Half way through tech week! I had this idea that I would go one of those “Photo every hour” posts that Engie or Stephany do periodically- I thought it might be a a good way to capture a day of tech for me to look back on. Hah hah. Once we got into the evening rehearsal, shit gets real and I couldn’t keep up. Friday, our first tech rehearsal onstage, was particularly busy – our Production Assistant was out sick, so I had to do their job and my job. I logged 25,000 steps and climbed 34 flights of stairs that day. Part of the reason for all those stairs is that our set is three levels high. Here’s the view from the top level:
(Side note – it’s been much debated on how to refer to the levels of the set. There is a ground level, a middle level and a top level. Now if, in rehearsal, someone says, “Go to the second level,” which level would you go to? I would go to the mid level, but many people would go to the top level. We eventually just ended up calling them “mid” and “top” level.)
But I did take some pictures throughout the day, so here is a dump of pictures of that first day of tech last week, in and around the “intense, running around, and checking attendance, and listening to instructions, and relaying instructions to cast and crew, and why is everyone talking all at once? and making sure people didn’t get run over by the scenery or props, and took their cues on time and oh my god, and, how do we get thirty people onstage through that three foot wide gap? and yes, you should wear the hat now and no, now you take it off, here, just give it to me, and are people going to make their costume changes in time for their next cue? No they aren’t, they’ve just missed their entrance, and where are the dancers? and we need to give them a break, and what is that rule in our union contract? and the director wants to do things a different way, okay we’ll make that work, and we want to add fire? and this singer is now dead, can they go home or will we go back and do their scene again? and oh my goodness, we managed to tech through the whole show, thank GOD” part of the day….
Thursday was a set looks (where stage management and the director looks at the set for the first time and decide that, “Yep, this is what we were expecting.” and we make all sorts of discoveries as to how people will get onstage.) and then a Stizprobe (first time singers are with orchestra – sit and sing).
Friday was the first Piano Tech rehearsal, the first time onstage staging rehearsal for everyone. This is what was in my camera roll for that day:
6:30am – wake up – summer morning sunlight and I make the bed.
7:35am – roll out my yoga mat for 10 mins of yoga. The 4 year old helps.
8:30am – breakfast, eaten at the kitchen counter, with a book. Cottage cheese and blueberries – I’m trying to eat high protein/ high fiber breakfasts and lean away from the heavy carb breakfasts. Which is hard because bagels are tasty.
8:45a – quick 5 minutes of laundry folding before taking the kids to the school bus. Those three small folded piles all I manage to fold in five minutes.
10:30am- At work. paperwork. Make rehearsal logs for the day. Usually our production assistant does this, but they are sick this day. That’s my favorite brand of mechanical pencil – and I found that they sell it with a red barrel. Red is my favorite colour, so I ordered a whole box of them.
12:30p – lunch, sitting outside. I’m going to spend much of the day running around in the dark – Gotta grab sunlight when I can.
1:15pm – checking attendance. The rehearsal scheduling department gives me a list of people who are running late to rehearsal.
2:30pm – An hour into the first piano tech rehearsal. My music stand.
4:30pm – random picture of how we want to set this giant 30′ silk onstage – I take pictures of a lot of things because sometimes it’s easier than trying to describe to the crew how we want things to look. Sometimes I say things like, “That guillotine needs to be centered this spot on stage.” And it still isn’t clear because everyone has their own perspective and they move the thing here and there and I try to explain and then finally it goes in the right place and the crew says,. “You mean the upstage edge needs to split center?”. And I say, “Yes, thank you,” And I think to myself, “It probably would have been clearer if I had said it that way. Thank you for figuring that out.”
6:00pm – Run at dinner time. The weather was beautiful.
7:00pm – Quick picture in the bathroom of my piano tech outfit. I always wear the same thing – floral patterned top (Uniqlo) and linen joggers (Gap – patched in two places and maybe need to be replaced soon.). I like to wear bright colours during tech so I can be seen onstage. I do wear shoes, but I had just changed out of my running clothes and hadn’t put them on yet.
9:30pm – one hour left in the evening rehearsal, back at my music stand for a moment. These blue index cards are where I write who is making an entrance. If it’s just a handful of people, I will write it directly on a Post It, but when there are 30+, I write it on an index card and put it in my binder. I often only write first initial and last two letters of last name. ie. John Smith would be JSm. I had an assistant director once who called these the “airport codes” for each chorister. It’s a good feeling for me that I’ve been with these choristers so long that when I’m writing down the mass chorus group, writing their airport code takes no mental effort at all.
11:33pm – screenshot. Sometimes when I’m leaving and I realized I’ve I forgotten to log out of my timesheet, I take a screenshot of my phone so I remember what time I walked out the door. I get a lot of spam in my email.
12:10am – arrive home. I find that the lunchboxes I ordered for the kids have arrived. Yay! In the past week, one child has cracked their lunchbox and the other has lost theirs (I don’t want to be the one to open that lost lunch box when it is recovered…). I do have one extra for each child, but I like having a few spares for those times when the lunchbox doesn’t get cleaned the night before. I love these Sistema lunchboxes because they are relatively inexpensive and they can go in the dishwasher. And they are durable. We’ve had ours for about four years now. I was going to buy just one spare, but amazon also sold them in a four pack for about $12/each, so I went that route. They are getting harder to find, so I worry what will happen when Sistema stops making this size. Maybe I should order another 4 pack…
And that was a photo summary of Day 1 of tech. Day 2 of tech was Saturday, and I didn’t have to be at the theatre until 1pm, so I did a load of laundry (and hung it to dry), took the 7 year old to his morning soccer – the game was on despite the drizzly drizzly weather, and then dropped the 12 year old to her voice lesson on the way to work. On the days when I don’t have to be in until 1pm, I feel like the morning should be luxurious, but then it fills ups, especially on weekends. I spent the first part of the day at work light walking – basically we stand onstage while the lighting designer sets light levels – which is kind of tedious, but can be beautiful:
The evening was a piano dress rehearsal, first time in costume. It’s always a very long night, but we got through the whole show, which is always good.
Here is a random spot of beauty on asphalt, to break up all the work goings on, as seen on my run:
Doing Something You Love. I had a text exchange with a colleague last week. She was asking me about someone that had worked with me as a Production Assistant previously. (Side note: This really happens. Not sure how it is in other industries, but word of mouth is huge. It doesn’t matter who you list as a reference – if I know you’ve worked with someone I know, I will often have a casual conversation about you.). This former Production Assistant wanted to move on from stage management, and I replied to my colleague, “I think I knew she wanted to do something different. I’m always surprised when people don’t want to be stage managers because I genuinely like what I do a lot.” And my colleague wrote back – “Me either… I love what I do.”
Then I heard this interview with filmmaker Caitlin Cronenberg, who is the daughter of a famous filmmaker. And Cronenberg was asked about her feelings on nepotism, and she said, “You know, there are children of people doing things, and it’s because you look at your family member making art for a living and enjoying what they do. And you say, I want to love what I do. I want to make art for a living. And that’s why so many actors, so many directors and producers have children who are also in the business.
And it made me think how the 12 year old used to say that she wanted to be a stage manager, and I always thought that it was because she thought the work was interesting. But maybe, that isn’t it. Maybe she realizes that finding something you love to do – whether that is your job, or something outside of your job – that is important. And maybe she thinks, “Hey, there’s this thing that mom really loves doing… maybe I would love doing that too.” It made me think about how much my children pick up on the attitude/emotions/moods that I exude and how important it is to model that intangible quality – we all want our children to be happy, so they also need to have models of how to be happy. I hope that the 12 year old finds something that she loves doing. She doesn’t have to love it 100% of the time – I certainly don’t love my job 100% of the time; I most certainly don’t love parenting or painting or writing 100% of the time – but she has to love enough aspects of that thing that she finds periodic joy in doing it – not the results, not the end product, but in the doing.
Grateful For:
-The sanitation workers who pick up our trash and recycling. The other day, I came home after dropping the kids at school and the recycling trucks were making their routes. They just finished our house, and then I saw them take my elderly neighbor’s trash and recycling cans back up her driveway for her. It was such a nice thing for them to do! The Husband, who used to work for the county’s solid waste department, says that if you have difficulties putting your trash cans at the bottom of your drive, you can have your house coded so that the sanitation workers come get your trash cans and put them back if you want – there are special colour trash bins for this. I love that. I guess taking trash cans down to the curb was one of those things I took for granted (the 12 year old does it at our house), and I’m glad that there are provisions for people for whom it is difficult.
-Child minders. There are 20 children in our show. I am so grateful for the child minders to when the children to and from stage and keep an eye on them when they are not onstage.
-my sewing machine. I spent Sunday finishing up the 12 year old’s costume for Annie. I had to hem the pinafore, so I plugged in my sewing machine that has been dormant for several months now, and it worked. My mother in law had passed this sewing machine down to me – I believe it belonged to her aunt. It isn’t fancy – pretty much just does a straight stitch – but I don’t need fancy for where I am in my sewing skills. I was able to hem the pinafore. Then I added a pocket with some scrap fabric, because I know when I work on shows we are always asking for pockets in costumes. Then I looked at everything together, and the muslin pinafore looked a little bright, so I tea dyed it. It was my first time tea dying something and the process was pretty easy. It’s hard to tell in the picture, but the pinafore is now a light brown color. Also – another skill I did for the first time, is I made a button hole! The top of the dress dipped a little low in the front, so I added a button and made a button hole. Oh – here’s another gratitude – I’m grateful for creators who post tutorials of how to do things on the internet.
Looking forward to:
-Opening Night for me!
-Opening Night for the 12 year old!
-Orchestra rehearsals. We start adding the Orchestra to our rehearsals this week. I often think how lucky I am that I get to listen to a full orchestra play all the time. The wall of sound, the colours of the different instruments, the bone vibrating sensation of six trumpets and six trombones playing backstage, right next to me. There is something so amazing about that degree of unamplified music -so immediate and so grand. I love it all.
-Watching Starstruck. I started the third season of this show while making lasagna last week. I loved the first two seasons of this rom com about Jessie, who unknowingly hooks up with a famous movie star Tom in Season 1 and the fall out from that. The show is hilarious and touching. I don’t usually like shows where people make a mess of their lives, but there is something I really relate to in Jessie.
What We Ate:
Monday: Butter chicken – I used the leftover sauce from the Butter Chicken I made a few weeks ago, but I probably should have cooked it on the stove rather than in the Instant Pot because it was very runny.
Tuesday: Not sure – Husband cooked. I took myself out for Thai food because it was the day of the final room run and I wanted to eat something special.
Wednesday: Zucchini Pesto Lasagna from Smitten Kitchen Keepers. We had a bunch of zucchini to use up. And I figured this would be good for leftovers as well. It was tasty, but very cheesy. I find lasagna is always a lot of work, and I could have the same results by just making the sauce and veggies and tossing it with noodles rather than layering and baking in a tray.
Thursday: Not sure – Husband cooked, I think…. I packed dinner, see below…
Friday: Pizza (take out) and an Avengers movie. I packed dinned, see below…
Saturday: No idea.
Sunday: leftovers/scrounge in the fridge. My brain was so fried by this point, I can’t even remember if I made the kids dinner. Oh wait. yes I did. I boiled some pasta, tossed in broccoli during the last three minutes, drained and mixed in the leftover ricotta sauce from Wednesday’s lasagna, for a cheesy, broccoli pasta. (See – I did just what I said above – mixed the lasagna sauce with cooked pasta and veggies and it was just a tasty a much less work.
Since I don’t really have an idea of what the family had for dinner for most of last week, as I was away most nights last week, I thought I’d take a picture of a typical food pack that I bring to work on any given day during tech week when I usually eat both lunch and dinner at work. This was actually from Thursday, but then I ended up going out for lunch that day and didn’t eat most of this and so just re-packed it and took it on Friday:
Lunch: Broccoli Quinoa Salad, avocado, hard boiled egg, plum
Dinner: zucchini pesto lasagna, cut up veggies and apple slices
Snacks for throughout the day: another container of veggies and apple slices, hummus, roasted chickpeas, mini pretzels, string cheese, mixed nuts. (Also at the office we have peanut m&ms, peanut butter pretzels, chocolate caramels, and gummy Nerds.).
Aside from breakfast, this all gets me through the day.
That’s it for last week. It’s been exhausting, but I am excited about the show. Also excited to be opened and to pick up around the house a little bit.
What do you love doing? And taking a poll: Which level would you call the “second level”?
I would call the second level the mid level. But I guess I understand why someone would think the second level is the top level, too.
Bagels are tasty – truer words have never been typed.
I have never loved any paid job I’ve ever had. I like my job, I feel fulfilled doing it, I like my colleagues. But I certainly don’t LOVE it. The things I do that I love are generally unpaid. And that’s fine, I think. Sometimes life is just about getting a paycheck, you know?
I agree – maybe it’s hypocritical of me, but sometimes I think we expect too much of work – I feel like I have a luxury in loving what I do but I don’t think it’s the only that makes me feel satisfied – that wouldn’t be healthy either. People need to have something they love doing whether it is paid or unpaid.
I always forget how much goes into making a show. Holy heck. It’s fascinating to read about your job and everything it entails.
I stopped buying bagels and I miss them so much lol
I really do like teaching. I love working with young people, and I love designing lessons. I do not love dealing with senseless paperwork or sit through terrible professional development. I do not particularly enjoy grading, it’s tedious. But the act of actual teaching is great. I love the salary, the benefits and the time off, let’s be honest, it’s a great perk.
Non-paid… I love writing and reading. That’s pretty much it.
Bagels are so good! We used to mail order bagels from a place i. NYC, though now there are pretty tasty bagels down the street from us.
I think having one or two things that you love doing is wonderful, even if it is unpaid. I love reading too!
I love the peak behind the curtain that shows how a show comes together. I have been appreciating that more since I started reading your blog! I thought about it a lot during Frog and Toad actually! The only theater I take in these days is children’s theater but it’s actually perfect for me because 2 hours is kind of the sweet spot in terms of show length and it’s in the afternoon so I don’t have to stay up late. Ha.
What a gift to love your job! I feel the same way. It’s not all sunshine and roses and there are hard things but it’s a great fit for my skill set/interests. That said, my husband and I have talked about it and we would not encourage our kids to go into our industry. If they absolutely want to, they will go in with eyes wide open. The reason we would steer them elsewhere is because our industry is shrinking and it’s in a constant cycle of cost cutting so there are fewer and fewer jobs. It’s fine for us because we have (mostly) survived the volatility and we save knowing that our jobs could always go away. But it’s not a “fun” environment to work in! I think about how we talk about things like work or exercise quite often. Like I am careful to say “mommy GETS to go for a run” – I don’t want them to think of exercise as a burden/obligation. I know it is for some people but for me, I really enjoy being out on the running path or in my basement doing a strength training video. We also say “I get to go to work” instead of “I have to”. It probably sounds like a PR campaign in our household but I think so much of life is your attitude and if you truly hate something, there may be changes you can make. That said, I’m coming in with the privilege of loving my job. But with exercise, my RA has made me really appreciate being able to move my body because there have been periods of time when I could not run because of how active my disease was.
I think that “gets to” framing is so spot on! I had a colleague who, when we were about to go into a really hard rehearsal would say, “We get to go to rehearsal today!” That reminder of what a blessing it is to do things that we love!
The mid level is the second level! Unless you’re in Europe- then it’s the first level. But we’re in America… anyway I think you’re probably smart to say mid or top level, just to be clear.
Wow, you’re busy. I know it’s not always like this- tech week is hard. But I can tell how much you love your job from this post. You are lucky. I don’t love my job, but I don’t hate it either. It’s okay. I do hope my kids find a job they love- but I’m also trying to show them that you can have a job that you don’t necessarily LOVE, and still get some enjoyment out of it, and have a good life in general.
i had to laugh a little at your breakfast comment. I’m also trying to clean up my diet a bit, and I’m missing my bagels! Why are they so good? Why am I not supposed to eat them? Sigh.
Oh yes = I think the European level system is why everyone was confused!
I also agree that you don’t have to love your job, but you should find it not soul sucking. And I think it’s great that you LOVE running – maybe it’s not something you get paid to do, but I love reading about how much you get out of doing it. I hope your kids appreciate that enthusiasm too.
The second level would be the mid level! I’m on your side here. 😉
Have you watched Only Murders in the Building? Season three takes place in a theater and some of your tidbits really remind me of that season! (Also, when you said “the singer is now dead,” it REALLY made me think about that show and, like, an actual dead person and I was like WHAAAAT hahaha.)
I love that you did A Photo an Hour! It was super fascinating!
Ooh! I haven’t seen Season 3 of Only Murders yet. I loved the first two seasons – it was one of the few shows the Husband and I watched together. Now I’m super excited to find time to watch season three!
I LOVED THIS POST! This was an absolutely fascinating look at your day, and I loved every minute of it. So much work goes into a show, and it’s so interesting to me.
I do think kids – and animals! – pick up on the general vibe of the parents, and I love that you love your job!
You are so right! Even if we put on a brave face, our kids and pets know when something is wrong.