theatrefest
Already : Hatachi Archives
theatrefest Sunday January 12
monika talks to the niles north director, and the sound guy (who looks 11) looks onniles north high school, which is apparently near skokie, will live forever in my mind as one of the worst high school theatre programs to ever be involved in. i am not saying that there are not talented kids there, and i am not doubting the amazing support they get from their parent group. i am saying that they were some of the snottiest, most demanding kids i've ever seen. and let's not ignore the four gestapo directors.
they asked for so many things, so many of which they didn't need, and the directors wanted so much control over their production that they were freaking out that they had to make this production work in a different space.
let's not ignore the parent working in the costume rooms. she obviously was a soccer mom times ten, and all she wanted to do was bash the group that came into the space before them. that group was naperville north, and they were surprisingly fun to work with.
as i'm walking through the hallway in the costume area:
me: (trying to use words like "we" to establish camraderie, and just being polite) "hey, the consensus is that the show is ending at 10pm, so i just wanted to ensure that we have everything covered down here so we can have a quick load out -- i bet the cast wants to get back to the hotel to celebrate."
annoying soccer mom: "oh, you know we have everything covered. no, we're not going to be like that last group, we heard about the mess they left this place in. no, at niles north, our kids are not like that at all."
her mindless dribble continues for about five minutes. for the record, the last group left the place spotless...most of her sentences begin with, "at niles north, of course our kids always...." and end with some action that the actors from any school never do, and the techs always do. but i must give them props: they were a quick load out. that's mostly because of the gestapo set director, who told me rudely he didn't want my mix CD playing even at a soft volume. jerk. you have no taste in music.
i don't even want to continue to tell you about all the little things all day that were done to aggrevate me. so i'll just end the niles north segment with something scary:
she was so similar to liz newman in character, figure, and style that i was thoroughly creeped out. even the stupid things she was saying about strike reminded me of one of liz's holier-than-thou spouts from high school.
i had to spend a significant amount of time for all three schools on the fly rail, moving legs, fixtures, and bars in and out. my hands are tired from all the ladder and rope.
i realize this is not flattering. after working 34.5 hours in 3 days, my body and mind were fatigued. i slept 13 hours straight last night, and here's what i looked like when i woke up.
