A Stage Manager's Blog: Journey to the 1st Rehearsal

My alarm clock rattles on the nightstand, waking me before the sun, and I jump out of bed.  There's nothing quite like that “getting an early start on the road trip” feeling; the sense that miles of adventure eagerly await you.  And my destination beckons...Rehearsal!  While Jack (Kerouac), my traveling companion, is out getting gas, I strap on my backpack, fling two duffle bags over my shoulder, and head downstairs.  Jack pulls up, yanks open the rusty trunk of the VW van and we ceremoniously toss the luggage in.

Cooler- check.

Bag of snacks- check.

Water bottles for the cast- check.

Sunscreen- check.

Script and score- check.

Maps- check.

I take a moment to admire the myriad of bumper stickers on the fender and wonder if my next destination, Transport Group's “See Rock City”, will have one to add to the collection.  Jack gives the hood a smack for safe travels, I pop “Road Trip Mix Tape #1” into the cassette player and we're off! 

Mile after mile, we're living free!  We ride the Cyclone at Coney Island, attempt to roll the largest ball of twine, check out the 6-legged cow in Prairie Dog Town and get splashed from both the American and Canadian sides of the Falls.  After lunch at a diner somewhere in the Carolinas, we get a flat tire, but John Steinbeck and Charley pull up with a spare.  We stop at the Alamo so I can buy some huge souvenir pencils for my stage management kit, pick up a hitchhiker in Saginaw and listen to our calls of “Standby!” and “Take Ten!” echo off Lover's Leap.  I start to prepare the production reports as we cruise along the never-ending highways, though my penmanship is terrible thanks to the bouncing of the van.  Jack scans the corn fields for crop circles and eventually hops out somewhere in New Mexico with a compass and binoculars. 

Now alone, I wave my arm out the window while singing an old a cappella song from my childhood.  I celebrate the crossing of each state line, buy too many postcards the gasway and stretch my legs at every vista I come upon.  Suddenly, I realize I'm running late...it's time to put the pedal to the metal!  I rev the engine and speed by barn after barn advertising the New 42^nd Street Studios. 

At long last, I turn off 8^th Avenue, my end in sight!  After ten minutes of parallel parking, my road trip is complete!  And the destination is everything I expected and more!  I feel I've found home.

-Theresa Flanagan, PSM