Chaos, insanity, idiocy

This is sort of a continuation of my previous post. Let's just dive right on in with the rest of my end of the month review for February.

Once the children's play was over, the entire department's "behind the scenes" work came forward in full force. The whole time we'd been rehearsing and building and planning for the children's play, we'd also been working on our next show, which opens in less than a week. Actors cast in both shows had daily rehearsals from 5-10 until the children's play ended. Two students spent all of Valentine's Day weekend in the theater building painting a gigantic backdrop - I think the measurement is 60' x 20' but I'm not sure. It took the entire tech class to get it laid out so that it could be painted. I've put in about seventeen hours worth of work on making a skirt for one of the actresses and I'm still not finished. I've put in about as much work on the set, doing various tasks as part of my lab hours for one of my classes. This weekend is tech, where we'll all spend two days scrambling to finish everything at the last minute.

Sometime this week, or so I keep hearing, we're supposed to have run crew rehearsals, where myself and about twelve others go up in the evening to what I must say is every techie's dream: a stage without actors. ;) We'll spend however much time is allotted working through scene shifts for the show. By opening night, we'll need to have this down to be as smooth and quick as possible. Of course, the word 'quick' can't always be applied when you're talking about moving a 10' or taller flat across the stage in the dark to try and find the piece of spike tape (that I can only hope will be white), place the flat, and secure it to pull it back up as soon as the scene ends so you aren't mowed down by the next set piece that has to go, inevitably, right where you're standing. At the same time, you've got to simultaneously communicate with whomever is assisting you in moving said 10' flat while keeping quiet so that the audience doesn't hear you.

Yeah. That'll be fun. The funniest part of it all? I volunteered for that insanity. Oh well. To each his own.

Just to make things more complicated: I've got a Spanish test the same day the play opens - my schedule won't be affected since the show goes on at night, unlike the children's play, but it'll give me something to complain about for sure. As soon as the show closes and strike is complete, I'll be expected to go to the cast party. This is a hilarious idea in itself since I've never been to a cast party. What's different this time? A friend who lives out of town (on the other side of the state, practically) is coming in to see the show that weekend. Myself and another friend know that this girl will love hanging out with all the theater majors at the cast party; had she stayed in this area, she'd be going to our school and, no doubt, we would've dragged her into theater as well. So, since she's going to be in town, I'm required to go to the cast party. From everything I've heard, these parties are good excuses for everyone to get together and drink. Since I haven't been doing much socializing, what with all my friends busy with rehearsals every night, I guess one party wouldn't kill me.

Right now, I'm fuming over what an idiot my Spanish professor is. We received a homework assignment today that we have already done. She gave it to us the first week of classes. I know, I know "if you've already done it, it should be an easy A." It will be because I fully intend to recycle my answers - or just hand in the first packet since it was never graded. I just find it...irritating. When I pointed out that the worksheets looked awfully familiar, the classmate I was talking to stared at me as if I'd grown a second head. If the professor's stupid enough to give me the same assignment twice when the composition we have to write (again) has already been corrected, graded, and handed back, I'll take my free 100 and keep the fuming under control. I hate repeating myself...