I've survived the first part of summer. Two productions and two lighting designs down. Midsummer closed a week ago. It turned out to be a fun show. The cast was great and really made the show what it was. We also broke all kinds of attendence recorsd with it, our largest night being around 420 people. An ironic number in Asheville.
This weekend, because of the holiday, we performed several short scenes from Shakespeare. I thought that show was going to be a disaster. At dress rehearsal we were all stumbling over our lines, some scenes dragged, while others completely fell apart. Somehow we all pulled it together on opening night and it turned out to be a rather decent production. We had fun at least.
My lighting design for Oklahoma was a nightmare. There were only 40 lights to do the show with, a musical no less, and the same amount of dimmers for the lights, most of which were in the front of the house. Only 12 circuits were over the stage. Normally you need about twice or three times the amount of equipment the theater had to light a show that large. On top of that I had to drive about an hour back and forth to get to the theater. There were many nights that were so late, that it was early. I did my best with it. I had to make a lot of compromises. The director seemed pleased with the results, which is the important part.
Next up we open Cymbeline this coming weekend. I've got a small but juicy role in it. I get to cut off someone's head. Then I start rehearsals for Taming of the Shrew, and I've got two more (I hope, far easier) lighting designs in August.
I can see light at the end.