First Tech Rehearsal

...went pretty well. There are still some details to handle, like the doors need handles. Tom put substitutes on last night, just to help the actors. They were grateful, but none of them remembers to close doors behind themselves! I will have to dispatch a member of the stage crew to go behind and use the 'door-slam' gadget to close the door to the balcony after entrances.

We still don't have a sound person, and there is no way Tom can do it all (lighting and sound)from the booth because so many light and sound cues are simultaneous...so the solution was suggested by Sylvia, the Props Mistress -- use the CD player I have been using during rehearsals and send the sound through the theater speakers and I CAN RUN SOUND FROM BACKSTAGE! ARGH! I was a nervous wreck with just Stage Management. I need a stronger anti-perspirant! I did it last night, and it went pretty well with just a few 'off' cues. That is what rehearsal is for, right? It is difficult to direct people and answer questions and keep on top of cues at the same time - although I would still have to be on top of it with another person pushing the buttons, so I guess it doesn't matter. So Tom has another job-wiring the sound from the back to the speakers.

He did a wonderful job of completing the new flooring yesterday. Now I will have to paint it today. I have to decide which direction to make the floorboards go--horizontal or perpendicular to the audience. There are still a few details - the fireplace needs some details painted into the firebox area, the window needs 'leaded glass', the floor needs painting, the doors need doorknobs and one needs to be rigged to open and slam shut on cue, the sofa has a tear we must camoflage, Tom needs to hide some wiring for 'candles' on the mantle that light on cue, and some pictures need to be hung. At least I know where they go! The details somehow all come together...I don't know how.

Opening night is Thursday.

On another note, one of the first folks we met there came to me all excited yesterday, asking where we were associated with theater in Germany. I told him were we actually in Belgium, to which he responded he found a website the night before with lists of nominees and winners for the Topper Awards for the past several years. He came up with the website for the theater where the Tournament of Plays holds its annual awards. He was very excited by it. We had never mentioned Toppers, although I wanted to include Tom's in his bio--he made me scratch it out.