April 11

I'm back in the office after being away for the last 4 days. My family and I went to Gulf Shores Alabama to get some sun, surf, and relaxation. Unfortunately the sun was very minimal. We only got to swim for a couple of hours the first day and then a few hours the second day. Red flags on the beach went up for the rest of the week warning of dangerous currents as it was unsafe to swim. I was hoping that the red flags were not an omen for my return to Paducah.

We arrived back in to Paducah just as the heavy rains started Thursday Night. We have a couple of roof sections that leak and I always worry any time it rains. These old buildings always have some maintenance issue going on.

Jim had worked on the set for Tuesdays. We were still short crew for the run of the show. We spent today talking about how to make two walls move on and off the revolving turntable so that the furniture in the play could easily move on and off without any human hands. There is a small section of the walls that were painted for Harriet the Spy with purple paint that refuses to be covered even with 3 coats of paint. I went out shopping for furniture for the show but couldn't find any that was affordable or really what I was looking for. I went home and raided my living room of two chairs and my family room of my recliner and a small side table. April was not thrilled that our living room looked empty right before our quilter guests were to arrive. I told her to just remind them that we are in the theatre. Our furniture has appeared on stage dozens of times. It kind of goes with the job. Many of our board members have also had furniture on stage.

This afternoon I met with Phil Counts the director of Tuesdays. We talked about all of the sound cues in the show and about the scene changes. We had a bed on stage that he didn't want white sheets on. The props people put patterned sheets and he didn't like those either so we compromised with beige sheets. There are lots of sound and light cues for the shows. As we talked through the light cues I suggested places where the actors needed to move further away from the furniture so the audience wouldn't watch the furniture as it started to change. I could dim the lights on the furniture and keep the actors lit. That is one of the major tools of the lighting designer is to provide a focus for the audience. The human eye always tends to look at the brightest spot on the stage. Jim had placed the movable walls even with the center non moving wall. Although it was more work I had him move the walls back so we have more of a 3 dimensional look with the background. I found that we have about 6 spots or pools of light on stage that are needed to isolate actors at certain times during the show. It's my job as lighting designer and set designer for Tuesdays to climb the ladders and hang and focus the lights. Color will be very important with the show as well. I'm trying for patterned leaves that will change colors with the seasons to shine across the walls of the set. Jim spent the rest of the day hanging masking curtains and adding masking to the movable walls. He took some time to go to our scenic artist Kelly Salchli and pick up the set for The Three Kittens which is the show that goes out on Story Theatre tour next Monday.

Kelly has painted a background of the walls of a home for the 3 kittens complete with baby kitten paintings on the walls and lots of spots and flowers in the wall paper. I have to put together the sound system and record the sound for the final rehearsal of the the 3 kittens on Saturday night.

Tonight I will search for the music for Phil Counts for Tuesdays with Morrie and put together the sound for that show. It usually takes a couple of hours to find and record all the music and effects for a show. We are meeting at 2 pm tomorrow to set all the light cues. This is the process of working on one light cue at a time. Setting the levels of every lighting instrument on stage and its color for the show. That usually takes a couple of hours as well. I try to do some of it ahead of time so it doesn't take so long.

I read Anything Goes again while I was on vacation. It will be a complicated set and I need to have the basics of that worked out to talk with the Director of Anything Goes, Diane Byrd next early next week.

We ordered new ticket stock for next season today and this afternoon I proofed the program for Tuesdays with Morrie. The new banner on the side of the building went up last Monday and the ads appeared in the Paducah Sun and Southern Illiniosan yesterday and today. The TV ads for Tuesdays started yesterday as well.

We have started taking Season ticket renewal orders for next year. Alexis has been busy processing them. Marsha has been hard at work on memberships sorting through all of the program advertising and sponsors to wrap up this season. Annette Deem is out selling program ads for our programs for next season. We are contacting sponsors now to talk about shows for next year.

With The 3 Little Kittens on Story Theatre tour starting Monday, Tuesdays with Morrie opening next Thursday, Zink in rehearsals, and Anything Goes in rehearsal we are really operating at full speed. Everyone is hard at work trying to get through the end of this season and preparing for next season. I reminded the staff just before I left last Thursday that they all need to schedule their vacation times for the year and take them. I'm one of the biggest offenders of having too much vacation time unused at the end of the year. We all need to get away and recharge our batteries on a regular basis.

No red flags or dangerous currents here but lots of swimming just to stay even in the current at the Market House Theatre in April.