That is all.
Today was the day I was all ready to paint the costumes for our upcoming show. I have painted costumes before, so no big deal, right? RIGHT?
Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no. This turned into a very big deal indeed. One from which I am only just now recovering... The paint I used is a type I've never painted with before. I did not give this a second thought. Paint is paint, right? RIGHT? Oh, no. Very much NO. All paints are not the same at all. And just because one paint behaves one way on paper, that does not mean it will behave the same way on fabric. Nor will it behave the same way on fabrics of different fiber content. Nor will it behave the same way on fabrics of different colors. All in all, this paint was obnoxious to work with. I painted Seymour's vest, thinking it would dry darker than it went on. ( This has always been my experience. Paint drys darker than the color you see when you open the freshly shaken can. ) I think it actually faded as it dried. This was the most frustrating, annoying, crappy painting experience I've ever had. And that is really saying something. I mean I've had things not turn out the way I envisioned. But they were still well done-just not what I wanted. This looked like a kindergartener painted them. The real frustration was the more I worked on them, the worse they got. I was ready to throw the entire mess into the trash. And tomorrow I work on them again. Just shoot me. As I've mentioned, I'm working on Little Shop of Horrors. The main costume pieces are coats, transformed into zombie outfits. These are painted, then have schmutz added to them to show they are part of the plant. This has been challenging for me, as there is no room anywhere to do the painting.
I found space in the upstairs boiler room at the high school. Which is where I spent my day. Painting a disgusting, horrible looking mess of yucky colors on perfectly beautiful coats. Making them utterly revolting and repulsive. Success! Exactly what I was going for. Once the artfully created horrible mess is dry, I will do the Jackson Pollock treatment on them with our secret ingredient...Thus transforming an average production into an experience unlike any other theatrical performance I've ever seen. And which will either rock the world or totally suck rocks. Both yesterday and today were spent purchasing more costumes for our upcoming show. And we were successful! Our director loves them! I'm thrilled to hear that, as I may have mentioned-I am not a costumer. I am a set designer/set painter/props master/stage manager/production manager.
I don't do costumes. Ever. But this is an easy one, as my dearest friend (and my partner in theatre-the costumer!!) helped me with the three "queen" costumes. I have the shop teacher working on the two remaining huge hats for the queens and the third one is complete here at home. I have their masks here, and will paint them spectacularly very soon. They will be wearing three identical bouffant blond wigs beneath their hats, further obscuring their individuality. Now I'm punching out tiny circles for blood droplets...They will glow eerily under the black light. But they will have to be swept up after each performance, as this is killing my arm and there is no way I'm going to keep punching these things out for each show. The cast is wonderful. Really great kids. And Mushnik is a teacher-Rick-and he's just fantastic. A delight to watch. We're working with Bryan again now. He's our musical director from last years Wizard of Oz. I've missed him so much! It's great to have him back with us. And Shane stopped by today and that's always fun. All in all, I think things are going well. We have a week and a half-that's practically a life time in theatre. Now we just have to get the plants and the set pieces pulled together. Easy Peasy. Gale force winds are whipping around our home, howling mournfully. Snow drifts equal to the height of our porch railings, filling our driveway with wave after wave of the sparkling, crystal icy mounds. The road and the yard merge into one. There is no visible markings delineating the difference. Our neighbors house peeks through the white curtain from time to time, but otherwise we would think we were all alone in the world. Such is the totality of the white out.
Being snowed in should find me busy catching up with things I've been neglecting-being busy with an up coming show- but I am not busy. I am bored. There are so many things I should be doing. Most of them for our show, Little Shop of Horrors. Unfortunately, I don't have the space, equipment, materials, or patience to do these things here. I could work on the costumes-except I don't have the paint. I could treat the coats, except I don't have a place to hang them to dry nor a place to dip them. A wasted day. Frustrating. Since we are starting Saugatuck Civic Theatre, I cannot take on my usual work with HCYT. I've worked with the HCYT group for 12 to 15 years now, but I simply cannot take on one more show this summer. We at the SCT are already putting on three substantial productions, which is huge!
Even though I know I've made the correct decision, it still hurts me to leave the HCYT. I love those people. They are my family in a lot of ways. Yet the SCT group is also very dear to me, and rapidly becoming family as well. (Tom and Jackie already are). Where one door closes, another opens. And so it is here. I'm very excited to be part of this group and I'm thrilled with our very ambitious upcoming season. I can't wait for Earnest and Pan, as those are the two I'm really looking forward to working on. The sets and things for Horror will be fun too, don't get me wrong, but I'm always sick of the shows by the time they open. Horror will be opening for the high school in three weeks. I'm sick of it. And I havn't really started anything yet. Don't have the cans, don't have the costume pieces, don't have the head pieces, don't have the goggles, don't have the florescent paint... I need to run to Michaels. Last night Tom, Jackie, Shane and I went to see The Importance of Being Earnest at Holland Civic Theatre. It's a funny show, and one of the three we are planning to put on this summer.
The show began at 7:30. We had a fifteen minute intermission at 9:00. We were in the lobby when the show was over at 11:00 p.m. That is way to long for a theatre performance when it's old English language, English accents, and uncomfortable seating. Still the show was hysterical and the acting was wonderful! I loved it! After I returned home, Dan came over after work. He had fallen in the morning on the ice in his driveway and hit his head. I went with both Paige and Dan to the E.R. I knew he had a concussion. I thought they would want to do a C.T. scan. They did not. I was shocked. Paige is a wonderful bundle of clumsy. She has had numerous concussions over the years. She has always had a c.t. scan. This is what you do to make sure there is no brain bleed or skull fracture. It's really standard operating procedure. If I had known they weren't going to do the scan, I would not have taken him in. Good grief, I certainly know how to handle concussions. Thankfully there were very few people there. We were in and out. Home in just under an hour and a half. Remarkable. Of course when you're not doing your job, really just phoning it in, you can boot people out a lot faster than if you took the time to do things properly. Whatever. Dan is still dizzy and somewhat sick to his stomach, but he's resting comfortably and seems to be answering questions correctly. He is repeating himself somewhat and is a bit forgetful, but those things are to be expected. Nothing unusual or out of the norm for a concussion. His symptoms could last a few days or a few weeks, just depends upon how his brain decides it wants to heal. Head injuries are tricky things. |
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