Finster Finds

I has a great evening last night. It was surreal some of the time, but I really enjoyed the show. The casting and choices were very different from the production that I was in, that I was able to see them uniquely and I could appreciate each for what they were. It is so very cool to see this show with a different but totally legitimate ensemble work, but work in ways different from how my show worked. It was also fun to sit outside the action and laugh at the things I couldn't before. The changes surprised and delighted me. It was well-paced and honest and that is what you need to do to bring that show to life. A funny thing happened in the second act that totally caught me off guard. After the 3rd scene I suddenly went to the head space I was in while doing the show. I guess the patterns of dialogue and situation sent me back there and before the lights came up on the 4th scene I was crying and emotionally distraught. I am sure the people on either side of me couldn't...

Tonight I am going to see Steel Magnolias in Spruce Grove at Horizon Stage. It is the closing night of a three show run and they have been sold out or close to that for all the shows. It was directed by my bf AM and I know most of the cast. It is going to be weird. I am hoping that I can separate my experience from being in the show a few years ago from the experience of watching this new production. I will do my best to do so, but don't hate me if I am not able to! I am sure I will enjoy the evening, it's just going to be weird because I know ALL the words!

Okay, I did stuff this week, but I didn't get everything done and that makes me feel like it just flew by. I had some interpersonal angst at the beginning of the week and that caused a lot of unnecessary stress that sucked up oodles of my mental time and brought up all the stress from a month ago that I thought I had pushed into the void. Oliver was sick and stayed home Tuesday, so that day was a write-off. On Thursday, I touched base at the theatre and Theatre Alberta on Thursday and ran into people I hadn't seen for a while so I spent a few hours that day just talking to people. I can't even remember what I did on Wednesday. Oh, where does the time go?

A discussion on a friend's blog lead to this blog post: http://skepticalob.blogspot.com/2009/06/sex-discrimination-feminists-can.html The idea that this happens really bothers me. It makes me think that maybe we shouldn't tell if this is what people are going to do with the information. A baby is a baby and to use gender/sex as determinate for it's validity is horrific to me. I have always had trouble with pro-choice, pro-life - trouble with both sides. They both seem so extreme. One justifies abortion in all cases and one does not recognise that there are situations where that is the best course of action. I am a moderate on this and am glad that I never had to face the decision. I hope I never have to and I hope that if any of my friends come to me for comfort and advice facing that kind of decision that I can be a good friend and give them the support they need regardless of the outcome.

I got a phone call from the vet today. Smeep's lump was benign and with the type of tumor it was excision is curative. Yay! So we should keep an eye (or hand) out for future lumps, but she is fine for now. In a week the stitches should come out and then it is just wait for her next shot. I am quite relieved.

I have read several updates on Facebook this week about people decorating for Christmas already. I am not there. It shakes me when there are Christmas things in the stores before Halloween is done. Decorating this early for a festival that occurs on December 24th/25th seems ridiculous to me. I know, some of you out there might decorate this early. That's your prerogative. But this is the nature of our society of excess. We take a 12 day Festival that is supposed to START on Dec 25 (I Believe - possibly the 24th, but Christmas kicks off the 12 days of Christmas, not ends it) and then we start the festival atmosphere on November 15th or earlier and then we lose the specialness of the actual holiday. What makes Christmas special if we celebrate it for a month and a half? I can see the coordinated holiday parties occurring prior to the day, but I just think that we live such spoiled lives in our society as it is, that to demand the lengthening of the Christmas holiday just ...

Smeep is home. She seems to be doing well and we will find out in a week or so about the results from the lab. She is leaving the sutures alone and is a bit clingy, but that is expected. Hopefully all will be well. It strikes me as strange compared to how we dealt with our pets as children. I am pretty sure we did not take any of our cats for yearly shots. We let them run around outside and the only time they went to the vet was to get fixed or if they were visibly injured. If the repair cost a significant amount of money I am pretty sure that my parents went the way of euthanasia. But Smeep is a part of our family. She's been here longer than the boys have. I couldn't see not getting the lump removed and tested, although I was relieved that it cost less than the $500 the doctor originally quoted. Who knows, down the line it may cost more. When I was picking her up there was an elderly gentlemen leaving the back room alone who looked quite shook up as though he'd be...

My cat Smeep is at the vet today. She had a small lump on her back and they are removing it and testing it. The Vet says it looks like melanoma. We will not know what it is until next week and I am hoping it is benign. She's a really nice cat.

I had a lovely night out yesterday. Rock n' Roll by Tom Stoppard is playing at the Citadel and my University roommate from waaaaaaay back is in it. I was so excited to see her head shot on the Citadel's website as I have not seen her onstage for 9 years (Stratford in Summer 2000). She primarily works in the East since she lives in Toronto and Stratford, but this co-pro with The Canadian Stage Company was a nice opportunity for her to come back to Edmonton for a stint. When I wrote her she did reply "you realize I am only in about 8 minutes in the latter half of Act Two". Didn't matter. I wanted to see her and the show as it sounded like a show that involved thinking and wasn't necessarily predictable. We met for a nice dinner and visit before the show and then I met up with Mark and friends to see the show. Following the show we met up with her in the lobby and she introduced us to some of the cast (including Fiona Reid who played the female lead). So ...

I have been thinking about this since last night. One of the responses that I got from the Team when I asked why they hadn't come to me for help was that "they didn't want me to burn out". This has been expressed to me in the past, but I really don't know why. I always ask, "Do I look like I'm burning out?" and the responses is usually "no, but so and so did and we don't want to lose good people by wearing them out". I understand the concern, but I am very good about only taking on what I can handle. I have learned to say "no" when needed and I only take on what I really want to or need to. There is a point when the same people keep getting asked and I think we need to expand the pool that we pick from and talk to different people so we don't over tax certain people, but as AD I certainly want the membership to come to me if needed.

Yesterday I spent from 9-3 at Walterdale working with the Board on Policy and Procedures. That was good but I was very tired from being out the night before (A Chorus Line). Then I scooted off to the Post Mortem for Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. That took a little longer than I thought it would, but I am glad we got it done. The major complaints/issues were with one particular person and that will need to be addressed. There are other issues to be looked after, and I will get on starting those in motion today. 90% of all issues that happen in our organization (and in most) have to do with communication. There were many things that came up to which I said "How come I didn't know about this when it was happening - I would've helped" but the perception was that it wasn't my job to help in those cases. I believe that if you aren't getting the help you need then come to me. I may not be able to help directly, but I can usually get...

I am in between projects right now - not really, but it feels like it. I do have a script I need to work on for New Works , but the time to work on that is flexible, not scheduled like when you are in rehearsal. Soon I will be in rehearsal and that will shift my work schedule on that, but for right now, 2 weeks after Sweeney and a week before New Works auditions, I am in a lull. The worst thing about lull time is that I eat more. It is strictly boredom and because it's there eating, but it happens and that sucks. So, to try and make the lull work for me, today I finally wrote several drafts for the Handbook we are putting together at Walterdale. I wrote about Theatre Etiquette for Audiences and Actors (and Production Teams as a whole) and I wrote about Rehearsals (for the Director and the Actor) and the Previews and Late-Comers Policies. There was a whole lot of writing. I think at the end I got kind of snippy, because some of the stuff I shouldn't have to spell out, but cl...

This weekend the Walterdale Theatre Board of Directors will be meeting to work on our policies and procedures. This is something we have been loosely working on for the past 3 years and in the last year we became much more focused and directed in terms of getting it all together. My hope is that we will produce a document that can be a good guide for the various teams that come through the building and that it will offer assistance but will still be flexible to allow for a variety of personalities. Because this is the challenge. Every team that comes through the theatre is unique and has it's own style of communication and ways of doing things. There are some people that might be the same from team to team, but change one designer, one ASM and you get a slightly different dynamics. And I have noticed that because these teams come from different levels of training and experience there are plenty of people who break the rules. Here are two extremes that I have seen that make me cring...

Last night was my 3rd Annual 40th Birthday Party. I do not have it to prolong my youth , but rather because the 1st one was so fun, I decided to keep having that party, once a year, every year, until I hit 50! I was a month off the actual birth date, but Sweeney kind of ate up the month of October, so no worries! In any case, it was so much fun. I am blessed to know so many wonderful, fun and talented people. They kept the karaoke machine running all night long from 7:20 p.m. until 3:15 a.m. (I was pretty good in my assessment that the party would go to 3:00 a.m.). We had people ranging in age from 3 1/2 months to older than me (I am not outing anyone's age!). We had the Fuss Cupcakes that I love (I think I will invest in more minis and less full size ones next year - that way you can try more than one and not feel like a piggy!). I missed a few people that couldn't make it, or forgot, or got ill at the last minute, but the BEST was that my sister surprised me by flying...