Saturday, July 7th, 2007 - At the theatre

Dear Bloggy,

Well, there's not a lot of variety in news to report. For the most part, I've spent my time down at the park, working in the office as we gear up for the opening of Grease and Oklahoma. This is the week before opening and everything is happening at once. Very chaotic... but at the same time, it is probably one of the most calmest "Tech Weeks" I've every experienced... and this is with putting up TWO shows, not just one!

Since it is 11pm and I'm a little tired, I think I'll just put up a bunch of pictures which will sort of explain my week... and you can see for yourselves how gorgeous Vancouver is when the weather co-operates :)

This was an exciting point this week... the breaking of ground where they are building our new Gateway structure. This structure will hold the outdoor box office, the outdoor coffee bar and the outdoor Beer/Wine bar as patrons arrive to the theatre.

The start of building our Gateway. Here is James Cronk (in tie), the theatre's new President and James Pollard, the General Manager.

This picture cracks me up! Here we all are in the office working on our own depts... and everyone has their own laptop and are lost in their own little world (grin)

And here we have another supervisor... surveying her domain!

"Ok, when does this show start?? I'm getting impatient!!"

"Hey, Mom... this ride is pretty lame. It's ok, but it's no roller coaster!"

By the end of the day, they now have the structured beams up... we still need the roof and the flooring.. and then the drop down fabric for the temporary walls. The structure will come down after the season is over in August... and put back up again next year.

This kid is amazing!! He's a boy scout who is working on his "Eagle Badge" (?). He's the one who has headed up getting the gateway built. He met with engineers, electricians, carpenters, etc. and basically has been the Project Manager. He has gotten some help from our techies, but this has been his project to work on to get his badge.

Bridget and I take breaks from being in the office and we go for little walks (ok, in my case, little hobbles since feet and legs are now weak points for me). Here is one of the trails we went on to check out the rose gardens.

Back to the theatre to check how the move-in is coming along. In this picture, they had just moved all the set pieces for Oklahoma in.

Bridget was also interested in what was going on on the stage, although, in all honesty she was more interested in the people that were around. She loves to run up and yodel at anyone who pays attention to her... which is most everyone.

Later at night... here is a rehearsal shot of Oklahoma.

Here's another rehearsal shot of Oklahoma. By this time I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes in the grass. Gotta get some mosquito spray!

Ahhh... yes... so much fresh air, people, chaos, activity... the box office dog has had enough and just curls up in her little pink bed and is oblivious to everyone and everything around her.

Ok... I'm going to stop now. Time for me to head to bed.

Nighty-night all!

Cheryl

Sunday, July 1, 2007 - Happy Canada Day!!

Happy Canada Day, Bloggy!!

Yayayaya... it's a gorgeous sunny day for all the Canada Day festivities around the lower mainland! Finally... we are seeing a touch of summer (grin)! Talk about timing!! Yesterday we had the first annual BBQ/Reunion of old friends at Shel and Jill's house. The first one was last year, same weekend, and we had so much fun that we repeated it again this year! Soooo much fun!! I have come to the conclusion that the most important times and memories in my life are when I share them with my super, wonderful friends. It doesn't get any more special than that... time spent with friends laughing, sharing stories and just soaking up the energy of friendship. Yesterday was no different... I loved every minute of it! And, it's amazing... even though, physically, the body was feeling the impact of standing or even siting for any length of time, the energy in the room more than compensated for it. I could go like this for hours. Ok, so today I'm really feeling it (grin) but it's worth every ache and pain in the muscles/joints.

I am off to another BBQ today... this one is with family out at my brother and his girlfriend's place in Coquitlam. Hehehe.. no, it will NOT be a late night for a second time in a row. Even *I* know that I have my limits (grin).

Now, since I am here (hehehe... have you noticed this is twice in the last couple of days??), I will post pictures from last night. These pictures are just some of the people I consider dear, dear friends from many years in my life!

Jill and Sue show off their muscles (grin). Wow.. how far back does THIS friendship go?? Easily 26-27 years ago!

Inga and her mom, Jan. Inga is stage managing the production of Oklahoma at Theatre Under The Stars this year.

Troy is Inga's husband. We had a lot of fun laughing about this idea of putting together a musical called "Box Office - The Musical", then as the evening wore on, it just became "Wicket" (take off on Wicked and ticket wicket). Guess you had to be there (grin)

Margo, Anne and Greg. Margo played the role of Woodstock when we did a production of Snoopy...hmmm... about 25 years ago? Anne is Margo's mother and Greg is... well, Greg, the Hair Wizard :)

Shel and Margo. Shel is directing the production of Oklahoma at Theatre Under The Stars this year.

Lynda and Nancy. Ok, Lynda, Nancy and I have decided we should put our penny jars together and buy a condo in Whistler so that we can have slumber parties during the Olympics! Fabulous idea, in case anyone wants to contribute to our cause! (Lynda... don't forget, we are doing Starbucks on Thursday!)

Anne and David. David was in Grease back when we did it in 1981. Here we are, 26 years later and another generation is doing it for Theatre Under The Stars this year. What goes around, comes around!

This was one of those funny-you-had-to-be-there moments of the evening. When some of us noticed how little Sue had on her plate, I then went and filled my plate (plate on the right)... and complained about how stuffed I was and how was I going to eat all of this?? (grin)

Cheryl and Naveen. Naveen is the Treasurer of Theatre Under The Stars (gee, do we see a pattern here... it's reunion time and we all are working at TUTS this year for old times sake!) and a very funny man!

Greg, Teddy and Ian. Teddy and Ian are married and although they are not working at TUTS this year with the rest of us, Teddy works for the Arts Club and Ian works at the Shadboldt Centre/Theatre.

Well, I better stop here. I have the concert in tribute to Princess Diana. Great concert... very well done! But I also have to get ready to head out to Coquitlam. Don't think I'm going to have time to go to the park next door for the music in the park with the neighbours. I'm running a little behind right now (grin).

Happy Canada Day, everyone!!

Ciao for now!

Cheryl