Week 3:
Cooking for 90

June 5, 2016

My third week here at Creede Repertory Theatre has included a little bit of everything.  Watson already opened and we only had one show this week.  Dirty Rotten Scoundrels has now started rehearsals.  I am crewing that show as well, but crew is not needed at rehearsal this early in the game.  Kind of Red was in tech week, and though I’ve sat in on some rehearsals, I am not crewing that show.

With no clear show for me to work on this week, my boss Devon had me helping out in whatever departments needed me most.  My first task of the week was a two day adventure: cooking tech dinner.  For each show, one day of tech rehearsal is chosen for which the company provides food during dinner break.  Though only one show is in tech at a time, the entire company is invited to share this meal together – which means we have to have enough food to feed approximately 90 people.

I teamed up with two other amazing company members to make this food – Christy, an actor who has worked with Creede for many, many seasons; and Laura the company manager.  The tech dinner was on Wednesday, but we prepared most of the food on Tuesday.

Cooking for 90 people meant more ingredients, more work, more time.  We made homemade black bean soup.  It had black beans (of course), lots of veggies, and sausage.  We made two big pots of that plus one smaller pot of vegan soup without the sausage.  I diced and chopped more vegetables than I probably ever have.  All the while, I had a great time getting to know Laura and Christy better.  Christy had some great stories as someone who is been in the company for such a long time.

On Wednesday, we still had more cooking to do.  We transferred all the soup to crock pots – it filled three huge crock pots, plus one pot of the vegan soup on the stove!  Then we made salad.  Since not everyone likes the same things in salad, we put out huge bowls of lettuce and then diced up various veggies in other bowls for people to mix in with their salads.  A local of Creede helped out by making focaccia bread and honey dijon salad dressing.  Christy also made brownies.

We got all the food laid out buffet style on the table, and when people arrived to eat, I felt like a true chef!  Everyone loved the food and many people came up to thank me personally for helping cook it.  I had a blast cooking it, it barely felt like work!

The next day was preview for Kind of Red and there was still some work that needed to get done for the show, so I was sent to help our props master Mark with anything he needed help with.  I rummaged through the recycling dumpster for empty food boxes we could use for props, I did some painting, and most challenging: I swaddled two baby dolls.

If there is one thing I have learned from doing theatre all my life; it’s that you never know what strange task each new show will bring you, but you’ll certainly learn something new.  As a childless 21 year old and the youngest in my family, I had definitely never swaddled a baby.

So, to the internet I went.  I found detailed instructions and pictures and after trial and error, I finally got those baby dolls swaddled.  After wrapping them in the blankets, I then stitched certain parts of the blankets together so the babies were secure and would never fall out.

When I went to preview that night, I was proud to see those swaddled babies on stage and see the food boxes in the cabinets and think – “Hey, I did that.  I’m part of this company.”

Instead of the traditional “shop shop shots” party on stage that we did for Watson, we all went to Tony the costumer designer’s campsite in the woods and had a post-preview celebration there.  I already thought the stars in Creede were amazing.  I see more stars here every night than I have anywhere else in the world I’ve been.  I thought it couldn’t get any better than the view from the town.  But once we got to the woods it was even more incredible.  I could see so many stars, it didn’t even seem real.  It was such a beautiful night full of great people.

Of course, a week in repertory theatre wouldn’t be complete without some changeovers.  I did three changeovers this week, first switching Watson to Reading!, then Reading! to Watson, and finally Watson back to Reading!.

Our changeover teams are already getting faster and faster at working.  I’m starting to feel more competent with a tool in hand and feeling more helpful.  Changeovers are tiring, but satisfying.  It’s great to look at the set when you are done and know that just hours ago, it was completely different.

Since Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a musical, there is often two different rehearsals going on at once – one for music and one for blocking (how the actors move on stage) and choreography.  Obviously the stage manager can’t be in two places at once, but a member of the stage management team should always be present at rehearsal.  I was available during one of these split rehearsals, so Devon sent me to the music rehearsal to keep notes for her for the rehearsal report.

After every rehearsal, it is the stage manager’s job to send out a rehearsal report.  This details what was accomplished at rehearsal and covers notes and questions for the design departments such as costumes and sound.  At the music rehearsal, I had to keep notes on what music we worked on and for how long the actors worked.  It was exciting to be given this much responsibility and respect as an intern.  I am trusted to be the only stage manager in the room.  I am a part of this team.

For the tail end of this week, my friend Lili came to visit.  On Sunday she came to the matinee performance of Watson and I was thrilled to share this show I have fallen in love with with a great friend.  It was hard to jump back into the show after almost a full week of no performances, but for the most part the show ran smoothly.  Lili loved it and I can’t wait for some of my other loved ones to come out and see some of the shows I’m working on.