Two days until opening!

Well this has been an exciting week to say the least! Costumes, props, all that fun stuff you get before opening certainly pumps the adrenaline a bit more than usual during rehearsals/tech.  In addition to all that fun stuff, we also had the misfortune of losing Johnny Garcia, one of our cast members.  We wish Johnny the best of luck as he takes what I hope will be just a brief hiatus from the stage.  In the meantime, Tony Adams has taken over the role with only a few days before curtain! While I haven’t sat down and talked with my fellow cast members about this, I think it goes without saying that we all appreciate Tony jumping in learning everything so quickly.  And if you think it’s a challenge trying to learn lines and staging with only days to do so, imagine on top of that doing tech for the rest of the shows for the Alcyone Theatre Festival…Tony you are a trooper to say the least…then again he has a fabulous name so I’m really not surprised.

Some of us stayed a bit later to do some extra rehearsal with Tony last night.  While it was late and we were a bit tired, there was a great vibe on the stage.  Sometimes I get a rush from that “staying late at night to get stuff done” feel….not always, but sometimes.  Usually just with theatre.  Although maybe I’m just speaking for myself. Liz Cascio was there after I left, and I imagine she was there until at least midnight (oh and she volunteered to stay late too).  Lots of great energy coming from the cast right now!

I apologize this has turned into a “let’s talk about the new guy” post.  One time I joined a cast late and I didn’t like the director reiterating that I was new.  I just wanted the “spotlight” off me so I could feel like one of everyone else and focus on being part of the ensemble.  So I only talk about it now because I feel it’s important to mention the hard work and positive support the entire cast, old and new members, have been giving.

And we open on Thursday! So Halcyon has a thing where instead of having the actors hide backstage before curtain, we interact with the audience. This is something I haven’t done before, and would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous about it…granted I still don’t know a lot of people in the city so I suppose it won’t affect me as much. But the reason I wanted to bring this up is because I have no idea how many people read this wonderful blog of mine. I mean I assume that a few do…Oprah Winfrey, Vince Vaughn, Ozzie Guillen….but other than that, I’m not quite sure. So if you’re someone who I’ve never met before and plan coming, please feel free to say hi before the show!  I promise we don’t need to talk about the blog (especially if you hate it…if Ozzie finds out, he might make fun of me on his twitter).  But yes, please feel free to say hello.

And with that, have a great week, everyone! Go grab some lemonade and crank that AC (and please send some my way)!