Last of CT and most of Ont
A last note about Connecticut... these union rules are ridiculous. We couldn't do show laundry during the show because it's not “show work.” If we had laundry to do, we had to wait until the show ended and then start the washers. The wig girls were not allowed to set wigs that weren't going to be worn in the next show. They couldn't work ahead at all. I had 3 fittings to do and I couldn't do them during show time or during rehearsal. I had to pay my department head an extra 4 hours to come in before show time so I could do fittings. And I had three new people going in, so I had no choice but to give her the 4 hour call. Even though the fittings took about an hour, she got paid for a minimum of 4 hours of work. Crazy! Load out took forever because none of us could work. The minute the curtain came down we couldn't touch anything.
But the advantage to this nonsense was that I actually got to see the show. Since I had a shadow all week anyway (my flyman), I made him learn my track and then with much trepidation I made sure my phone was on and I sat in an aisle seat so I could make a quick get away in case something blew up backstage and I sat out and watched the show with my friend Jenny, who came down for the day. It's a good show, actually. I was a little surprised because I'm not hugely fond of Mel Brooks. But our production looks pretty quality and the audience loved it. I also got to see how things look from the house and made some changes once I got back to work. It is the only chance I'll ever have to do that with this show, and of course, the rest of the crew was jealous :)
I also really liked Hartford. It's a beautiful little city.
Brampton Ontario – We crossed the border in the day time and the Canadian customs didn't make us get out of the bus or even show ourselves. They just came on the bus, asked a few questions, looked at our passports and let us go. So, I take back every nasty thing I've said about them. We had a night in Brampton before we loaded in and you would think I'd go to bed early, given that I have to be up at the crack of dawn, but you'd be wrong about that.
So I got to work tired. But fortunately the load in wasn't too horrible. The weird thing is that the Brampton Rose Theatre was just built last year. And it was clearly built by someone who has never done theatre, ever, and has no interest in theatre or those silly things called set pieces. The doorways? 12Ft high. Too low for scenery or decking carts, which then had to be unloaded in the dock and hand carried in piece by piece. The dressing rooms were all up 3 flights of stairs, too far away for anyone to do any changes in them. All costume changes had to be on stage. Plus there was one washer and one dryer. Seriously? I expect this in a theatre built in 1950 but a massive theatre complex built in 2007 has no excuses.
My crew had several really good stitchers though, which was fortunate as I had three new people going in for that show. This means that yesterday all their costumes were worn by the old people and today they need alterations so they can be worn by the new people. I spent the whole day getting everything else ready for three new people. It was a long day and more sleep might have helped...
The show went ok. The crew was pretty competent all around and our three shows were mostly uneventful on the local side. However, the night after load out from Hartford our electrician was throwing up all night. Then on our trip to Ontario, our SL Carpenter was throwing up all day. Meanwhile, our Follow Spot Op had been hacking his lungs up for 2 days straight and looked like death warmed over with pink eye. By the time we hit Brampton, our Wigs Head and our Flyman had the flu and our Stage Manager had the cold/whooping cough/pink eye situation. Then I started to feel feverish the last night we were there and thought “nope.” Cuz Jen, the Wigs Head, and I can't both be sick. Our departments can't run without both of us. Jen was still sick so I had to wait until she was better before I got sick. Then the last day our TD got some kind of lethal combination of the pinkeyecough and the throwingupflu and was “working” in that he was standing and telling people what to do but he looked like a ghost.
Despite all this, none of us can call in sick to work because there's no one to cover us. It works out well that we all like each other because the non-sick people work overtime trying to give the sick people a break and let them sleep longer, especially knowing that since we're all on the bus together it's just a matter of time before the sickness makes the rounds and everyone will be covering your job. It was a gruesome couple of days on our end. Plus it was snowing the whole time we were there, which is beautiful but tiring and cold to work in. Plus the three flights of stairs every 10 minutes for 2 days. ..
It was good to finally get on the bus and pull out of Canada. Next stop? Awesomesburg!
But the advantage to this nonsense was that I actually got to see the show. Since I had a shadow all week anyway (my flyman), I made him learn my track and then with much trepidation I made sure my phone was on and I sat in an aisle seat so I could make a quick get away in case something blew up backstage and I sat out and watched the show with my friend Jenny, who came down for the day. It's a good show, actually. I was a little surprised because I'm not hugely fond of Mel Brooks. But our production looks pretty quality and the audience loved it. I also got to see how things look from the house and made some changes once I got back to work. It is the only chance I'll ever have to do that with this show, and of course, the rest of the crew was jealous :)
I also really liked Hartford. It's a beautiful little city.
Brampton Ontario – We crossed the border in the day time and the Canadian customs didn't make us get out of the bus or even show ourselves. They just came on the bus, asked a few questions, looked at our passports and let us go. So, I take back every nasty thing I've said about them. We had a night in Brampton before we loaded in and you would think I'd go to bed early, given that I have to be up at the crack of dawn, but you'd be wrong about that.
So I got to work tired. But fortunately the load in wasn't too horrible. The weird thing is that the Brampton Rose Theatre was just built last year. And it was clearly built by someone who has never done theatre, ever, and has no interest in theatre or those silly things called set pieces. The doorways? 12Ft high. Too low for scenery or decking carts, which then had to be unloaded in the dock and hand carried in piece by piece. The dressing rooms were all up 3 flights of stairs, too far away for anyone to do any changes in them. All costume changes had to be on stage. Plus there was one washer and one dryer. Seriously? I expect this in a theatre built in 1950 but a massive theatre complex built in 2007 has no excuses.
My crew had several really good stitchers though, which was fortunate as I had three new people going in for that show. This means that yesterday all their costumes were worn by the old people and today they need alterations so they can be worn by the new people. I spent the whole day getting everything else ready for three new people. It was a long day and more sleep might have helped...
The show went ok. The crew was pretty competent all around and our three shows were mostly uneventful on the local side. However, the night after load out from Hartford our electrician was throwing up all night. Then on our trip to Ontario, our SL Carpenter was throwing up all day. Meanwhile, our Follow Spot Op had been hacking his lungs up for 2 days straight and looked like death warmed over with pink eye. By the time we hit Brampton, our Wigs Head and our Flyman had the flu and our Stage Manager had the cold/whooping cough/pink eye situation. Then I started to feel feverish the last night we were there and thought “nope.” Cuz Jen, the Wigs Head, and I can't both be sick. Our departments can't run without both of us. Jen was still sick so I had to wait until she was better before I got sick. Then the last day our TD got some kind of lethal combination of the pinkeyecough and the throwingupflu and was “working” in that he was standing and telling people what to do but he looked like a ghost.
Despite all this, none of us can call in sick to work because there's no one to cover us. It works out well that we all like each other because the non-sick people work overtime trying to give the sick people a break and let them sleep longer, especially knowing that since we're all on the bus together it's just a matter of time before the sickness makes the rounds and everyone will be covering your job. It was a gruesome couple of days on our end. Plus it was snowing the whole time we were there, which is beautiful but tiring and cold to work in. Plus the three flights of stairs every 10 minutes for 2 days. ..
It was good to finally get on the bus and pull out of Canada. Next stop? Awesomesburg!
posted by KBARRETT at 1:58 PM
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