I’m writing this on the bus during our first travel day as a full company. Yesterday, we opened our show at the Eastern Kentucky Expo Center in Pikeville, KY. After what can only be described as a grueling production process - a full week of 14-hour days of load-ins, fixes, notes, more fixes, rehearsals, more fixes… - we performed two shows and then loaded our show onto the two trucks that will travel with us for the next eight months. Also during production, our crew elected me to serve as our IATSE Union Representative. The person in that role acts as an advocate on behalf of the crew members with regards to working conditions, contract enforcement, and general well-being.
The new crew members that joined us this year have already proven incredible. My electrics assistant, Travis, has picked up his job very quickly and is already months ahead of where I was at this point last year (when I had his job). Our sound guy, Randall, has a strong handle on his job already and is always looking for ways to help the rest of the crew. Fred, our assistant carpenter, is learning the ins and outs of his job very well and is already starting to find his role on the carpentry team. And our wardrobe assistant, Jestina, impressed everyone on the crew with her truck-calling at her very first load-out!
I am so grateful to be working with a crew that not only works hard, but works smart, and comes into each day with a positive, can-do, team-oriented attitude. I trust everyone that I work with to jump in if there is anything they can help with, and I hope they know I would do the same for them. The tough schedule that we have coming up in the next month seems much less daunting now that I know the kinds of people that will be working together to get through it.
We are currently on our way to Manchester, NH, and then later in the week we will be in Bangor, ME. After that, it’s onward to Canada! We’ll spend three full weeks in the Great White North, with several stops in the provinces of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Ontario. We’ll get back from our jaunt in Canada just in time to celebrate my birthday in Port Huron, MI in the second week of November.
As a side note, here’s a shout-out to a gentleman I met at the Louisville airport today, Luis Ortiz, and his website at www.luisortizblog.com! Luis and I had a nice conversation about following your dreams, allowing yourself to try new things, and learning from your mistakes.