A Week of Opera
You know my life. Never a quiet moment, lest I fall asleep and miss something. Amidst doctors, dentists, and vets I'm lighting a new production of a pair of one-act operas ('Hello Out There' and 'The Telephone') for a new lyric theater company - Chicago-Theatre Opera. (I should note, our production doesn't look like those.) The Telephone is a Lucille Ball-style comedic piece and Hello Out There is more dramatic, and they're both really good. And the musicians are insanely talented. Get your tickets now!
The theater is pretty interesting. It used to be the Main Street Station in Evanston and has been converted to the Piccolo Theatre; I remember peering into the building through the windows when it was still a train station back in the early 90s. It's a black box with a recessed overhead grid and dedicated sockets, a full ETC light board with 48 dimmers (though I haven't found the patch points for all of them) and at least that many instruments, bins full of cabled and equipment (all labelled), spare pipes and clamps ... it's nice. The booth is a bit cramped and the stage (at least in its current configuration) is viewed via a monitor, but the monitor is hooked to a remote 360-degree camera so you can actually run the show from there. Nice scene shop, nice dressing room, downstairs rehearsal space, wheelchair-accessible...
On Saturday I drove to Chicago and watched a blocking/fight call rehearsal. Sunday I helped load the props and set into the theater, then hung and focused lights for a few hours. I spent much of Labor Day in the theater as well, with more hanging and focusing. Last night I added a gobo and some more color, and tweaked things. Tonight will be more tweaking and figuring out the sound system. Thursday will be effortless and breezy run-throughs, and Friday night we open.
Sadly, as a result of the show on Friday night and Saturday night I won't be able to attend Mermaids this weekend. Ben's coming over on Sunday to watch the Corner Gas movie and mow the lawn. (Okay, he's not going to mow the lawn.) Next week Laura has a dentist appointment *and* an MRI, and I have a doctor's appointment. And next weekend is Castle Fever, which I will also miss so that I can run the show Friday and Saturday night. The following weekend is Border Skirmish.
A couple weeks ago we noticed that Sif had a growth on her food and took her to the vet last week; they scheduled a surgery for yesterday. I dropped her off on my way to work and picked her up on my way home. While she was sedated for the minor surgery they also extracted three teeth (two which were in really bad shape and one which 'practically fell out' when they touched it), so now she's on a diet of wet food for a few days and twice-a-day doses of antibiotics. And she's thrilled about that. (I don't know who was more grumpy this morning - Sif getting this stuff shot down her throat or Laura who I had to wake up to help with the process. Sif's a big cat. Tomorrow I might try it alone.) Oh, and Hope is due for a vet visit as well but we're trying to keep cat drama down to one at a time.
In other news, I'm recovering from a cold, which I have unfortunately passed on to my wife. I apologized every day and will continue to do so. The coughing is no fun at all. I need to talk to the landscaping guy across the street about some general maintenance - shrubs, grading, trees, and the like. We've gotten a quote for the last couple years and not done anything with it (mostly because we've had unexpected costs pop up just before we commit), and now it's a new summer. And the yard's been wet enough this year that I haven't mowed the back half of the lawn; it's waaaaay overdue. And Laura's dad is planning to come visit once his passport is ready, so that will be nice.
Okay, enough rambling. End of line.
The theater is pretty interesting. It used to be the Main Street Station in Evanston and has been converted to the Piccolo Theatre; I remember peering into the building through the windows when it was still a train station back in the early 90s. It's a black box with a recessed overhead grid and dedicated sockets, a full ETC light board with 48 dimmers (though I haven't found the patch points for all of them) and at least that many instruments, bins full of cabled and equipment (all labelled), spare pipes and clamps ... it's nice. The booth is a bit cramped and the stage (at least in its current configuration) is viewed via a monitor, but the monitor is hooked to a remote 360-degree camera so you can actually run the show from there. Nice scene shop, nice dressing room, downstairs rehearsal space, wheelchair-accessible...
On Saturday I drove to Chicago and watched a blocking/fight call rehearsal. Sunday I helped load the props and set into the theater, then hung and focused lights for a few hours. I spent much of Labor Day in the theater as well, with more hanging and focusing. Last night I added a gobo and some more color, and tweaked things. Tonight will be more tweaking and figuring out the sound system. Thursday will be effortless and breezy run-throughs, and Friday night we open.
Sadly, as a result of the show on Friday night and Saturday night I won't be able to attend Mermaids this weekend. Ben's coming over on Sunday to watch the Corner Gas movie and mow the lawn. (Okay, he's not going to mow the lawn.) Next week Laura has a dentist appointment *and* an MRI, and I have a doctor's appointment. And next weekend is Castle Fever, which I will also miss so that I can run the show Friday and Saturday night. The following weekend is Border Skirmish.
A couple weeks ago we noticed that Sif had a growth on her food and took her to the vet last week; they scheduled a surgery for yesterday. I dropped her off on my way to work and picked her up on my way home. While she was sedated for the minor surgery they also extracted three teeth (two which were in really bad shape and one which 'practically fell out' when they touched it), so now she's on a diet of wet food for a few days and twice-a-day doses of antibiotics. And she's thrilled about that. (I don't know who was more grumpy this morning - Sif getting this stuff shot down her throat or Laura who I had to wake up to help with the process. Sif's a big cat. Tomorrow I might try it alone.) Oh, and Hope is due for a vet visit as well but we're trying to keep cat drama down to one at a time.
In other news, I'm recovering from a cold, which I have unfortunately passed on to my wife. I apologized every day and will continue to do so. The coughing is no fun at all. I need to talk to the landscaping guy across the street about some general maintenance - shrubs, grading, trees, and the like. We've gotten a quote for the last couple years and not done anything with it (mostly because we've had unexpected costs pop up just before we commit), and now it's a new summer. And the yard's been wet enough this year that I haven't mowed the back half of the lawn; it's waaaaay overdue. And Laura's dad is planning to come visit once his passport is ready, so that will be nice.
Okay, enough rambling. End of line.