Tuesday, November 22, 2016

That's a Wrap!

Well, Kiss Me Kate is all done, and I'm very, very tired. I had a lot of fun, but I didn't get a lot of sleep. But I would do it again, and I'm sure I will next year.

It's back to normal life. Well, not exactly, since the end of the theater season leads straight into the boys' holiday season, and they have most of the week off, so I don't have to get up in the wee hours to see them off.

On the other hand, I have a busy week coming up. We have snow, unexpectedly, and we have to do some "whoops" winter preparation. And Karen and I have promised to do a display of glitter houses for the library in Wolfeboro for the month of December, which means they need to be done by next Tuesday.

The Thanksgiving week will otherwise be pretty low-key. It doesn't look like we're going anywhere, and Tom and Erin will be spending the day with her parents. That works for us; we need the time and rest. If for no other reason than to build up my energy for the next play. Okay, I'm kidding.

I think.

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Another Openin', Another Show

Just wrapped up the first weekend of Kiss Me Kate at the Village Players, and it was wonderful. The cast, the stage crew, the costumers, the musicians, and the directors all put together a magnificent show, full of energy and laughs. And I'm exhausted. But I'm happy.

My on-stage role as General Harrison Howell is a short one, with only three scenes and one song (though I have the privilege and singing it with the leading lady, who has an amazing voice), but the music director asked me to add my voice from backstage to four other songs, and so there's a fair bit more running around than I expected. But I enjoy the singing, so it's been worth it.

This is my first appearance on the Village Players stage since the summer of 2013, though I've had my hand in behind the scenes a few times since then. It was good to see that I could step back into acting and singing here and be so comfortable with it. Especially because the line up of shows for next year is very tempting, especially the fall musical, which is set to be The Music Man.

Of course, between the shows and rehearsals, there is real life. We had teacher conferences for Daniel and William, and they were very encouraging. William's culinary arts teacher, especially, had nothing but compliments. Fall is here, of course, and that means wrapping up outdoor projects for the season and preparing for, well, I'm not sure I want to mention what I'm preparing for, but it's surely coming.

The back deck is coming along with help from William, and we've almost completed the process of stowing the trailer for the season. The trees have almost given up all their leaves so we can start the raking. Then it's indoor projects, including fixing up the kitchen downstairs.

So, we won't be bored anytime soon.

Tuesday, November 08, 2016

Sleepless In New Durham

It's been a busy couple of weeks, and there's more in store. It was a perfect storm of camping, preparations for camping, and the arrival of opening night for Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate at the Village Players. I'm playing General Harrison Howell. And the most difficult thing to find time for in the whole schedule has been sleep.

It isn't that there aren't enough hours in the day. Well, okay, it's partly that. But the real problem is that the schedule is a mess. Rehearsals and many of Karen's work days are late, but I get up early to help the kids (Danny mostly) get on the bus. I can sometimes go back to bed for awhile, but not often.

And then there's camping. I've been having a lot of fun camping, mostly because of the music, but I don't actually sleep much in the trailer. It's just a little too narrow for two people, especially when one of them is me, because I tend to sprawl and kind of hang over the edge of the bed.

I'm catching up though, which has made it possible to catch up on other things, such as this blog and the pictures on the site. Nothing else, likely, until the show is at least past its opening weekend, but it's a start.

Opening weekend is, by the way, this weekend. Yikes. I'd better get back to studying the song I just learned last night and promised to sing backup vocals for. Again, yikes.

I would only do this for the love of theater.