pavlovsdog

So we finally moved in the theater tonight. It went smoother than I expected. However the real shitty part is we have to basically strike the set every night, because they have classes in there, and they need the room. Of course we were told this AFTER we had put the set together! Besides the time it takes to disassemble the set after the show, the worst part of this is we can't really make the set sturdy because we can't attach the flats to one another. They all have to be separate pieces. Now when someone shuts the door all the walls shake. Wonderful! Plus the set doesn't look as nice because all the seams between the flats are showing. I guess I have to live with it though. One good thing is that there are no classes in there over the weekend, so for the Friday and Saturday shows I can fix those problems.
Another interesting development is one of my actresses, it seems, enjoys a preshow drink or ten. It helps her calm her nerves. OH MY GOD! This first became apparent last Friday when she arrived reeking of alcohol and proceeded to forget, overact or screw up almost every line she had. She said she had a rough day. Okay fine! I'll let this one slip. Lo and behold she shows up tonight sloshed again. This makes me nervous. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that she's a horrible actor when drunk. Subtlety goes straight out the window, followed closely by any semblance of character development. I mean, she did get through it, but gone were all the intricacies we had developed over the last three weeks. She was doing so good in previous (sober) rehearsals that it pains me to see her mess things up so bad now. I had a talk with her, and asked her if out of respect for me, her fellow actress, and everyone else involved in the show she could refrain from drinking before the shows. To me, it's just selfish. She's not the only person involved in the show. Her actions don't only affect her, but it affects us all. If she fucks it up, she makes us all look bad. I don't think this went over very well. Again she told me it was all because she had another really bad day, and then afterwards proceeded to mope around looking as if someone told her best friend died. It's a scary situation. I hope she can manage each day to hold off from drinking until at least the show is over. At that point she could drink herself into mild retardation for all I care, although I'd hate to see that too, but getting bombed before a show is disrespectful, unprofessional and is a sign of serious self-control problems.
Despite all this I still think it will be a good show. I hope.



Opens this Thursday.