theater — Page 16

On the Road: Day Off

February 1, 2016 at 8:16 am by Claudia

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It’s Monday. My day off. No lolling around for me, though, I have to type up lots of notes for the actors after yesterday’s run-through of the play, I have to go grocery shopping, I have to do laundry, I have to pay bills and I have to go to the post office. Then it’s back at it tomorrow with another day of individual actor coaching and another run-though. We’ll be running the play almost every day now as we head toward the end of the week and the move onstage.

I made it through the day yesterday and, though I was fighting pure exhaustion after my night of too-little sleep, I went out to dinner with some old and new friends and had a wonderful time. I’m so glad I did. A truly lovely evening with lots of great conversation and lots of laughter. And you know I love to laugh.

I’m thinking, looking at the schedule, I’ll be able to get home for a couple of days this weekend. The actors move onstage on Saturday and the first day of tech is on Sunday. I usually stay away from the first day of tech simply because it’s not about me and my work. It’s about lights and costumes and sound and the set and all the new elements that are being added to the production. It’s not fair to the actors for me to be taking any notes on their speech and voice – they’re concentrating on other things.

But I’ll be there off and on for the second and third days of tech – that’s when I can start taking notes on the actor’s voices and how well they carry in the theater space, as well as how clearly they are articulating the text.

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I picked up this little globe at the Museum gift shop the other day. I love globes and this one is just the right size for the desk here in the apartment and the desk back home. It sits on a pretty wooden circle.

I have to get moving. Too many things to accomplish today!

Happy Monday.

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Sunset: City Edition

January 30, 2016 at 9:31 am by Claudia

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.

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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Checked Out for My Reading Pleasure

January 17, 2016 at 8:03 am by Claudia

Today is the last day of our first week of rehearsal. Tomorrow is the day off, and then we’re back at it on Tuesday. We finish up table work on Act Five, then Darko has another commitment, so I will do some one-on-one coaching. It will be a long day, but a good one.

I’m not going home this week. I knew this would be an intense week for me and driving home would take a chunk of time that I don’t want to give up on my only day off. I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow and run some errands, as well as just plain take it easy.

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I made it to the library yesterday morning. After getting a new library card, I checked out the new releases, which are housed on a series of curving shelves just inside the front door.

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They have everything, including many books I’ve recently read as eGalleys. They’ve just been published and they’re already on the shelves. It’s a treasure trove for an avid reader. Careful to not let my reading eyes get too big for my stomach, as it were, I checked out four books.

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Starting at the bottom:

• Home by Nightfall – The newest Charles Finch. I’ve read most of the Charles Lenox series that takes place in London in the 1870’s. There’s one waiting to be read on my shelves at home, but I thought I’d grab this one and read it while I’m here. Wonderful series, by the way.

• The Fifth House of the Heart by Ben Tripp – Ben lives in Los Angeles and is married to a former student of mine – both of them work in the entertainment industry. I’ve been reading about his latest book via Corinne’s FB posts. It’s not my usual genre, but it sounds fascinating, so I’m going to give it a read.

• In the Dark Places by Peter Robinson – This is a mystery and an author I’m not familiar with but Louise Penny’s blurb on the cover: “Thrilling – brilliantly plotted, beautifully paced” was all I needed. Part of the Inspector Banks series.

• Murder on the Champs de Mars by Cara Black – I’ve read several books in this Aimee Leduc series. This is the most recent, which will screw up my determination to read them in the order they were written, but heck – I’m saving money by checking it out of the library. Right?

I have two weeks in which to read all of these. And I have to finish my current read. Hmmm.

Don and Scout are doing well. I miss them terribly – the hardest time is in the evening, I think. That’s when I really feel it. But, we’re used to it. We adjust. And I’ll see them soon.

Happy Sunday.

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On the Road: Day Off

Sunset: City Edition

Checked Out for My Reading Pleasure

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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