2014 is here! Here's our family newsletter for the year 2013.
Showing posts with label PLAYMILL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PLAYMILL. Show all posts
Friday, January 3, 2014
Friday, September 13, 2013
The Final Three Weeks...the last Playmill Highlights.
It’s been hard for me to write this entry. Partly because there’s a LOT to write—a lot can happen in three weeks. But also because I’ve got some kind of psychological block. You could probably just call it writer’s block, but I think writing this entry also has something to do with closure, and I just haven’t been ready for that yet. But the best cure for writer’s block is to just write, so maybe the best cure for not being ready for closure is to just close it.
So, here they are. The Playmill highlights of the last three weeks.
Week 17 was a week in which we learned to just go with the flow. By some cruel trick of the universe, we lost both of our technicians within the same week, so Katie Ludlow joined the Playmill family at the last minute as our cover technician. I became the sound tech for “Beauty” nights, since “Beauty” is complicated enough to need a separate light and sound tech. We had a…rocky few shows as we were learning. We truly learned what Stacey was talking about when she said that the tech booth is a horcrux and that it makes people cry. There were never really any HUGE mistakes, except one epic sound fail, which I’ll talk about in a minute.
The biggest crisis was that the first Saturday Luke and Joe were gone, we finished a show of “Beauty” and during the lunch break discovered that the “Seven Brides” lighting disk wasn’t loading. So we…didn’t have lighting cues for the show that was starting in oh, ten minutes. So, Katie ran “Seven Brides” off of the “Beauty” cues, which meant it was basically lights up, black out, and Stacey filled in as the sound tech, even though she hadn’t run tech for four years. Oh, and Roger and Jake were both gone. So that was crazy. But they ROCKED it, and Heavenly Father helped us through, and it was one hell of a Saturday. Joe drove all the way from Boise and reprogrammed everything on Sunday, then drove all the way back to teach school again on Monday.
The hardest thing about rocky tech stuff at the end of the season was that we had all gotten so USED to the rhythm of everything…the timing of each blackout, the volume of each song. When it was the tiniest bit different—one second earlier or one second later—it felt like a huge deal to the cast. In reality, the shows were really FINE, but it threw everyone into such a panic that the week felt rockier than it actually was. Katie rocked it, I think I might have rocked it, except for that one epic sound fail.
It was EPIC.
So, in the classic number “Gaston,” we had a choreographed face punch in the middle of the big dance break. It had a fun little sound effect that was a visual cue—you hit “GO” on the cue right when Squire wound up to punch Mason. All was well, Squire wound up to punch Mason, I hit “GO.” But instead of playing the face punch, SFX (the sound program) started playing the NEXT SONG. If you know SFX, you know that it means that both “Gaston” AND the next song were playing AT THE SAME TIME. It sounded chaotic and awful, so in my panic, I did what I was taught to do in sound design class…stop ALL the cues. In my memory, this moment happens with a mighty “shutting down” sound effect…the lights even flicker in my mental playback. In reality, it was even more awkward…everything just stopped. And I had NO IDEA where in the music to go to pick up again. I sort of tried to find a place to pick up, but it was hopeless. Stacey happened to be up in the booth, and if she hadn’t been there to talk me through, I don’t know what I would have done. She told me to just let the cast move past it and pick up as soon as we could. The poor cast just sort of stood onstage for a moment before kind of starting to wander off. Roger came on and began his scene about the beast having Belle locked in a tower, which normally has underscoring, but didn’t because I had just stopped all the cues in a panic. They did the whole scene and then Squire normally starts the Gaston Reprise (“Lafou, I’m afraid I’ve been thinking…”). Squire looked up at me with this look of panicked hope, and I just gestured to him to keep going, since I assumed that the Gaston Reprise was part of the underscoring cue. (Which, ha ha, it wasn’t, so I totally could have played it.) Squire and Jacob sort of awkwardly spoke their lyrics, before allowing it to descend into improvisation:
Squire: Lafou, I’m afraid I’ve been thinking…
Jacob: That’s a dangerous pastime…
Squire: I know. But that whacky old man that’s Belle’s father...he’s out of his mind.
Then they do a whispering bit before launching into a full out reprise of “Gaston,” which there was no way they could speak through. They did the whispering bit, and Squire started saying something like, “We should put her father in the asylum…and I have just the man to do it…” then looked to Jacob to add to it. He saw this look in Jacob’s eyes and thought, “Yes! He’s got an idea! He’ll solve it!” and when Jacob opened his mouth, he said, “Yes. But first…” And between Stacey, Katie, and I, we all decided it was time for a black out, so the lights dimmed just as Jacob was saying, “We have to go…into the other room…”
That’s one for the books.
Also, during Week 17, Misha (Frumah-Sarah) fell during the “Dream” in Fiddler. It was bound to happen at least once during the summer. During the “Dream,” she’s sitting on Mason’s shoulders, who somehow does a great job of walking around under this huge dress on a nearly dark stage. At the end of the dream, Misha says, “Here’s my wedding present, if she marries Lazar Wooooooooollfffff!” and on the “Woolf,” she’s pulled up through the ceiling by Boyd and Jerry, Mason ducks down and exits and we all run offstage and it’s AWESOME. Misha’s exit upward is assisted by a few of us onstage who are gathered around her, pushing her feet up. Well, this one night, through a combination of factors, she just didn’t make it into the ceiling. Dave couldn’t find her foot in the huge tattered wedding dress, she wasn’t in the usual place onstage, there was something weird in the timing. So when she said, “if she marries Lazar Wooooooooollfffff!” instead of disappearing into the ceiling, she disappeared sideways and backwards into the crowd of us onstage. I like the think we handled it pretty well, most of us staying onstage to try to mask Misha as she attempted to get offstage. (Except for Jacob, who panicked and just ran off.) The problem was that Mason was still sort of under her, and she was wearing about 20 feet of tattered wedding gown, and it was really dark onstage, and she kept trying to crawl off, but we all kept stepping on the wedding gown in our attempts to hide her. Everyone made it off okay eventually, but it was an awkward few seconds.
So that was Week 17. The lesson learned was to be flexible enough to just go with whatever happens, and to trust that Heavenly Father will help you through.
Weeks 18 and 19 were far less dramatic, which was a nice change. Second to last Sunday, we went to Virginia City as a cast, which included wandering town, window shopping, the traditional candy store splurge, and the ghost walk. Now, later, one of my most vivid memories of that day is actually just the drive out to Virginia City. I rode with Squire, Jerry, Tanner, and my husband, and there was a big storm going on kind of around us, and we were listening to 90’s music. Just one of those moments that stand out in memory. Nevada City’s living history museum was closing right when we got there, but the kind people allowed us to come in and explore anyway, which was awesome. We also enacted a scandalous story of old timey saloon happenings (with Stacey's original captions, because they're awesome).
(Someone needs to take all this and make a fun, old-timey silent film out of it, with subtitle cards and everything. Maybe I will someday.)
In past years, the cast hasn’t done the ghost walk, but it’s one of my FAVORITE things, so I made phone calls to make sure it was happening and that we could go. Our tour guide couldn’t make it at the last minute, so the manager offered to either refund us or take us herself, even though she hadn’t done a ghost tour in twelve years. We decided to just go for it, and I remembered that I actually have a love-hate relationship with ghost walks. Because they’re fun and interesting and totally really actually scare me. But I’m the one who was all gung-ho about insisting on the ghost-walk, so I couldn’t let anyone know I was actually SCARED, so I just kept asking where my husband was and obsessively gripping his hand the whole time.
The last two weeks were also filled with family—Dad and Mary and Isha came to visit, along with Melissa and Kyle, and then later, Mom came! (Dad and Mary and Co. actually came during Tech Hell Week 17, but whatever.) We also went home to Rexburg for one Sunday for the baby blessing of little Benjamin! It was a beautiful day at Jacob’s parents’ new house, which is a lovely house, enchanted by the spirits of L.M. Montgomery and J.M. Barrie and Laura Ingalls Wilder, full of trees and wild lawns and gables. And our sweet nephew Benjamin was big enough to get out of the hospital! Go Ben!
There were a handful of other good “Fiddler” moments, too. Like the one night when everyone’s headscarf came off during the wedding dance. (Bad Jews.) And the night that Crusty inexplicably panicked and forgot a line. We’d been doing the show for THREE MONTHS, and for some reason, he became incredibly uncertain what his line was. It was supposed to go:
Me: A pot.
Trudy: A pan.
Crusty: A broom.
Jerry: A hat.
But about halfway through the word “broom,” Crusty panicked and just stopped talking. He said, “Br—” The confusion of it made Jerry’s next line a question.
Me: A pot.
Trudy: A pan.
Crusty: A br--
Jerry: A hat?
The fun part about being tech for “Beauty” was that once we knew what we were doing, it meant we kind of got to watch the shows and anything crazy that happened onstage. (Even though Katie and I did two entire shows half-asleep once. We called it our “La la la putting on my lipstick” night, and every single cue we barely made on time because we were just orbiting other planets.)
Anyway, favorite moments include when Mason’s “fellow candlestick” hat came off during “Be Our Guest,” and instead of putting it back on and continuing, he just walked offstage, leaving Max and Tanner to their own devices. They both kneeled in preparation for Mason’s usual cartwheels before realizing he wasn’t there and doing ten extra Russian kicks to make up for it.
There was also a great moment in “Beauty” when Cogsworth’s pendulum fell off his clock costume. He couldn’t pick it up in his big clock costume, so he looked to Dave (Lumiere) and said, “Will you pick that up for me, please?” Dave looked at him for a moment, with his candle-covered hands in the air and said, “Look at me.” The two of them looked over at Heidi, who was dressed as a teapot, and they all realized that because of their costumes, NONE of them could pick up the pendulum. Eventually, Dave Walker entered and at some point in the scene picked up the pendulum, admonishing in his beast growl, “Keep your dangly bits attached!”
There were two moments of “feedback farting” in “Beauty” that are worth recording. The way the theatre is set up, there’s one or two areas onstage where you have to be careful of body mic feedback. Normally, I got pretty good at being aware of it and avoiding it, but twice it got the better of me. The first time, Dave Walker’s mic set the speakers off, and after an obnoxious feedback “waaaaaahhhh” from the speakers, he covered for it by waving his hand in front of his nose and saying, “Scuse me.” It sent everyone, audience and actors alike, into hysterics. Dave M’s next line, “What were we thinking? We will never be human again” was adapted into “With manners like that, we will never be human again,” and I think it took Hannah a solid five minutes to stop laughing. The second time it happened, it was Cogsworth’s mic, and Crusty did the same cover, with an added comment about the scent being “slightly pine-y, what with the wood and all.”
Closing night of each of the shows was emotional, although we did have a crazy dance party before closing night of “Fiddler.” Katie played the track for “Tradition,” and we did our own improv’d version, complete with Cam playing Tevye, who was actually just Bill Cosby. This cast has been told so many times to stop ad-libbing that it sort of just exploded out of our systems. We each played the different roles, did one another’s lines and dances, and experienced something between hysteria and catharsis. “Anatevka” that night was hopeless, though…during both the 6 and 8:30 shows, at least half of us were sobbing, myself included.
During our final Saturday, as we ate between shows, we passed out yearbooks and Playmill rings, reminisced about the summer, and made nominations for the Braying Jackass Award. I don’t know when the Braying Jackass Award started, but it’s been a tradition at the Playmill for at least thirty years. One person gets the award for doing something stupid or irresponsible or generally jackass-y. Boyd won for “Disney On Ice,” which is what we call the night that he sprayed the stage with silicone before “Beauty and the Beast” for some reason that made sense at the time, but just ended up making everyone slip and slide and fall during the entire show.
Another fun thing about closing the shows was that Squire shaved his beard! It had become a pretty mighty beard by the end of the summer, so it was quite the event when he shaved it. It started out as Squire, Stacey, me and Mason in the boys’ bathroom, but as word spread, the crowd grew as more and more of the beard came off. It kind of came off in stages, and at one point someone pointed out that Squire looked like Jean Valjean. He started singing, “Do You Hear the People Sing,” and slowly the crowd in the bathroom started joining in, until it was real-life Les Mis in there. When he got down to a mustache and soul-patch, he put it to a vote, and the majority said to keep it, so he kept it. All night, I kept doing double takes, wondering who the guy helping with flats was.
There are a hundred, thousand, million other images I’ll carry with me from this summer, but I think the one I want to close with is this one. During the finale of “Beauty and the Beast,” everyone comes onstage and stands together as they sing. Katie and I were already crying sometime around the beast’s transformation, so we kept having to wipe tears away to see the stage well enough to hit our cues. As everyone walked on during the final 8:30 show, half of the cast was crying, and as they were singing, they slowly joined hands, until the whole cast was standing hand in hand, crying and singing…this big cast family that was sharing the stage for the last time after a beautiful beautiful summer.
So, here they are. The Playmill highlights of the last three weeks.
Week 17 was a week in which we learned to just go with the flow. By some cruel trick of the universe, we lost both of our technicians within the same week, so Katie Ludlow joined the Playmill family at the last minute as our cover technician. I became the sound tech for “Beauty” nights, since “Beauty” is complicated enough to need a separate light and sound tech. We had a…rocky few shows as we were learning. We truly learned what Stacey was talking about when she said that the tech booth is a horcrux and that it makes people cry. There were never really any HUGE mistakes, except one epic sound fail, which I’ll talk about in a minute.
The biggest crisis was that the first Saturday Luke and Joe were gone, we finished a show of “Beauty” and during the lunch break discovered that the “Seven Brides” lighting disk wasn’t loading. So we…didn’t have lighting cues for the show that was starting in oh, ten minutes. So, Katie ran “Seven Brides” off of the “Beauty” cues, which meant it was basically lights up, black out, and Stacey filled in as the sound tech, even though she hadn’t run tech for four years. Oh, and Roger and Jake were both gone. So that was crazy. But they ROCKED it, and Heavenly Father helped us through, and it was one hell of a Saturday. Joe drove all the way from Boise and reprogrammed everything on Sunday, then drove all the way back to teach school again on Monday.
The hardest thing about rocky tech stuff at the end of the season was that we had all gotten so USED to the rhythm of everything…the timing of each blackout, the volume of each song. When it was the tiniest bit different—one second earlier or one second later—it felt like a huge deal to the cast. In reality, the shows were really FINE, but it threw everyone into such a panic that the week felt rockier than it actually was. Katie rocked it, I think I might have rocked it, except for that one epic sound fail.
It was EPIC.
So, in the classic number “Gaston,” we had a choreographed face punch in the middle of the big dance break. It had a fun little sound effect that was a visual cue—you hit “GO” on the cue right when Squire wound up to punch Mason. All was well, Squire wound up to punch Mason, I hit “GO.” But instead of playing the face punch, SFX (the sound program) started playing the NEXT SONG. If you know SFX, you know that it means that both “Gaston” AND the next song were playing AT THE SAME TIME. It sounded chaotic and awful, so in my panic, I did what I was taught to do in sound design class…stop ALL the cues. In my memory, this moment happens with a mighty “shutting down” sound effect…the lights even flicker in my mental playback. In reality, it was even more awkward…everything just stopped. And I had NO IDEA where in the music to go to pick up again. I sort of tried to find a place to pick up, but it was hopeless. Stacey happened to be up in the booth, and if she hadn’t been there to talk me through, I don’t know what I would have done. She told me to just let the cast move past it and pick up as soon as we could. The poor cast just sort of stood onstage for a moment before kind of starting to wander off. Roger came on and began his scene about the beast having Belle locked in a tower, which normally has underscoring, but didn’t because I had just stopped all the cues in a panic. They did the whole scene and then Squire normally starts the Gaston Reprise (“Lafou, I’m afraid I’ve been thinking…”). Squire looked up at me with this look of panicked hope, and I just gestured to him to keep going, since I assumed that the Gaston Reprise was part of the underscoring cue. (Which, ha ha, it wasn’t, so I totally could have played it.) Squire and Jacob sort of awkwardly spoke their lyrics, before allowing it to descend into improvisation:
Squire: Lafou, I’m afraid I’ve been thinking…
Jacob: That’s a dangerous pastime…
Squire: I know. But that whacky old man that’s Belle’s father...he’s out of his mind.
Then they do a whispering bit before launching into a full out reprise of “Gaston,” which there was no way they could speak through. They did the whispering bit, and Squire started saying something like, “We should put her father in the asylum…and I have just the man to do it…” then looked to Jacob to add to it. He saw this look in Jacob’s eyes and thought, “Yes! He’s got an idea! He’ll solve it!” and when Jacob opened his mouth, he said, “Yes. But first…” And between Stacey, Katie, and I, we all decided it was time for a black out, so the lights dimmed just as Jacob was saying, “We have to go…into the other room…”
That’s one for the books.
Also, during Week 17, Misha (Frumah-Sarah) fell during the “Dream” in Fiddler. It was bound to happen at least once during the summer. During the “Dream,” she’s sitting on Mason’s shoulders, who somehow does a great job of walking around under this huge dress on a nearly dark stage. At the end of the dream, Misha says, “Here’s my wedding present, if she marries Lazar Wooooooooollfffff!” and on the “Woolf,” she’s pulled up through the ceiling by Boyd and Jerry, Mason ducks down and exits and we all run offstage and it’s AWESOME. Misha’s exit upward is assisted by a few of us onstage who are gathered around her, pushing her feet up. Well, this one night, through a combination of factors, she just didn’t make it into the ceiling. Dave couldn’t find her foot in the huge tattered wedding dress, she wasn’t in the usual place onstage, there was something weird in the timing. So when she said, “if she marries Lazar Wooooooooollfffff!” instead of disappearing into the ceiling, she disappeared sideways and backwards into the crowd of us onstage. I like the think we handled it pretty well, most of us staying onstage to try to mask Misha as she attempted to get offstage. (Except for Jacob, who panicked and just ran off.) The problem was that Mason was still sort of under her, and she was wearing about 20 feet of tattered wedding gown, and it was really dark onstage, and she kept trying to crawl off, but we all kept stepping on the wedding gown in our attempts to hide her. Everyone made it off okay eventually, but it was an awkward few seconds.
So that was Week 17. The lesson learned was to be flexible enough to just go with whatever happens, and to trust that Heavenly Father will help you through.
Weeks 18 and 19 were far less dramatic, which was a nice change. Second to last Sunday, we went to Virginia City as a cast, which included wandering town, window shopping, the traditional candy store splurge, and the ghost walk. Now, later, one of my most vivid memories of that day is actually just the drive out to Virginia City. I rode with Squire, Jerry, Tanner, and my husband, and there was a big storm going on kind of around us, and we were listening to 90’s music. Just one of those moments that stand out in memory. Nevada City’s living history museum was closing right when we got there, but the kind people allowed us to come in and explore anyway, which was awesome. We also enacted a scandalous story of old timey saloon happenings (with Stacey's original captions, because they're awesome).
The lovers meet in secret.
His wife enters in a jealous rage.
A brawl begins.
The married couple reunites.
The sheriff comes to check the saloon out.
He arrests the wife for murder.
Everyone fights again.
The End.
(Someone needs to take all this and make a fun, old-timey silent film out of it, with subtitle cards and everything. Maybe I will someday.)
In past years, the cast hasn’t done the ghost walk, but it’s one of my FAVORITE things, so I made phone calls to make sure it was happening and that we could go. Our tour guide couldn’t make it at the last minute, so the manager offered to either refund us or take us herself, even though she hadn’t done a ghost tour in twelve years. We decided to just go for it, and I remembered that I actually have a love-hate relationship with ghost walks. Because they’re fun and interesting and totally really actually scare me. But I’m the one who was all gung-ho about insisting on the ghost-walk, so I couldn’t let anyone know I was actually SCARED, so I just kept asking where my husband was and obsessively gripping his hand the whole time.
The last two weeks were also filled with family—Dad and Mary and Isha came to visit, along with Melissa and Kyle, and then later, Mom came! (Dad and Mary and Co. actually came during Tech Hell Week 17, but whatever.) We also went home to Rexburg for one Sunday for the baby blessing of little Benjamin! It was a beautiful day at Jacob’s parents’ new house, which is a lovely house, enchanted by the spirits of L.M. Montgomery and J.M. Barrie and Laura Ingalls Wilder, full of trees and wild lawns and gables. And our sweet nephew Benjamin was big enough to get out of the hospital! Go Ben!
There were a handful of other good “Fiddler” moments, too. Like the one night when everyone’s headscarf came off during the wedding dance. (Bad Jews.) And the night that Crusty inexplicably panicked and forgot a line. We’d been doing the show for THREE MONTHS, and for some reason, he became incredibly uncertain what his line was. It was supposed to go:
Me: A pot.
Trudy: A pan.
Crusty: A broom.
Jerry: A hat.
But about halfway through the word “broom,” Crusty panicked and just stopped talking. He said, “Br—” The confusion of it made Jerry’s next line a question.
Me: A pot.
Trudy: A pan.
Crusty: A br--
Jerry: A hat?
The fun part about being tech for “Beauty” was that once we knew what we were doing, it meant we kind of got to watch the shows and anything crazy that happened onstage. (Even though Katie and I did two entire shows half-asleep once. We called it our “La la la putting on my lipstick” night, and every single cue we barely made on time because we were just orbiting other planets.)
Anyway, favorite moments include when Mason’s “fellow candlestick” hat came off during “Be Our Guest,” and instead of putting it back on and continuing, he just walked offstage, leaving Max and Tanner to their own devices. They both kneeled in preparation for Mason’s usual cartwheels before realizing he wasn’t there and doing ten extra Russian kicks to make up for it.
There was also a great moment in “Beauty” when Cogsworth’s pendulum fell off his clock costume. He couldn’t pick it up in his big clock costume, so he looked to Dave (Lumiere) and said, “Will you pick that up for me, please?” Dave looked at him for a moment, with his candle-covered hands in the air and said, “Look at me.” The two of them looked over at Heidi, who was dressed as a teapot, and they all realized that because of their costumes, NONE of them could pick up the pendulum. Eventually, Dave Walker entered and at some point in the scene picked up the pendulum, admonishing in his beast growl, “Keep your dangly bits attached!”
There were two moments of “feedback farting” in “Beauty” that are worth recording. The way the theatre is set up, there’s one or two areas onstage where you have to be careful of body mic feedback. Normally, I got pretty good at being aware of it and avoiding it, but twice it got the better of me. The first time, Dave Walker’s mic set the speakers off, and after an obnoxious feedback “waaaaaahhhh” from the speakers, he covered for it by waving his hand in front of his nose and saying, “Scuse me.” It sent everyone, audience and actors alike, into hysterics. Dave M’s next line, “What were we thinking? We will never be human again” was adapted into “With manners like that, we will never be human again,” and I think it took Hannah a solid five minutes to stop laughing. The second time it happened, it was Cogsworth’s mic, and Crusty did the same cover, with an added comment about the scent being “slightly pine-y, what with the wood and all.”
Closing night of each of the shows was emotional, although we did have a crazy dance party before closing night of “Fiddler.” Katie played the track for “Tradition,” and we did our own improv’d version, complete with Cam playing Tevye, who was actually just Bill Cosby. This cast has been told so many times to stop ad-libbing that it sort of just exploded out of our systems. We each played the different roles, did one another’s lines and dances, and experienced something between hysteria and catharsis. “Anatevka” that night was hopeless, though…during both the 6 and 8:30 shows, at least half of us were sobbing, myself included.
During our final Saturday, as we ate between shows, we passed out yearbooks and Playmill rings, reminisced about the summer, and made nominations for the Braying Jackass Award. I don’t know when the Braying Jackass Award started, but it’s been a tradition at the Playmill for at least thirty years. One person gets the award for doing something stupid or irresponsible or generally jackass-y. Boyd won for “Disney On Ice,” which is what we call the night that he sprayed the stage with silicone before “Beauty and the Beast” for some reason that made sense at the time, but just ended up making everyone slip and slide and fall during the entire show.
Another fun thing about closing the shows was that Squire shaved his beard! It had become a pretty mighty beard by the end of the summer, so it was quite the event when he shaved it. It started out as Squire, Stacey, me and Mason in the boys’ bathroom, but as word spread, the crowd grew as more and more of the beard came off. It kind of came off in stages, and at one point someone pointed out that Squire looked like Jean Valjean. He started singing, “Do You Hear the People Sing,” and slowly the crowd in the bathroom started joining in, until it was real-life Les Mis in there. When he got down to a mustache and soul-patch, he put it to a vote, and the majority said to keep it, so he kept it. All night, I kept doing double takes, wondering who the guy helping with flats was.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
It draws to a close
This is our last week at the Playmill. I feel simultaneously excited to have nights off, and heartbroken that it will all be over. I'm saving my blog of highlights from the last three weeks, so that one day next week when I'm feeling nostalgic, I can finish it and get a fix of all the good memories I have.
In the meantime, here's what I wish. I wish we could have a few weeks off, and then all come back to be together, continuing to do shows.
In the meantime, here's what I wish. I wish we could have a few weeks off, and then all come back to be together, continuing to do shows.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
When we were given to fly
Jacob and I started dating in August of 2009. That September, Pearl Jam was playing in Salt Lake City, on tour for their newest album "Backspacer." I hadn't heard much Pearl Jam, but Jacob had discovered them in his teens, and within weeks, he'd given me all of their albums, and I was quickly converted. Jacob and I drove down to Salt Lake together, listening to the Backspacer album. The concert was better than magic. When Jacob and I got married, we danced to "Just Breathe" at our wedding reception. Pearl Jam has been a huge part of our life together.
Last Saturday was a long day at the Playmill--three shows of Beauty and the Beast. My dad and stepmom were coming into town, and I was in the box office all day. During the 8:30 shows, Jerry had a conversation with one of the guys in the audience about tattoos, and they compared notes on their experiences.
In the line after the show, Jacob was shaking hands with everyone, as usual, when he noticed the shirt the guy was wearing. It was a "Third Man Records" T-shirt, from Jack White's record label. They chatted briefly about the T-shirt*, when in the middle of the handshake, Jacob got a good look at the man whose hand he was shaking. He paused, then asked, "Are you Mike McCready?"
And the guy nodded.
Mike McCready is one of the guitarists in Pearl Jam.
I had been helping take care of baby Charlie, who was hungrily crying in the back, so I was standing in concessions, making him a bottle, when Jacob yelled, "Liz! Mike McCready is outside!" I replied, "What? I don't believe you. What are you doing? Does he just look like him? I don't believe you," as he dragged me outside by the hand.
And then Mike** was standing there, and I believed him.
The coolest part about this whole experience was that he was totally willing to stay and chat and take pictures, despite the late hour and long day. But maybe even more awesome was the fact that he came to US...it would have been totally different if we had just run into him at the grocery store or something. He was so complimentary about the show, and encouraged all of us to keep doing what we do as artists. Camilla was able to chat with him about her Pearl Jam Macbeth project, and we were able to get some contact info about using certain songs. He and his wife and kids were on an end-of-summer road trip, spending some time together as a family. His wife's family told them that they HAD to come to the Playmill, so they did.
Someone ran in and got our sound guy, Luke--who talks about the album Ten as something that changed his life, who went to school to study guitar because of guys like Mike McCready. Luke walked out, saw Mike, and immediately hugged him. Mike signed his "Ten" tab book and his program, and seeing Luke's joy was one of the highlights of the entire experience.
Earlier in the night, Mike had handed Jacob a guitar pick that he had just been carrying in his pocket, which Jacob handed to me for safe-keeping. Later, I was talking with Luke about the night, when I had a thought and pulled out the pick. I held it up and said, "This is Mike McCready's. And I think it would mean more to you than it would to us. So I think you need to have it." Luke's eyes got big and he shook his head no, but I insisted, and he wordlessly took it and wrapped me in this HUGE hug. I realized later that maybe I should have consulted Jacob before giving away that pick, but when I told the story later, we both agreed that it was meant to be Luke's and that it was the right call. No regrets.
Anyway, now we HAVE to go see Pearl Jam on tour. There's a show in the Bay Area over Thanksgiving, so...see you in a few months, family? And you too, Mike. It was a pleasure to meet you and your family.
Thanks for sharing the keys to the locks we see everywhere.
* It is a pretty cool shirt.
** Am I allowed to call him "Mike"? Are we on a first-name basis? It feels presumptuous...
Saturday, August 10, 2013
These things happened. Weeks 15 and 16.
We've only got three weeks left here at the Playmill. This realization has filled me with a vague sense of panic...all things must end, but I have this feeling that I still have lots I need to do while HERE. I think a lot of us feel this way. There's this underlying sense that we've still got to watch this movie in the theatre, visit this place in the park, do this activity as a cast. We've got a "bucket list"* on the call board of things we need to do before August 31st.
But if we have a driving need to do things, we can comfort ourselves knowing the last few weeks have been filled with the following:
Bozeman weekend!
It was so awesome. The hotel was so awesome. Jacob and I drove up with Jacob S, and we stopped at this place called "The Roost" for their southern fried chicken, which met our expectations and then some. We spent some time shopping at a few different places, before Jacob and I headed off to the Museum of the Rockies. IT WAS SO AWESOME. There was a space exhibit, and we watched a planetarium show called "The Violent Universe" narrated by Patrick Stewart, and we looked at lots and lots and lots of dinosaur fossils. I think my favorite was the triceratops room. They had a whole line of skulls with those big frill things, from babies to huge mamas. Then we hung out at the hotel for a few minutes before going to the City Park with some peeps. We played missionary tag and a few other games, and I was reminded how fun it is to play games with my husband. He's so...FAST. And Charlie sat in a swing for the first time. Then it was off to The Olive Garden, then an evening of watching Ice Road Truckers and Mountain Men on the History Channel. (TV is a luxury.) We had to leave pretty early in the morning to get back to work box office, which was a bummer, but the drive was pretty and the company was good, and the continental breakfast at the hotel was pretty tasty.
I accidentally "shot" the brothers in "Seven Brides" the other night. I have the gun cocked in one of the last scenes, when we're all chasing the brothers down for stealing the brides. In the moment I point the gun at them, I accidentally squeezed the trigger. There aren't any blanks or anything, so I don't think the audience noticed, but the brothers did, and I did. And I spent the rest of the scene facing the back wall of the stage to hide my laughter. "Trigger-happy Bixby," they call me.
Here's a bizarre fact: I am indecent every time Jacob S sees me backstage. I'm always changing, or trying to fix a microphone or something. Although every time he accuses me of being indecent, I always reply that I'm decent, I'm just not dressed.
Baby Charlie made his stage debut! Nicole usually takes the fake baby (which is used in all 3 shows) onstage in the very last scene of "Beauty & the Beast"--she's a pregnant villager for the rest of the show, and by the end, she's had the baby. Well, baby Charlie got wrapped up in a blanket and carried onstage for the final scene this week! He alternated between being chill and being confused. He did so well we decided to put him in a variety show sketch that we usually use the fake baby for...the baby gets thrown in the air, raspberried, and peek-a-booed. Charlie was a little confused for the first few events, but by the time peek-a-boo came around, he was all smiles.
Summer Camp! Every summer, the Playmill puts on a week-long summer camp for youth, where they have an opportunity to take classes, learn songs and choreography, watch the shows and ask questions afterwards, and put together a variety show for their families. I felt a little rusty as a teacher, but I was reminded how much I love teaching. Those kids were AWESOME. The week flew by, and I miss them all already.
How Jerry's line in "Seven Brides" is never the same twice. I'm not even sure what he's supposed to say, but it's something like, "None of our town girls will go with you, Adam, you gotta head back East to find one of them." The other night, he said something to the effect of "None of our town girls want a back door woodsman. You'll have to go back East." Never mind what we speculated a "back door woodsman" is.
The BEST girls' number EVER. During "Seven Brides," the girls sing "My Guy" and flirt with the boys in the audience. At one point in the number, we pick one guy to drag onstage and embarrass. If we can, we pick a little kid, because they're the funniest. Well, the five-year-old boy we picked during the 8:30 show was in such complete shock and jubilation that he was onstage surrounded by these girls singing to him that he was practically paralyzed. He stood with huge eyes and his mouth open wide, frozen in place by his own amazement. It was so hysterically funny that none of us girls could keep from laughing, and the last note of the song was practically non-existent, because we were all laughing so hard. Here's a demonstration Syd and I did of this kid's face...he alternated between the huge eyes and the wrinkled nose versions:
Also, Amanda and Nicole all kinds of fell during "Seven Brides." Like, on the floor, legs kicking in the air, tangled up fell. I'm not even entirely sure how it happened, but it was pretty amazing.
And finally, here are a few pictures that just haven't made it onto the blog yet.
* I think I've given up on this battle.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Back to blogging: Weeks 13 and 14 at the Playmill
Been on a bit of a hiatus from writing lately. I sort of had writer's block...or, "blogger's block," as the case may be. And I was just tired. This point in the summer can start to feel monotonous if you let it...get up, hang around, go to the theatre, do two shows, clean the theatre, go home. Repeat. I sort of lost my focus for a little while, as good as my intentions may be as a performer. I felt myself spending a lot of time "out of the moment" and sort of not really present. So I stopped bringing books to the theatre for a few days, and just allowed myself to tune back in to being there, at the theatre, doing what I love. It was the kick-start to my zen that I needed. :) It also got rid of my "blogger's block." So here we are.
Also, sometimes I forget about things until later. And then I write them down. So some of these things didn't necessarily happen this last week, but they did happen at some point, and the important thing is writing them down. So here you go. A few highlights from the last few weeks:
Anya fell on her bum while attempting to help Max mop. She may have also been dancing.
Jacob C did an AMAZING cover during "Beauty and the Beast." There's a short scene between him (as Lafou) and Belle, and during that scene, his wig fell right off. The audience burst into laughter, and Jacob immediately said, "It's true. I wear a wig!" After some more laughter, he added, "DON'T tell Gaston!" Hannah (who plays Belle) was DYING of laughter, and Jacob finished with, "This never happened. If you need to take this scarf as collateral..." We all stood backstage and laughed, and when he got offstage, we all applauded him. I felt so proud of him and his brilliance. He said later that the second his wig came off, he panicked and had NO IDEA what to do, but suddenly found himself talking. Apparently, his subconscious brain knew exactly what to do.
Syd's "Harry Potter" prank during "Fiddler." There's a point during the "Chava dance" that she moves a flat, and she usually stands at the curtain and makes a face at Eliza, who's onstage. Syd found the Harry Potter puppet pal that was left up in the dressing room from variety show auditions, so she decided that Harry would be at the curtain to greet Eliza. However, she had to get the stuffed Harry Potter (which was the size of a pillow) down the stairs, through the cast hallway, through the back tunnel, through the lobby, and into concessions without Eliza seeing it. So she held it between her knees, threw her skirt over it, and awkwardly waddled the entire journey. Like the Chinese magician in The Prestige. And it worked!
Taylor and the moth in her bloomers. One night after the show, there was a huge moth flying around the girl's dressing room. Half of us were freaking out, and Taylor was chasing it around, saying, "Moth! Moth! Calm down! It's okay! We can talk about it!" She finally caught it in her hands and was about to take it outside, when she realized all she was wearing was her undershirt and her huge bloomers. So she lifted the waist of her bloomers above her shoulders, and in this strange outfit, she hobbled down the stairs and set the moth free.
Playmill prom! A highlight of every year. It's a late night, since we do it at the theatre after the shows, but it's worth it. We draw names for dates (except married couples) and everyone dresses up in costumes. Here's who was present at this year's prom.
Justin D and Maggie - Gru and Agnes from "Despicable Me" (crowned Playmill Prom King and Queen)
Stacey and Max - Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy
Eliza and Mason - Illegal immigrants (swam over from Cuba)
Jacob and I - Dr Horrible and Penny
Misha and Scotty - A geyser and a buffalo
Sydney and Davis - The royal couple Kate and Will (with baby in tow)
Nicole and Justin M - Beyonce and Jay-Z
Tanner and Taylor - a Mormon missionary and his investigator (which was awesome because Tanner is the only non-Mormon in our cast)
Jerry, Luke, and Anya - Lewis, Clark, and Sacagawea
Dave and Cam - Scott and a geyser
Amanda and Jacob S - Wilson and the castaway
Roger and Heidi - Asian tourists
Boyd - The Chaperone
(How awesome is this cast?)
Making our concessions goal! At the beginning of the summer, Roger told us that if we broke $2000 in concessions, he'd take us all out to dinner, or do something equally celebratory. We totally made that goal over a month ago, so we set a new goal of $2500. Which was pretty tough. But I help count the concessions money most nights, and after the 8:30 intermission a week or so ago, we had about $2470. So all of us bought fudge and t-shirts, adding money to the concessions pile even while Justin was counting it. The final total: $2499.73. So Jacob Squire laid down a dollar and said, "I'm buying a Dole Whip!" Which brought our total to $2500.73. We all ran through the hallways and all through the theatre, shouting and yelling, and Roger made the largest, most important Dole Whip of the summer. Dave said "I feel like dancing on the rooftops!" Then we remembered that we had the rooftop set piece from "Fiddler," so we ran out to it and Dave climbed onto it and danced a celebratory dance. As a reward, the Merrills are taking us all for a weekend in Bozeman. We're staying at the Come On Inn, which sounds absurd, but is actually AWESOME. When we were delivering posters to Bozeman, Jacob C, Scotty, Joe and I all explored it. All the rooms surround one central landscaped area, full of hot tubs, waterfalls, fish ponds, etc. I'M SO EXCITED. Next week, baby.
Camping at Targhee. A few of Jacob S's friends came to see the shows, and not wanting to pay for a hotel, opted to camp. Jerry, Jacob C, Syd and I all joined them. Highlights included awesome tinfoil dinners that we were really impatient about cooking, and a marshmallow flying off a roasting stick with the timing and arc of an America's Funniest Home Video. I like hanging out with theatre people because I can usually immediately form a friendship...they're part of my "tribe," so I don't have to worry about the conventions of any other tribe. Does that make sense? Anyway, here's to you, Will, Anthony, and John. It was a pleasure to meet you.
One of the sad things in the last few weeks is the absence of Henk and Jacqueline. Our "grandparents" from Holland were here for over a month, and we all came to love them so dearly. I hated to see them go. They became such a familiar presence that I'm sometimes struck by their absence. I miss the way Henk says "darling" and Jacqueline's sweet smile. Next year, Henk and Jacqueline...even if Jacob and I aren't at the Playmill, we can't wait to see you.
So as not to end this on a sad note, here are two quotes to make you smile:
"I HAVE to wet my hair down every night so that I don't look like a...wildebeest." --Mason
"I think baby Charlie and I have a lot in common. We both get upset when we're hungry. We both look at our thighs a lot. Sometimes we don't know when our tongues are hanging out." --Taylor
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Week 12, or "If A Playmill Summer Was A Pregnancy, We Just Finished Our First Trimester."
Short entry for this week. I think I've mentioned this before, but time is a funny thing up here at the Playmill. I'm sure things have happened this week, but I can't quite remember many of them. Here's what I do remember:
We went to a BBQ on Sunday at Luke's sister's house, which included roasted hot dogs, fried scones, root beer floats. And a lake. And a rowboat ADVENTURE EXTRAORDINAIRE. Later, we felt bad for taking the rowboat out for so long, but Amanda, Taylor and I explored the entire lake. At one point, we were blocked from the edge of the lake by about 15 feet of lily pads, but that didn't stop us. Oh no. Amanda leaned out of the front of the boat, pushing them aside, while Taylor and I rowed through. We straight-up hacked through that wilderness. And then when we drove home, Jerry saw a rattlesnake on the side of the road. So he pulled over and shot it.
This conversation:
Justin D - "Oooh are we talking about what we would do if we weren't Mormon? Because I'd totally be an alcoholic."
Scotty - "I'd be a nudist."
Misha - "I'd wear tanktops. ALL THE TIME."
Joe Galati is no longer with us. I hope he'll be happier wherever he's going, and I trust that we'll all be where we're supposed to be, doing what we're supposed to be doing. We've had to take some time to re-work a few things in the shows, so this week is a little nuts, but we're making it work.
A little girl in the audience who stopped Amanda, and had the following conversation:
Little girl - I just have one question. Why is everyone so fanced up?
Amanda - Well, that's how people dress in a castle.
Little girl - Really? Can I visit your castle?
Amanda - You're here! This is it! This is the castle!
Little girl - (gasps and notices the throne onstage)
There are also some great pictures from Sunday, which I'll post later. Peace and love to all.
We went to a BBQ on Sunday at Luke's sister's house, which included roasted hot dogs, fried scones, root beer floats. And a lake. And a rowboat ADVENTURE EXTRAORDINAIRE. Later, we felt bad for taking the rowboat out for so long, but Amanda, Taylor and I explored the entire lake. At one point, we were blocked from the edge of the lake by about 15 feet of lily pads, but that didn't stop us. Oh no. Amanda leaned out of the front of the boat, pushing them aside, while Taylor and I rowed through. We straight-up hacked through that wilderness. And then when we drove home, Jerry saw a rattlesnake on the side of the road. So he pulled over and shot it.
This conversation:
Justin D - "Oooh are we talking about what we would do if we weren't Mormon? Because I'd totally be an alcoholic."
Scotty - "I'd be a nudist."
Misha - "I'd wear tanktops. ALL THE TIME."
Joe Galati is no longer with us. I hope he'll be happier wherever he's going, and I trust that we'll all be where we're supposed to be, doing what we're supposed to be doing. We've had to take some time to re-work a few things in the shows, so this week is a little nuts, but we're making it work.
A little girl in the audience who stopped Amanda, and had the following conversation:
Little girl - I just have one question. Why is everyone so fanced up?
Amanda - Well, that's how people dress in a castle.
Little girl - Really? Can I visit your castle?
Amanda - You're here! This is it! This is the castle!
Little girl - (gasps and notices the throne onstage)
There are also some great pictures from Sunday, which I'll post later. Peace and love to all.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Week 11, or A Week of Wardrobe Malfunctions
This is another one of those weeks that seemed to fly by. Sometimes a week feels like it takes a week, and other times it seems like it was over before I noticed it. Here are some of the adventures from this last week...writing them out, I realized that a lot of them involved clothing. (Or lack thereof...)
When I accidentally kicked Tanner in the crotch. Oh I felt horrible. I was sitting in the rocking chair in one of the stalls, behind a curtain. I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be funny if I grabbed someone's legs with my legs from behind this curtain? I'll have to be careful I don't hit them in the crotch..." The next time someone in costume walked by, I acted out my plan, and then discovered Tanner crumpled on the ground. Friend of the Year Award, right here.
When Camilla ran offstage during the mob song and her skirt fell right off. I didn't actually see this, but it happened.
Bottle-dance in the girls' dressing room after "Fiddler." And that's all I'm going to say about that.
John messing up his lines. He's supposed to say, "You can have a good conversation with him if you're talking about kidneys and livers." But one night he said, "You can have a good conversation with him if you're talking about kidneys and...BEANS!"
Handicapped "Tradition" hands. I've done this at least 3 times this summer, and I wish I could demonstrate it because I'm not sure if I can describe this properly in words. Wait. I'll use pictures. So, at the end of "Tradition" in Fiddler on the Roof, I'm standing centerstage, right in front of row 1, and my arms are supposed to look like this:
.JPG)
But every now and then, my brain goes, "No! Only 1 arm should be up like it is earlier in the number! No, wait! I changed my mind!" And my arms end up doing something halfway in between, like this:
.JPG)
And it's awkward.
Walking out to the theatre where Mason was vacuuming and hearing him giggle, then looking up and discovering he was arranging his own hair by pulling it in one direction or another with the vacuum hose.
Watching fireworks from the roof of the Playmill on the 4th of July. I read the beginning and the end of the Declaration of Independence aloud, skipping all the crimes of the king, because every single year, I read the Declaration of Independence aloud, and every single year, people are NOT into it, but I will read it anyway until the day I die.
Big Sky adventures with Jerry, Syd, and Jacob S. We originally went in search of the Bluebird Cafe, a place where Jacob ate breakfast in 2010, but which had since gone out of business. So we explored the Big Sky lodge and ate at a place called The Bugaboo Cafe, which was also good. And we found some hats in a gift shop:
(And let's take a moment to acknowledge that Jacob S's face is the best part of this picture.)
Shirtless Joe Galati adventures:
1. Between the matinee and evening shows of Beauty and the Beast on Saturday, the Merrills got us pizza. Joe Galati was in his white prince shirt costume, and asked if he should take it off. We said yes, and a few minutes later noticed that Joe was sitting in the seats, eating pizza, shirtless. When we told him to take off his shirt, we imagined he'd put a different one ON.
2. After the shows on Saturday, I went into the cleaning closet to look for a vacuum part, but a few seconds later, heard someone giggling. I looked up and saw Joe standing about 6 inches away from me, shirtless, holding one of his costumes in front of him. I started laughing, and that's how Justin D found us when HE came into the cleaning closet. AWKWARD.
When Taylor lost her plate costume. Her 8-foot tall, impossible to store (or lose) plate costume. (It was later found behind some flats backstage.)
When Hannah's skirt fell off during the finale. Her giant hoop skirt that goes under the iconic yellow Belle dress. She ran offstage, holding it up with her hands and whisper-yelling "Help me! HELP ME!" before realizing that EVERYONE was onstage. Luckily, Nicole realized what was going on, ran backstage and helped her.
When Amanda did part of "Be Our Guest" with the back of her dress completely unzipped. She unzipped it to check her mic, but couldn't get it zipped back up before needing to be onstage. Her wardrobe and her wig mostly covered her up, but it was still a little crazy until we could fix it.
When I sang "Human Again" like a drunk Ethel Merman to a patron on accident. While I burst through the curtains. I was 100 percent certain there were no more patrons in the theatre.
Rexburg weekend, including Joe Galati stealing Cam's Peach-O's in the Winco parking lot and running like, 2 miles away with them. We chased him around for a good 10 minutes, and finally, between 1 car, 3 people on foot, and a friendly Mexican man who watched the whole thing and gave us directions as to where Joe went, we tackled him.
And finally, I became an aunt this week! For the first time! Rather unexpectedly...Jacob's twin sister Adele was pregnant and due around the beginning of September. On the 4th of July, she began having labor pains and when they went to the hospital, discovered that she was dilated to a 7 and that baby was on his way. Adele was just shy of 31 weeks, so the family kind of white-knuckled our way through the birth. But Benjamin Holmes Johnson was born at 4 lbs, 16 inches long, and cried right away, despite his little lungs not having enough time to finish developing. He's in the NICU in Idaho Falls for the next couple of weeks, and he's getting stronger every day. He can only be held by his mom and dad, and only for an hour and a half per day, so we didn't get to hold him. But we visited him in his little blue "baby oven" at the hospital this weekend and cheered him on as he grew. If you'd like, send prayers and positive energy in Baby Ben's direction. It's miraculous...maybe as few as fifty years ago, he might not have made it. But with today's medicine, he'll be just fine.
And finally, finally, here are two pictures of the sky from this week. The first is from West Yellowstone, the second from Rexburg. As much as I occasionally resent living in southeast Idaho, it sure can be pretty.
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When I accidentally kicked Tanner in the crotch. Oh I felt horrible. I was sitting in the rocking chair in one of the stalls, behind a curtain. I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be funny if I grabbed someone's legs with my legs from behind this curtain? I'll have to be careful I don't hit them in the crotch..." The next time someone in costume walked by, I acted out my plan, and then discovered Tanner crumpled on the ground. Friend of the Year Award, right here.
When Camilla ran offstage during the mob song and her skirt fell right off. I didn't actually see this, but it happened.
Bottle-dance in the girls' dressing room after "Fiddler." And that's all I'm going to say about that.
John messing up his lines. He's supposed to say, "You can have a good conversation with him if you're talking about kidneys and livers." But one night he said, "You can have a good conversation with him if you're talking about kidneys and...BEANS!"
Handicapped "Tradition" hands. I've done this at least 3 times this summer, and I wish I could demonstrate it because I'm not sure if I can describe this properly in words. Wait. I'll use pictures. So, at the end of "Tradition" in Fiddler on the Roof, I'm standing centerstage, right in front of row 1, and my arms are supposed to look like this:
.JPG)
But every now and then, my brain goes, "No! Only 1 arm should be up like it is earlier in the number! No, wait! I changed my mind!" And my arms end up doing something halfway in between, like this:
.JPG)
And it's awkward.
Walking out to the theatre where Mason was vacuuming and hearing him giggle, then looking up and discovering he was arranging his own hair by pulling it in one direction or another with the vacuum hose.
Watching fireworks from the roof of the Playmill on the 4th of July. I read the beginning and the end of the Declaration of Independence aloud, skipping all the crimes of the king, because every single year, I read the Declaration of Independence aloud, and every single year, people are NOT into it, but I will read it anyway until the day I die.
Big Sky adventures with Jerry, Syd, and Jacob S. We originally went in search of the Bluebird Cafe, a place where Jacob ate breakfast in 2010, but which had since gone out of business. So we explored the Big Sky lodge and ate at a place called The Bugaboo Cafe, which was also good. And we found some hats in a gift shop:
Shirtless Joe Galati adventures:
1. Between the matinee and evening shows of Beauty and the Beast on Saturday, the Merrills got us pizza. Joe Galati was in his white prince shirt costume, and asked if he should take it off. We said yes, and a few minutes later noticed that Joe was sitting in the seats, eating pizza, shirtless. When we told him to take off his shirt, we imagined he'd put a different one ON.
2. After the shows on Saturday, I went into the cleaning closet to look for a vacuum part, but a few seconds later, heard someone giggling. I looked up and saw Joe standing about 6 inches away from me, shirtless, holding one of his costumes in front of him. I started laughing, and that's how Justin D found us when HE came into the cleaning closet. AWKWARD.
When Taylor lost her plate costume. Her 8-foot tall, impossible to store (or lose) plate costume. (It was later found behind some flats backstage.)
When Hannah's skirt fell off during the finale. Her giant hoop skirt that goes under the iconic yellow Belle dress. She ran offstage, holding it up with her hands and whisper-yelling "Help me! HELP ME!" before realizing that EVERYONE was onstage. Luckily, Nicole realized what was going on, ran backstage and helped her.
When Amanda did part of "Be Our Guest" with the back of her dress completely unzipped. She unzipped it to check her mic, but couldn't get it zipped back up before needing to be onstage. Her wardrobe and her wig mostly covered her up, but it was still a little crazy until we could fix it.
When I sang "Human Again" like a drunk Ethel Merman to a patron on accident. While I burst through the curtains. I was 100 percent certain there were no more patrons in the theatre.
Rexburg weekend, including Joe Galati stealing Cam's Peach-O's in the Winco parking lot and running like, 2 miles away with them. We chased him around for a good 10 minutes, and finally, between 1 car, 3 people on foot, and a friendly Mexican man who watched the whole thing and gave us directions as to where Joe went, we tackled him.
And finally, I became an aunt this week! For the first time! Rather unexpectedly...Jacob's twin sister Adele was pregnant and due around the beginning of September. On the 4th of July, she began having labor pains and when they went to the hospital, discovered that she was dilated to a 7 and that baby was on his way. Adele was just shy of 31 weeks, so the family kind of white-knuckled our way through the birth. But Benjamin Holmes Johnson was born at 4 lbs, 16 inches long, and cried right away, despite his little lungs not having enough time to finish developing. He's in the NICU in Idaho Falls for the next couple of weeks, and he's getting stronger every day. He can only be held by his mom and dad, and only for an hour and a half per day, so we didn't get to hold him. But we visited him in his little blue "baby oven" at the hospital this weekend and cheered him on as he grew. If you'd like, send prayers and positive energy in Baby Ben's direction. It's miraculous...maybe as few as fifty years ago, he might not have made it. But with today's medicine, he'll be just fine.
And finally, finally, here are two pictures of the sky from this week. The first is from West Yellowstone, the second from Rexburg. As much as I occasionally resent living in southeast Idaho, it sure can be pretty.
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Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Week 10, or Truly Summer
It's been such a full week, and it occurred to me today that it seems like it is now TRULY summer. It's the second full week we haven't had rehearsals, and the week was filled with everything from laying around and reading to bonfires and swimming. Here's the last week and a half or so in list form.
Things Done Sunday Before Last
1. Lunch at Bill's house--a Playmill patron of many years
2. Sitting outside and looking out over Hebgen Lake in the sunshine
3. A semi-off-roading adventure with Jerry and Squire
4. Hanging out at a cabin belonging to Luke's family, eating nachos and watching "The Dark Knight"
Things Done Last Sunday
1. Singing in sacrament meeting
2. Lunch at Heidi's parents' house
3. An uplifting fireside
4. Swimming/wading in the river
5. Banana boats by a bonfire
6. Visiting friends in Rexburg
Ways Jacob Squire Failed to Get My Oreo From the Arm of the Couch at Heidi's Parents' House
1. Lasso-ing with a sunglasses chain
2. Lasso-ing with a watch
3. Lasso-ing with a shoe
(This whole process was hysterically funny, but I don't think I can do it justice in writing. It just kept getting more and more unsuccessful.)
Ways You Can Be Cruel to Actors At the Playmill
1. Make them wear several layers of wool and/or leather in July, under stage lights, when it's 90 degrees outside with 70% humidity, in a building way too old to have efficient air conditioning
2. Complain about the heat as an audience member
Things Mason Doesn't Remember Doing Saturday Night After Getting a Concussion
1. Pretending to throw up on Section A during "Gaston"
2. Talking to someone in concessions, then turning to me, throwing his arms around me and slurring, "Linz! I love you. You're the only one who appreciates me," then kissing me on the forehead and walking away
Lyrics Jacob Squire is Supposed to Sing in the Mob Song
It's a beast! He's got fangs, razor sharp ones.
Massive paws, killer claws for the feast.
Hear him roar! See him foam!
But we're not coming home 'til he's dead!
Lyrics Jacob Squire Actually Sang in the Mob Song
He's a beast, he's as tall as a mountain!
He's got claws...razor sharp ones too!
Here we come, there we go....'til he's dead!
Things I Look Forward To On a Regular Basis
1. Frumah-Sarah's entrance during The Dream in "Fiddler on the Roof." (Man, it's so awesome. That whole scene is one of my favorite things of the whole summer.)
2. Singing pre-show
Favorite Things About Carrie and Scott Visiting This Last Weekend
1. Talking (and laughing) for hours
2. Georgia's version of throwing something in the air and catching it in her mouth (she just holds it up in the air for a second then puts it in her mouth)
3. Hearing fun stories about how Georgia spent her 2nd birthday
4. Just seeing them--let's be honest, I can never get enough of these Chapmans and I wish we could have spent more time with them
Things Jacob Chapman Has Said Quietly and In Character During Crowd Scenes
1. During Seven Brides, as a suitor, talking to one of the brides: "I heard of an opening in Alaska...for two unmarried schoolteachers. We should go. But be married. We'll fool 'em! 'Cause we'll be married!"
2. During Fiddler, as the rabbi, after the Russians come and destroy everything at the wedding reception, to a crying Tzietel: "It's all right. I think we're having some ice cream or something later."
Things Done Sunday Before Last
1. Lunch at Bill's house--a Playmill patron of many years
2. Sitting outside and looking out over Hebgen Lake in the sunshine
3. A semi-off-roading adventure with Jerry and Squire
4. Hanging out at a cabin belonging to Luke's family, eating nachos and watching "The Dark Knight"
Things Done Last Sunday
1. Singing in sacrament meeting
2. Lunch at Heidi's parents' house
3. An uplifting fireside
4. Swimming/wading in the river
5. Banana boats by a bonfire
6. Visiting friends in Rexburg
Ways Jacob Squire Failed to Get My Oreo From the Arm of the Couch at Heidi's Parents' House
1. Lasso-ing with a sunglasses chain
2. Lasso-ing with a watch
3. Lasso-ing with a shoe
(This whole process was hysterically funny, but I don't think I can do it justice in writing. It just kept getting more and more unsuccessful.)
Ways You Can Be Cruel to Actors At the Playmill
1. Make them wear several layers of wool and/or leather in July, under stage lights, when it's 90 degrees outside with 70% humidity, in a building way too old to have efficient air conditioning
2. Complain about the heat as an audience member
Things Mason Doesn't Remember Doing Saturday Night After Getting a Concussion
1. Pretending to throw up on Section A during "Gaston"
2. Talking to someone in concessions, then turning to me, throwing his arms around me and slurring, "Linz! I love you. You're the only one who appreciates me," then kissing me on the forehead and walking away
Lyrics Jacob Squire is Supposed to Sing in the Mob Song
It's a beast! He's got fangs, razor sharp ones.
Massive paws, killer claws for the feast.
Hear him roar! See him foam!
But we're not coming home 'til he's dead!
Lyrics Jacob Squire Actually Sang in the Mob Song
He's a beast, he's as tall as a mountain!
He's got claws...razor sharp ones too!
Here we come, there we go....'til he's dead!
Things I Look Forward To On a Regular Basis
1. Frumah-Sarah's entrance during The Dream in "Fiddler on the Roof." (Man, it's so awesome. That whole scene is one of my favorite things of the whole summer.)
2. Singing pre-show
Favorite Things About Carrie and Scott Visiting This Last Weekend
1. Talking (and laughing) for hours
2. Georgia's version of throwing something in the air and catching it in her mouth (she just holds it up in the air for a second then puts it in her mouth)
3. Hearing fun stories about how Georgia spent her 2nd birthday
4. Just seeing them--let's be honest, I can never get enough of these Chapmans and I wish we could have spent more time with them
Things Jacob Chapman Has Said Quietly and In Character During Crowd Scenes
1. During Seven Brides, as a suitor, talking to one of the brides: "I heard of an opening in Alaska...for two unmarried schoolteachers. We should go. But be married. We'll fool 'em! 'Cause we'll be married!"
2. During Fiddler, as the rabbi, after the Russians come and destroy everything at the wedding reception, to a crying Tzietel: "It's all right. I think we're having some ice cream or something later."
Monday, July 1, 2013
Overheard at the Playmill*
I've got a post forthcoming about Week 10 at the Playmill, but in the meantime, I found my quotebook, and thought I'd share these quotable gems from the last few weeks.
Taylor: Give me an awkward compliment.
Joe: Um...you're ugly?
Taylor: That's not an awkward compliment, that's an insult.
"I made thirty-seven and a half dollars! Wanna know why? Because one of the dollars ripped in half and I don't know where the other half went." - Jacob S
On the song "Bohemian Rhapsody": "I always imagine this song being sung by fish." - Jerry
"Nobody come between me and my Tupperware! I need to store this food so that I can throw it away later." - Stacey
*I stole the idea for this post from Carrie.
Taylor: Give me an awkward compliment.
Joe: Um...you're ugly?
Taylor: That's not an awkward compliment, that's an insult.
"I made thirty-seven and a half dollars! Wanna know why? Because one of the dollars ripped in half and I don't know where the other half went." - Jacob S
On the song "Bohemian Rhapsody": "I always imagine this song being sung by fish." - Jerry
"Nobody come between me and my Tupperware! I need to store this food so that I can throw it away later." - Stacey
*I stole the idea for this post from Carrie.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
A picture's worth...
Aside from the Playmill 50th Reunion, this picture is our last weekend in a nutshell. Stacey, with her injured nose, examining Mason's injured head.
I think this was pre-concussion, too.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Done it again. Weeks 8 - 9.
We did it! We opened all the shows! Which is why I'm combining weeks 8 and 9 in my Playmill Chronicles. It's been NUTS. Between rehearsals, the Playmill reunion, and double shows starting, life has been pretty hectic. Today, we had the opportunity to sleep until 10 am, and I thought to myself, "That's not long enough." I'm grateful I'm in the box office tonight--I get a break! These cast members who are in all three shows are CHAMPS.
But with the hectic-ness come lots of highlights! Here are the beautiful memories from the last two weeks:
Jerry and my husband wrestling in the theatre after a show. Jerry's so big, and an ex-marine, and an ex-martial arts teacher. And Jacob's so small and...giggly. It was so much fun to watch.
Heidi's birthday!!!
We spent the morning putting up posters in Bozeman, and then we all met at the Bozeman Hot Springs for swimming. A handful of us started playing water volleyball, which was less actual volleyball and more just volleying. We tried to get as many volleys as we could, and it took us at least and hour to break 100. BUT WE DID IT. (We would have done it sooner, but we got to 99, and Joe frickin' Galati volleyed the ball way the heck out to the middle of the pool ON PURPOSE, and then we all tackled him.) Dinner at Johnny Carino's afterwards was awesome, and then I drove home with Anya, who plays Millie in our cast. I think that drive was just what both of us needed. We had a great talk during the 2-hour drive, about everything from theatre to relationships. She's an awesome person and I'm so honored to call her my friend.
When someone straight up smoked weed in the men’s bathroom during intermission of the 8:30 Fiddler show. One of the boys walked in and was OVERWHELMED by the smell. I thought everyone was exaggerating, but then I walked in just to see, and yeah, that was weed. (Expensive weed, according to the converts in our cast.)
During "Fiddler on the Roof," when my husband accidentally entered early and showed up in the aisle while Eliza sang the line, "I'll bring the groom, slender and pale." Jacob plays the 102-year-old Rabbi.
A woman in the audience rolling up her program and swatting Tanner with it during the wolf chase scene in "Beauty and the Beast."
How Jacob Squire and I have ganged up on Amanda on some Beauty nights. (So far, it's actually only been 1 Beauty night, but it's Beauty right now and anything can happen.) She's dressed as a wardrobe, and can't do much to defend herself. Which is simultaneously real mean and real fun.
How Taylor and I had a whole night of awkward hand grabbing. I don't even know how it started or why it happened.
That time I was doing Squire's wig while sitting in Section C and the light above our heads shorted out and sparks rained down on us.
Rehearsal for Seven Brides when errrrbody was naked. Not TOTALLY naked, but there are a lot of quick changes backstage, and there is that "Going Courtin" scene where all the boys are just wearing blankets. I kept walking backstage and finding half-undressed people. Oh well. There are no boundaries in theatre.
Horseback riding again on Sunday! This time I went with Jacob S, Sydney, Stacey, Amanda, and Jerry. I rode the same horse as last time, but on a different trail. I really really really love horseback riding. My knees don't love it, but I sure do.
The face-swipe game. It kind of started with Jacob S and I before the dream song in "Fiddler," because I have cheesecloth on my face and can't see, so he started just swiping my face from brow to chin. But it kind of escalated to involving the rest of the cast. Okay, so really it was Jacob S, Jerry and I attacking everyone else. And each other. I'm sure we're starting to annoy people, but it's such a fun game.
Addendum, 9:09 pm: I wrote this entry during the 6:00 show, and shortly before hitting "publish" on it, I was notified that Mason (the one who also cut his head open on Stacey's face yesterday) took a knee to the temple so hard that he might have a concussion. His nose started bleeding from the knock to his head, and he was laughing about it with Jerry in the bathroom when he suddenly threw up in the sink. When I walked into concessions, Dr. Hammar (thank goodness for that Playmill reunion, right?) was checking his eyes with a flashlight and talking to him. And yep, he's got a concussion. Two blows to the head in 24 hours will do that to ya. The doc said he'll be all right, but he's kind of in shock right now, so he's taking it easy this show. In fact, a few minutes ago, he was slumped against the wall in the boys' dressing room, laughing hysterically to himself. Right now, he's kind of halfway between "tipsy" and "just got home from the dentist." He just suggested that Gaston "kick him in the nards" during a song instead of punching him, and when we said no, he said, "Fine, I'll just pretend you kicked me in the nards anyway."
But with the hectic-ness come lots of highlights! Here are the beautiful memories from the last two weeks:
Jerry and my husband wrestling in the theatre after a show. Jerry's so big, and an ex-marine, and an ex-martial arts teacher. And Jacob's so small and...giggly. It was so much fun to watch.
Heidi's birthday!!!
We spent the morning putting up posters in Bozeman, and then we all met at the Bozeman Hot Springs for swimming. A handful of us started playing water volleyball, which was less actual volleyball and more just volleying. We tried to get as many volleys as we could, and it took us at least and hour to break 100. BUT WE DID IT. (We would have done it sooner, but we got to 99, and Joe frickin' Galati volleyed the ball way the heck out to the middle of the pool ON PURPOSE, and then we all tackled him.) Dinner at Johnny Carino's afterwards was awesome, and then I drove home with Anya, who plays Millie in our cast. I think that drive was just what both of us needed. We had a great talk during the 2-hour drive, about everything from theatre to relationships. She's an awesome person and I'm so honored to call her my friend.
When someone straight up smoked weed in the men’s bathroom during intermission of the 8:30 Fiddler show. One of the boys walked in and was OVERWHELMED by the smell. I thought everyone was exaggerating, but then I walked in just to see, and yeah, that was weed. (Expensive weed, according to the converts in our cast.)
During "Fiddler on the Roof," when my husband accidentally entered early and showed up in the aisle while Eliza sang the line, "I'll bring the groom, slender and pale." Jacob plays the 102-year-old Rabbi.
A woman in the audience rolling up her program and swatting Tanner with it during the wolf chase scene in "Beauty and the Beast."
How Jacob Squire and I have ganged up on Amanda on some Beauty nights. (So far, it's actually only been 1 Beauty night, but it's Beauty right now and anything can happen.) She's dressed as a wardrobe, and can't do much to defend herself. Which is simultaneously real mean and real fun.
How Taylor and I had a whole night of awkward hand grabbing. I don't even know how it started or why it happened.
That time I was doing Squire's wig while sitting in Section C and the light above our heads shorted out and sparks rained down on us.
Rehearsal for Seven Brides when errrrbody was naked. Not TOTALLY naked, but there are a lot of quick changes backstage, and there is that "Going Courtin" scene where all the boys are just wearing blankets. I kept walking backstage and finding half-undressed people. Oh well. There are no boundaries in theatre.
Horseback riding again on Sunday! This time I went with Jacob S, Sydney, Stacey, Amanda, and Jerry. I rode the same horse as last time, but on a different trail. I really really really love horseback riding. My knees don't love it, but I sure do.
The face-swipe game. It kind of started with Jacob S and I before the dream song in "Fiddler," because I have cheesecloth on my face and can't see, so he started just swiping my face from brow to chin. But it kind of escalated to involving the rest of the cast. Okay, so really it was Jacob S, Jerry and I attacking everyone else. And each other. I'm sure we're starting to annoy people, but it's such a fun game.
Jacob S's "tassel dance" when he's wearing the buckskin costume in Seven Brides. I can't really describe the dance, but he's got fringe/tassels all along the arms, chest, and legs of his costume. And sometimes he dances.
Retroactively, when Justin fell in his Cogsworth costume during "Beauty and the Beast." This actually happened a few weeks ago, but I just heard about it recently. Dave was exiting in front of him, and all of a sudden heard a smack. Justin had fallen right down onto his face. But the thing is he's dressed like a CLOCK. So once he's down, he can't get back up without help. Unfortunately, the one person (Dave) close by who could help him was dressed like a candelabra, complete with candles for hands, so he couldn't help. So Dave said he just heard "Smack.....scrraaaape....smack....scrrraaaaaape...." as Justin used his arms to haul himself offstage. Like a turtle. As soon as he was through the curtains, he reached his arms up and was rescued. We knew it had to happen at some point during the summer.
Speaking of falling, Sydney fell during "Human Again." It was awesome.
Speaking of falling, Sydney fell during "Human Again." It was awesome.
When I retrieved a box of water bottles from the attic crawl space. I know that sounds simple, but it was during a show and I was wearing heels and a long skirt and not carrying a flashlight and I haven't been up there in six years. During "Seven Brides," Jake asked me if I could get a box of water bottles, and I said, "Sure." As soon as I got upstairs, I realized it might be difficult, so I straight up tucked my long skirt into my "spankies" (spandex boy shorts that are necessary for all summer stock theatre*). But let me explain something about the attic crawl space. It's RIGHT above the stage, with two holes centerstage to be used for entrances and exits of people and scenery. But most of the ceiling above the stage is just sheet rock, so you can only walk on the board that goes down the center, or you'll fall through the ceiling. The board is about a foot wide? Maybe less? This is what it looks like...that board down the middle is the only place you can walk. Those beams cross at about four feet above the board, so you have to crouch.
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Anyway, the water bottles were down at the END of the attic crawl space, so I walked, ducking and holding onto beams for balance, in almost total darkness, while the show went on below me. AND I WAS WEARING HEELS. When I finally got to the water bottles, I heaved a sigh of relief. Then I realized I had to go back. Carrying a 3-foot wide, 3-foot tall, 3-foot long cardboard box. I think it took me about five minutes to make it back, but I did it. The task really isn't that crazy under normal circumstances, but in heels, in the dark, during a show, with a long skirt tucked into spankies, it's a different story.
The "show" that Jerry and Jacob S did during "Seven Brides" backstage. I was sitting in one of the stalls (set storage under the seats in the back hallway), with the curtains open just a tiny bit. I can't remember which one of them walked by, or how the show started, but one of them did something in that space between the curtains, then gestured to the side and said, "Everything I learned, I learned from this man." Then the other one appeared in the space behind the curtain and took a bow. Then he gestured to the side and said, "And I have this man to thank." Then the other would appear. Etc. There was also a bit with some running.
Aaaand as per tradition, there was one trip to the emergency room before all three shows are open. Technically, it was right before the 8:30 show of "Seven Brides," but it was still opening night. Our stage manager, Stacey, and Mason ran into each other at a backstage curtain, and his forehead hit her nose at high speed. She flew backwards, laughing, and then realized she was bleeding. Roger took her to the bathroom to clean her up, and at one point, asked her to take the paper towel off her face so he could assess the damage. He didn't tell her at the time, but the second she removed the paper towel, a steady stream of blood SHOT from the cut at the top of her nose. But Roger calmly said, "Okay, just put pressure back on it." Luckily, one of the past Playmill cast members in the audience is now a doctor, so we called him in to take a look. The good Dr. Hammar said it probably wasn't broken, but would maybe need a stitch or two. So one stitch and a bit of glue later, Stacey is ship shape. She's not even bruised. She just happened to cut her nose open RIGHT at a vein.
And of course, the Playmill Reunion. But that deserves its own special post.
So here's to ALL THREE SHOWS BEING OPEN! Time to sleep in, play during the day (and occasionally work box office), and do double shows each night!
* Sometime, I should do a blog post about the items necessary for summer stock theatre. Or a long run of any show.
The "show" that Jerry and Jacob S did during "Seven Brides" backstage. I was sitting in one of the stalls (set storage under the seats in the back hallway), with the curtains open just a tiny bit. I can't remember which one of them walked by, or how the show started, but one of them did something in that space between the curtains, then gestured to the side and said, "Everything I learned, I learned from this man." Then the other one appeared in the space behind the curtain and took a bow. Then he gestured to the side and said, "And I have this man to thank." Then the other would appear. Etc. There was also a bit with some running.
Aaaand as per tradition, there was one trip to the emergency room before all three shows are open. Technically, it was right before the 8:30 show of "Seven Brides," but it was still opening night. Our stage manager, Stacey, and Mason ran into each other at a backstage curtain, and his forehead hit her nose at high speed. She flew backwards, laughing, and then realized she was bleeding. Roger took her to the bathroom to clean her up, and at one point, asked her to take the paper towel off her face so he could assess the damage. He didn't tell her at the time, but the second she removed the paper towel, a steady stream of blood SHOT from the cut at the top of her nose. But Roger calmly said, "Okay, just put pressure back on it." Luckily, one of the past Playmill cast members in the audience is now a doctor, so we called him in to take a look. The good Dr. Hammar said it probably wasn't broken, but would maybe need a stitch or two. So one stitch and a bit of glue later, Stacey is ship shape. She's not even bruised. She just happened to cut her nose open RIGHT at a vein.
And of course, the Playmill Reunion. But that deserves its own special post.
So here's to ALL THREE SHOWS BEING OPEN! Time to sleep in, play during the day (and occasionally work box office), and do double shows each night!
* Sometime, I should do a blog post about the items necessary for summer stock theatre. Or a long run of any show.
Addendum, 9:09 pm: I wrote this entry during the 6:00 show, and shortly before hitting "publish" on it, I was notified that Mason (the one who also cut his head open on Stacey's face yesterday) took a knee to the temple so hard that he might have a concussion. His nose started bleeding from the knock to his head, and he was laughing about it with Jerry in the bathroom when he suddenly threw up in the sink. When I walked into concessions, Dr. Hammar (thank goodness for that Playmill reunion, right?) was checking his eyes with a flashlight and talking to him. And yep, he's got a concussion. Two blows to the head in 24 hours will do that to ya. The doc said he'll be all right, but he's kind of in shock right now, so he's taking it easy this show. In fact, a few minutes ago, he was slumped against the wall in the boys' dressing room, laughing hysterically to himself. Right now, he's kind of halfway between "tipsy" and "just got home from the dentist." He just suggested that Gaston "kick him in the nards" during a song instead of punching him, and when we said no, he said, "Fine, I'll just pretend you kicked me in the nards anyway."
Monday, June 17, 2013
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Week 7, or "On a more personal note," or "Why don't you blog about it, Liz?"*
To start, here is an amazing picture of Eliza. It captures the spirit of my goals and life lessons from the last week. Plus, it's an AWESOME picture.
To get a little more personal than usual, this has been a week of learning to love more. I've spent a lot of time here at the Playmill being scared...scared of saying or doing the wrong thing, scared of making friends, scared of not making friends, scared of not being needed, scared of being needed too much. Just scared. But I finally got tired of being ruled by my fears, so I decided to re-teach myself a few lessons about courage. I was making myself (and probably the people close to me) miserable, so I decided to let go of my need for things to be a certain way. I decided to reach out to other people, to be content in my circumstances, and to trust that everything is going the way it's supposed to. And as soon as I did, my life was filled with love. I suddenly became closer friends with people in the cast that I had never really connected to before, and I found myself filled with even deeper love for the friends I had made earlier in the summer. There are still rough days (or rough moments), but I feel much more at peace about whatever happens, or will happen.
This has also been a week of learning to live more fully. Sometimes I get too "tired" to go out and do things...and then I hear about them later and wish I had gone. There is a time to rest and stay home, but often, that time isn't any better spent at home than with people I love. Sometimes I stay home because of the fear mentioned above, and I don't want to live that way anymore. So here's to living more fully.
On a less personal note, here are some of the other highlights of this week:
Opening Fiddler on the Roof! It was the longest opening night in Playmill history, each show running roughly 2 and a half hours, so we've since cut it down a bit. It's a powerful show, and now that it's shorter, it's really awesome.
Mason pretending to get his mission call and telling everyone about it. Eliza believed him, and when she found out he was lying, she was real mad. Getting dressed in the girl's dressing room that afternoon, we could hear her yelling and Mason laughing downstairs for about five minutes.
When a handful of the cast rehearsed a hip hop dance in "Fiddler on the Roof" costumes. It was awesome watching all these people dressed like poor Jews from 1905 breaking it down.
To get a little more personal than usual, this has been a week of learning to love more. I've spent a lot of time here at the Playmill being scared...scared of saying or doing the wrong thing, scared of making friends, scared of not making friends, scared of not being needed, scared of being needed too much. Just scared. But I finally got tired of being ruled by my fears, so I decided to re-teach myself a few lessons about courage. I was making myself (and probably the people close to me) miserable, so I decided to let go of my need for things to be a certain way. I decided to reach out to other people, to be content in my circumstances, and to trust that everything is going the way it's supposed to. And as soon as I did, my life was filled with love. I suddenly became closer friends with people in the cast that I had never really connected to before, and I found myself filled with even deeper love for the friends I had made earlier in the summer. There are still rough days (or rough moments), but I feel much more at peace about whatever happens, or will happen.
This has also been a week of learning to live more fully. Sometimes I get too "tired" to go out and do things...and then I hear about them later and wish I had gone. There is a time to rest and stay home, but often, that time isn't any better spent at home than with people I love. Sometimes I stay home because of the fear mentioned above, and I don't want to live that way anymore. So here's to living more fully.
On a less personal note, here are some of the other highlights of this week:
Opening Fiddler on the Roof! It was the longest opening night in Playmill history, each show running roughly 2 and a half hours, so we've since cut it down a bit. It's a powerful show, and now that it's shorter, it's really awesome.
Mason pretending to get his mission call and telling everyone about it. Eliza believed him, and when she found out he was lying, she was real mad. Getting dressed in the girl's dressing room that afternoon, we could hear her yelling and Mason laughing downstairs for about five minutes.
When a handful of the cast rehearsed a hip hop dance in "Fiddler on the Roof" costumes. It was awesome watching all these people dressed like poor Jews from 1905 breaking it down.
Dave Walker's scientific explanation of "pee shivers."
Us: "What causes pee shivers?"
Dave: "Peeing."
Us: "Yeah, but why?"
Dave: "Because you're peeing, and then you're done."
Us: "What causes pee shivers?"
Dave: "Peeing."
Us: "Yeah, but why?"
Dave: "Because you're peeing, and then you're done."
The little kid who, after the wedding destruction scene in "Fiddler", let out a sad "oh no!"
Mason ACTUALLY getting his mission call! (Brazil.) We've got 2 future missionaries in our cast...Taylor got her call to South Carolina.
Eliza accidentally giving someone a half-eaten jar of Nutella as a gift, instead of the new one she had purchased.
Horseback riding on Sunday, with Tanner, husband Jacob, Laura and her friend Megan. I love horseback riding so very much. (I'm going again this Sunday.) My favorite parts of that trip, aside from just being out there, were Tanner saying "Yip Yip!" to get his horse to go, and the relationship Jacob developed with his horse Watermelon ("My life is in your hands, Watermelon. I love you, Watermelon.")
Bonfire at Hebgen Lake on Monday night. (There was one on Sunday night that I didn't go to, but people enjoyed it so much, we decided to do it again.) The night involved almost getting lost while trying to find the same bit of shore from the night previous, a game of "Truth or Dare," Joe performing "poetry," Misha making cookies over the fire with a muffin tin, and the occasional scare from jumping spiders.
Aaaaaand to conclude, here is a picture I've had for a while, but just haven't posted yet. It's super-blurry, but it's one of my favorites from the summer. This is from one of those late-night dance parties we occasionally have. This cast has got the moves.
Mason ACTUALLY getting his mission call! (Brazil.) We've got 2 future missionaries in our cast...Taylor got her call to South Carolina.
Eliza accidentally giving someone a half-eaten jar of Nutella as a gift, instead of the new one she had purchased.
Horseback riding on Sunday, with Tanner, husband Jacob, Laura and her friend Megan. I love horseback riding so very much. (I'm going again this Sunday.) My favorite parts of that trip, aside from just being out there, were Tanner saying "Yip Yip!" to get his horse to go, and the relationship Jacob developed with his horse Watermelon ("My life is in your hands, Watermelon. I love you, Watermelon.")
Bonfire at Hebgen Lake on Monday night. (There was one on Sunday night that I didn't go to, but people enjoyed it so much, we decided to do it again.) The night involved almost getting lost while trying to find the same bit of shore from the night previous, a game of "Truth or Dare," Joe performing "poetry," Misha making cookies over the fire with a muffin tin, and the occasional scare from jumping spiders.
Aaaaaand to conclude, here is a picture I've had for a while, but just haven't posted yet. It's super-blurry, but it's one of my favorites from the summer. This is from one of those late-night dance parties we occasionally have. This cast has got the moves.
* "Why don't you blog about it, Liz?" is something Sydney said to me this week. I made some comment about something I really liked, and she said, "Why don't you blog about it, Liz?" We both paused for a moment, and then she said, "I didn't mean that snarky. It came out snarky, but I didn't mean it that way." Sydney seems to have a habit of saying things that sound snarky even when she doesn't mean them that way. Which is fun.
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