Slingshots, Livestock and Final Dress

Wow! Where did seven weeks go? We finally open tonight. My cast is ready, though my running crew is still a bit rough around the edges. I have to hand it to my young and inexperienced Stage Manager - he's doing his best and his best will be better every time we run it.

I had an adventure in shopping today. My first stop was a local Halloween shop to look for a propeller-beanie. "No, but you're the second person this week to ask." I was told. "No, don't have anything like that," at the second place, though I did buy a bowler, an interesting top hat and a pair of goggles there.

Next was a trip to Pets Plus, to look at their bird selection. No canaries, though their cheapest birds were Zebra Finches at $19.99. I went to PetSmart, where the canaries were $39.99, but the Zebra Finches were $16.99. Guess which I bought. "Zebina" is joined by an as-yet-unnamed Black-Molly fish (also purchased at PetSmart) as the newest members of our company. Zebina's presence is known when he/she/it occasionally flits about the cage, chirping it's curious call. I will probably end up with Zebina after the show - a living reminder of one of the best things I've ever done, and certainly the first show I have directed which featured livestock. It flies and "peeps" whenever I go near it, so I am sure it despises me.

My last stop was my old faithful, Trenton's own The Costume Scene. Not only did they have the propeller-beanie, they also had all of the specialty make-up I needed. Then on to the theatre!

My TD and I took the birdcage and the box in which Zebina came, into the production office, where the bird promptly escaped. My TD went for a net, while I vainly tried to tempt the terrified creature with food. We finally wrangled the poor thing into the cage and then set the fish to temperature acclimation. Both were alive and well when I left the theatre. Both come with a 14 day guarantee... hopefully neither will need replacement before the end of the run.

Final dress went mostly well. As I said, my cast is ready. It's the crew that needs work and hopefully, my SM will be able to spend some time running cues, rather than just talking them through.

My work (with a few minor exceptions) is basically done. It's out of my hands, now. I hope my SM takes good care of it.

I am so happy to be finished and so sad that it will only be five performances.

More of this anon...

Prospero

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