North Carolina Part II

Now that we’ve all had time to recover from that insanely long entry, I’m going to treat you with a short one.

Where did I leave off?

Oh yes, Roanoke Island: home of history’s greatest mystery and more recently, Paul Green’s symphonic drama The Lost Colony, which is what brings me here.

          I arrived on the afternoon of Monday, May 6 and moved into my new home for the next four months. Morrison Grove is a collection of simple cabin apartments to be shared by four roommates. Each apartment has a porch, a sizable living room, a dining room connected to a tiny kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom. It’s not the Ritz; think of it more like theater summer camp for adults. My “cabin” is designated as the “quiet housing” which means that it is further off in the woods, set back from the main compound and the perfect location for a horror movie. As a member of the production staff, I arrived one week before the vast majority of the company and found myself entirely alone in this cabin and worried about murderers jumping out of the woods to behead me. Fortunately, that did not happen. I spent Monday and Tuesday getting settled in and meeting a few members of the production staff (all of whom are great people!) and fully believe in the idea of “work hard, play hard.” During prep week, which is what we call the week before rehearsal begins because it’s a time for preparation, I got to know the Production Stage Manager and my co-ASM. The three of us work together really well and have already developed a great dynamic and just sort of naturally fell into our respective roles. It’s going to be a great summer working with them. Yesterday was Day One for the entire company and consisted of a welcome breakfast, understudy auditions, combat auditions, work calls, a read through and a late night. It went very smoothly and if it is any indication of how the rest of the rehearsal process will be, I think it’s going to be wonderful. On a side note, I now have all of the names of everyone in the company memorized and as a stage manager that is impressive and extremely helpful. But I digress.

            Last night after a full 15-hour day, the SM team had to walk through the woods back to the production office with no light and it was terrifying. Walking through haunted woods in the dark may be the only downside to working here. Now, we've begun standard days of rehearsal during which choir, dancers, principals and actor/technicians are separated during the day and then brought back together for a full company evening rehearsal.

            It’s good to be me, living the dream. Thanks for checking in.