My Kid watched the last Clown Axioms show from the booth. She loved it. She was allowed to bring up the lights on a couple of cues and that was a thrill for her. The woman who ran the light and sound board is so nice to have let My Kid sit up there with her. My Kid has no interest at all in going on the stage, but technical theater may be another story.
The strike began while we were still in the house taking to people who had seen the last performance. Back at Annex, we would have all be up on stage with wrenches taking apart the set, but at La MaMa, the performers didn’t do that. A moment for missing strike parties… OK I’m done. We were younger then and could stay up until… how long did those work parties last? It usually took until after 2 am to clear the set off the stage, and then there would be a party with beer and dancing at Annex. Mom-types would bring substantial amounts of food to the Missoula Community Theatre strikes after the big musicals of my childhood.
I gathered up my bags of costume pieces. I hope I got everything. I won’t know till I go through them and sort out the laundry from the paper today while My Kid is at school. Yet, I felt a little guilty for saying I couldn’t take the big cape (that was made for the show and which I carried back and forth from studio to home to various rehearsal studios and finally to the theatre) after Kendall asked me to because she will have so much stuff in her apartment after the show. In my apartment as well, this week is going to be all about clearing piles of stuff that have accumulated while my attention has been elsewhere and I did have a genuine fear that if I brought the big cape I wore in the show in order to be nice and accomodating and to lighten Kendall’s load, because I realize she sometimes feels alone and put-upon in her leadership coordination role in this company and it would be a nice gesture. But, I also fear the gesture would go un-noticed because the cape, in my apartment, would be at risk of being shoved quickly into some out of the way place (so that it won’t become a toy during a play date because it’s not a toy and it’s not mine but it’s a dramatic cape and so enticing…) and then I won’t be able to find it quickly when the call comes that from Kendall that she needs it back for another production. Yet I feel guilty for saying no. What’s that about?
The Husband and My Kid went across the street to the Italian restaurant where we enjoyed grilled fish and red wine. We stopped at Sunrise Mart on the way home. It was a late night for My Kid who has school in the morning. So, much as I would like to continue to dwell on this production that has come to an end (and with it my identity outside of the home) it’s not all about me anymore. The Husband and My Kid are glad to have my full attention again (and I have to jam my writing and exercise and whatever else into those hours like this one when they are both asleep and I am awake, in the dark with my laptop.
The alarm will go off in a few moments. I have promised to make oatmeal.