Tech Week

Posted on Nov 26, 2006 at 2:06 p.m. by Beverly

Show: A Christmas Carol

Ah, tech week. This is the part where all the cooks get together and look at the soup they've made and wonder if it tastes like poo.

Speaking of poo, two of my most favorite random lines in A Christmas Carol:

"Pooh, pooh!" -Scrooge

"Doll, sir?!?!"- crazy doll-selling beggarwoman

Speaking of it, here are my favorite lines thus far:

"And away they all went!"- Stephen Pelinski "My beautiful, bountiful wife!"- Mr. Fezziwig "Do I smell something?"- Bob Cratchit

Random thoughts. Tech week does that. The longest hours (10 out of 12 hour period), the stop and start process. We actors know that it's all a part of the process, there's a whole slew of artists now smushed in with us: designers, dressers, wig makers, electricians...I'm sure there are at least 75 people running around trying to get this show together.

Anyway, we're starting to 'run' the show for time (seeing how long each Act takes, etc) and in the middle of the second act, the kid I'm working with (bless her heart she's only 8) says to me, "I'm not feeling good, I have a tummy ache." Now we're on stage and there's a scene going on, so I quietly whisper to her, "If it's an emergency, you can leave the stage, but if it's not, wait until the scene is done. It's only a few more minutes." "My stomach hurts." "If it's an emergency..." I reiterate. She sits there all sullen, then brightens, "Can I go now?" "Is it an emergency?" No answer. She sits back down.

We get thru the scene and we walk off, as merry as can be. These poor kids. Rehearsals are long, and it's past 10pm and they're sleepy...one of my fellow actors Sally is sick. This is a woman who takes care of the rest of us, so when momma-caregiver is going down, we know we've got to bring in more Vitamin C.

Submitted by Beverly on 11/24/06