Fully Committed at Shaker Bridge

It's Saturday, and no rehearsal today. We've been working every day from morning until late afternoon, and we're taking the weekend off. Well, . . . the actor and the stage manager are taking the time off from rehearsal. I'm here at the theatre, and ready to start a different kind of work. (And now for something completely different.) Here's the pile of tools ready to go, and so am I:

Now it's Sunday in the late afternoon (how did that happen?). I've just spent about ten hours working on things, adjusting things, building things . . . that no one will ever see. Ahh, the sweet life of technical theatre. And Power tools!

Back to rehearsal tomorrow morning. With a stage that is 15 inches wider, a rebuilt house left seating section, four new duvetyne masking flats, a successfully wired buzzer system and a fully loaded trash bag! 

Rehearsal tomorrow will be great fun. We'll spend about three or four hours working on the first half of the play, and then about the same amount of time in the afternoon working on the second half. The joy of being in rehearsal, the hard work, the intense focus, the chance for new discoveries - that's why I do this. So if I have to spend hours and hours building, designing posters and newspaper ads, hanging and focusing lights . . . it's a worthwhile trade off to get to be in rehearsal - especially with someone like Jonathan who wants to work until he drops.

All this will pay off (we hope) on December third.

- Bill Coons