Once more, from the top.
Sometimes, when i was a little boy, there were nights when i couldn't sleep.
Usually it was if i knew something big was supposed to happen the next day, i'd get too excited to drift off. The night before the first day of school, maybe. Christmas Eve was a bad one; how's a kid supposed to sleep knowing there's a magical man going to break into his house and leave presents behind? So on Christmas Eve i'd be up all night, usually reading A Christmas Carol or Miracle on 34th Street, until it was time to get up. I did eventually outgrow this. When i got older, though, i found the same thing would happen on the night before a play. If tomorrow was opening night, there was no way i'd be able to sleep tonight. Even auditions would sometimes get me too pumped to sleep beforehand. But in the past few years i seem to have outgrown that, too.
Last night, i did not sleep a wink.
It could be nerves. Knowing that i'm about to start rehearsals with a director i've never met, working on a play i've never read, with a cast i don't know but will be living with for the next month and a half. Could be that. Could just be excitement about travelling. I've been living in Montreal for less than a month, and i wasn't even sure i'd be able to find my way to the airport in a timely fashion. That, coupled with the fact that the flight arrangements and accomodations in Moncton (where i will be meeting these people and rehearsing for the next two weeks) were only finalized yesterday. Twenty-four hours ago i had no idea how i was going to get to work on Monday, and i wasn't entirely sure it was all going to go as smoothly as (knock on wood) it has so far. So maybe that's why i didn't sleep.
Or maybe it's just that working night shifts in call centres for the better part of nine years has left my circadian rhythms so hopelessly damaged that i'm now permanently unable to go to sleep if it's dark out. I hope that's not it. I was sort of hoping i might not have to work those jobs anymore...not for a while, anyway.
I'd like to be an actor instead.
So, imagine my surprise when the theatre company that hired me last year to travel around helping get the message to East Coast Youth about the risks associated with compulsive gambling offered to re-hire me this year. They didn't really even make me audition again. I thought that was nice.
The tour will, once again, take us through Newoundland, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, but with a new show and a new cast. Well, a partly-new cast. One other cast member from last year's tour (we'll continue to call him Jack here) is returning as well. It'll be nice to have a familiar face around, and we got along pretty well last year. There will, i believe, be two other actors in the show, plus the director (a different one from last year; he will assume the name Director #2), none of whom i've met.
The rehearsal process will keep us in Moncton for two weeks, but last year we were generally given weekends off, so Saint Johnners be warned: i may be coming down for visits.
Today is a travel day. On foot from home to the nearest Metro station. Take the Metro to the bus station. Shuttle to the airport. Moving sidewalk to the Gate. Fly to Moncton. Cab (or another shuttle, if i'm lucky) to the hotel. Elevator. Hallway. Into room. Collapse on bed.
At some point, take a moment to marvel once again that this is happening because someone, somewhere, decided to pay you to act. May i never cease to be amazed at that.
As i type this, i'm sitting in the airport in Montreal. Boarding for the flight to Moncton doesn't start for another hour. I got here a bit earlier than i needed to. That's okay. I like airports.
I just wish i'd realized there would be nowhere to get a coffee in here before i went through security.
time to go. I'm going to miss this place...
...this block...
...this city. Why am i leaving again?
...the endless moving sidewalks of Trudeau Airport.
...and here i am in sunny Moncton. The first of many hotel rooms has a stunning view of the local tattoo parlour. Time to finally get that flaming skull tattooed on my chest? We'll see...
Usually it was if i knew something big was supposed to happen the next day, i'd get too excited to drift off. The night before the first day of school, maybe. Christmas Eve was a bad one; how's a kid supposed to sleep knowing there's a magical man going to break into his house and leave presents behind? So on Christmas Eve i'd be up all night, usually reading A Christmas Carol or Miracle on 34th Street, until it was time to get up. I did eventually outgrow this. When i got older, though, i found the same thing would happen on the night before a play. If tomorrow was opening night, there was no way i'd be able to sleep tonight. Even auditions would sometimes get me too pumped to sleep beforehand. But in the past few years i seem to have outgrown that, too.
Last night, i did not sleep a wink.
It could be nerves. Knowing that i'm about to start rehearsals with a director i've never met, working on a play i've never read, with a cast i don't know but will be living with for the next month and a half. Could be that. Could just be excitement about travelling. I've been living in Montreal for less than a month, and i wasn't even sure i'd be able to find my way to the airport in a timely fashion. That, coupled with the fact that the flight arrangements and accomodations in Moncton (where i will be meeting these people and rehearsing for the next two weeks) were only finalized yesterday. Twenty-four hours ago i had no idea how i was going to get to work on Monday, and i wasn't entirely sure it was all going to go as smoothly as (knock on wood) it has so far. So maybe that's why i didn't sleep.
Or maybe it's just that working night shifts in call centres for the better part of nine years has left my circadian rhythms so hopelessly damaged that i'm now permanently unable to go to sleep if it's dark out. I hope that's not it. I was sort of hoping i might not have to work those jobs anymore...not for a while, anyway.
I'd like to be an actor instead.
So, imagine my surprise when the theatre company that hired me last year to travel around helping get the message to East Coast Youth about the risks associated with compulsive gambling offered to re-hire me this year. They didn't really even make me audition again. I thought that was nice.
The tour will, once again, take us through Newoundland, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, but with a new show and a new cast. Well, a partly-new cast. One other cast member from last year's tour (we'll continue to call him Jack here) is returning as well. It'll be nice to have a familiar face around, and we got along pretty well last year. There will, i believe, be two other actors in the show, plus the director (a different one from last year; he will assume the name Director #2), none of whom i've met.
The rehearsal process will keep us in Moncton for two weeks, but last year we were generally given weekends off, so Saint Johnners be warned: i may be coming down for visits.
Today is a travel day. On foot from home to the nearest Metro station. Take the Metro to the bus station. Shuttle to the airport. Moving sidewalk to the Gate. Fly to Moncton. Cab (or another shuttle, if i'm lucky) to the hotel. Elevator. Hallway. Into room. Collapse on bed.
At some point, take a moment to marvel once again that this is happening because someone, somewhere, decided to pay you to act. May i never cease to be amazed at that.
As i type this, i'm sitting in the airport in Montreal. Boarding for the flight to Moncton doesn't start for another hour. I got here a bit earlier than i needed to. That's okay. I like airports.
I just wish i'd realized there would be nowhere to get a coffee in here before i went through security.
time to go. I'm going to miss this place...
...this block...
...this city. Why am i leaving again?
...the endless moving sidewalks of Trudeau Airport.
...and here i am in sunny Moncton. The first of many hotel rooms has a stunning view of the local tattoo parlour. Time to finally get that flaming skull tattooed on my chest? We'll see...
posted by alex at 4:00 PM
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