theater — Page 31

Goodbye San Diego

July 5, 2009 at 2:22 pm by Claudia

I have two favorite trees here in Balboa Park. The other is a Eucalyptus tree with sprawling roots. This beauty is a fig tree that I pass by everyday. Huge, glorious, full – it is a miracle. Every time I walk by this tree on the way to the theater, it is bathed in this beautiful light. I will miss you, wondrous fig tree.

I am nearly packed – all the boxes have been sent off save a few that the Theater is sending for me. Tonight Coriolanus opens…I go to the Opening Night Party for all three shows in the Summer Repertory…and I say my goodbyes.

It is with mixed feelings that I leave San Diego. I used to live here and I am reminded every day of why I loved it here. The weather is beautiful, the daily sunshine makes a huge difference in my mood, the ocean and beach bring relaxation, every time I walk down the back road to the theater I am reminded of how much I love this place. However, things are changing at the Theater. It is not the same place I worked in several years ago. Things change, people come and go – that is the ebb and flow of life.

The Summer Repertory? That is a thing in and of itself and it is wonderful. We have 3 marvelous productions this year that everyone is justly proud of. I really love what I do. I love the wonderful creative people I get to work with, seeing a production grow from rehearsal to its life onstage with everyone doing their best to create a memorable production. The other night I stood in the back of the theater during Twelfth Night. For once I wasn’t taking notes and I watched as wave after wave of laughter convulsed the audience. What a magical thing this is – a group of strangers coming together to watch live theater – sharing energy with the actors, laughing, crying and standing to applaud the whole experience. The audience gets to travel to a different time and place and be transformed for the space of an evening – and maybe even longer. That is why we do it.

I will miss all my friends; the crew, the designers, the stage managers, the directors, the actors – and all my old friends from years back. I will miss my students so much. The Artistic Director, a man I admire greatly, has given notice and is leaving this week. That is very, very sad news for the Theater. He is wonderful and I hope I work with him again someday.

So goodbye to my students, my friends old and new, my colleagues, Vignettes and Lori, Cottage Antiques, the Barn Sale and everyone connected to it, the Theater, Balboa Park, the beach where I met my husband, and to glorious San Diego. Thank you for a great six months. If I had to be away from my home and family, this was the best place to be.

Thank you.

Garden Gone Ga-Ga

July 1, 2009 at 6:47 pm by Claudia

You are looking at part of my overgrown-garden-gone-wild back at Mockingbird Hill Cottage. Unless you have been ignoring all talk of weather, you know that June was one of the rainiest months on record back East. This has resulted in lush growth. However, that growth along with the fact that my husband has left the gardens alone because he is afraid to pull a viable plant rather than a weed has resulted in a lollapalooza of plants. Don has said to me more than once, “You’ll have a lot of work to do when you get home.” Sounds ominous, doesn’t it?

I will be so happy to get my hands in the dirt again. Of course, I will probably let loose with some bad words when I see it in person. But mostly, I will be happy to trim, snip, pull, yank, and shear back.

I see some bee balm, some coreopsis, some catmint. I’m not sure about the rest. There are also garden beds in front of the shed, on all sides of the porch, on the side of the house and by the kitchen. Oh boy.

No, this is not in my garden. This is in front of the San Diego Zoo. I walk right by these elephants (there are two of them) every day. This guy on the right is obviously tired from a day of walking around the zoo. Good place to rest.

Tonight is opening night for Twelfth Night (my favorite Shakespeare play.) It will be fun to watch it without taking notes – just as an audience member.

Opening Night, A Dollhouse Shop & Scarves For a Cause

June 28, 2009 at 2:33 pm by Claudia

Cyrano de Bergerac opened last night and is a resounding success. What an absolutely beautiful production, in every way – costumes, set design, sound, lighting, music – and if I may say, beautifully spoken. It helps to have an outstanding Cyrano. We do. And to be perfectly honest, I didn’t have to do too much in the way of coaching him. He is a wonderful actor with an amazing voice. My colleague has directed it beautifully.

Everyone who works on each production always gets a single long-stemmed rose on Opening Night. The brilliant costume designer gave me a copy of one of her designs, another wonderful colleague gave me a plume, handkerchief and a lovely quote – all of which figure in the play. One opening down, two to go. Then I fly home.

I found the most amazing dollhouse/miniature shop the other day: Miss Peggie’s Place – located in Pacific Beach. Why oh why can’t I plop this place down in upstate New York? I could have gone nuts there but was saved by three facts: I haven’t even seen my dollhouse in person, I already have too much to pack and I do not want to spend too much at present. I did buy this mini sewing basket because I fell in love with it ~ and I plan to have a craft/sewing room in the dollhouse (since there is no room for one in the cottage.) Isn’t it sweet?

Miss Peggie’s Place has been in the same location for over 30 years! Miss Peggie ran it for most of that time until it became too much for her. She died a few years ago and there is a new owner. I lived here for 8 years but wasn’t into the dollhouse thing then or I would have been there all the time.

These are the scarves I decorated for Design Gives Back at Kelee’s blog. I used scraps from the Quilt Along quilt and cut out circles with pinking shears. Then I glued them on with fabric glue, sent them home to MHC and my husband took a couple of photos of the dogs in their new scarves. It is such a great cause. Just click on the link and you can read all about it.

Don tells me the dogs wouldn’t stay still – they had just had a walk (hence Scout’s pink-rimmed eyes – she was excited) but I think they look pretty cute!

Have a great Sunday!

Goodbye San Diego

Garden Gone Ga-Ga

Opening Night, A Dollhouse Shop & Scarves For a Cause

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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