The last five beers of my life……..

Im currently the apprentice for WCT (Western Canada Theater), if you havent noticed already. For the past….week and a half?, I’ved been working on setting up (which involves moving Light fixtures, light bulbs, electric wires, being 50-100ft in the air in a cherry-picker [rolling ladder w/ wheels], pushing buttons on lighting and sound consoles and controlling a projector with slides using powerpoint) a show called “The Last Five Years” by Jason Brown. A show about two people.

No……really, its a show about two people (internal joke [A fellow employee was volunteered to do a mock-Pre-Show chat script, on the fly. He proceeded on saying “Hi, and welcome to Blah Blah, This is a tale about two people. Enjoy The Show.”]). It was amusing, (commence laughter) and the director/design people laughed.
(Excerpt from Wikipedia: The Last Five Years

The Last Five Years is a one act musical written by Jason Robert Brown and produced off-Broadway in March of 2002. It explores the five-year relationship between Jamie, a rising novelist, and Cathy, a struggling actress. The show uses an unorthodox form of storytelling, with Cathy traveling backwards in time (beginning the show at the end of the marriage) and Jamie traveling forwards (starting with their first date). The songs are presented as soliloquies, except for a wedding song in the middle, where the two characters share a duet. Sometimes, this show is performed in such a way that Jamie and Cathy only interact during their wedding.

Being the apprentice for WCT means that I have no pre-determined job before/after shows, which means that I can help with many aspects of a show. This includes painting, carpentry, prop setup, wardrobe and various other things as they arise. Very much a new experience for me, where I run the show, and also my first time working on a musical.

Officially my job on this show is to operate the Lighting console, sound console, projector w/slides powered by PowerPoint remotely triggered by the lighting console connected to a computer, and a fan triggered yet again from the lighting console that creates the Marilyn Monroe “moment” seen in this picture taken during rehearsal.

In all, its starting to shape up nicely. With the show opening to an audience today, my hours might now return to sane ones, with time to sleep in (being evening productions @8PM), YAY!
Just another chapter in my amassing book..