After a great day working at the San Juan Regional Rehabilitation Hospital with the therapists yesterday, today is the day we bring the show to the Brooks/Isham Performing Arts Center in Kirtland, NM. It’s only a few miles from Farmington and they draw an audience from Farmington, Aztec and Durango, CO.
We arrived at the venue to find a welcoming, friendly crew ready to go to work – Chris, Cody, Greg, David, Kaitlyn and Charles. We moved a few soft goods around before our equipment was unloaded from the trailer. The stage was completely clear and the light plot was hung – preparation!! Equipment came in easily and the day moved along at a nice pace. Pamela Weese, the director of the venue, had set up some wonderful hospitality tables for us with all sorts of good things to eat and drink.
We were up with soft good, intelligent lights, focus was complete, cues were written, sound was patched and EQ’d, and we finished up a full tech rehearsal all by 5:15pm. Everyone had a nice break before the doors opened at 6:30pm for the 7pm show.
The audience was talkative, reacting to each of the magical moments in the show. Volunteers were playful and enthusiastic, lending their own personalities to the illusions in which they participated. And the laughs, gasps, and applause culminated in a standing ovation at the end of the show. What an amazing evening of fun for all of us.
This was also a first for us – we moved the sound console from behind the curtain to the house tonight. We are trying to “simplify” the role that Cindy and I play in the actual “running” of the production. With Keith on board as the production manager, he’s taking many of those responsibilities…and that means removing them from backstage. So tonight, Keith operated sound (he’s been running the lightboard) and called the lighting cues to another board op. Kylie was still working with the intelligent lighting and a few on-stage responsibilities. But, as we prepare for David and Kylie to leave us at the end of this tour, we need to experiment with the other possibilities.
After the show, we grabbed a quick bit at the local Village Inn restaurant and then made our way back to the hotel. We’ve been bragging all day to Pamela about how wonderful this hotel has been to us these last couple of days. Tonight, when we arrived back at our rooms around 12midnight, housekeeping had decided NOT to clean our rooms…not just our room, but David and Keith’s either! When I went to the front desk to see if I could get some towels, she handed me a couple of bath matts and said that’s all they had. Soon, David and Keith joined me at the front desk to see if they could get some clean towels too. Seems housekeeping didn’t do the wash either – no clean towels! When I asked if we could get some clean towels from another unoccupied room, I was told that the “key machine” wasn’t working so she couldn’t make a key to get into another room. So, what would happen if someone wanted to check in??? I guess they could pay for a room but not actually occupy it. When I asked to see the Night Manager, I was told that there was no manager on duty AND that no one would be around for the rest of the weekend!!! So, they leave someone at the desk who has no authority to do ANYTHING to help out a guest? Does that make sense to anyone else reading this?? She did offer us a “comment card!”
I finally gave up and told the lady at the desk that I realize that none of this is her fault. But I did ask that she leave a note for the morning person informing them that I was “extremely upset” and wanted to speak with a Manager in the morning before I check out. Let’s see if that happens….customer service, it’s becoming an extinct quality these days.