Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Wow.

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Homewood Suites – my home away from home. If I can’t have Peets French Roast in the morning, their Robust blend does rather nicely.

They’ve given us all lanyards because this is such a huge production with so many staff, designers, actors, and creatives coming and going that we need to be identified. As lanyards go, this is rather a large one, but it sure is pretty!

I saw the show last night. Words seem to be failing me at the moment, but I’ll give it a try. Glorious. Gorgeous. Sumptuous. Beautiful. Moving. The music is exquisite, the actors and dancers are amazingly talented. The designs: set, lighting, costumes (oh my god!) and projections are stunning. It was all I could do to take notes while taking in every element that has been added as this show that I watched most recently in a rehearsal room moved on stage.

Darko’s direction is impeccable, as always. Peggy Hickey’s choreography is simply amazing.

Wow and wow and wow and wow!

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I snapped a quick photo as I sat in my seat, waiting for the curtain.

If you live in the area: GO. Just GO.

Today I will spend some time at rehearsal, giving notes to various actors, checking in with them to see if all is well. Then I’ll head home – most likely smack in the middle of rush hour. I’m tired because I was up later than usual last night, yet I woke up at the exact same time (5:45) that I usually wake up. Not good.

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The sky as I walked to the theater last night. Pretty dramatic, as befits a night at the theater.

Happy Friday.

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A Bit of Everything on Saturday

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I’m back home after a long and satisfying day working on Anastasia.

When I pulled in the driveway around 8 pm, Don had dinner waiting, bless him. What a guy! He also spent the morning putting in our new mailbox. When the guys were here working on our culvert, they had to pull the mailbox out of the ground and when they put it back in, it was too low in height. Our wonderful post person, Lori, had to lean way over to open the box. As the mailbox itself was incredibly rusty after almost 11 years of service, Don replaced the whole thing. And he mowed the lawn.

First things first: today is the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. And April 23rd is also considered to be his birthdate, though we can’t know that for sure. Since a great deal of my work has to do with Shakespeare as I gradually work my way through the canon, I couldn’t let this anniversary pass without saying – once again – that I think Shakespeare was the greatest writer ever to walk this earth. I never tire of his work. No matter how many times I’ve worked on a particular play, I learn something new. He understood the human heart. He understood good, greed, temptation, passion, joy, love, jealousy, hate – everything we humans feel and fall prey to. He understood the metaphysical. He was simply a genius. Thank you, Will!

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I posted this on Instagram the other day. When we were out and about on Primary Day, I saw this in our local antique barn. Oh, my heavens. It’s a dollhouse – or rather, a doll barn – called Red Robin Farm. Those doors slide open and the inside is a barn with stalls for animals. The roof lifts off.

I did a little research and this building was manufactured by an American company – Converse, based in Massachusetts – in the early part of the twentieth century. There were varying sizes of these buildings. It looks like this one was one of the largest.

If I’d had an extra $265.00 on hand, I would have seriously considered this beauty. It’s in great condition. Made of wood.

But I must tend to other things, like this little project:

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As you can see, I have yet to deal with the front porch or the trim around the bottom of the building. And I suppose I have to put a roof on, though I don’t want to.

Decisions, decisions. Will I get it done in time for Don’s birthday on June 24th? I have ordered a few more components, but I need some sort of work table that is a bit taller than the temporary farm table I have in there at the moment. I need to figure out how to make a sound board. I’m ordering a couple of stools and I need a coffee maker. What else? A large rug to absorb sound while recording. Lots and lots of vinyl records. I want to make some sort of shelf to hold the records – something I can hang on the wall.

Can I do it? Cross your fingers.

Happy Saturday.

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Sunset: City Edition

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As I was walking back to the apartment after rehearsal yesterday:

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That’s Trumbull Street, by the way, not Bull Street.

It seemed like every few seconds I saw some incredible view of the sunset and whipped out my iPhone to record it.

No one else seemed at all aware of the staggering beauty of the sunset (though I’m sure many were.) But no one else was taking any pictures. End of the work week, tired, on their way home – I’m sure all of those things were at play for the commuters trying to get out of the city and back home again.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It’s all in the timing, isn’t it? I happened to be walking home at the perfect time. Any later, and it would have disappeared.

It’s not the end of the work week for us, of course. Sunday is the end of our week. On any given day lately, I find myself confused as to what day it is. This morning, I slept until 7:15, so it was light when I got out of bed. I looked out the window wondering why the parking lot across the way was empty.

Beat.

Beat.

Oh…it’s Saturday.

Three more weeks after this one. We’re heading into our last week in the rehearsal rooms and then we’ll be moving onstage. Three and a half weeks isn’t a whole lot of time in which to do table work, stage the entire play, work with the actors, and have several run-throughs before hitting the stage. I don’t know how Darko and the cast and stage managers and crew do it. In the old days there was more rehearsal time available. But it’s a costly endeavor, and most non-profit theaters have had to cut back on rehearsal time. Certainly, way back when I was working at the Old Globe, there was more time allotted for the rehearsal room. But every theater I know of has had to cut back.

So, I’d use the word ‘miracle’ but it really isn’t. It’s hard work and planning and dedication and drive and all the things that theater artists do without blinking an eye to create a fully-realized production.

Some of you have recently asked me what I do when I’m working on a play and what ‘coaching’ means (in my case.) I’ve written about it before on the blog and this post (from 2009, when I was working at the Old Globe for 10 weeks) pretty much covers it.

Book review on Just Let Me Finish This Page today.

Happy Saturday.

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