Finster Finds

A set only seems to become real when it is lit properly and inhabited by it's residents. Check out the fabulous photos taken by Douglas Stewart at Village of Idiots media call. http://finster-wallyworld.blogspot.com/2011/06/media-call-for-village-of-idiots.html

Well, the set is 99% done! Yay! Attached here is a photo of it about 85% done. Missing is the border which we painted this morning and the cyclo-rama and curtains which will further define the space. I still have a few props to get, but I am happy to report that a few of my trickier items were located today and I have a plan and a back-up plan for a couple of the others. Some of the props is just about having more time to finish them. Now that the set is pretty much complete (I say pretty much because I need to see it under the lights to figure out if I want to accent or change anything) I have the time to complete the props. Whew! I shouldn't be sweating about this. I am waaaaaay ahead of any schedule I have every worked with as a Director, but somewhere along the way my deadlines were set ridiculously early. I know I will comment on that at Post Mortem. There is a wish-list date and then there is a 'realistic' date. With doing both set and props, the wish-list date is in...

Last night we started the floor for the Village set. It is coming along. I am takign today off because I am physically very tired and my muscles need a day off. I also have to find a monologue for my audition on Thursday (yikes!). Here is a picture from last week. I am going to take an updated photo tomorrow so you can see where it is going. I hope to get the border started tomorrow morning and some of the finicky bits.

Yesterday I was back at the theatre working away. Actually not as productive as earlier in the week but there were other people around and I must admit I am easily distracted when other people are around. I expect the same tomorrow, but everything I get done makes the time worth it. I stayed home today (with the chilluns) but still managed to get a few things done. I am done the parasols and Hebrew sign and researched the lettering for the sign that is affixed to the cart. I also drew up the blueprints. I am checking things off the list in hopes of clearing as much as possible as soon as I can. Why? Well, because things in a show like this pop up unexpectedly. With the way these guys are using and dealing with props I am sure I am going to get a few additions thrown my way and I want to be able to have time to work on those and not be worrying about a bunch of things I haven't gotten done. I already have potatoes added... I am sure there are more! By the way, I think my sign looks ...

My set for Village is coming along splendidly. This is a very exciting thing for me since it is a new adventure. My lovely Master Builder Ted Fischer built everything super fast and I started painting at the same time so we are ahead of schedule. Last night Joan Hawkins came in to paint with me and she helped me find textures and make some decisions about paint for the floor. Joan is the go-to girl for painting questions so I was glad to have her there. I was there a lot yesterday, and although I wasn't as productive as I have been on other days, we are delightfully ahead of schedule. Today is a day off from painting. I will still work on props at home, but my pecs need a rest. Back tomorrow!

After my last grumbly post I trundled off to the theatre for a Production Meeting, then a telephone Board Meeting, then to watch part of the Vill ag e of Id io ts rehearsal. It is certainly the right show to watch to make you feel better. Even better than the silliness abounding was watching how the cast was using the props I found and made. One actor made a picnic basket into the most delightful piece of comedy. For me it was really wonderful. I love it when actors take something they've been given, be it a costume, a prop, a set or a script, and they play with it and make it even better than it was. Very nice.

In the rational part of my brain/life I know that I have many, many blue clouds floating up above me. I have a crap-load to be grateful for and rationally I appreciate those things. I really, really do. When I suss it all out, and parse it and see it all - I am in a fabulous place. But, like most people I think, I go through these phases of grey clouds. I'm in one right now. No matter how much I speak up to my irrational brain with the rational part of my brain I see negative stuff. I feel cranky. Now, there is something specific happening that does currently contribute to this - it isn't coming out of nowhere - but it is getting harder to maintain the blue cloud exterior. People say things to me and I automatically reinterpret them in my head as a negative when they could probably have been completely neutral, or maybe they were negative things and I am right and that's why I am grumpy. I don't know. I know I am sad for some things ending and feel like I am being pushe...