the rich colours of the living room with the red feature wall.

Because I have tried everything I don't know what to do now that I have my own home. I have sat on this computer night after night checking out web sites to discover what I want to do. My previous interior design endeavors were led by something mom and I had seen on TV and wanted to try. But I have nothing driving me right now except the knowledge that I have to paint over the stencils of the previous owners.

I have time. This is research I like to do.

Ah the boredom

Sometimes I have a very exciting job. I work in show business, and they do say there is no business like it. And they are right. The ups and downs are like no other. When people ask what I do they often respond with "how exciting". Well today...is not.

Remember sitting in a class like social studies and the teacher would talk on and on about the same thing for a really long time. Well, the beginning of the rehearsal process is a bit like that. We spent two days sitting at a table talking about the play. (The first I sat through with much enjoyment, the second day I spent most of my time doing other work elsewhere). Today is day 4. The actors in one scene (a 4 minute 46 second scene) are sitting on the set talking about everthing, their intentions, backgrounds, why they think the other person said that, and how it relates to the other scenes. It is a lot like class - excpet that you know there will never be a test and that the information in front of you is being spoken strickly for that person's benefit.

I have been excused from the hall by the stage manager to type out a piece of paperwork that is not pressing in the least. The note she passed to me was "you look bored. Wanna get out of here? I have busy work..."

I have been paged. Back to bordeom.

Home Inspection...check

Yesterday Logan and I spent almost three hours roaming around our NEW HOUSE with a fella named Don. We learned about everything possible in this house, it was great. It got a really good review from the inspector. He felt that the house was really well build by people that knew what they were doing. That they didn't just slap it together - that they put in the details that experienced builders should. Things like moisture barrier under the foundation and a silent floor system. And there are some added features like really good insulation and the hardwood in the living room is 3/4" oak installed the old fashion way (not prefinished etc). Overall we are more excited now than we were before! The last hurdle (of the purchase I guess) is our financing - which shouldn't be a problem because it was all pre-approved.

The house is still far from being ours (time wise) but already we are planning. (Who are we kidding, we have been making plans on the house since we first saw it). You all may expect that of me, picking colours and making plans and tables and diagrams. You may not expect that of Logan - he was excited about looking at the faucets that were on sale at Canadian Tire.

We have a very exciting journey ahead. Besides waiting for the financing so we can remove the last condition on the offer, the next thing to worry about is possession date. They asked for 30 days in their listing. We offered 60 days (Feb 29) which would give us a month to get it ready and move in before our lease is up. They countered, surprisingly, with March 31 with the option to move forward 30 days upon mutual agreement. For our sake - we had better. I will be in Regina working on a Globe Theatre contract from March 20th. So fingered crossed that these guys find a house for themselves and can get out of ours!

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

At 9:37pm Wednesday night our offer on a house was accepted - but we had to wait out the 72 hour clause on a previous offer.

It has been a long 72 hours! But tonight we got a call saying the house is ours!

This is map from our new house (A) to Logan's district office (B)

View Larger Map

Double Payment

On January 2nd our apartment building took out two rent payments from our bank account. We live in downtown Calgary. As you may have heard Calgary is now the most expensive city in Canada - beating out Vancouver by $5. So, needless to say, taking out our ridiculous rent just once makes a huge dent in funds - taking two certainly put us in the red. Today is the 11th and is a Friday, the issue has not been resolved meaning the soonest we will get our rent reimbursed is Monday the 14th. Can you imagine what would happen if you didn't make your rent payment until the 14th? I believe that would be grounds to evict.

I am a little upset about this. At first I was just shocked when I saw the balance on our net banking. Then releived when we discovered it was a mistake and we will be able to get that cash back. Then I was a little pissed off when their first suggestion was "I guess you just don't have to pay next month". Yeah, cause we can afford to do that. When they said they would FedEx us a cheque and pay our overdraft charges I was happy - no big deal. That was a week ago!

In other news, 30 hours to go! The realtor told us that the other offer is not going to remove the condition at this time, they have an open house tomorrow and if they get an offer without time conditions they will be in a position to buy. If they don't get a solid offer they will back away from the sale. He felt this was very promising! So, we are still no closer than we were yesterday - but things are looking good.

Big news!

Today we had planned to look at 5 places. Three were conditionally sold yesterday. However, it seemed to matter not.

Remember our 2nd viewing. We were impressed by the listing, and the house showed the same - no surprises.

We were very impressed. After talking to the realtor (who felt good about the place too) he decided to talk to the realtor of the place and see what was going on.
You see, this place has a 72 hour special sale. That means that another couple put in an offer with the condition that they need to sell their place first. That was before Christmas. But there is a 72 hour clause. That means that if someone else puts an offer on the house the original offer has 72 hours to drop their conditions and buy - or say no and walk away and the second offer buys the house.

After talking to the other realtor he felt very positive about the situation and about how we should proceed if we wanted to make an offer... So we did! We put an offer in on a house.
I just wanna say that again - we put an offer in on a house.
And wait...
They accepted the offer (subject to financing, subject to home inspection and subject to the 72 house accept/reject of the other offer)!!!!!

So we may have bought a house today! We do have to wait to hear from the other people - if they say yes then it is over. But if they say no - it is also over, but we get the house!

We must be calm. There is still time for this to go out the window. So we will relax and let you know!