The great roadtrip of 2012

Okay, apologies for the fact that this will likely be a long post - well, no - not apologies in that I have been out living rather than reporting... So when we left off, I was heading out from Castleton, in Central Virginia on a major roadtrip. What a trip it has been thus far! The first stop was just outside of Lynchburg, VA, where I went to the "Walton's Mountain Museum" - if you are a fan of the tv show, you'd love it here. I saw the house where Earl Hamner was born, and learned a ton about him. It is beautiful and peaceful there - just what you would think it would be. It really amused me that the museum is in the senior center! :) I also had a great phone interview for a tour of "Clifford the Big Red Dog" - it was nice to be back in the land of cell service! I didn't ultimately get the tour, but it was a good interview. I then spent the evening in Lynchburg with a magician friend, Hiawatha. We haven't seen each other in nigh on 15 years, and it was good to catch up. From Lynchburg, I drove to Knoxville, TN, and saw my friend, William, who I have known for about a year through working some shows together. We had a great time making homeade pizza (complete with white heirloom tomatoes from the community garden) and just catching up. I also saw a remnant from the world's fair on my way out - would have also seen the world's largest rubik cube, but it seems to have been taken down. From Knoxville, I had a marathon 13-hour driving day to Lafayette, LA (just outside of New Orleans). I spent 2 days in Lafayette with some very dear friends that I haven't seen in 7 or 8 years. I also discovered that I have become one of those women who sees kids and the first thing she says is "My, you're all grown up!" I never understood why they do that - but you just can't help yourself... The last time I saw the boys, they came up to my waist - now they tower over me at 6'2" and 6'4"! And one is starting college this month - oh my, where does the time go? Then it was on to Houston for a night. I saw my good friend, Trixie Bond for lunch, and spent the night with one of my few friends from Indiana (yes, she escaped too!), Sarah. I got to see Sarah rehearse a new show, and play with the 8 month old pit/lab foster puppies. :) Sometimes I feel like I am still driving in Texas, and it never ends. I did have the unique experience of having my "need gas" light come on, without a town in sight. Fortunately, I did finally find Ft. Stockton, with about a half gallon remaining. Needless to say, I gassed up and found a motel for the night. :) I took a detour and spent about 3 hours in Roswell, NM. I had lunch at a lovely place (nowhere near as vegan-friendly as I was told at the Chamber of Commerce), and went to the alien museum. It was very interesting, and well worth the trip. I also discovered that Roswell itself is a lovely town, with a lot to offer beyond the obvious "incident". I then spent a couple of days in Albuquerque with my friend, Jen, who just relocated to Albuquerque for her veterinary internship. I spent a day kicking around Santa Fe while she worked (totally worth it to get to spend the drive with her) - had a skype interview (follow up for Clifford), bought some cool clothes on sale, and saw the new "Batman" movie (pretty good!). From there I picked up mom and we traded the stuff in my car for her and her stuff with my brother, and I took her to Utah for a week. There we visited family, went to my dad's family reunion, and finally buried her brother's ashes (he died 2 years ago this coming Thanksgiving). I met new family that I didn't know I had, saw some that I haven't seen in 30 years, and did a lot of reconnecting. It was wonderful to visit the house I grew up in that is now owned by my cousin and his family. It is definitely and wonderfully their home, but you still see small traces of my family that creates a nice continuity. I met my cousin and his wife that I have only known via Facebook, and it was wonderful to really reconnect with my cousins that I was close to growing up. One of the absolute highlights for me was spending a really lovely evening with Jon, my first boyfriend from when I was 19 years old. We hadn't seen each other in about 21 years, and it was beyond wonderful to get to catch up with him. I am so grateful he was able to make time to see me. :) After dropping Mom back in Los Alamos, I headed back to Albuquerque and flew out the next day to Orlando, FL, for a job interview in Ocala at the College of Central Florida. The interview went really well, and I am extremely hopeful that I will get an offer. It was then back to Albuquerque for a couple nights, then driving to Las Vegas. I am here for a few days visiting some dear friends, catching up with some folks I haven't seen in ages, and basically enjoying myself until I hear about the job on August 28th. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Goodbye, Castleton - Hello Roadtrip!

Saying goodbye is always an interesting experience. Some people make you cry, some you'll miss, some you need to miss. And it has been a full bag of it the last couple days here. Some folks I cried when they left (or when I said goodbye when I was leaving), some it was just nice to work with them, some were somewhat peripheral and I didn't know that well, but a couple couldn't actually bring themselves to say anything to me - no "goodbye", no "it was nice knowing you", nothing. Both of whom surprised me with this - one was a coworker that I thought we were at least sort've becoming friends, and the other was one of the big bosses. Oh well, onward and upward. I still haven't heard from Bryn Mawr, so I'm figuring that's not happening and starting out on the roadtrip of a lifetime. Allonsy!

wrapping things up

Wow - it seems like I just got here, and already I'm looking at packing up to leave this week. What a whirlwind - of activity, learning, and emotions. I had an incredible experience this weekend, doing the lighting for the CATS (Castleton Area Training Seminar) vocal recitals, the Jennifer Koh violin recital, and the CATS scenes from various operas. It was full of challenges - the light board gave me the "blue screen of death", but between myself and my colleague, Tristan, we got it up and running again. Several lighting units died and had to have bulbs replaced (thanks again to Tristan and his height, it was done quickly), and I designed the scenes in about an hour, tweaked a bit just before they opened the house, and again on the fly as they performed. It was exciting and exhausting - I am SO glad to have today off! :) I also had an amazing experience at the company party last night, that I have to share with you. I think Maestro was present at all the events this weekend. Both Friday and Saturday several of the CATS commented how much they enjoyed the lighting for the concerts (just stuff on sliders with a couple different areas and color added in for effect). It was really nice to hear, and fun to "design on the fly" again. Then the scenes - I thought I'd be doing the sliders with a couple specials thrown in, but it turned out to be considerably more complicated than that, so I threw together cues based on descriptions, got to see part of the rehearsal to tweak some stuff, had a quick look-through, then tweaked it while they were performing. It was a true "slash-and-burn", not my best work, but I was fairly pleased considering what I was working under - people were visible, it didn't all look the same, and in some cases added some atmosphere. Anyhow - the amazing part of the day. I went to the company party last night, and at one point, Maestro showed up and gave a little speech. A few minutes later, Nancy, the General Manager, grabbed me and brought me to Maestro to introduce me as the lighting person for the shows this weekend. Maestro was effulsive in his praise - words like "intelligent and sensitive" were used. I was gobsmaked and so humbled that he noticed. I thanked Nancy later for that, and she replied, "I had to do it! He was in the hallway raving about it, so I had to have him meet you!" What an amazing way to end the shows and the summer. David (our Technical Director) made me take today off to rest and pack, then I start working on the Theater House tomorrow (had to refocus stuff, remove a couple units for seating, and generally repair and tidy stuff). Still don't know exactly what my next step will be. Still waiting to hear if I am going to PA for an in-person interview, or just heading out on the road to see friends, mom, and this amazing country. Whatever the next step - it will be wonderful.

Getting back to normal

Wow, what a few days this has been! Major-league heat wave, combined with the loss of power. However, approximately 8:45pm this evening, power was restored to the farm. Yeah, it was about an hour after we ran cables from the ginormous generator to the rehearsal hall, but I think we are glad we have it all in place. If we didn't, I'd bet we'd need it! We here at Castleton Festival are proud of the fact that we only missed one show due to power issues (Wolftrap, over in DC and the country's largest opera festival, as far as I know, is still without power - not to "ha ha" them, just being very grateful that we have Maestro Maazel and that he is willing to put his resources behind this project). In fact, they were saying this morning that it could be up to 10 days before DC gets power back... Aside from the obvious, there has also been a fair amount of drama backstage. Not going into details, but suffice to say, everyone here had a good reminder that perception is everything, and people talk. Sadly, one of our crew was sent home after having been warned several times for questionable behavior. I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt that nothing happened, but as we all tried to tell her, "appearances are everything." Its a shame, too, because she had an amazing opportunity in her hands, and I'm sorry to see her leave. Also, a reminder to folks - if you have tried to text me to make sure I'm okay, please remember that I have NO CELL SERVICE here, and will not be answering you! If you want a response, email or facebook me. Also, I am here for approx 3 more weeks. If you were planning to send a letter or something for my birthday (shameless plug for mail! *grin*), you still have time to send it. :) My mailing address is: Kat Lovell c/o Castleton Festival 7 Castleton Meadows Lane Castleton, VA 22716 I love getting mail - it always totally makes my day (and I haven't had any in ages! hint, hint *grin*) Hope everyone reading this is safe and sound. Oh - and my foot, thankfully, is fine after my little adventure. I have to say, I was not sad to see the Barber set dismantled today...

State of Emergency

For all my life I have heard and seen pictures of natural disasters, and places that the President has declared in a "state of emergency" - I never thought I'd be living in one. To be honest, this is a surreal experience. I am fortunate that my house where I am staying has a really good backup generator, and we are pretty much business as usual, including internet. I can shower, do laundry, and get to sleep with a/c and my ceiling fan. Others are not so fortunate - the "Meadows" house is a small 3rd world country at the moment. Their generator is kaput, so the 30 or so people living there are trying to make the best of a very hot situation (its been in the high 90's the past 3 days with high humidity). Since the power still isn't back on, other houses are starting to take them in, including mine. Which means that we are up to about 10 women and one bathroom. The decision was made to rent a generator from NJ for the festival theater - this thing is HUGE! It took until about 4:30am to get it hooked up, but it is working. We discovered this morning that there are issues with some of the dimmers, that they don't dim - they are either all on or all off. Through tracing this issue, we discovered that the boxes that the local power company set up were not set up the way we thought, and that we had been running power off them slightly incorrectly. We got that issue sorted out - then discovered that we still had the dimmer issue. After more time and testing, we realized it is the computer "brain" of the dimmer boxes, and that both of them need to be replaced by next weekend. I also want to take a moment to talk about my boss, Tlaloc Lopez-Watermann. "T" is the Lighting Director for the festival, and by far the hardest working person I have ever met. He does his best to take care of anything anyone asks of him, whether it is the power grid for the festival, fixing the refrigerator truck at the fire house where we eat meals, or cutting trees and moving them off the roads to make them passable after the storm. He is amazing, and an incredible example to those around him of a positive, can-do attitude. I am truly blessed to be working with T and many other incredible, talented, people. So I'm okay, I have food, a/c, and internet. Hopefully soon the phones will be back up so I can call my mother.

Wow, what a night!

We all have those nights to remember. Our first kiss, first dance, Where we were when we first heard that someone important to us died. Last night was definitely one of those nights... It was to be the 2nd performance of the "Barber of Seville". Everything went well, resetting from "Carmen" rehearsals back to "Barber". Then about 10 min before the show, my boss came on the walkie and told us to be prepared that there was a major storm front headed our way, but that it was scheduled to hit about the time the show ended - he was very, very, wrong. It hit about halfway through intermission. First lighting could be seen, then the thunder, then the 70+mph winds. We started getting power surges, and power went out a couple of times, then for good. David, our Technical Director, came in and told us that he literally watched the power go out over the entire county. Maestro Maazel and Nancy, our General Manager, conferred backstage about what to do, fretting about keeping the audience calm. David piped up with, "Hell, you've got a house full of musician, have them play something!" As it turns out, we had 2-3 violin virtuosos in the orchestra, so play they did. Then we got the singers out there, and did everything from arias from other shows to Broadway tunes, to most of the rest of the show! At one point, they offered to let folks leave if they wanted to, but no one left - they were enjoying themselves too much! Behind the scenes, we were trying to figure out ways to keep things safe. I ran out to the dimmer room to turn off the breakers to the lighting rig. When the board operator checked in, I asked if he had unplugged the dmx, and he ran off light the lightning we were afraid could fry the system. We gave everyone flashlights, and wondered how long the emergency lights would last (about an hour, if you were curious - we thought it would be 20 min). Eventually we were able to let folks leave - but it took a while, as trees had been uprooted by the winds and were laying across the road. Crews that included some of our people (my boss is a huge guy, and extremely strong) worked feverishly with chainsaws to clear the way. I finally left around 12:45am - I have no idea when everyone else was able to call it a night. Fortunately, the building I am staying in has a generator, not everyone was so lucky. I chatted with a fellow who was there with his wife. Apparently they had been having marriage issues, and are trying to work it out. This is their first experiene at the Castleton Festival, and they can't wait to come back! In fact, most audience member said that. It was a wonderful crowd, and and incredible night. Oh - and my personal drama for the night. My job during the show is to page the cable that gives power to the set, to make sure no one trips and the set doesn't run over it when it is moved. Last night I looked to make sure that the cart got through okay (last time it was an issue), and I didn't see that the set was already moving and was next to me. My pant leg and the back of my shoe got caught by the set, and dragged under. Fortunately, I was wearing my keens, and was able to pull my foot at least partially out of the shoe - but as it was, I could't release it completely, and was trapped, with my foot pinned against the set, and my shoe cutting off my circulation. It was very scary and painful - fortunately, it wasn't too long until the next transition and I was released. It is still swollen and painful this morning and I'll have it looked at by the local EMT, but I think it will be okay. Wow, what a night - and not one anyone will soon forget!

Working in Paradise

I really, REALLY wish I could post pictures of the place where I am working. Unfortunately, the bandwidth here for internet limits me to pretty much just email, facebook, and updating my blog. Until I can upload, here are some web pics from the past for you: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=681&q=castleton+music+festival+2012&gbv=2&oq=castleton+musi&aq=3S&aqi=g-S4g-mS1&aql=&gs_l=img.1.3.0i24l4j0i5i24.987.3437.0.6854.14.13.0.1.1.0.146.1161.9j4.13.0...0.0.bAP1K98d-Bg So - I arrived the end of May, and several times thought I had gotten lost, because it really does feel like the middle of nowhere. Not much for signs, many of the roads do not have painted lines, and even fewer streetlights. I was so focused on getting here, that it really wasn't until the next day that I had a chance to take in my surroundings - rolling hills, meadows, trees, and animals. Oh, the animals! I live in the "Barn Apartment", and the other end of the building really is a barn! We have the barn cats and the rooster who live here (complete with kittens), along with two pigs, goats (the babies are beyond adorable!), a zebra, and a zonkey. Yes, a zebra and a zonkey (apparently the donkey is a randy boy and got out!). Down the road a bit are horses, cows, llamas, and emus. Yes, emus. I love being able to say - follow the path down past the donkey (oh - there's a ponkey, too!) and llamas, turn right at the emus, and the trail will take you to the pavilion. About a week after I arrived, I caught a cold (still convinced it is my coworker's fault!), and it has been a struggle getting up every day to work. But working with the group that I do, I look forward to it every day. They are delightful, talented people, who are supportive and patient when I ask a question to make sure I understand clearly, or if it is something I am not completely familiar with. This is a HUGE change from the experiences over the past 2 years, and I am eating it up! It would be a dream come true if I could find a permanent position working with people like I have here. And even on the rare times when it is not as pleasant, we go outside and look around and say, "yeah, too bad it is so ugly here", smile, and walk back in to work. What I've been doing - we've been literally building this theatre from the ground up. The "permanent tent" was erected last year, and this year they installed a permanent grid system with 3 front of house electrics, and 7 over the stage (my tech geek friends will appreciate this info). We have 192 circuits, and have had to run the cable for all of it. I helped solder the connection boxes for the dimmer room, and converted the dimmer boxes from 3-phase to 2-phase power. When we fired everything up for the first time, it was beyond exciting and I literally started dancing. The last 3 days have seen us hanging and circuiting the lights. The challenge is that most of the lifts can't ride on the pit cover, so it is slow going with the front of house 1 and 2 pipes, but we should finish up tomorrow. The designer arrives next week, the second set loads in tomorrow, and all is exciting in our world. Oh - and the master carpenter has dubbed his crew the "yay" team, because everything he asks them to do they say "yay!" - and are a delightful group to work with. Yeah, I'm thinking this is going to be an awesome summer... :)