Big Night Out

Don't get to do much lately, but tonight I went to see a production of The Mikado done by a professional company touring through the midwest. What a fabulous production.

I have been waiting for months to see it and at the same time waiting for it to finally get done so we can have our stage and dressing rooms back for rehearsals. I was lucky enough to get a free ticket since a benevolent friend at school had an extra because her husband was out of town. Puck got a job helping them set up and take down the set. He is still there working.

the young man playing Nanky poo had a wonderful voice and was quite handsome as well, but the young man playing CoCo was stunning. He could have been a silent screen comedian. He played the part for excessive laughs and was very successful. He bounced around the stage like a rubber ball and was so expressive. I have not laughed that much in a very long time.

Through a benevolent donation a passle of middle school and high school students got rush seats for only 5.00... I told my Hesperides "See those three little maids, well that is just the way you three should act!"

My friend who gave me the ticket dropped her car off at the house and we planned on walking up to the school. I figured I could get a couple props done so I grabbed the spear shafts that Puck had stained and was going to add the drapery points to them. Unfortunately they were two different sizes. I tried shaving off the ends with my very sharp rendezvous knife, and in my haste sliced my thumb open. Gail showed up just as I was clumsily trying to bandage my thumb. Bless her, she helped me out. It finally stopped bleeding, but when I took my glove off at the theater the outer bandage came off too. I scored a couple more bandaids just to cover up the bloody ones and even though it hurts a little I think it will be ok.

I finished the stymphallion birds and hopefully have the apron for the 9 headed hydra figured out. Tomorrow I am on my own for the rehearsal and they are expecting snow. I hope to get everyone in their costumes and figure out what still needs to be done. I have a half a ton of fabric that I am ready to cut and embellish.

I hope we can get things moved into the dressing rooms and get better organized.

I think I shall go to bed now. I am tired from so much excitement

Drama Drama Drama

This is Puck wearing one of the horse masks. I bought cheap plastic masks and added manes and head covers to the backs. I also cut the eye sockets bigger and cut the entire bottom chin off the masks so the actors could see and be heard.












These are the radishes Maddie and I made for Hercules... He is supposed to dig up 7 of the little buggers and use them in his labors. We found some fake lemons on sale and bought some foliage. She put them together and painted them. I soon realized that she probably had never seen radishes with their tap roots so I used my trusty glue gun and pulled roots out with glue. They came out rather nice although the greenery is not very radishy. If I had a big budget it would have been better.


All I have been doing lately is working on drama. This is our smallest cast ever and many of the parts are double and triple cast. This makes it a little difficult for some of the kids to come up with lots of different costumes.

Also we have lots of Hercules labors to cast so there are Stymphallian birds (I have been working on those lately) Aegean horses (finished them)Hydra (getting closer) Harpies(still need to create them, but their masks are done)

We are supposed to be off book today so that should be interesting.

Maddie got a nice part in As You Like It... so that is cool. She is playing Celia, the second female lead. I did not know that play at all and just yesterday skimmed the Lamb synopsis. It looks like a fun one with lots of twists and the girls have to pretend to be other people. Maddie at least gets to stay a girl while the other one has to pretend to be a boy. That Shakespeare was really into cross dressing.

Every time anyone talks to me about ending Drama I burst into tears so that is not going so well. I just need to stay firm in my resolve.

The other day at lunch one of the other teachers was commenting on the Pops Concert she had been to. She mentioned a couple boys who apparently did a crazy number with wigs and broad comedy. Well one of the boys had been so quiet in middle school that one of the goals for his 7th grade year was to get him to be able to speak in front of his peers in class. This kid started with us in drama back stage, then moved to on stage and has performed all through high school. See I can feel the tears welling up now. I honestly do not know where he and his brother would have ended up were it not for drama.

We have two autistic kids and one with Asbergers in the play currently. One is playing the Erymanthian Bore (yes he is a boring guy)and he is spectacular in the part. This is not a kid who will be going out for any other extracurricular activities anytime soon.

So that is what I have been doing

Big Decisions to Make

I think I have made a decision to end my Drama career with this play. It looks certain right now that that choice will not be mine to make, but with my friend Rob moving on to the High School and me as well we will not be able to continue the Middle School program.

I do not care to work with the musical. I do not work well with that director and I think I am ready to hang it all up.

Being involved in the ETSY site and Artfire and now a new site called Design Style I foresee a great deal of time spent working on the computer and photographing merchandise.

Right now I would love to be able to just focus on weaving and getting my work out there, but I am already freaking out about the play. Something has got to give and art is giving me more satisfaction than theater. I would like to be able to enjoy Maddie's productions as well, but the middle school play conflicts with their schedule as well.

She will be out of my reach soon enough and I hate to miss anything that is still within my grasp.

I have not been able to do any weaving at all for three months and that has been difficult. My attic is stuffed to the gills with crap I have collected for drama and it will be a job to disperse it. I might try selling some of the odder things on my vintage etsy site. Even some the clothes could go there I think since vintage is only 20 years old and much of the things I have are way older than that. It all just is feeling like a burden rather than a blessing.

I would love to be able to relax and read a book every now and then rather than steal moments to get them in.

Even if I manage to hold onto a job over the next school year there is no guarantee that I will have one at the end of the year, as a matter of fact they already have promised more cuts and now I am at the bottom of the heap. Focussing on my other business seems smarter right now.

So that is what is going through my brain right now... that and the stupid ass book my book club picked. Sheesh I need to find a better group of readers who actually would like to discuss a book rather than discuss whether or not they read it.

Oh I am having a bitchy day off to sew some crap together