Okay, I've been hiding something from you, but please know, it's only because I've been avoiding the subject all together.
Last week, my boss called and told me they need me after all. This is not uncommon in the theater business, just one of the many reasons why I am sooooo over it. Things change on a dime, one day you have a job, the next you don't (and then you do), schedules are day by day and catastrophes happen all the time.
Draaaaaaammmaaa!
Here's the thing, once a show is up and running, with the exception of giving up any thought of a night time social life, it's pretty easy. You go in around 6:30 and come home whenever the show is over. Especially nice when you're running a 90 minute show which means I basically have a 4 hour work day. However, the getting there is hell.
Seriously, hell. That's what we call it. Cause that's what it is.
A 13 hour day is a short day. Also, it's a theater, there's no such thing as windows and sun so you can forget that. Add a tablespoon of drama and voila, you've got a group of people cooped up in a stuffy, dusty building for 13 hours running the same thing over and over and over and over and over until you get it right, for a week, and you got yourself a tech rehearsal.
But it doesn't stop there. Oh nooooo. Just when you think you're in the clear and you have your first preview audience, the rehearsals continue...every day...for almost a month. Hey, at least we're down to 10 hours.
You see, what happens is I go in knowing I have plenty of time to sit around on the computer and do my writing, flickring, twittering, drawing, everything that makes me happy (heaven). But after awhile, being stuck in that place really starts to get to you. Routines change, mindset darkens, absolute boredom sets in and you are surrounded by the same people day in and day out.
The bright side, I'll have a paycheck to support my creative habits. And by support my creative habits I mean relieve me of the "how will I pay the bills" stress.
However, no paycheck has the power to quiet the fear I have. The fear that I will slack off. The fear that I will get tired and lose touch with all the progress I've made here. The fear that I will wake up every morning annoyed. The fear that ideas will stop coming. On the other hand, the fear has struck such a cord that I refuse to let it take over.
*cue uplifting broadway tune*
This is me declaring that I will not slack off! I will continue to write, I will continue to take photographs, I will continue to not scan my drawings for the 365 project. I will come out of this job having only progressed further in my creative endeavors. I will NOT GIVE UP!
Okay, I gotta go wash the melodrama off. Thank jebus it's not a musical this time.
Last week, my boss called and told me they need me after all. This is not uncommon in the theater business, just one of the many reasons why I am sooooo over it. Things change on a dime, one day you have a job, the next you don't (and then you do), schedules are day by day and catastrophes happen all the time.
Draaaaaaammmaaa!
Here's the thing, once a show is up and running, with the exception of giving up any thought of a night time social life, it's pretty easy. You go in around 6:30 and come home whenever the show is over. Especially nice when you're running a 90 minute show which means I basically have a 4 hour work day. However, the getting there is hell.
Seriously, hell. That's what we call it. Cause that's what it is.
A 13 hour day is a short day. Also, it's a theater, there's no such thing as windows and sun so you can forget that. Add a tablespoon of drama and voila, you've got a group of people cooped up in a stuffy, dusty building for 13 hours running the same thing over and over and over and over and over until you get it right, for a week, and you got yourself a tech rehearsal.
But it doesn't stop there. Oh nooooo. Just when you think you're in the clear and you have your first preview audience, the rehearsals continue...every day...for almost a month. Hey, at least we're down to 10 hours.
You see, what happens is I go in knowing I have plenty of time to sit around on the computer and do my writing, flickring, twittering, drawing, everything that makes me happy (heaven). But after awhile, being stuck in that place really starts to get to you. Routines change, mindset darkens, absolute boredom sets in and you are surrounded by the same people day in and day out.
The bright side, I'll have a paycheck to support my creative habits. And by support my creative habits I mean relieve me of the "how will I pay the bills" stress.
However, no paycheck has the power to quiet the fear I have. The fear that I will slack off. The fear that I will get tired and lose touch with all the progress I've made here. The fear that I will wake up every morning annoyed. The fear that ideas will stop coming. On the other hand, the fear has struck such a cord that I refuse to let it take over.
*cue uplifting broadway tune*
This is me declaring that I will not slack off! I will continue to write, I will continue to take photographs, I will continue to not scan my drawings for the 365 project. I will come out of this job having only progressed further in my creative endeavors. I will NOT GIVE UP!
Okay, I gotta go wash the melodrama off. Thank jebus it's not a musical this time.
ry, go for it. no cop out in paying the bills. and you see the world through a wonderful lense, you will not lost the edge
btw, what kind of soap do you use to wash off melodrama?
A mix of Lye and Lava soap....maybe some bleach?
Thanks so much for the words Amy! I just don't want another month of May to happen. Le sigh. Those were hard times. But like I said, this isn't a musical so hopefully it'll be far less dramatic.
I think I'd slit my wrists if I had to work on a musical. Just sitting through one is painful enough.
At least you'll have mooooolah!
Ah yes, Tech week. I love trying to explain that to non-theatre people.
'But you'll be free after like, 8, right?'
*blank stare*
'No... probably not till after 1 or so'
'PM?'
*blank stare*
'AM. If I'm lucky.'
'Really? How is that possible? You're just getting ready for a show right?'
*SLAP*
Yeah, thankfully this next show is a nice straight play, so no obnoxious tunes getting stuck in my head. Saved the Musical just about fried my brain, I'm talkin' Clockwork Orange fried. I still wake up with songs from that show in my head, nearly 2 months later. *shiver*
Yeah, it takes a very special person outside of theater to understand, they are so rare. That's why we date inside our job, right? Heck, I dated a musician once who didn't understand the schedule...a MUSICIAN! That's when you know our hours are totally insane.