Living in the Theatre - Painting by Day, Directing by Night!

After all the build up for me in the rest of the season I am solidly up to my neck in Nine at Walterdale.  We are enjoying being spoiled by a set being mostly done much earlier than scheduled.  This has allowed us to do a lot of spacing in the actual theatre with all the architectural elements (except the poles - one comes in today and the other two should be in on the weekend).  It has been wonderful and has actually pushed us ahead of scheduled.  I am hoping this means I can give some nights off here and there.  That will only happen, however, if new conflicts from the cast stop rolling in.  It is hard to say 'no' because everyone has a (ahem) good excuse.  Anyhow, we are in good shape and that makes me happy.  Because of the strength of the cast, there are things I do not have to put a lot of time into (like character work) because they come with their homework done. I like that!

In the day times, since the set has been done, I have been leading the paint crew. I am technically second in command, but I can paint in the daytime and I prefer that happening so that I don't get kicked off the deck in the evenings. We are therefore, ahead of schedule when it comes to paint, too!  Yay!  I have had a nice gang of helpers to keep my company and make the work go so much faster! It does, however, make for long days and I have to watch how much of my time I schedule for the painting so that I do not stress myself out too much. 

As I have gotten older, I find that I cannot handle the long hours as well. I also have a hard time getting to sleep right away in the evenings as I come home wired from rehearsal so I have to watch that.  I need nap time I think.  In any case, I am delighted with how we are progressing!

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