Focus at the Workshop went smoothly yesterday and we finished well ahead of schedule. It reminded me a lot of when I worked at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Well staffed and funded production departments with a dozen or so electricians all very competent.
John is very pleasant so I have a feeling it will be quite an enjoyable experience. The lighting designer, Mark Barton, is a friend of mine from NYU and it has been great getting a chance to hang out and catch up on breaks between work. We have not seen each other since last summer and before that I think it was a holiday party the season before.
The atmosphere at the Workshop is very pleasant. I am sure that, as with any organization, it has its bizarre political situations, but so far it seems to be kept to a minimum. The cafe next door is very nice and the woman who runs it is very engaged with the goings on at the theater. Again, it is an interesting parallel to Berkeley where the Capoeira Cafe, right across from the Rep, was unofficially part of the larger theater “family.”
This show has an interesting feel to it to me. Most of the details are new, yet the overall feeling os one of striking familiarity. It all feels right somehow. Its a difficult sense to explain. As for the individuals, I have never worked with any of them, except for Mark in graduate school, yet there is a kind of familiarity. I have not worked at this particular theatre, and yet it feels very familiar. It is like an evolution of something known and I must say, I rather enjoy it.
