Advising, Little Shop of Horrors and other Trifles
I've been in kind of a daze the last week. I went in for my routine appointment in early November to get my class schedule set up for Spring semester as usual, and my advisor said "Why not just plan out the rest of your time here?". A bit confused, I asked him if I could see my Degree Progress Report and it turns out that after this semester, I have Spring of 2009, Fall 2009 and Spring of 2010 left. Three semesters. That's it, granted I get into the courses I need and pass the fucking Gen Ed bullshit. I know that I shouldn't be surprised at this, but well, I've been in college so long that some days I feel like I'll be a student forever. With the excitement of graduation approaching in a year and a half comes a certain degree of uncertainty. I've had the security blanket of school for most of my life. I know that I want to move to NYC. I know that I have a good amount of friends out there who are more than willing to help me get on my feet and get financially and domestically stable. But my problem comes in as to move, but I need money to do that. Even stashing away my meagre earnings from the theatre and hoping like hell I can get a summer job once Obama hits office still raises questions. I guess everyone goes through that when they see the light at the end of the tunnel of school and have to do that whole being a grown up thing. I suppose I shouldn't panic too much yet. It just makes me think about the future and what I'm going to do and how I'm going to survive.
Rehearsals have been going in full force for our mainstage musical production of "Little Shop of Horrors". We had Dry Tech Friday Night, First Tech Saturday, Second Tech Sunday, Third Tech Monday and Tuesday was the first run with sound, costume, shift, props, lights and the band. So far, I think its coming along nicely. But I'm drained most days. My classes fall between 8:25 am and 4 pm, 6 pm if I work in the scene or costume shops. I only get 2-3 hours a day between classes before rehearsal in which to study, do projects/homework and eat before hitting the stage for pre-show preparations. Crew is called at 6:30 to begin sweeping and mopping the stage, followed by shift crew setting the stage for Act I - Scene I, props are set, the plants are brought out and set up (Moving Audrey 2 (pod 4 - THE BIG ONE) is no easy task. That bitch needs to call Jenny or something! Then help out whereever needed. House Opens at 7:00 and no one is allowed onstage until 7:30, which is go time. Thankfully, its not a long show so it goes by quick and tech has plenty to do because as anyone can guess, we need more techs than actors for Little Shop. After the show, we have to restore the sets and wait for a techie meeting in the green room and usually get released around 10:00-10:15. Adding in my travel time and gettng dinner I usually get to bed around midnight and get enough sleep to be up at 6 and functioning again.
Despite the hectic schedule, I'm enjoying myself. We have a decent crew to work with and we have fun together. The green room is basically the tech domain and we dance around between shifts and do our own renditions of the musical numbers, which I'm thankful there are no cameras around when Im up and bee-bopping :-P The other techs have as filthy a mind as I do which is kinda scary. Once we get the call for places and can relax, it becomes a slew of innuendo and dirty jokes and general hilarity. We open this weekend, Friday to Saturday, Sunday-Monday Off to Rest, Brush Up Rehearsal Wednesday with photo call and then play again Thursday to Saturday with strike on Saturday immediately following the show. So, if noone hears from me for the next two weeks, just assume I'm buried under a textbook or hiding in the dark bwahahahah