I Really Could Use A Pint!

Mood: Slightly Tired
Song: Retrato Em Branco E Preto - Toots Thielemans
Units of Caffeine: 4

You know it's the beginning of a semester when I go MIA for days on end. The good news, of course, is that I'm not taking any classes. (Yay!) The bad news is that I am swamped with work in my office. (Boo!) I'm busy doing the thing I do at the beginning of every semester: hiring student workers. I really enjoy supervising aspect of my job, but I absolutely hate the process of hiring and scheduling. I think I will miss that part of my job the least when I leave it. On top of my regular work, I have been taking on quite a few other projects that are really keeping me busy. (More to come on that at a much later date, I'm sure.)

Outside of my job, tech week has started with Romeo & Juliet, for which I am on the lighting crew. Um... let me re-phrase that: I am the lighting crew. The SM got the run crew together for a paper tech on Sunday, but we still ran into some snags during the first full tech rehearsal. While I was running the light board, I swear to god that the computer was writing in completely random cues. My cue sheet would indicate that the following sequence of cues: ...13, 14, 15, 16... and the computer showed ...13, 14, 14.1, 14.5, 15, 15.2, 16, 16.3, 16.4... even thought the lighting designer didn't program the additional cues. We would also get random blackouts, (and no, it wasn't due to an overloaded circuit). I think I've worked out most of the kinks at last night's rehearsal, so I can finally actually get into what's going on on stage during tonight's rehearsal. My initial reactions are as follows:

It's long. Yes, even with umpteen-million cuts, the show's running time is a little over three hours long. But, with Shakespeare, I guess that's the nature of the beast.

The acting is uneven. There are a few actors who know how to play the scenes; they completely understand what they are saying and what they are doing; and they are a delight to watch. Then there are those who are very bland or, worse, completely boring - They make the show feel like it is three hours long. Unfortunately, it is not the leads who will sell this show, but the supporting characters, such as the Nurse and Capulet.

Other than Romeo & Juliet and my job; I'm not really doing much. I'm just decompressing a bit from the past year - nay - four years. But don't think I am getting too comfortable - There are many things on the horizon!!