That’s the name of the game. I have been in Abingdon a few days now. Saw two rehearsals, and Dracula is looking to be a fun show. It will be fun to live in the world of melodrama for the week. Unfortunately, the scenery is a bit behind schedule, so that pushes the light focus back.
Its beautiful down here in the Virginia Highlands. The rolling hills are covered in a green just beginning to show signs of Fall. The light is clear and bright. At night the stars come out, and for someone whose eyes are accustomed to New York nights, it seems there are so many of them.
The people here all are very pleasant. I am staying at the Barter Inn. It is housing for all the company actors and out of town personnel for each production. Kind of like a civilized dormitory.
I have been quite amazed by several things this company does. First off is the volume of work they do. They have two stages each with two shows running in repertory for a total of four shows at any given time. Every actor in the company is in at least two shows at once. Its quite a hectic schedule for the actors, run crew and technicians.
The other wonderful thing is that they have a resident company of actors. So all the actors both live and work together. It is a truly wonderful theatre community all focused around the work being produced.
It has been quite wonderful visiting this little community. I had no idea before arrival what it would be like. It seems that the combination of the living situation and the volume of work produced creates for some very strong community ties in the actors and crew of the company.
Its been a wonderful couple of days, but now it is almost time for me to start pointing some lights, so I’ll have to sign off.
Tags: abingdon, barter theatre, dracula, driving miss daisy, focus, tech
This sounds much more fun than the earlier Abingdon (which is where I thought you were at first…)