Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

You are here: Home / Archives for coaching

Blooms

at by

Taken from the bus window: proof that spring has come to NYC.

These last two days have been exhausting. I was already suffering from lack of sleep, but Sunday night was the worst. A combination of me worrying about getting enough sleep and Don sleeping noisily (he’s sick, but he’s a noisy sleeper most of the time) was the problem. So I came downstairs to sleep on the sofa and I think I got less than 4 hours. It was a very, very long day in the city and I didn’t get home until 9:30 pm. I was so tired that I just took a bath and went to bed.

Yesterday, I had to get up at 5 am to get to a 10 am rehearsal call, so I was still operating on about 1 cylinder. Thankfully, I only had to be there for an hour, so I got home around 1 pm, whereupon I sat in my chair in a catatonic state and eventually took a nap. Last night, I had a better night’s sleep and I coach in the afternoon today. I will still have to leave fairly early due the weird bus schedule, so I’ll have to kill some time before rehearsal. I’ll be done by 5 and will hopefully get home by 7:30 pm, which means I can have some dinner with Don.

It changes every day.

Anyway, as I’ve always said, the coaching isn’t the problem; once I’m coaching, I’m in the zone and I love it. It’s the damn logistics of it all with so much travel every day.

I really haven’t had any time to do anything but commute, work, come home, sleep, and do it all again. So that means I don’t have time to answer your comments, but I do read them, my friends, and appreciate them.

Don has the equivalent of a bad head cold and he’s pretty miserable. I’m not feeling tip top either, but we’ll get through it.

The cast is very nice, as is the support staff; stage managers, director, etc. We have a lot to do in a very short amount of time, but that’s okay. I work best under a wee bit of pressure.

I’ll try to get some more egg cup pictures when I can. Do you want to see my more traditional egg cups? Some of them are quite pretty. Let me know.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

 

Part 8: Egg Cups

at by

Yesterday’s post should have been Part 7 of the egg cup tour, but I just realized that I had two Part 6 posts in a row! Oy. So I went back and edited the title of the post. As for today, we’re on Part 8 and it’s a dark, rainy, sleety day, so taking photos is difficult.

Hence, we move to the home of the dolls to get a better photo:

The one on the left was a gift from my longtime online pal, Linda. It’s so adorable. Not showing in the photo is the tail, which is removable and functions as a salter for the egg. And let’s face it, the color of that adorable egg cup is perfect for me. That little sticker says “Our Own Import.” I love it when the original stickers are still intact.

In the center, a little egg cup with a pale blue/lavender lustreware cup. Made in Japan. It usually holds a marble egg that I’ve had for years.

On the right, a beautiful goose egg cup from France. I really love this one; it’s so graceful and beautiful. Interestingly, I found it in a local antique shop – and by local, I mean in the Hudson Valley somewhere. It’s rare for me to find an egg cup I’m interested in buying around here.

Thank you to those of you who are taking the time to comment on these posts. I wasn’t going to do an egg cup tour, but a lot of you mentioned that you’d love to see them again. So, I’m taking the time every morning to choose the cups and photograph them so that you can see them. I know that newer readers might not have seen them before.

Anyway, this is a very busy time for me and I appreciate it when you take the time to leave a comment. Otherwise, I find myself wondering if I’m losing readers or just plain boring you and comments are definitely down since I started this tour. Should I not do these anymore?

To those of you who do take the time to comment, thank you. Normally, this isn’t an issue and I have said many times that you don’t have to worry about commenting, but please remember that this takes time. Once I commit to showing you the egg cups, and there are a lot of them, we are talking about several posts. In fact, I’ll have to take more photos than usual this weekend because I will most likely be working in NYC every day next week, which means I will have to write posts ahead of time.

All this is to say that bloggers or writers on Instagram or Facebook appreciate feedback, especially if they’re doing a series or compiling information for you. It’s free of charge, but it takes a lot of time on our end.

I did a lot of prep work for the play yesterday and will do more today. Then I’ll spend my time on Sunday reviewing everything so I’m ready for work on Monday.

We haven’t heard anything so we’re sure Don did not get the job. He’s very disappointed and down.

Thanks for your positive thoughts, my friends. We never take that for granted.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Some Good News

at by

Impossible to get a full-on straight photo of these shelves as they’re tucked into a corner with two different side tables in the way. And a lamp.

I have been feeling under the weather since yesterday. That storm was pretty extreme and the change in barometric pressure always does a number on my sinuses. And the wind, which was relentless for over 24 hours. It feels like I have a cold, but I don’t.

Some good news. On Tuesday, I received an email through my professional web site. Now, I have been seriously considering deleting that site because I really don’t get any work from it. Work, for me, comes through word of mouth and colleagues I’ve worked with before. It costs money to maintain that site, and I thought “I’m 70. Time to delete it.” But Don talked me into keeping it, especially since I’d just worked on the film. Back to the email. It was from a staff member at the Paper Mill Playhouse, which is a very well known theater in New Jersey – in fact, it’s the State Theater of New Jersey. The managing director there (Mike) used to work at Hartford Stage and I know him well. He recommended me for dialect coach on their upcoming production of Murder On the Orient Express. Could I contact them? Though I suppose they could have tracked me down via Darko, who is a good friend of Mike, they ended up tracking me down via my web site.

We chatted yesterday and then I talked to the director and now I have a job. I have a feeling there was someone else slotted for this job because they start rehearsals a week from Monday. I have to research 8 different dialects! Gulp.

But it’s work! And I’m grateful. They rehearse in NYC, so I’ll be traveling off and on to the city, as well as to the theater, and perhaps some zoom work, as well.

I always love the opportunity to work at a new-to-me theater. Very grateful. This makes up for the cancellation of the Broadway run of A Man of No Importance. I’m probably earning a bit more on this production than I would have on AMONI, since it wouldn’t have needed much rehearsal and everyone already knew the dialect.

Today, I’m taking it easy, save for reading the script, and then I’ll start my research on the weekend.

Like any actor or freelance designer or director, I’m always afraid my current job might be my last. And someday that will happen. But right now, I need the work and the income, so this is a nice turn of events.

Now we need a job for Don.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Thanks for visiting! Feel free to browse, read and enjoy. All content is my own; including photos and text. Please do not use anything on this site without permission.

Disclosure/Privacy Policy can be found in the Navigation Bar under ‘About MHC.’

Also, I love receiving comments! I do, however, reserve the right to delete any comment that is in poor taste, offensive or is verging on spam. It’s my blog. If you’re a bot or a troll you’ll be blocked. Thanks!

Archives