Bringing Down the House
Last night my daughter performed as part of "Bye, Bye, Birdie." I don't have a picture of her in her costume. She immediately changed into jeans and t-shirt after the show so she could help with the strike.
For those of you who don't do theater, a "strike" is when actors and tech people take down the set after the play or musical is over. There's usually a party after the set is struck.
Last night it was not a "strike" it was a "super strike." The actors and their parents and their teachers tore apart the whole theater and the whole backstage area and the prop room and the costume department. Everything. Costumes, lights, sound equipment, sets, props, EVERYTHING was packed up, given away, sold, or thrown away.
Including the seats. All of them. House and balcony.
We started at 11pm. We finished at 6am. I marked the two sets of seats that I wanted. I got two ends - seats 1 and 2, ironically from different rows. Just like my kids, they are the same but different.
H for "Hannah."
Blank for "A" for Anna. (Did you know that the first row does not have a letter?)
I've watched both my girls - my A and my H - perform in this theater and for that reason, these seats are really important to me.
It was a lot of work. Physical labor. I came home sweaty and dusty. It's also emotional. 100 years of memories in this theater.
For those of you who don't do theater, a "strike" is when actors and tech people take down the set after the play or musical is over. There's usually a party after the set is struck.
Last night it was not a "strike" it was a "super strike." The actors and their parents and their teachers tore apart the whole theater and the whole backstage area and the prop room and the costume department. Everything. Costumes, lights, sound equipment, sets, props, EVERYTHING was packed up, given away, sold, or thrown away.
Including the seats. All of them. House and balcony.
We started at 11pm. We finished at 6am. I marked the two sets of seats that I wanted. I got two ends - seats 1 and 2, ironically from different rows. Just like my kids, they are the same but different.
H for "Hannah."
Blank for "A" for Anna. (Did you know that the first row does not have a letter?)
I've watched both my girls - my A and my H - perform in this theater and for that reason, these seats are really important to me.
It was a lot of work. Physical labor. I came home sweaty and dusty. It's also emotional. 100 years of memories in this theater.
posted by Lea at 4:20 PM
3 Comments:
What's the story here? Did they move or is it closed for good? It's so sad to see a landmark like that go.
Congrats to your daughter.
The stage is REALLY small. And the tech stuff is all out of date and not up to code. To make the stage bigger and to update the tech stuff (lights and set and sound) they have to essentially gut the place. They're preserving the historical feel of the theater and improving some things(the remodel in the 60s resulted in the skylight being painted. Yes. Really. Someone thought that would be a good idea.). The remodel is really badly needed and the new space is going to be amazing.
It's great you were able to take away something that has such nice memories attached.
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