Guthrie Theater

So, I guess I should write a little something in addition to having the Trivia out there in Blog land.

I know that some people don't know why my nickname is Coco. I wish that the real reason was actually more exciting that the truth, but alas, I'm sorry in advance. Back in 2003 (I think) I was backstage at the Guthrie Lab with Othello. It got quite cool backstage, so for a few weeks I got into the habit of drinking a cup or two of coffee from the green room to keep warm. One day I saw that the company management staff had bought a Sam's Club size canister of Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate. I decided to try the hot chocolate route instead of the coffee for something different, so I put some mix in a cup, added the hot water and then proceeded to take my spot backstage again in the "wings". A few actors saw me stirring the liquid in my cup and asked me what I was drinking and I said, "Cocoa."  I really enjoyed my newly discovered backstage hot beverage choice, so I just kept drinking it - and drinking it. Soon, everyone was aware of my new favorite drink and they started calling me Cocoa.

It has stuck with me so long because I've had the wonderful opportunity to work with those actors and crew from that show since that time. They know me by that nickname and it's just caught on with each cast that I've worked with since. I have to give the biggest credit for my new name to Bill McCallum, Kris Nelson and Lester Purry.

Why do I not use the proper letter "a" on the end of the word? Honestly, I'm not sure. When I started signing emails to people that knew me as that name, I just decided to keep it simple. Plus it's cute!

I love that John Miller-Stephany, our Associate Artistic Director, calls me Coco and even sings the word when I see him! Joe Dowling usually calls me Coco when I'm in rehearsals with him. I asked him one day during the rehearsal of The Glass Menagerie if I could call him JoJo and he looked at me very briefly and said a simple, "No."  I think there may be a back story to that, but I'll leave that for someone else to ask! Although Joe's already fired me about 4 times since I've known him, so maybe I can find a time to ask him again during A Midsummer's Night's Dream in a few weeks and still keep my job!

Well, it's Sunday afternoon and our week is coming to an end. We only have a matinee today. Everyone is excited for a few days off. It's VERY rare that we don't have a Tuesday show scheduled, so we're all going to not ask questions about why we don't have one and just run! 

But, not so fast everyone. Before we all go to our various places in the world for a few days, we have to do a show with an understudy! Tyson Forbes is feeling quite ill, so we have Peter Christian Hansen today. He is doing a fantastic job! Like I said in an earlier blog, I can't imagine being "on call" to go onstage in front of 1100 people at any time for a period of about 2 months. Chris Code and I did a short rehearsal with Peter in the rehearsal room prior to the show. We did the "fast forward" version of the show, just hitting on Peter's lines and important scenes. It's amazing how much of the show that Code and I know without even realizing it. We have 15 cast members, 4 children, 3 musicians, 1 child supervisor, 7 crew members and 9 wardrobe ladies working on Peer Gynt. I think it's kind of cool how I can isolate one person's track after learning the show after a week or two and then concentrate on just that person's "show."

As soon as we knew that Tyson wasn't going to be doing the show, I did just that. I began to work through the show through Tyson's eyes. Each scene he's involved in; each scene shift he's involved in and each costume change that he has. We work hard to make the understudy very comfortable in the role by not putting too much pressure on them and trying not to make the show too complicated for them. It's hard enough to go onstage and remember the right thing to say to someone you've never actually rehearsed with (or danced with, or sang with, etc.), much less all the little details that make the show run smoothly.

Mark Rosenwinkel and Peter Christian Hansen are both understudies and they both are on stage today. That's a first for my career I believe - to have two on at the time. They are a prime example of how to do a great job with a task that most of us can only admire. Thanks guys, for making it look so easy!