12/16/01 – act 1, scene 1

here’s a small sample of what my days with my charming new boss are like:

The Scene: we’re in rehearsal, taking a 10 minute break between running several scenes. scattered haphazardly on the kitchen table in the center of the stage is: a drinking glass, a silver flask, a vase of flowers, a candle and a sugar bowl. when the next scene begins, i know that the flask and glass are supposed to be gone, and the other items back in the center of the table, but the director hasn’t assigned the task to an actor yet. the options are 1) leave the items on the stage so that the director is aware of the problem, or 2) remove the items so that we can move smoothly into the next scene and deal with transition at a more appropriate time.

me: “n–, the glass and silver flask (props) need to be offstage for the next scene, but we haven’t blocked who takes them off yet. should i just make them magically disappear?”

n–: “they need to be struck.”

me: (strikes said glass and flask, begins to straighten up the other items on the table)

n–: “those items need to be left for an actor to deal with. leave everything on stage as is.”

me: (hesitating with glass and flask in hand) “okay, so i just strike the glass and flask?”

n–: “no, I said they need to be left for an actor to deal with.”

me : (confused) “oh, sorry i thought you said they could be struck.”

n–: “no, i said that everything needs to be left as it was at the end of the scene.” (stalks off)

me (inside my thought bubble) “are you on crack? no you didn’t. you told me to strike the props like 10 seconds ago.” (spoken out loud) “okay, sorry, i must have misheard you.”

Postscript: the director walks into the room and asks me to please remove the offending props.

for the first couple of days her abuse really got under my skin, but at this point she’s so ridiculously mean to me that i just can’t get upset over it anymore. this is a battle that i won’t be able to win, so i’m not wasting any more energy trying to. hannah’s friend theorizes that this is all because i have better legs than she does. i just think she hates me.