The show, the show! What a joy it is! Four performances this weekend, all lovely, all fun. 

It's all running smoothly, with a few "magic-of-live-theatre" mishaps. In one show, Prospero's staff was accidentally snapped at the top of act 2. Thankfully it happened offstage, but our stagehand Kyle leapt into action to make sure the staff was in one piece, ready to be broken at the end of act 2. In another, my necklace getting caught in on itself during a harpy quick change (this happened to me during the run of The Pajama Game in Oz. I had a quick change in the middle of the song and dance number, 'Hernando's Hideaway', and my necklace, which held Gladys' key ("you'll never get my keeeey!"), somehow wrapped itself around my mic. The song went straight into the scene where Sid manages to trick Gladys into giving him the key. I was sitting on stage, playing drunk, with a massive chain and key dangling from my cheek. The actor playing Sid, Lachlan, looked at me in horror and mouthed "Key!". I shrugged and prayed he would somehow get the key off. By sheer magic and divine will, he did it. I still don't know how. When I stumbled off-stage the dressers and sound op leapt into action to get that damn chain off my mic. No one could understand how the chain had wound itself round in the first place!). 
Our entire team is organized, efficient, and a delight to be around. Have I mentioned how much fun I'm having? I arrive at the theatre two hours before curtain. I have the luxury of my hair and make-up being done for me. I get to sit in the chair and have a wonderful team of people transform me into Ariel. Suzann or Shannon on make-up. Bronzer around the temples and down to the cheekbones. Shimmery white highlights, black eyeliner, red and bronze shimmering lips. In the seat next to me, David is transformed into Caliban with mud and stinking scars applied on his arms and legs and cheeks. 

Face done, I head down the hallway for hair with Kirsty. She blow-dries and sprays my hair into a pixie wave, and combs sparkling copper highlights through. Then it's all sprayed again. 

Warm-ups, a team effort. Al leads the physical, everyone contributes tongue twisters and vocal warm-ups, and I finish off with a "rain dance". We head back into the dressing room for final touch-ups and changing into costume. I help Ali into her corset, she ties mine. Ali heads back out to Kirsty to have her wig pinned into place. Boots. Necklace. Check face. Check hair. 

Aubrey calls "places". Water bottle placed backstage. Calls of "chit chit!" and "break legs!" and "chookas!". The lights dim. Sound effects of waves. Stand in the stage right wing, wait for the end of the storm - "I would feign die a dry death" - to place the stage right rock. Blackout, move quietly and quickly. See the glow tape, set the rock. Exit, fast. Listen to the Prospero/Miranda scene. It's quite long. I have time to meditate - I do one of the Feldankrais exercises Judi taught us during rehearsals. Stand feet hip-width apart. Gently rock forward and back, slowly rocking into a circle and keeping your feet on the ground. "Now I arise". Head up the stairs, waiting at the top for my cue. The build up of nerves and fear. "I am ready now".  I have time to watch the projection - a pink tinkerbell light across the scrim. And then, the flesh-and-blood Ariel leaps onto the platform into the light. 

The joy of speaking Shakespeare. I love it every single time. Hitting the marks, investing in every moment, hearing every line anew. I notice Caliban at the back of the set, preparing for his entrance. Stay focused. Prospero is the most important, and only, person in the world. Focus on your desire: freedom. By being Prospero's industrious servant, you shall be free!

The relief of making it through the scene. Back down the stairs. Ferdinand is waiting for his entrance. Time for a sip of water. Keep breathing. This is it. 

Five days without a performance, and I was beginning to miss the island (read: I was going STIR CRAZY)! 

OpenStage does an amazing job of making theater accessible to the Fort Collins community - a free performance of every production for students/educators, a pay-what-you-can performance, and a night with $10 tickets and free beer (provided by the local Odell Brewery). Tonight was pay-what-you-can, and another absolutely delightful crowd. 

Before opening night, courtesy of our wonderful costume designer Rebecca, I got to see the matinee of West Side Story. It’s one of those musicals that I don’t actually remember seeing for the first time. I’ve been watching it, and hearing the score, since before I was even conscious. It moves me to tears every time. 

Now that I’m an immigrant in America myself, it’s even more poignant. Thankfully, I have never personally experienced the racism, or gang violence, depicted in the show, but the story of being in America trying for a new and better life, and unrequited love, tugs at my heart strings. The performances were amazing. I need to start dancing again!!! It was fun seeing ads for The Tempest in the Playbill...! 

Mon/Tues/Wed were tech/dress rehearsals with very few stops, and at the end of the night we were sent home to sleep rather than staying for notes. Total luxury! And it is so nice to be able to saunter the two blocks home from the Lincoln Center!

Thanks to the publicity shoot, and green screen filming, the design team are well-practised in getting me into costume and make-up. I hadn’t had a chance to rehearse with my full harpy costume, so the run on Monday night was the first attempt at getting through the entire harpy speech with arms elevated over my head, carrying ski poles draped in fabric, with a mask on my face. Fun times. 

Thursday was a free preview for students and educators, with a Q&A at the end of the performance. I loved walking into the Lincoln Center and hearing the orchestra rehearsing West Side Story in the auditorium next door. The national tour is currently playing in Fort Collins, and I got a kick out of being in the same building! 

Overall, the show went well. A few technical hiccups in act 2, but the show went on, and we all survived. Totally thrilling to finally have an audience (especially my Aaron!), and a very receptive one too. We had a class of high school students who have been studying The Tempest, a group of uni students, and a dad with his young daughter, Katie. Although small, the Q&A was fun. It was great to receive feedback directly from the audience, and hear their different reactions to the show. I enjoyed chatting with Katie, who is performing in her school’s production of Beauty and the Beast. I was impressed that Katie’s dad was introducing his daughter to Shakespeare at such a young age. 

We realized that, even with all the tech elements in place, the harpy scene was far too long and not quite packing the punch it needed. Overnight Denise sent revisions, and I had the fun of quickly re-learning lines. 

It occurred to me afterwards that in high school, my class had gone to see a production of King Lear. We had spent the next day dissecting the performance, how they had interpreted the script, what they had cut, the various design elements etc. It was a delight to realize I am now on the other side, exactly where I have always wanted to be.

Friday was a corporate performance for one of the show’s sponsors, KUNC. A very different crowd from the student night. I love the challenge of performing for a quiet audience. You have to give the same energetic performance, even when you’re not receiving feedback from the audience in terms of laughs or visuals (in this show I generally can’t actually see the audience until curtain call. A mixed blessing), even when the audience is small, and even when the person in the third row is yawning or falling asleep. 

A really lovely week surrounded by hard-working, awesome, folk. It’s great to be back in the theatre. The luxury of having my hair and make-up done each night, wearing a gorgeous costume, playing a fun character, and speaking delicious words. The lights, the hazer, the audience. The heart racing adrenalin of standing in the wings before your entrance, waiting for your cue... It’s good to be home. 

The process of moving into the theatre is known by different names around the English-speaking world: set-in, bump-in, and load-in. All mean the same thing: a long day where the set is moved from the rehearsal space into the performance space, the lights are hung and focused, and the theatre is made ready for the show's season. Here in FoCo, this day is known as "set-in". 

Sunday morning dawned bright and chilly. Aaron headed to the theatre, an easy two blocks from our house, at 8am to help hang lights. I arrived at the warehouse at 10am and met Spike, our set designer and builder, and a small group of volunteers - Bruce, Rose, and Patricia. We helped to load the truck with the set pieces. Bruce was on driving duty, and it took two trips from the warehouse to the theatre to load in the set.

In the afternoon had a photo shoot with Judi (Prospero) for the promo material. So. Much. Fun. Our design team is just wonderful to work with. I am totally in love with my costume and make-up! 

Afterwards I had time to either wash my face and go straight to rehearsal, or get dinner and go straight to rehearsal. I chose food, and I chose the close-by and super quick Chipotle. Chipotle is set-up so that during busy periods (ie. dinner) you'll be served by approximately six people. Every single person stared at my insane hair and make-up (not very common for Fort Collins), and not a single person asked why I was wearing insane hair and make-up. I smiled insanely at every single server, grabbed my burrito, and spirited away up College Ave as fast as my little blue bicycle would take me! 

At rehearsal, we ran Act 1. Fudged the “sailors under hatches stowed” line. Grr. Also remembered at the end of the act that I was supposed to incorporate more laughing. Damn. Otherwise a good run. 

Denise talked about the poetry and music of the language, and not being afraid of it -  
“Don’t go into fear, go into love. Let the poetry be music”. I love this. 

GENERAL NOTES 

• keep discovering
• Use “Willy’s” pauses and emphases, not your own speech patterns
• Absolutely NO paraphrasing! 
• savouring the way the language feels, moves, and sits in your body. 
• Connecting emotion to the line: know the level and quality and where it sits in the body