Finster Finds

I am so happy to have a night off tonight. We were in good enough shape last night at our Dress Rehearsal that our lovely Director said we could all stay home tonight and rest up. We still have a music rehearsal (Sitz Probe or Wander Probe... not sure exactly which) tomorrow night and our final Dress on Sunday, but this evening and Saturday are delightfully off-duty days! Yay! Because I have other things to catch up on and I am looking forward to a couple days where I do not have to wear heels. The media photos are up and our Lighting Designer, Richard Hatfield, also took some great shots during the dress rehearsal last night. I love the photos, but realized that I am fatter than I thought I was (maybe it was just the angle of the photos? Please? the way the costume fits?). Anyhow, it's not surprising, just disappointing. I have got to get in shape. I could wear Spanx but then the costume might be too big so I will suck it up for this show and then make a plan. Another plan. Hopefu...

Gibson is quite ill. Bronchial infection. Not fun for him and a bit scary for me since I am rehearsing a musical that opens in a little under 2 weeks. I will be vigilant on my own health. So far I seem okay. The tiredness is the worst right now. He's not sleeping well so he is in with us so we can keep him propped up and react quickly to any nighttime needs like water, tissues, Tylenol. Hopefully the Antibiotics kick in and he starts feeling better soon. I have had to miss class to day to stay home with him. That's alright, I will get the notes form one of my buddies. I miss going out. Of course, I hear the roads are complete crap today, so maybe it was a good thing. I am hoping the two of us can have a little nap this afternoon and I won't feel so tired. The show is coming along. We had a good run last night. Needs to be tighter, but it wasn't too bad. The set is gorgeous! And from what I have seen of the costumes it is going to look spectacular. Very, ver...

Yesterday was a roller coaster ride. So much up and down stuff that it is almost strange to think about it because it feels like a week was packed into the one day. The day started okay, got crappy, got wonderful again, then a rehash of the earlier crap, then pretty good, then grumpy, then some good news, then an out of left field thing that made me go WTF? I wish I could give details, but I can't... so sorry. I can about some of the good stuff. The wonderfulness was the rehearsals for Threepenny . It all of a sudden felt like a show yesterday. Which is weird, because we were missing some key players, but with the people who were away I KNOW they are solid and I could envision them during the run. But for me, it came together. I hope the Director is as happy. We still have a little ways to go, but we have 2 weeks until an audience. It was a nice comfort zone. Anyhow, days like yesterday some times make me want to say 'to heck with it!' but wise advise from friends...

It's always hard to evaluate a theatrical experience when you go in with high expectations. The last few shows I went to I really, really, really wanted to be blown away, and although the shows were good, they did not blow me away. There were moments and elements of genius - I will give them that, but I never really believed, and the genius wasn't consistent through the whole show. I'm not naming names, because they were good shows, and maybe it is just me (I know people who saw the same show and were thrilled), or the space, or being tired, or constantly being in evaluative mode instead of experience mode, or having too high of expectations, or wanting it all to be as good as the best moments... I just feel bad when immediately after the show and when someone I know really, really liked it asks me what I thought and I literally cannot really remember anything other than what it looked like. Like we are talking within a half hour of seeing the show. I might as well just...

Today was the final presentation for the Boys' Foote Theatre School Drama Classes. Gibson's was at 9:30 A.M. and Oliver's was at 4:00 P.M. so it was a long day. The presentations were very cute. I think the Ziedler was a little too big a space for the little kids as most were inaudible past the first few rows (I don't even know if you could hear them in the 3rd row). But the shows were very cute. I think that if they do the little kids shows in that space they need to incorporate more choral speech or repetition to increase the amount of the show that you could hear. All the 'plays' were well-known fairy tales so that helped and, like I said, the cuteness factor was through the roof. Oliver's class was much easier to hear and I think the space was perfect for them, but I was in the second row this time. I certainly felt the volumes were much more appropriate. I was very pleased with his presentation. Every year I have seen a progression in the quali...

This is technically 501 - at least according to my dashboard. There may actually be more because I deleted some posts along the way... It is hard to think I have posted that many things in such a relatively short time. Some weeks I was more diligent (read - blah, blah, blabby) while other weeks I was a little more laconic (read - too lazy/busy to write). I should go back and re-read and see what I was up to when I started this... Anyhow, things are moving along for Threepenny. We stumbled Act Two (off book) yesterday and it went okay. It needs work. It was the first time off-book and that is always fun. Lines for me that were perfect in my bathroom totally flew out of my head once on stage. We also had a couple of people missing and it has been a while since we have done Act Two so that was a challenge. It was good to see what needed work. School is good. I got a few books today to write my paper. I think one is useless and I shall have to return it, but otherwise I have some ...

I wasn't really looking forward to having the 2 of them home all day together, but they were fabulous this year. With the cold being what it was, there would be no outlet in sending them outside to work it out in physical activity. However, other than one of two small altercations over the two days they were great little guys. They took turns, they joked, they played together and apart. Yes, Gibson made several messes on my table involving cutting paper and drawing things and yes, Oliver played a lot of DS, but they also read, played the Wii, played with toys, etc... and they got along for the most part. That was nice. I also got some work done. Mostly online via email and such, but I also went to class and worked on some playwriting stuff and rehearsed. A production couple of days for me. Tomorrow night I am going to a show at the U of A - Death and the Maiden . I am looking forward to seeing it. I hope to work on my lines during the day while at the Drama classes, but tha...

But at least I got to sleep in. I feel like I have been running steady for the last three days. Saturday, Sunday and Monday were jam packed days. Today it was nice to not have to get out of bed at 7 a.m. I do have a headache though, which sucks. I didn't have it lying down, it struck as I stood up - so does that mean I should return to the bed? Hmmmmm. I took my Tylenol and I am waiting for progress. I think it is cold induced, in that I clench my teeth a lot more when I am freezing and it has been bitterly cold. Like I am talking Fort McMurray cold... I thought I moved... Well, I did well at the Oscars. I got 16 correct and the nearest to me was 13 so I won! Last year was the first time we did ballots. I was surprised and delighted with a lovely gift from the hostess. I also get to host next year... I have a year to figure that one out. I went with my gut on some of the choices and it seemed to work. The hostess also found Oscar BINGO online and that was fun. With the somewhat la...