Almost to my break(ing) point

I had two shows close this weekend, and one that starts tech on Tuesday. I am a little fried.

Stage managing Drakul, which was a lovely show, but was kind of draining to run. The show itself clocked in just over 3 hours, and with a 20 minute fight call, a desire to open house early, food to prepare, and a large stage to mop, I was at the theater for about 6 hours every performance. True, I didn't need to show up so much earlier then call, maybe, but wanting to mop the floor and give it time to dry before fight call, plus have a little bit of time in the space before others arrive. I hate when actors are trying to get in the door at the same time I am - none of the lights are on yet, and I'd like to be able to go through my routine in my own order/pace, so...I arrive even earlier then I tell them I will be there.

So a good show, but I'm glad to see it done. The other two shows are props gigs, which are usually fun to do, but as tired as I've been lately, it's been a little less fun. But Shakespeare Youth Theatre's production of King Lear ended on Sunday, and it was a quick and painless strike. I have a few items to return, but most of it goes right into my new props storage area (a post, with pictures, about my new props storage area is forthcoming).

The show that starts tech this week is Theatre Pro Rata's production of Dido, Queen of Carthage. I spent most of the weekend building props for it. Three spears, a bow, two quivers (and one more to go) and a set of oars. I still have some detail work to do, but the bulk of the work is done, which is exciting. I'm loading everything in this evening, and then heading over on Tuesday after work to their 10 out of 12 to finish things up. Hopefully everything I've made and found will work. I'm liking most of the things I've made so far. The spears look fantastic, the oars are on their way to being awesome, and Venus' quiver turned out well. Cupid's quiver is not great, and Cupid's bow could either be a big hit, or a big miss. It's small, because we need Cupid's arrows to be small, and I'm worried the bow will look too small. But I think it has potential. We'll see.

At any rate, Dido opens on Saturday, which means I'll have one show up and running, and no other shows going on. And I can hardly wait. No rehearsals, no production meetings, no theater work. And Dido doesn't have any food props, so I don't even have to make food runs.

That means I have a whole month, until After the Quake rehearsals start up, with no theater projects. A whole month of just a regular 40 hour a week day job, with evenings and weekends free to do what I want. There are projects around the house I want to accomplish, sure, but I also plan to just veg a lot, too. Hang out and play board games. Go to the movies. Maybe spend a night or two walking around the Art Institute. I've been sort of bouncing off the walls, being excited for this break. It felt particularly bouncy this time, but Justin assures me I am always like this when approaching time off from theater.