The Last 7:00pm Meeting in January 2010

If you've been following the festival for awhile, you should know the War Cry of 14/48:

Artist Liaison: 8 o'clock show?

All: OPENING NIGHT ENERGY!!!

Artist Liaison: 10:30 show?

All:  CLOSING NIGHT ENERGY!!!!

Artist Liaison:  If you think you're talking too loud?

All:  SPEAK UP

Artist Liaison: and if you start feeling tired?

All:  RAISE THE FUCKING STAKES!!!!!

Therese Henning, owner of the Seattle Body Bar, is providing massages for artists through the 8pm show.

Tech was a real bitch with the light board losing all pre-set cues from last week and last night.  Derek Van Heel restored EVERYTHING in 40 minutes.  That's why tech started late.  It was a technical error.  Nobody had anything to do with it.  If you could have fixed the board in under 40 minutes and you didn't have the exact tech experience you wanted, then you may bitch.

Otherwise, say "Thank you Derek Van Heel for staying calm and professional.  If I can write you a letter of recommendation to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts' MFA Lighting Design Program to which you're applying, I'd be happy to help you."

Play #4 has live fire in it.  Murphy is in charge of the fire extinguisher.  Do not fuck with it, do not fuck with her during show #4.

Last minute tweaks

Let's not forget the tech crew and designers.  Some brief pictures by Andy J to show a tidbit of all the different designs that need to be created in just... one more hour.

Gary Menendez Creating Stability

New Godmother Katie Hanson

Michael Mowrey picking up something heavy

Director David Bennett putting the final touches on a magic clock.

Come see what all this looks like under the lights tonight at 8 and 10:30pm.  I reckon there are a few tickets left for the 8pm show.  Get them here.

Peggy Gannon just entered the building.

She is here to eat. And also, possibly help.

Jodi-Paul is both manning the door and folding programs. He is keeping it real, as they say.

Playwrights are showing up again and injecting some much needed rejuvenation into the proceedings. Afterall, these guys just rested up all day. Well, at least in Chris Haddad's case, I can't speak for the others.

RANDOM QUOTE TAKEN COMPLETELY OUT OF CONTEXT: Deb Fialkow:"Is that my butt? Yep, that's my butt." And then later on: "Not only was it my butt, it was my boy on my butt."

Tech is over, now, and went over without many complications (from what I hear). Actors - those still not doing the last minute rehearsals, anyway -band members, and tech crew are coming downstairs to partake in this delicious QFC chicken. It's funny how delicious chicken can pick up a room -- Energy is definitely picking up; everyone's at the point where they're realizing, "Holy Shit, we're actually gonna do this."

Because guess what. Curtain in 1 hour, 28 minutes.

Tech Time!!

Currently in the Theatre watching the tech of show #3, Single's Night. I tell you true, this is shaping up to be a pretty damn good evening of shows. And I was wrong, the Star Trek theme comes up at the end of show number three, not number one. My bad.

It's pretty much your run of the mill tech, except you get a work with a band, and you pretty much get a few precious minutes to put it all together, instead of a few days.

Elsewhere, directors are finetuning blocking, actors are doing what the need to do (powernapping, whathaveyou) to get those precious lines down. My heart goes out to the actor in a two person show.

Director's meeting

All the directors are now downstairs meeting with Lou and Tim. Here is where everyone talks about the technical needs of their show, and the spine of what you'll all be seeing in less than five hours really starts to take shape.

The big theme of this meeting is discussing the set pieces needed, and orchestrating set changes. Set changes are my most favorite thing ever, because if you screw them up ever so slightly, it becomes a play about set changes. So, you can sense the importance of this meeting.

Darian Lindle is the playwright that wins the award for least set pieces, with zero. Rachel Atkins comes in second with one. Way to go, guys. In the paraphrased words of Shakespeare, "Brevity is friggin' awesome."

Tim and Megan will be your set crew tonight, so be sure to give them a little round of applause when you see them. Or, if that strikes you as too much, be sure to give them a knowing smile and a tip o' the hat.

FYI, It is really getting hot in herre.