I intended to post yesterday and if I had, the title would have been SHARK ATTACK! You see I was able to spend most of Sunday with two of my very good friends Lance and Maggie. They hail from my days and The University of Idaho and were amongst a group of grad students that sort of took me under their wings if you will. The drove down from Glendale which is about 45 miles away and we first went to a farmer's market where I stocked up on produce for the week. Lots of bright red tomatoes, peppers of all colors and best of all strawberries! There were also food vendors and craft type booths but my favorite was the man singing karaoke accompanied by dancing fruit - specifically a lemon and my favorite the banana. Sunday was pretty hot - everyone kept saying way hotter than normal for this time of year so we drove back to the home front (I still don't have pictures of the downstairs because it is not yet put together - my roommates boxes somehow still find themselves stacked along our walls) and dropped off our delectable treasures from the market. At this point Lance suggested something with actual air-conditioning probably due to the fact that the box fan I recently acquired is was only going to be big enough for Maggie and I to squeeze in front of. After much google-ing "things to do in Long Beach" we decided on an area of down town that is called "The Pike." This area is filled with shops and restaurants and happens to be the location of the Aquarium of the Pacific and the permanent port for The Queen Mary. We decided to skip the Queen Mary for the day - perhaps returning once they start their Halloween haunted tours and wondered around until 4:30 when the "late night admission" tickets to the aquarium were being sold. There was a nice walking path that took us around a Lighthouse and back to the Aquarium with little placards of info - most interesting to me was one detailing the Long Beach shoreline circa 1911 and the Long Beach Naval Ship Yard which was officially closed in 1997(I think). I have to say of the Aquariums I've been to this one is not #1 - I think that spot belongs to the Aquarium in Seattle or perhaps I am thinking of something in Portland but it was an easy, air-conditioned way to spend the afternoon. Maggie and I were particularly intrigued by the promise of Baby Arctic Foxes and were disappointed to find the kittens in agreement with Lance and the idea that the day was much to hot for doing anything more than breathing. We ventured over to the shark tanks and watched those guys swim around for quite awhile until we realized we were outside again and needed to find fishtanks located inside the building where it was much cooler. I particularly enjoyed the tank which housed "Nemo" and his good friend "Dori" - known in the scientific world as Clown Fish and Regal Blue Tang fish - it was quite cute hearing the children at the museum point this out. The seals were also fun to watch. One in particular was having a good time teasing a little girl - she would touch the glass really fast like she was going to poke the seal and the seal would move its head really fast at the girls hand like it was going to bite the girls hand - this of course had the girl in hysterical laughter for quite awhile. I found it quite interesting that seal never seemed to hit its face into the glass - must have had lots of practice. After experiencing the Aquarium we decided to end our evening with some vanilla ice cream and berries - strawberries from the market and precious HUCKLEBERRIES from Montana - they seem to have survived the 1,599 mile drive like champions. Here are a few pictures from Sunday - I was pretty impressed with the "Aquarium Setting" on my Canon Powershot, seemed to work quite well . . .
The start of our walk around the Lighthouse
The Queen Mary
The Lighthouse
Looking South East back onto land from the Lighthouse Point
SHARK!
The playful seal
pretty fishies
Nemo and Dory
Some kind of blue spotted sting ray
Lion Fish
Yellow Tang fish
On to the first day of contracted work! HOORAY! It feels so good to be working in a professional theatre be it for mere pennies. I started the day doing exactly what I thought I'd do - making coffee and sweeping floors. Ah the life of an intern- it is my Cinderella story after all - at least we can hope so, not sure about the whole ending but it sure is starting out that way. I will start every day, except Monday - those are my days off - this way. We then got our rehearsal space ready and set up the coffee/water/snack table and waited for people to arrive. I received my set of keys - it is quite the ring and makes me feel really important even for a floor sweeper. As our three actors arrived I escorted them to the main office to sign their contracts - for the most part they seem pretty nice and normal; I will let you know if that ever changes - none of them seem like divas, at least not yet. If you didn't know the show I am working on is called How the World Began and our director started the rehearsal asking the actors and writer (this is a world premier so the writer will be with us the first week and the last week or rehearsals) what faith/religion means to them and the people around them. It was interesting to hear about so many different approaches people have to a faith. In a room of 9 people only 2 had similar instances of a faith. About 45 minutes into their discussion it was tabled and we switched locations to see design presentations. I loved looking at the costume renderings and hearing about the set design - weather or not you like the script it is going to be a beautiful play and so fun for a lighting designer. The location is on the plains of Kansas and the writer has written in the sunsets as a means of scene transitions and also to show passage of time. We finished design presentations and went back to our rehearsal room to "read through" the play. I really enjoyed listening to the actors it is always fun to watch and listen a play as it is read for the first time amongst a group of people and especially interesting to see the reactions of those hearing it for the first time. With the reading finished - it is about an hour and forty minute play we moved on to table work which as a stage manager means not a lot to do - I was given the task of copying the floor plan of our set to the backs of our scripts which I did quite easily considering my experience with copy machines (thank you Photo Video Plus!) and also the task of making a prop list which will easily be finished tomorrow. All in all it was a great first day, I found my self enthralled with the story that was being told and asking lots of questions of my stage manager and assistant stage manager so as not to miss out on anything they might be doing. We finished the day with a meet and greet which I met many people whom I assure you I will not remember perhaps they will remember me and want to hire me someday. As I strolled back across the foot bridge to the mall parking lot where my car lives during the day (shhhhh! don't tell anyone or I'll have to pay $85 a month to park in a parking garage) and the sun was setting and a refreshing breeze floated through the air I couldn't help but think to myself that this is the beginning of something truly marvelous.
