Summer of '42

For the past couple of weeks I've been working away in my spot-op position here at the Roundhouse Theatre in Bethesda, MD for their show Summer of '42. I'm really enjoying my employment here and all of the amazingly gifted and nice people I've met. It's very nice to work in the professional world and get away from the scholastic side of things. Even though college is way better than community or high school theatre, there is still an innate sense of drama and malice that runs through it. I guess it comes with the business and the cut-throat nature of the industry, therefore it will always be there to some degree. But in the professional world - and definitely on the technical side - people are much kinder and enjoyable. It is our job, we should be kind to each other. So I really enjoy my co-workers here, nice people - all of them. For instance, today is my birthday and the crew surprised me with cake after rehearsal. I was totally surprised since I hadn't told anyone (I blame facebook), but I really enjoyed it. It reminded me of the time I was in Mame at Theatre Bristol and we had rehearsal on my birthday. The director and cast all got cake, etc. then too. Great time with great people, and great memories. I love theatre professionals. The actors seem nice enough too, but I don't work that closely with them since I'm running spot. A friend of mine of Maryland is in the show, Kate Wolfe. She does a very nice job with her role and really is a sweetheart. She'll go far. The crew here at Roundhouse has a lot of Maryland people on staff too. In fact, the lighting designer for this show, Dan Wagner, is the chair of the Department of Theatre at Maryland. Talk about intimidating. It's really great to have watched him build this lighting design though. He's really great, and has won quite a few Helen Hayes awards for his designs. How am I so blessed to work under and with such talented people all the time?! It's crazy where life takes me. But I enjoy watching the future unfold. We're still in previews for this show - rehearsing during the day and performing at night. Press Opening is this coming Monday. That should be exciting. My friends Zach Fernebok and Rhea Smirlock are going to use my opening comps and come see the show, so that will be a lot of fun.
This show will end on June 24th and then I have the whole rest of the summer to do whatever with. Very scary but exciting too. I want to do many things, so I need to narrow down to what I can do financially and feasibly. I will be heading back to Abingdon for a week or so at the end of June to work on an independant student film with David Gwaltney entitled Fashion Police. It seems like a fun piece, and David's an extremely talented guy, so it will be a great use of my time. After that I would like to get up to NYC and see a few new shows or maybe I'll go out to L.A. and visit a few friends. I would like to go to L.A. and see what it's like. I'm sure I'd fall in love. I miss Orlando. L.A. is probably like Orlando, so that's why I think I would like it. In any case, school will be starting again too quickly and another semester will be upon me. I need to start working on my role in Urinetown....