2001-04-27 - 1:01 a.m.
I am feeling... 
"Everything's coming up roses..."
Greetings and salutations.....
Number one sign you've been spending too much time backstage working on your college's production of Gypsy... the title of your diary entry is the name of one of the songs from the play.
And ain't it appropriate.
One of the sound guys tonight, while listening to my rant about a particular incident backstage tonight, remarked that I should have just said, "Back off bitch! I'm a carpenter, I'm not on costume crew!"
I've never really thought of me being on stage crew and working in the shop as being a carpenter... but it got me thinking. You know what? There's a certain amount of truth to that statement, but it's not the whole truth. Here's who I really am, and who we really are...
-----
I am a techie... a crew member, a stagehand, a scene shop employee, a carpenter, and the cast and director's bitch.
I am indispensible.
I build sets, tear them down, move their pieces around, and know without a doubt how everything fits together. I work extremely long and awful hours to make sure it all looks good and it turns out alright.
I am committed.
And somewhere within the scene changes, scene strikes, runs for props, and searches for flashlights...
Between memorizing the dialogue and songs subconsciously, encouraging the actors, finding their hats or spears or suitcases, fixing their wireless mics, and stressing over lost props...
Between the chatting, the gossip, the complaining, the hard work, and the fatigue...
I find my bottled water and collapse onto the nearest chair, couch, table, bed, platform, or floor backstage, only to throw the bottle aside and get up thirty seconds later to do it all over again when the green standby lights come on.
It's then, and only then, that I really realize the greatest truth in life. (And no, it's not that duct tape really *does* hold anything together.)
The fatigue is worth it.
The loss of sleep is worth it.
The horrible work shifts are worth it.
The rushing is worth it.
The injuries are worth it.
I am a techie, and I am worth it.
I am proud.
Yes, we really do it for love.
~*~Piper~*~