Post 100!

I've done a few drafts without posting them, so I'm not sure if the count is accurate or not...

HI!!! I know, it's been a while since I've posted. I spend a lot of time in front of the computer during the day, and I don't especially want to spend MORE time in front of it when I get home at night. Plus, my computer is getting old and cranky, and the internet connection isn't always the best.

Things are going well here in MA. After a week of coordinating everything through emails, my designer arrived. She's very cool and nice, and we get along very well, which is great. We've started building military jackets-8 of them! I can't wait to show pictures. We also have a really fast draper, so we're building 3 dresses, a pair of pants, and a 3 piece "suit" with breeches, a vest and a jacket. And a leather coat. The rest, luckily, is getting pulled or bought. And I'm in charge for the next week-the designer, who is a professor, is back home getting ready for meetings and such for the school year's fall productions. Also doing some shopping for more trim and other various things that we'll need but can't necessarily find here. I'm learning a lot of new sites for costumes and learning to love eBay.

Life outside of work is fairly sedate. As one of the few people in the house with a car, I get a couple of passengers with me when I go to the grocery store or do laundry. There are 3 dogs here now: a very sedate Jack Russel, a really hyper black lab mix and an adorable mini daschund. The people are fun; I'm living with an actress and her daughter, 2 performance interns, the voice coach and one of the education employees, who also acts here during the rest of the year and is working in the costume shop for now. I just went up to the Dream Away Lodge last night- they have a jam session every Wed, and people can bring instruments and play or sing along. It was really relaxing, which is something that I needed a lot.

Not much else going on yet- crunch week starts June 16 and the first preview is on June 20. Then I will have pictures (I hope) and many tech week stories to relate!

Love to all :)

Settling in

Hello from New England!!! I have arrived, safe and sound, in Massachusetts. The drive was long... very long. I did the main stretch on the first day and then the last 3 hours the second day. I ended up leaving Chicago at 9am, and I got to the hotel at 11 Eastern time. But the drive was cool; I got to drive through Clevland and all of the sudden, Lake Erie was next to me. The rest of the drive was not that exciting. That's a good thing, tho: I didn't get into any accidents (or near accidents) and after a while, the miles just kind of started rolling along smoother. I have my own room this year, in the Southeast cottage, affectionatly dubbed "the Dog House" because when people bring their dogs with them, that's where they stay. So I will be surrounded by dogs all summer... :D It's been rainy and cold for the past week and is finally nice today.

It's interesting working here this summer, as the production center is under construction until mid-June. So we are working in 2 temporary spaces. The first is in a house on the property, and the second is an old rehearsal room. It's been my job this week to set up the rehearsal room as a shop and have it ready for when people start coming in. We get a new draper and 3 new stitchers in tomorrow! And then the week after that, I get to dive right in to being an Assistant Designer. I'm nervous, but excited at the same time.

But here are some pictures:


The Miller Building, where all the offices are.


The West Cottage, temporary home of the costume shop.



The Blue Room, which is the other temporary shop space that I set up.




The Southeast cottage (my house!)




My room (before I changed the sheets that were provided for me).



And Founder's Theatre, our main performance space.

That's all for now; more to come once I start getting busy!

Love to all.