toosuto: (Headshot)
[personal profile] toosuto
The summer of 1997 is a summer that I will long struggle to remember through the haze of sleep-deprivation and chemical induced amnesia. I knew where I was most of the time (Cedar City UT). Of course since I had no car of my own, was working six days a week and was an hour away from anywhere that counted it isn't very likely that I was really ever anywhere else. However I will always remember my strong dislike to my arch-nemisis (cue dramatic music): Tessa Auberjonois.

Tessa was cast as Viola in Twelfth Night and as Marina in Pericles, Prince of Tyre . I was production crew and arrived on a warm (read blisteringly hot) early june afternoon. After checking in and sleeping we started our summer routine: get up, work 18 hours, drink, sleep, repeat until sunday when we would sleep in and then drink. The first month was technical rehearsals and then in the beginning of July we started opening shows. I was slated to work in the Adams Theater which was the USF's Globe replica (estimated burn time 5 minutes). I was running Twelfth Night and Pericles and was working on set-up crew for Twelfth Night and Henry VI Part II. Plus we were all supposed to be available for rain calls if we weren't running a show (which was 2 a week for me) basically if the weather forecast was at a 40% or more chance of rain we had to hang out in case the show in the Adams had to be moved inside to the rain stage (if it rained hard enough). In three months we had maybe six official rain calls (where we hung around on call) and only once did we ever move a show inside (Pericles). This was my first professional heckling as I was booed as I left my crew head to struggle with the rain tarp and moved to catch prop boxes off the back deck.

It may seem like I am elaborating an awful lot to flesh out this story. that's because I am. So Tessa. She was this tiny little thing that a lot of guys seem to go for: so skinny you thought she might be snapped in half if you weren't careful and very very tan. She was as theater student from Yale and I don't know if we can blame Yale or her but she wouldn't talk to any of the crew below the rank of ASM. Angus (a loud mouthed bastard on crew from North Carolina) being a mostly typical male lusted after her but couldn't get her to talk to him ever. Not even for the literal time of day. So we on the crew came to mock her because we had nothing better to do. Including singing the Tessa Auberjonois song that Angus wrote (in the key of high pitched shouty):

Tessa Auberjonois
Let's do it on the armoire.
Come on and take off my pants,
We'll do the lap dance until dawn,
You won't yawn.


Also some of the crew were always under the stage (too get to the dressing rooms you actually went under the stage and back underneath the theater into the building that stood next to the theater) whenever she had her quick changes during Pericles. Odd that. Anyway, such is the tale of my strong dislike for the seemingly snotty actress who didn't seem to appreciate her run crew.

On the other hand when her father came to pick her up he was awful nice. We chatted a bit about his dogs that he had with them. Black Labs if I recall.

Mmmm, cordless drills.

Date: 22 Mar 2004 21:24 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] toosuto.livejournal.com
At Utah we had this plethora of 18V pistol grip dewalts. I was always looking as hard as I could for things to fix, "Oh, I think some of these screws have backed out an 1/8 of an inch." We also had the really fun cherry picker: y'know the one without the stabilizer arms that you have put on the ramp to attach the header piece to the faux tree the designer insisted on having. Good times. Thankfully there wasn't any open hostility that summer, just a seething resentment of a few people all the other actors would come hang out at the crew apartments (they were the closest to the festival grounds) and get busted by the police with us (like clockwork every night, we get off work at 1AM by 1:45 the police would roll by and tell us that were keepling people awake... they really hated it when we would look around and try to figure out which bastard had gone to bed--no one lived by us: we were the festival.)

Re: Mmmm, cordless drills.

Date: 22 Mar 2004 21:40 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] slojae.livejournal.com
Speaking of cordless drills I buddy of mine called and asked me to help put this art desk and chair together he got for his girlfriend...

i got over there and for the most part only needed the special allen wrenches included... but the frame had holes for the desktops to be screwed on and well... the flat board desktops.... had no holes... time to call up one of my buddies who have virtual workshops in thier shed... pulled out the duvall power drill... with all the bits.. and screwdrivers.. the tapemeasure... a pencil and two hours later... beautiful furniture complete.. set up... lamps plugged in...

i love projects...

Re: Mmmm, cordless drills.

Date: 23 Mar 2004 01:05 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] slojae.livejournal.com
ok, it was deWalt... not duvall... btw googled and found
Image

Re: Mmmm, cordless drills.

Date: 23 Mar 2004 11:15 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] toosuto.livejournal.com
This is the pic i linked at her name. It is a production photo from Pericles actually.

October 2013

S M T W T F S
  12345
67 89101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated 23 January 2026 20:39
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios