Down in the mouth

OK, this is getting old. First the pain sent me to the doctor, who sent me to the dentist. Mine couldn't make it, so 2-hour drive to the Chief's dentist. Two wisdom teeth later and lighter, I developed dry socket, so off to my own dentist. That finally cleared up, then the TMD (tycho-mandibular dysfunction, as the dentist instructed the hygienist) began. So, when my dentist didn't answer my phone messages, back to the Chief's dentist, this time to be fitted for a night guard. Went back yet again to pick it up about 10 days ago. Jaw didn't seem to be getting better yet, but he did warn me it could take a while. Then things took a sudden turn for the worse a coupla days ago. When I can't even eat salad (and I mean lettuce and tomatoes, not carrots) without pain, I'd say I've got a problem. So tomorrow I start calling some of the dentists on the list I printed out tonight.

The Chief's been through worse, so I know there are worse problems, but I'm getting royally weary of over 2 months of pain that's here far more than it's gone. And when dropping my jaw to sing in my upper register is a problem, I definitely need to get this fixed! What scares me is that my dentist had mentioned a little plate/bone thingy that sits between the upper and lower jaw plates that can get messed up and needs surgery to correct. I am so very not ready to do that and risk screwing up my jaw. Even if that becomes necessary, I sure as heck ain't doing it until after Pirates closes!

Champing at the bit

Here we are, 6 or 7 weeks into the Pirates rehearsal process, and still no cast list. Our rehearsal schedule only runs through this week, we've had exactly one blocking rehearsal (supposed to have choreography tomorrow night), no clue what anyone's costumes will involve, whether she's got a sub for "Edith" for opening weekend - heck, we haven't even seen the director in two weeks! Heard from her last week only when she e-mailed everyone to tell us that rehearsal was cancelled because we'd been bumped from the space.

It's been frustrating that she just plain doesn't return e-mails. I've had a few questions for her about the show, and even offered help (finding costumes and compiling the cast list) but not a word in response. I don't need to know every last little thing about her plans for the show, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect some kind of a response. Is it?

We're now 2 months from opening and I think we're all getting a bit itchy to get this baby on its feet; try the blocking with lines and music and all that. Wonder if there'll be any choreography for Ruth tomorrow night? Sure hope so!

Shopping? or auditions?

Not sure which you'd call this, but I've just begun the hunt for another voice teacher. Not that I've had any problems with my current one, but as she readily admits, after 5-7 years you start repeating yourself, and we've been working together more like 8 years or so. I had a lesson Thursday with someone who'd probably work well, but I want to try at least 1 or 2 more. Even if they all suit, it could come down to whose schedule works best with mine, or whose lessons are more affordable. I've heard of folks spending upwards of $100 per hour for a lesson! That might be a deductible expense for a professional singer, but it's too much for a hobbyist like me.

And while I have a better idea than I did several years ago of what to look for, I'm still not completely sure what kinds of questions to ask or what to look for (beyond a pet-free, smoke-free studio). It doesn't help that I don't know where I want to go vocally, either. I've pretty much figured out that I don't aspire to opera, and I think I'd like to learn to belt, but do I really want to learn a Broadway style? If I'd rather sing Cole Porter, Gershwin, that kinda thing, who can teach me a cabaret style? (Mary Morton's Wooing the Lorelei is just the sort of thing I'd like to be able to "sell"!) And how much technique do I still need to master before I can start that kind of fine-tuning? Tune in next week for the next installment in the continuing saga...

Playing in the dirt

Yesterday I went home from work by way of the super, serious nursery. The one that's been in business for yoiks, probably employs a hundred or more people in peak season (probably including at least 3 or 4 just to keep everything watered & fed for all us gardeners, landscapers and wannabes), and has all the fancier things, in more varieties and colors than part-timers such as the hardware stores or bigbox retailers.

This early in the season, most of their plants are still indoors. Boy, did those geraniums, begonias, kitchen herbs and such smell wonderful! They did have a few early groundcovers out, though. I came home w/ 5 different colors of phlox subulata, which I'm hoping will do well on the one corner of our front yard that gets enough sun (I hope) for it. I got a red, a pink, a white, a bluish-purple, and a striped one. Only 2 of the plants have any flowers on them right now - gardening requires a lot of faith.

I planted them all this morning because, despite all the forecasts calling for rain, it was bright & sunny. If I could get 'em all in before the rain, I wouldn't have to water, and of course, the sooner you get bedding plants out of their rootbound little plastic pots, the more likely they are to survive.

I sure hope they do better than last year's plants - the drought killed off all my mazus reptans, vinca and pachysandra. Now I need to find another ground cover to go into the driveway and make sure that this one is at least drought-tolerant, if not drought-resistant! I like goldenstar (chrysogonum virginianum), but they do warn you that it is not very drought-tolerant.

I'm considering sedges (carex species) to go over the septic field out at the cabin. The deer got the lilies of the valley and most of the ferns and the drought killed the euonymus and the ferns the deer left; only the pachysandra survived, and even that is looking a bit sickly. Maybe the sedges will do better; it looks like most of them are drought-tolerant or -resistant, which is what we need out there.

The Chief has mentioned putting in a long, narrow raised bed along the fence on the north side of the house. When he asked if I'd mind, I jumped on it - maybe then, in a bed of dirt, not clay & rocks, I'd finally be able to grow lilies of the valley. I don't know that we'll do that this year, but it's fun to think about.

Another project, for this fall - I want to use the tiller to work some topsoil into either a curving line or several patches in the back yard and plant more crocuses and some snowdrops. The Chief may want to try to do the whole back yard (that'd mean spending a fortune on topsoil!) so he can put down either grass seed or sod once I've got my bulbs in. We'll see.

Oh yeah, we've got a bad case of spring fever!

Trying to do too many things at once?

Probably. I'm in rehearsal for Pirates, adjudicated 2 more shows this past weekend, entertaining my folks this weekend out at the cabin, preparing for Holy Week and Easter, trying to see other people's shows, taking voice lessons, oh, and keeping up at work. So what do I do when my former belly dance teacher offers me a 3-minute slot in her student recital, less than 3 weeks from now? Why, grab it, of course!

The biggest challenge to be met? - finding time to practice! Not having danced in years, I definitely need to work on my stamina, and I'll need to redevelop the arm and hand muscles for playing finger cymbals. Then there's the challenge of finding music - she wants everything on CD, but all my dance music is on cassette and vinyl! (I picked up this dance habit rather a while ago.) At least I have a costume that still fits; I just need to figure out where the matching hip scarf has hidden itself and dig out the flashy silver heels I bought to wear with the dress.

The Chief is all for this - he'd love to see me start dancing again. Which is a relief - when I first mentioned doing this, he looked at me like I was crazy and asked me whether I'd have time to do it. Now he thinks it's a great idea, is all set to come along and sample the food (it's at an Indian restaurant that's laying on a buffet for the occasion), and probably have fun watching all the dancers, though he didn't mention that part. Maybe he'll want to tech... :D

RIP, Martin

A friend called earlier this evening to pass the word that Martin had died this afternoon. Martin would have been 97 next month. When I joined my church choir 16 years ago, he was already one of the longest-serving members and was often the entire bass section. (Ours is a small group.) Born in the Austro-Hungarian empire, he grew up speaking German, Hungarian and at least one or two other languages. He subsequently acquired enough English to serve as a translator to the US Army after WWII, and later worked for the Supreme Court, translating German.

Whenever we'd sing a hymn that had been translated from German, he'd always oblige me with a verse or two of the original. Physically small, his voice was quite strong until a few years ago. There was one hymn we used to sing for the first Sunday in Advent that had a declamatory introduction. That intro was the only solo Martin would ever sing, but he always made it compelling.

We'll miss him, but I'm sure the basses in the angel choir welcomed him with open arms.

My first flan

No, not the first time I've tasted it, but the first time I've tried to make it. I'd give myself a B or B+, depending on how much you want to take off for the caramelized sugar. The custard part was easy, of course, and turned out just right.

I'd never tried to caramelize sugar and the directions in my Joy of Cooking apparently weren't quite specific enough because it never did turn brown. When I finally gave up and poured it into the casserole dish, it hardened almost immediately; I barely had a chance to spread it around the bottom, and none on the sides. L, who works in food service and is an excellent cook, later told me that I had cooked it too long. He also reassured me that caramelizing sugar is a tricky process. I told him that next time I try this, I'll make him come over and talk me through it.

I had made flan for last night's Godspell cast party because it was a reference to a sanctioned ad lib in the show, and because L, for all his cooking experience, hadn't realized it was actual food and not just a made-up word. While the caramelized sugar didn't turn out, that was largely a cosmetic problem; as I noted above, the custard part turned out just fine. And it was a bigger success than the snickerdoodles I'd made for opening night, also because someone thought "snickerdoodles" was just a made-up word. The recipe was one of those that calls for multiple leavening agents, so I'd pulled them all out of the cabinet - cream of tartar, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Unfortunately, it was only after I'd measured in the baking powder that I realized I was supposed to have used baking soda. It didn't affect the taste much, but the cookies didn't rise as well as they should have. L made some a few nights later that turned out much better; not only did he use the right ingredients, but he substituted shortening for butter so they didn't spread as much but were nice and thick and chewy.

His 'n' hers techs

The Chief has occasionally helped build or strike sets for shows I've been in and was on the scene change crew when I did Magic Flute, but this is the first time we've both teched a show. It was nice learning very rudimentary lighting stuff together, and when he finished his "spot op" (spotlight operator) duties at the end of each act, he'd come down to my spot in the stage right wings and wait until the end of the act, when we could start striking props. That was fun - at the end of Act I we'd usually boogie to "Light of the World".

I also enjoyed having company on the ride to and from the theater, chatting about the previous night's performance, technical glitches or things that went well, what a delight the director was, and so on. When it came to strike, he was very take-charge about which of us would take which props (we both drive Saturns; needed both of 'em to accommodate the old door and the beat-up trash can), set to work right away pulling gels as soon as the house lights came up after that last matinee, then got to business w/ his drill dismantling the set. Taking things apart, hauling pieces out to the loading dock, loading props into our cars - he probably worked at least as hard as any of the (much younger) cast members. We both crashed & burned once we finally got home after strike, but it was nice working together for a change.

The Producers

Monday and yesterday it was researching into where in our area he might be able to find classes on the tech aspects of theater. (As it happens, our county's community college has a certificate program.) Tonight I came home from work and the Chief was full of questions about what a producer does. I could guess at a few answers, but that of course was woefully inadequate. Fortunately for him, I could refer him to 3 or 4 producers of shows I've been in or companies I've worked with. I'm hoping they'll be able to satisfy his curiosity. He said he was thinking this might be fun (!). I warned him that if that proved true, he'd have people appearing on the doorstep with candy & flowers, trying to convince him to produce for their company.

I'm glad he's getting interested in this; I had felt a bit guilty at how hard he was working on Godspell when that's not something he's ever shown much interest in. And losing sleep over it into the bargain. He works a very early day, getting up at 0440 to get to work around 0600. Not getting to bed until 11 or midnight is hard enough for me (my alarm doesn't go off until 0530); it's an hour worse for him. I don't know how long he'll sustain this interest, but you can bet I'll be encouraging it! That's me - theater habit enabler. :D

Hmmm; yep, the calendar does say "February"

We've had a winter that for the most part has been unseasonably mild. So mild that nearly all my crocuses have their shoots up, and today I had several of them actually in full bloom! This kind of weather in February always makes me nervous, as if Mother Nature were setting us up for a sucker punch, be it a snowstorm or, worse, an ice storm. But when I went out to get the paper and realized that, at 9:30 a.m., it was warmer outside (70 degrees!) than inside, I actually opened up the back door and several windows. In February!

Will he become a techie?

Yesterday was the last performance of Godspell. After the Chief spent the rest of the evening climbing around up in the catwalks pulling gels & gobos during strike, then helping dismantle the set and load it out (I sorted props, helped pull gels, and also hauled lumber to the loading dock - a LOT of lumber!), we're both very glad today is a federal holiday so we could sleep in and be lazy for a welcome change.

He got interested in the mechanics of running his spotlight and developed an appreciation for how complicated lighting design can be. Today he was pondering hunting up classes on the technical aspects of theater - lighting, sound, set design and so on. Given the plethora of community theater groups in the area, he'd be greeted by any of them with open arms anyway (it's always much easier to find folks willing to perform than to tech). If he had an actual certificate or degree or whatever in this stuff, they'd probably start actively wooing him with free tickets, free beer, power tools, etc. He may not pursue it, but if he does, I suspect he'll find himself very much in demand. Who knows - maybe instead of being a Theater Widower while I'm doing a show, he may make me a Theater Widow when he's doing one.

Fickle February

When we loaded the Godspell set into the theater 10 days ago, we were blessed with mild weather, and only slightly overcast. Temps in the upper 50s are just the thing when you're loading piece after piece onto a truck in an unheated set bay, then loading off the truck into the theater's unheated loading dock.

Today, however, it's definitely winter - sharp, gusty winds, much colder, and freezing rain and sleet that arrived just in time for the evening commute home. I cancelled my voice lesson - it just wasn't worth the risk. I heard nothing but accident reports on the traffic news and knew it would only get worse. The forecast for tomorrow doesn't sound too promising, either. I do hope this all passes us by or ends by mid-day, or we won't have more than a handful of people in the Godspell audience tomorrow night. That's always a nightmare - you never want your cast to outnumber the audience, especially when your cast is only 10 people!

Pirates!

Had my first Pirates rehearsal last night. (They had a couple last week, but because I was up to my eyeballs in Godspell, I couldn't make any of them.) We ran thru most of the music in Act I. I happened to be sitting next to our Mabel, who has already done the role twice since July. We had a great time singing everything together (yes, even the men's parts; we just turned the volume down) and clowning. Our ladies sound lovely, better than the men, but none of the men have done the show before while half the ladies have, and I think most of them have never done any G&S, making it that much harder to sightread the music. Once the men get the music under their belt (and we manage to find another tenor or two for the chorus), they'll be just fine.

I had been getting very nervous because I hadn't heard a peep out of the director in two whole weeks. No tentative rehearsal schedule, not even a "hang in there; they took the space away from us again". Finally I e-mailed her wondering what was up. I didn't see her response until yesterday evening, barely 2 hours before rehearsal. And she forgot to include the location - yike! Fortunately, she had e-mailed the cast a couple of weeks ago, so I spammed everyone asking where rehearsal was. I got a response, made it on time, and enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Our Major General, upon receiving the initial cast e-mail, sent out a short note introducing himself and some of the rest of us decided we liked that idea so much that we followed suit. I haven't seen that done before, but I liked it and will certainly remember it for future productions. I thought I knew no one else in the cast, but our Samuel reminded me that we'd done another production together a few years back: one of those experiences that was so grueling that it brought to mind the phrase "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". This won't be like that - while they're still auditioning Frederics, the cast we do have promises a good experience, and I liked the way our MD ran last night's rehearsal. (And the fact that he started w/ stretches before the vocal warm-ups.)

Next week we start blocking Act I - I'm looking forward to seeing what our director has up her sleeve.

Another open of another show

Tonight's the night the Chief makes his debut on light crew, running follow-spot #1. He's occasionally helped build sets and once was on crew to help w/ scene changes, but this is his first lighting job and his first program credit. He'll have to save one for his scrapbook. ;)

It's been a rough tech week - "Jesus" has been fighting a cold or sinus infection or some such all week long, which has made it hard for the sound tech to get his mic levels right. The lighting has been particularly problematic - we finally did our lighting cue-to-cue only last night!

I "get" to ride herd on 2 bins full of props, a trunk and 2 milk crates full of props, plus a dozen or more larger bits and pieces (scooters, a trash can, a skateboard, a stool... - it's a very long list!). I have thus taken to calling myself a "prop-herder". The cast does help some, of course, as does Ray when he gets down from the light balcony - otherwise it'd take me an hour to put everything away at the end of the night. I've also gotten better at consolidating how it all gets stored. Our theater tech rep even commented last night that we seem to have a bit more room to get the door closed every night. And that despite the fact that last night we added 3 large boxes of programs to the inventory.

Tonight we do this for real!

"Dropping color" and other lighting terms

The Chief & I reported for duty to the theater last night to help w/ lights. Neither one of us has ever worked lights before. Closest I've come was being one of the bodies told to "stand here" or "now move over there" when the lighting techs have been focussing and setting levels, while the Chief has occasionally helped w/ a set build while the lights were being worked on.

Spare some pity for the lighting tech who was saddled with 2 utter beginners and found herself explaining basic terms & procedures to us while we worked last night. "This is a gel; we generally get 9 to a sheet when we're cutting for leakos (sp???)." She was very patient and not at all condescending as she explained what she was doing and having us do, showed us how to "drop color" (insert framed pieces of colored plastic, aka "gels") into lights, and focus and otherwise adjust said lights.

Last night we learned all kinds of lighting terminology and some basic techniques. It was interesting to see how the lighting designer (or LD) had the gobos (templates which throw a design onto whatever the light is pointed at) positioned. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all works on the set.

I now have a pretty good idea I wouldn't make a good LD. Ours had a lot of lights to work with, meaning a lot of decisions to be made about each. Do I want to use all of them? If not, which ones get turned off? What colors do I want where? Do I want to throw any designs on the stage? And which color combinations do I need to use to get the desired effect? An incredible amount of detail involved. I have a new appreciation for lighting design, even if I still don't have a clue how to go about it.

What's that smell?

I walked in the door after work this afternoon and coulda sworn I smelled nail polish. Turns out I was right. The Chief was getting ready to go back to the set bay tonight and had just used a bottle of bright pink polish to mark all the tools he was taking. He told me he'd started w/ the "chrome copper" but it didn't show up well enough, so he tried the pink.

This is a weird experience, not seeing much of him in the run-up to Tech Week because both of us are busy with the show - him at the set bay, me at the rehearsal site. Once we load in this weekend, though, that'll change. We'll be in different parts of the theater, but at least we'll be in the same building.

Domestic god

No, not goddess. Tonight it was TW who was slaving away in the kitchen. Steak, homemade mashed potatoes & nuked veggies for dinner; homemade applesauce to use up the aging apples in the fridge; and spaghetti sauce! Not only does the kitchen smell fantastic, but we now have dinner and a nice, healthy nosh for the rest of the week. Good thing, since he'll be spending at least one night at the set bay and I'll have rehearsals every night from tomorrow until after the first weekend. (Wonder if this theater has a microwave backstage so we can nuke leftovers...?)

What a trouper

Mentioned to TW tonight that the Godspell director asked if he might be willing to help finish the set, or maybe learn to run the light board or follow spot. Having worked on sets before, TW agreed to help out one night this week. And once I explained about light boards and follow spots - as much as I can, given that I've never touched either one - he said sure, he'd be willing to learn how to do one or the other.

How adorable - "his 'n' hers techs". ;) This means he'll be at the back of the house while I'm backstage in the wings, but at least we'll be at the theater together.

Busy, busy, busy!

This is when it starts to get exciting. Godspell opens a week from Thursday. The cast members have all their important costume pieces already and all but one or two accessories. Nearly all the umpty-gazillion props are ready & waiting, the set is close to finished, we start hanging lights on Thursday, load-in is Saturday and our first tech rehearsal is a week from today. No rehearsal tomorrow, but that's the last night off until after the first weekend. Starting Tuesday, it's rehearsal every night, folding in more & more tech until after load-in. Once we put this baby on the set, that's when the magic really starts to happen. It's when you're out of the rehearsal space and finally in the theater, with seats that will shortly be filled (we hope!) with appreciative audience members, that you realize this isn't just something to fill your time. This is gonna be an actual, living, breathing show!

I think this is gonna be good. Godspell is very demanding, in that all 10 performers are on stage the entire time. Lots of music, nearly all of it choreographed (there are 1 or 2 numbers that are more blocked than choreographed), and the blocking is very physical - a lot of crawling, reaching, running, jumping... I've joked with several of the cast members that this is such a good workout, they won't need to hit a gym until after we close.

As assistant stage manager, I'll be in the wings, helping our propmistress ride herd on the plethora of props for this show. The cast members take care of many of their own, and many will be preset, but that still leaves a LOT of props to worry about.

As if that weren't enough, the theater adjudication year has begun (it's on a calendar year). TW and I saw an Albee play a couple of weeks ago that he didn't much care for (he's not into absurdism), and last night it was a comedy with rather a Twilight Zone twist. One of the further-from-us theater companies, but my online search turned up a nice little Persian restaurant nearby where we had a lovely dinner. They won me when they brought out mast o khiyar and bread with the menus. The baklava was pretty bad - mostly dried-out filo - but the entrees were good enough to keep us happy, and TW loved the tea (some Persian blend w/ a touch of cardamom). I've got 2 or 3 more shows to cram into my schedule between Pirates rehearsals, along with 1 or 2 shows friends are doing that I also want to see. It can be crazy-making, but in small doses it's a lot of fun. And this year I've got TW home, not overseas, so he can come with me and help me try the new restaurants, discuss the show, and so on.

Too soon to tell

... whether my mouth is fixed yet. I ended up getting 2 wisdom teeth extracted Friday. Ouch ouch ouch! The joint on the right side of my jaw is finally considering forgiving me, but the pain is still very much present. It's just a different one. I saw my own dentist this afternoon for a follow-up appointment and learned that I've developed dry socket (or "dry rot", as TW likes to laugh at me). My dentist gave me chapter & verse on what it is, what happens and all that, but for me there are 2 main problems: first & foremost, that it can add 2-3 weeks to the healing process (and in the meantime it hurts like blazes when the motrin is wearing off) and that the "baby it" restrictions include stretching the mouth as little as possible, which is gonna make singing a bit difficult.

On the plus side, though, Friday & Saturday it felt as though I had a filling on the healthy side that was starting to wiggle loose. My dentist checked out all my fillings on that side, just to be sure, and found no problems, chalking it up to "weirdness" resulting from the jaw trauma and change in my chewing motion.

Friday I couldn't help but remember all the people I knew in college who had their wisdom teeth out over spring break. Even then we thought they'd gotten a raw deal. Now, however, I have a new, much fuller appreciation for how very thoroughly their spring break was ruined!