I've been a BAD diaryland girl, with narry a real update all week. So, to make up for it, here's:

MY WEEK IN REVIEW

(Don't get too excited, it's not all that ...)

Sunday - 12 hours in the theatre, putting in the stage, the audience risers, the chairs, the lights, etc. Kind of "build your own theatre". A couple of hours rehearsal with the actors, mostly just getting used to the space. A great break in the day, when my sister came by for final costume fittings (did I mention my little sister took her first forray into professional theatre with a costume design?) and I entertained the nephew while she worked. We might be raising a born actor (shudder) as he ran right into the middle of the stage and demostrated all his funny walks. To the bar for cocktails at the end of the night, stayed out too late, didn't get enough sleep.

Monday - 12 hours in the theatre, finishing lighting, adding final details, 4 hours rehearsing with the cast, setting lighting cues, etc. Very tired at the end of the day, but decide to stop by for one medicinal beer before bed. Run into my friend Nigel, play bartender with him for the evening and end up staying until 3am. Again with the lack of sleep.

Tuesday - Our tech day. Start at 11am, finishing some last minute things on stage. Do a cue-to-cue with the actors. Have a photo shoot at 2 and a dress rehearsal at 3 with a couple of people for audience. All goes well. Break between 5 and 6:30 and run out for sushi with Christy. Order way too much by accident, thus supplying myself for sushi for the next 2 days. Final dress rehearsal with small audience at 8pm. Doesn't go as well as the afternoon did, so must go to the bar with the actors to dissect what went wrong, ending in staying out late yet again. Luckily, that turned out to be the only skanky run we've had so far.

Wednesday - Finally get to sleep in a little. Thank you Jesus. Do a few errands during the day, do the show laundry, go to the theatre for 6pm. First preview. R phones at the last minute to say he's coming to see the show, with C. But he shows up alone after all. Which, of course, means ... going for a drink afterwards. (Are we seeing a pattern here? Should I be checking in to AA?) He loved the show, as did the others who came. We stay late discussing the play and various and sundry other things. Don't make it to bed until 4am.

Thursday - My sister drops off the nephew at 8am for babysitting. I stagger out of bed to answer the door, saying "Come on in, Auntie Jo just needs to put on some pants". He watches the Tigger movie over and over while I lie on the couch. Very bad Auntie. He gets in a nap, but I do not. T cleans the house, and I go to the theatre for the show at 6pm. Rush home right after to a late night dinner party with friends, for which T has cooked up an amazing feast of red beans and rice and corn bread. We laugh ourselves silly, but once again, I don't make it to bed until 3am.

Friday - I was supposed to go to an afternoon movie with Marcie, but T shut off the alarm and I didn't wake up until 1pm, which left me with no time to do all my stuff AND make the movie, so no movie, just stuff. Off to the theatre for our official "Opening Night". Finally, a full house. It went just great. Everyone was weeping afterwards. My sister brought my mom and she just loved it. One of our donors, who had pledged us $1000 loved the show so much that she doubled her donation on the spot, handing Shari a check for $2000. We also found out that one of the government grants had actually come through, for $5K, which takes the pressure off having to sell box office to finish paying actors. Weeeee. Of course, we went to the bar to celebrate. Went home around 3, but T and I sat up talking until 5.

Saturday - A two show day. I wake up around 11am, feeling like crap. A cold, with a cough (mostly brought on by too much smoking and too many late nights in a smoky bar). Have to run around to find a TD bank open on Saturday to pay a bill which I had paid by mail a month ago, but which they don't seem to have received the cheque. Find one, but they won't let me pay it there, not being a TD customer, the fuckers! Off to the theatre for the 2pm matinee. A grand whopping audience of 6 people (it being Thanksgiving weekend and all). Home between shows for a little nap and then back for the 8pm show. Loudly announce that I'm not going out afterwards, as I seem to be losing my voice, but end up talked into it after all. Roll home about 2. (Oh, I forgot, we got a really great review in the paper.)

Sunday - Wake up with almost no voice at all! Am supposed to go to the closing matinee of another show, but send T alone as I don't want to be that girl who coughs her way through the show. Sleep until 4 and then shower to go to my sister's for Thanksgiving dinner. Summon up enough voice to get through the evening, eat some turkey, come home. Now have really no voice. Can only whisper. Curl up on the couch, watch Desperate Housewives on DVD, go to bed.

Monday - Sleep until noon, with the aid of cold medication. Move from bed to couch, eat some lunch, go back to bed. Sleep a couple more hours. Find that I now have some voice again and cold seems to be retreating. Remind myself that I can't do 6 nights in a row in the bar without killing myself. Do show laundry, find a 1 hour drycleaner for tomorrow, clean the kitchen and here we are ... writing this. Looking forward to dinner, a little more Desperate Housewives and another good sleep so I can 6 more shows this week.

So that's it. That's what I've been up to. How about you?