Week One. Status: Complete

I've finished my first week as an intern at SCR and I just have to say: I LOVE MY JOB! I know I mostly make coffee and observe but it is so refreshing to be in a professional theatre environment. I work with two wonderful ladies who answer all my questions and so far are doing their best to include me in their stage management process for which I am very grateful. Along with making coffee I am also at the beck and call of every other person working on this show - actors included. I spent a good chunk of one day running lines in the hallway with one of our actors, and got hot water for another at least once a day - I am not complaining one bit - any opportunity I have to make a good impression that might come back as a positive reference or recommendation for a job I am taking and running with. I have also spent the majority of my time in the theatre being "on book". This is following along and giving lines when they are called for, it is pretty repetitive and I do get tired of reading/following along but a very necessary part of the process of putting on a show. I have been "on book" many times before but Jenny and Deb made it sound so much more intimidating before I actually started. I am proud to say I think they were just trying to scare me a little because really it isn't any different than my "on book" experiences have been in the past.
I have been told at least four, count 'em, FOUR times this week that I am doing a "very good job." I don't really understand how an intern with my same responsibilities couldn't be doing a good job but apparently they have existed in the past. I did finally meet another intern - she is working on Pride and Prejudice - she had a deer in the head lights sort of look to her and then revealed that they had been working 12 hour days for the last three days, and she had to wash 7 boxes of dishes the other day and they had to be at the theatre an extra hour early AND she got snapped at for not making coffee right away AND . . . I was thinking to myself this whole conversation "I'm sorry my life is so much better than yours is right now" but eventually we will be in tech as well and the hours will be similar - not as many dishes but very similar hours - but those hours will end when the show opens and I am already on top of the coffee making situation.
There are three Sara(h)s working on our production of How the World Began which is sometimes very confusing - most of the time I can sort out which of us is being addressed by the content of the conversation. Sara the set/costume designer, Sarah the actress, and Sara the intern.
Our tiny little show only has 3 actors in it which is quite nice. Scheduling rehearsals has been a breeze and because of their situations they are all car-pooling down from L.A. which is good but starting to be a problem because if one of them is late they are all three late. I was asking about what happens when it becomes a chronic problem and haven't gotten a straight answer yet - the actors unions make everything a bit more complicated. If your curious our actors are: Sarah Rafferty, Time Winters and Jarrett Sleeper. For the most part they crack me up on a daily basis and it is so much fun to watch them work in rehearsals. Our director Danialla Topol is also quite wonderful. She is letting me use her parking pass for the time being because she enjoys walking to the theatre from where SCR is housing her. So for the moment no more illegal parking at the mall.
It is an overcast Labor Day here in Long Beach but the clouds seem to be rolling along rather briskly and the sun peeks out every once in awhile - enough that my laundry doesn't seem to have trouble drying on the rack outside. HAPPY LABOR DAY!