Monday, April 1, 2013

A...My Name is Alice


This post is serving double duty.  Usually on Mondays I connect with "Inspire Me Monday" at CreateWithJoy.com, but since I am doing the "Blogging From A to Z April Challenge" this year for the first time, I'm hoping this will serve double duty for today.

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"A...My Name is Alice" is a musical revue of about 20 songs, conceived by Julianne Boyd and Joan Micklin Silver, first produced in NYC in 1983.  Since that time, it has spun off two sequels, "A...My Name is Still Alice" and "A...My Name Will Always be Alice".

A complete list of the songs can be found on Wikipedia.  My connection with this play came some 17-20 years ago, when I was in college  the last time.  I do not remember which songs the producing company, TheatreWorks West included, but I do remember that "Bluer and You," was the song that closed Act I.  "Pretty Young Boys" opened Act II.

I would like to say that those particular songs have stayed with me for so many years due to the fabulous acting of the cast...and that is partially true (even though I was not one of them at the time).

This show opened the professional company's run at the new performing arts building on the campus of Westminster College of SLC.  The auditorium was huge compared to what we had been using and the sound and light boards were computerized and had more buttons and switches that I had ever seen before.  The room they were in at the back of the theatre looked like an airplane cockpit or an air traffic control tower to me.  Why do I mention this?  Because I was light board operator for the production.

This should have been a relatively simple job.  All the lights were set at certain levels to change at certain times and all I had to do was hit the "next" button when the stage manager gave me the cue.

Until, in the middle of "Bluer Than Blue", ON OPENING NIGHT, the light board decided to crash.  All the lights in the house went off at once, and the emergency lights came on.  The stage manager made it up the "outside the house" steps in seconds flat, I swear!  Somehow we limped through to intermission.  He was on the phone with the manufacturers of the light board.  We found out a repairman could only come out at the beginning of the week.  (Most plays in Utah at the time opened on a Wednesday or a Friday.)

Thankfully, once it was explained to the cast and the rest of the crew that it was not my fault, I think they stopped adding colorful metaphors to my name.  When the music director made his little speech before the play the next night, he mentioned the "hiccups' in the system and even said some nice things that I didn't go run screaming from the building or something like that.

Last, but not least, Theatreworks West has merged with another SLC theatre company and become Pygmalion Productions.  If you are in the Salt Lake City, Utah, area (living, visiting or just driving through) check out the paper and see if Pygmalion has something going on.  You won't be disappointed!

8 comments:

  1. You were the light board operator? Now that is very cool! I'm sure the production feels different when you are actually involved in the process.

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  2. haha must have had some fun things added to your name until you were found not to be the blame

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  3. Wow, that sounds like a light-board operators worst nightmare...I mean sheesh. Sounds like you handled it with grace - good for you!
    Tina @ Life is Good
    Co-host, April 2013 A-Z Challenge Blog
    @TinaLifeisGood, #atozchallenge

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  4. Thanks for taking time from your A to Z "A Day" to visit, Alex! Yup, I've operated light boards, sound boards, directed, written, acted, and been both a stage-manager and a stagehand. (I sucked at being a stage hand, though, because my night vision is horrible!) *LOL*

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  5. Good to 'see' you, Pat. Thanks for visiting during the A to Z Challenge! And I really can't blame my associates...I probably used most of those words screaming at the light board until it was fixed! :p

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  6. Thanks for your visit during the A to Z Challenge, Tina! I guess I have to plead the 5th on the graceful bit, given what I just replied to Pat! Well, I was a lot younger and a little wilder back then.

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  7. Thanks for joining us for Inspire Me Monday Luann - and best of luck to you in this month's A to Z Challenge!

    You are welcome to "double duty" any posts that you can on my blog!

    I am hosting an giveaway for an awesome new book, Life After Art - be sure to stop by and enter between posts!

    Create With Joy
    http://create-with-joy.com

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  8. Thanks for the heads up, Ramona. I enjoy every visit I make to Create With Joy!

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