Theater

Wow! That was fast. Not even a year later, and I’m already doing a repeat show for the third time. Well, it was sort of a last-minute thing. The show needed the Russian singer cast and some of the regulars from my last “Fiddler” recommended me since I had done is just months prior. They called.

“Er, I’m kind of occupied.” I mentioned that I had quite the conflict. A week before tech, I would be in Europe missing trains and paying outrageous rates for hotel rooms. The director was okay with that, so hey, why not.

I joined up.

The rehearsals were close to home. I mean, so close that I biked to rehearsals. This was only a couple times because after about three rehearsals, I was in Europe. They kept rehearsing without me and soon enough, I was back in the States and heading into tech Sunday--very tired and jetlagged of course. I think I had a quick nap after the flight. It wasn’t enough.

A New Theatre

This was my first show at the Firehouse Theatre. It had been there several years, but I’d never done a show there. Heck, I’d never even been in the building before. I’m just never on First Street.

It’s a very nice venue. It’s quaint, mind you. Backstage consists of mainly a hallway with a few rooms attached. For a large cast, it gets crowded fast. You’re never too far away from anyone in the cast. Need to find someone? Yell her name. She’ll hear you.

Mind you, stage managers don’t care for this action, at least not during performances.

We had a great cast. It was about as small a cast as possible for a “Fiddler” production, but worked well to fill out a good “village.”

Secret Pals

It was tempting to sign up for Secret Pals, but in the end, I opted to sit on the sidelines. Mainly, it’s just too tough to work all week and go into tech rehearsals and then find time to shop around. But they went at it full steam ahead. There were cakes, candies, prizes, clues, mysteries, and all sorts of great gifts given. I sort of missed it then, but still reaffirmed my choice. All that stuff costs money and time.

Performances

It was just two weekends. They went by fast. The houses were filled and we had a talkback night where the audience could ask questions. Those are never too full, but still enjoyable to do.

Walking Man

It was great to finally walk to a performance. I think I did that for the last Saturday night show. I just left early and headed on over to the theatre. I suppose it took about 40 minutes. This also meant that afterwards, I was able to enjoy a drink at the local wine bar without needing to drive home. A nice bonus.

Mishaps?

For me? Not much. A large black robe was missing one night. Well, it was missing from the lead character, Tevye, and I loaned him mine since his character pulls more focus than a guy holding up a canopy corner. Though my costume was a mess without the robe and considering it was mainly white whereas the others were black, I may have been pulling more focus if I went. Thus, another actor volunteered to take my place and hold two corners. Usually, scenes should go on with or without costumes issues, but in a situation like this, it was best for me to stand by.

One Scene

I mainly joined for the Russian singer and dance. But of course I was placed in other scenes as a villager. I didn’t mind. If I was going to be down there, I might as well have something to do.

Summary

It was fun. And the rehearsal time being so short was really a great bonus. That made the production worthwhile. As well, it is nice to have less stress of memorizing lines and lyrics. Will there be a fourth time? Maybe.