Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry because I really want to write a few more pages of the new book before bedtime and I must be up at ten to do some things, bank, and then go to our rehearsal. So, let me just jump into the notes like a gazelle doing a high dive off a cliff in Maui, which I believe they call a Maui Wowee. But enough about me. Let’s just get to yesterday, which occurred yesterday. I got about eight and a half hours of sleep, got up, futzed and finesses a good deal, then wrote a new page or two. Then I had a chopped Eyetalian salad from CPK – hadn’t had one in quite some time – and it was excellent. Then I wrote another page or two, then did my banking at the bank, which I feel is the best place to do banking. After that, I came right home, which is the best place to come if you’re going right home. Once home, I wrote three more pages and was pooped. So, I decided a little break was in order before writing more pages. I sat on my couch like so much fish – this was around three-forty-five maybe a bit earlier. Next thing I know, I’m out like a light. Next thing I know is I wake up. I go look at the time. Six-twenty. Say WHAT? I was supposed to leave at six. I hustled my butt cheeks and was out the door at six-twenty-five and thanks to light traffic, got to the theater at six-forty. Whew! Our set looks fantastic. Still some painting to do and set pieces to get, but overall, it is just very pleasing to the eyeballs and functions just as I wanted it to. We then spent about forty-five minutes getting everyone used to the stage by running the opening number – first without music and slow because there are now steps involved on both sides of the stage, and second for positioning. Once we did that several times, we added music and we did that several times.

Then we began running the show and it’s amazing how fast everyone adapted to this whole new experience. Everyone was off book – several calls for lines, of course, but real progress – and even better, they were really playing the show. We stopped and started to spike the stage once we placed people and things, cleaned up a few blocking things as we went, and got through all of act one and then all of act two except for the final fifteen minutes. I was pretty pleased by lots of it because it showed me everyone had done their homework. Yes, many things to clean up and get sharper, and the more we run it, the more that will happen. We finished at ten and I came right home, had the rest of the tuna pasta salad, which wasn’t all that much, some cantaloupe, some water, took the pill, and here we are.

Today, I’ll be up by ten and out the door by eleven to do a quick bank transfer from one account to another, then I’ll mosey on over to the theater for our noon o’clock start. First thing will be to do the final fifteen minutes of the show. Then I’ll spend a bit of time cleaning things up and staging one scene change to music. Then we’ll do a complete run-through without stops, save for line calls if they need them and we’ll time the show and see what’s what. We’ll take a short break and then either run it again or run problem stuff. We’ll wrap at five and then I’m having dinner with one of our cast members, Lloyd Pedersen. Then I’ll come home, futz and finesse, and write as many pages as I can during the evening hours.

Tomorrow is a designer run, after that actors will be put in mics and we’ll see how that’s going to go, then we’ll either run it again or work problem areas. Monday we’re off and Tuesday we’re back for solid run-throughs until tech.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten and out the door by eleven, rehearse until five, sup, and then futz and finesse and write new pages. Today’s topic of discussion: Big salads – what are your favorite meal-sized salads and if you’re making your own, what do you put in it and what salad dressings do you love? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to be back with the nose to the grindstone.