{{{{{vw}}}}}

Kristin, you are amazing! Keep up the fantastic work!

Trudy Booth, thanks.

I really wish they'd build an actual auditorium so we don't have to perform in a gym with no stage or backstage. Boy, an auditorium would be so helpful.

ChiKat, this is so me. Except I have a choice between the "Cafe-a-gym-a-barn-a- hell-a-torium" my school seems to think is amazing and my "industrial arts room turned black box theatre" that they also force me to teach all my classes in since they took my classroom from me last year (yeah, I'm still a bitter about that).

The school is supposed to be renovating the entire campus. One of the first things cut was the theatre/auditorium. They felt the $5-10 million extra wasn't worth the cost, instead they are going to 'renovate' the Cafetorium and make it totally usable. The place has the worst acoustics imaginable, the stage is tile over concrete and the only way to adjust or service lighting is to get a lift and have a janitor to do the work (liability won't cover anyone else).

Oh, how I have grown to loath that school.

(((((vw))))) I'm sorry. I hope you're feeling better soon.

Yay Kristin! Joy is good.

{{vw}} I'm sorry, hon.

I just got finished replying to hate and politics email. Exhausted now. It is a whole lot easier to just delete, but sometimes I just can't let it go. Time for wine now.

the stage is tile over concrete

Please tell me that they don't do musicals or anything with dancing on that. My ankles are hurting just thinking about it.

A few years ago, I stage-managed a student theatre show in a theater that used to be a basement. The wings were only connected to backstage on one side of the stage, so if anyone had to made an entrance from the other side, they had to just hang out in the wings for the entire act up until that point, and if someone exited and then entered again, the entrance and exit had to be from the same side of the stage. The room wasn't wired for the built-in headsets, and there were no other headsets available, so any messages I had to communicate to someone in the opposite wing, I wrote down in thick marker on a notepad and held it up while shining my flashlight on it. The sound system was that all our sounds were on a CD in a player hooked up to the PA system, and the second night, that stopped working. You could only see about a quarter of the stage from the sound booth, and maybe three quarters of it from the lighting booth. And, since there were no headsets, the lighting person had to do everything just by following along in the script. (And the lighting in this show was complicated. There were five distinct areas on stage, and stuff could be going on in one or several of those area at once, and the lights had to follow that.)

{{{{{vw}}}}}

Not much change. There's been some minor improvements, but she's still breathing on the ventilator. She's not going to get better unless her body can fight off the infection, but her body is not very well suited for that these days.

Still, her fever is down to 99 (from 101 last night), and her heart rate has improved, though it's still hovering around 105 to 110.

Her blood pressure is only stead at about 90/65 or so because they have her on multiple medications to keep it up.

Although one of the biggest improvements is that she's regaining some strength in her left side.

I'm home, getting ready for the opera. I won't know anything more until tomorrow morning.

Ongoing wishes to you and S, Sean. Take all the curly-brackets you need -- I can make more any time.

Sean -- still sending~~~~

{{vw}}

and I just did a little dance of Joy -- someone Matt sent his resume to just called. His job went from frustrating, tiring , but with possibilities to an insane asylum 6 weeks ago. A little job ma ~~~ his way would be good ,as I send it out to TCG and Tom.

ma to Comic friend~~~~~

Oh, all sorts of job ~ma for Matt, beth-- and for ita and Sean, lots of healing ~ma

I've had a crappy evening, where I thought I'd moved a home visit appt to tomorrow and she was expecting me this afternoon and I didn't get the messages about the mix-up until 10 pm tonight too late to call and straighten it out, but this made me laugh.

{{{Sean}}} continued ~ma headed your way. And vw's. And ita's. And whoever else needs it.

Cafetorium

Ah....the cafetorium. The other 3 middle schools in our district have cafetoriums. The stages are wood, however, and not tiled concrete. Our high school has a great auditorium, but no storage to speak of and no shop.

My school has a 1/2 gym. They installed heavy vinyl (? whatever tarps are made of) curtains that are rolled up in the ceiling. The controls are by the outlets for the lights. Of which there are 6. I mean, 6 total instruments. Hung behind cages for safety since it's a gym. At least I don't spend a lot of time dealing with lights. It's pretty much off or on. And, a spot.

Any wings we have are made out of flats positioned on the sides of the stage main playing area. Again, at least I don't spend a lot of time on complicated sets.

For all of our lack of performance facilities, I have great co-workers and a supportive admin. And that means a whole whole lot.