10 is for everything, everything, everything...

Okay.  So.  Phill and I are in Charlottesville for the summer working at The Heritage Theatre Festival.  Whoop!
Currently we're both full in to working on My Fair Lady.  We're about to move into the space tomorrow (AHHHHH TOMORROW?!!!?!) and ease on in to full tech mode starting on Saturday.
The show is going well overall.  Rehearsals have been pretty solid.  I'm working with a very different director than what I'm used to as of late, so there's been some adjusting on my part to make sure that things flow as smoothly as possible.
I'm living in the frat house this year which is very, very different as far as my summer experience.  In general the people I'm living with are great so that makes things good.   We are however without internet and without easy access to laundry facilities which is really not fun.  I got a magic phone last month (HUZZAH!) and that is the best thing ever.  I do not know how I would be functioning in this job without one.  I'm having a difficult enough time not being able to send attachments whenever I need to so not being able to even answer emails?...  I'm very happy I don't have to go through that.  I really feel bad for all the department heads and one of my ASMs in the house who don't have a smart phone, Phill included.  I know it's whiny to complain about not having internet, but when the main form of communication your company uses is email, it makes things slightly frustrating!

A great sign at the Charlottesville mall.

What else... It's looking like I have employment lined up from late August through early April and that is AMAZING!!!  I just need a few things to line up (and possibly go up for an interview on a day off next month) and then I'll be one happy camper!

Wedding stuff is sort of at a standstill.  Apparently once you hit a certain point it become "too early" to plan things and florists get massively annoyed at you.  I really want to plan ahead because I know as soon as it's "time" to plan, I'll be in the middle of a million things and won't be able to go look at why one shade of something is better than another.  Phill is now in charge of a bunch of things and research, so that helps a bit with taking my mind off of a million things.  Yay teamwork!

Yep, bought flowers at Harris Teeter because I WILL figure out what flowers I like even if you won't help me cranky florist lady in Manassas. So, HA!

Okay, well I need to make a calling script and whatnot.  Yay!
~Marley

This much delight fills columns to new heights...

I'm just going to stop saying things like "Wow!  This past month was crazy busy!" because in this post-college DC theatre stage manager life I've got goin' on, it is ALWAYS crazy busy.  So I hereby declare that I will only note when it has been uncharacteristically slow and calm, otherwise assume I am pleasantly drowning in deadlines, tech weeks, attempts at a social life, and watching youtube videos of babies laughing.
WATTAGE is up, running, and going pretty well!  We opened all three shows that are performing at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian last week.  Opened shows on Monday, Thursday and Saturday.  Because of this and a miscommunication thing I ended up going the 8th to the 24th without a day off.  So I'm a little bit tired.  However that being said I am also enjoying working on these pieces very much and the job is great, so it's all turned out lovely.  The theatre is gorgeous!  I had no idea that there was a theatre in that building, let alone one of that quality!

The Rasmuson Theatre
NMAI

The staff at the space are wonderful too, which makes my life much less stressful.

Went to my second DC Theatre technicians cattle call with Phill and Trevor and I think it went well.  Now I did not hear anything back from it last year until August, so I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for job offers to pour in.  If nothing else it was good to get my resume into people's hands and hopefully their filing cabinets.

On Monday night I was fortunate enough to attend The Helen Hayes Awards!  They are the annual awards that celebrate theatre in Washington, DC.  I had such a great time!  Phill and I were up pretty high (row PP, second balcony) for the show itself, but still enjoyed ourselves!  They had some parody songs which I loved including a "battle of theatres" a la West Side Story with Maryland vs DC vs Virginia with hysterical lyrics including "We've got restaurants! But they've got parking!" and "I said we should have taken Metro.  But those trains they move oh so slow. Can this please not turn in to a fight?".  There was also the official dedication of the Helen Hayes postage stamp with the song That's Why The Lady's on a Stamp!  I can now cross off "be at the official dedication of a postage stamp and receive a certificate stating so" from the life goals list (once I add it).
If you know nothing about Helen Hayes (shockingly a large number of people at the party did not) then educate yourself!  For those of you who enjoy 30 Rock she was the first woman to achieve EGOT status  (meaning she won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony).  She was pretty wonderful.

They lovely Helen Hayes immortalized on a Forever stamp

We had a blast at the after party!  It was amazing and fun to see all of the people I have gotten to know over the past year.  Friends and colleagues and TheatreVCU alum.  It was a magical evening complete with ice cream and a photo booth.

Hanging out with some TheatreVCU gentlemen.  They clean up nicely,  don't they?

Of course one of the best parts was being there with Phill, enjoying the life we're starting to build together and the community we are both so happy and fortunate to be a part of.  Ending long distance five months ago (just five months? wow.) was amazing and I am so thankful that Phill took a huge leap of faith and moved here to take that job.  Now he's on his third show at his second major area theatre and people love him.  I think we're gonna be okay here.

Signing off from The Mall (yeah - it has wifi, who knew?)
~Marley

Hold on to that feeling...

So who had VCU going all the way and winning the NCAA tournament on their bracket?  This blogger!  I am so psyched that VCU has made it to the Final Four!!!
Picture to prove psychedness:

Phill is a part of VCU Ram Nation by default! 

Even though I've had shows during some of the games it has not dampened my enthusiasm one bit!  I believe in the Rams and you should too! 

V-C-U!  GO RAMS, GO!!! 

On the theatre front Penelope is everything I had hoped it would be and more!  Working with Druid is phenomenal and being back at Studio just feels right!  The show is great and the people who created it and have been with it as it has grown and developed over the past year are even better!  This is such an amazing experience and I hope I have done the show proud.  We close on Sunday and the cast flys home on Monday so it will be ending very quickly which is sad, but Wattage starts on Tuesday so my time to be bummed will be short!

The cast, in costume, downtown in The Irish Times

I leave you with lots of good thoughts and cheers for Virginia Commonwealth University, the school that keeps fighting!  Go Rams!