I am usually someone who has to sit and think and weigh out all my options and think some more. A few weeks ago, a friend who works for our local Broadway Across America office asked me if I wanted to help out the Lion King production coming to town and be a "walker".
This would not be a difficult task, you just stand on stage so they can adjust lighting. And it would be interesting, you see the process and all the backstage puppets and load in...so I said yes. I could make some extra money since I am still on my school break (I teach adults part time during the school year) and it is only for a week. Since I make my own schedule and stay at home to work with all my wonderful amenities and furry family AND go to bed relatively early...it was harder than I thought!! The showbusiness schedule is not for tired, 31 year old grandmas like myself. Some days I was there until 11 at night...yes 11!! But I did get to see some cool things, watch the whole process and meet some very nice folks. I did have some up close and personal time with some of the props. Like these nice grassy boards:
Except I didn't look that nice holding them. I swear I was up there for an hour, trying to hold it on my head and switching from arm to arm so they would stop burning. It was really cool to see the construction of everything...that is where I am totally at home. I was thinking, "hmmm...I've seen these grassy plumes at the craft store and all they do is stick them in this board with some blobby glue and paint."
Then I got to stand on pride rock:
which really doesn't look too high, but it is! And very disorienting to be up there and have someone flash strobe like lights straight into your eyes. I had my moments where I hoped I wouldn't spontaneously fall off and give those theater people something to talk about for years to come.
I also got to hold a 6ft wildebeast mask on stage for what seemed like forever, too! I was petting the raffia hair and admiring that even the Lion King people use plastic ties to construct their things, too. Plastic ties are the bomb!
And Julie Taymor is such an amazing puppeteer and creative person, it was amazing to see all the puppetry up close backstage. She has such an imagination and eye for bringing things to life. And Frida is one of my favorite movies, which she directed.
And then this weekend we had the biggest garage sale ever...and it was exhausting. We had held on to so much stuff (especially me) it was great to purge it all. When it was all over, the stuff we didn't sell was loaded on to a truck and taken straight to the thrift store. whew! The good news is that we made enough $$ to pay for a big winter show I am doing and the other side of the basement is cleared out enough that I am going to put my my power tools on the other side....away from the laundry. Cuz, nobody wants sawdust in their panties!
Back to work today! This last week has made me appreciate that I am fortunate enough to do what I love, have my time free enough to spend time with my family and friends, and make my own schedule. I am going to put my workspace back together and hopefully get some work started.
Oh yeah...since Halloween is fast approaching, I've activated these little guys:
the little blackbirds, so maybe they can be snatched up in time for the decorating season!
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