From Palm Desert we ventured south to Costa Mesa, CA and to our next venue, the Samueli Concert Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center (OCPAC). It had not yet sunk in that we were officially “on tour” as we were still in the state of California. OCPAC houses several theatres in their complex. Upon our arrival, we were pleased to discover that the National Broadway tour of RENT was playing next door on the OCPAC mainstage. What a great feeling to know that Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal were performing in the building right next door to us! We all felt like we were really moving on up in the theatre world (…yes, soon we will be washing lettuce!)
The Samueli Concert Hall at OCPAC is an intimate venue, housing around 275 seats and a cozy, elevated stage. It is probably one of the smallest venues at which we have played (the smallest being the 90-seat Front Row Theatre in San Ramon where we had our Bay Area previews). At load-in, we came to the realization that our set pieces would barely fit onstage and who knows where the seven cast members would go. Due to the lack of space onstage, the load-in was long and grueling as we had to rehearse all set changes and group numbers. There simply wasn’t any room for error – move one step too far in any direction and either an actor or set piece would fall off of the elevated stage.
Our load-in day was also long as our technical director/sound designer received news of a death in his family which would require him to leave the tour for a few days. Our show and sound cues would be entirely run by our stand-in stage manager and tour manager. We felt like lambs lost in the woods – how would we manage without our fearless leaders?
Nevertheless, our run at OCPAC went without a hitch and was well received. Our eight performances were sold out and we got to participate in several meet and greets following our shows. The staff at OCPAC was extremely friendly and really into the ‘Strega Nona’ books. The lobby of the theatre was decorated with illustrations from the books and at one of the shows, they hosted a craft session where children could make cute Strega Nona foam puppets. I love participating in the meet and greets as it is always fun to see the children’s reactions to us, ranging from shy (the kids who hide behind mom and dad) to starstruck (the kids who stare at you with mouths open) to extremely friendly (the kids who greet you with smiles and hugs). For the most part, the children are usually shy around me as my character performs all of the magic in the show and I think they believe that I will perform some of my magic on them!
Check out the nice review we received in The Mom Blog:
http://themomblog.freedomblogging.com/2009/10/24/strega-nona-is-a-magical-production/36009/
One of the highlights of our run at OCPAC was getting comped into RENT by the theatre. It was such a blast to be able to see another set of actors on tour, doing a show that they love. It is always refreshing to be inspired and reassured by seeing others perform. We saw ads for our show in the RENT program and a large Strega Nona poster in the lobby at RENT. Following the show, while other people scrambled to get their picture taken by the RENT poster, we scrambled to get our picture taken by the Strega Nona poster.
As we finished up our five day/four night stay in Costa Mesa, we waved goodbye to our OCPAC hosts (goodbye Samueli staff!) and neighbors (goodbye fellow Bohemians!) and piled into our van. Next stop – Cerritos Center in Cerritos, CA. Until the next adventure…
Ciao!
XOXO-
Janine
The Samueli Concert Hall at OCPAC is an intimate venue, housing around 275 seats and a cozy, elevated stage. It is probably one of the smallest venues at which we have played (the smallest being the 90-seat Front Row Theatre in San Ramon where we had our Bay Area previews). At load-in, we came to the realization that our set pieces would barely fit onstage and who knows where the seven cast members would go. Due to the lack of space onstage, the load-in was long and grueling as we had to rehearse all set changes and group numbers. There simply wasn’t any room for error – move one step too far in any direction and either an actor or set piece would fall off of the elevated stage.
Our load-in day was also long as our technical director/sound designer received news of a death in his family which would require him to leave the tour for a few days. Our show and sound cues would be entirely run by our stand-in stage manager and tour manager. We felt like lambs lost in the woods – how would we manage without our fearless leaders?
Nevertheless, our run at OCPAC went without a hitch and was well received. Our eight performances were sold out and we got to participate in several meet and greets following our shows. The staff at OCPAC was extremely friendly and really into the ‘Strega Nona’ books. The lobby of the theatre was decorated with illustrations from the books and at one of the shows, they hosted a craft session where children could make cute Strega Nona foam puppets. I love participating in the meet and greets as it is always fun to see the children’s reactions to us, ranging from shy (the kids who hide behind mom and dad) to starstruck (the kids who stare at you with mouths open) to extremely friendly (the kids who greet you with smiles and hugs). For the most part, the children are usually shy around me as my character performs all of the magic in the show and I think they believe that I will perform some of my magic on them!
Check out the nice review we received in The Mom Blog:
http://themomblog.freedomblogging.com/2009/10/24/strega-nona-is-a-magical-production/36009/
One of the highlights of our run at OCPAC was getting comped into RENT by the theatre. It was such a blast to be able to see another set of actors on tour, doing a show that they love. It is always refreshing to be inspired and reassured by seeing others perform. We saw ads for our show in the RENT program and a large Strega Nona poster in the lobby at RENT. Following the show, while other people scrambled to get their picture taken by the RENT poster, we scrambled to get our picture taken by the Strega Nona poster.
As we finished up our five day/four night stay in Costa Mesa, we waved goodbye to our OCPAC hosts (goodbye Samueli staff!) and neighbors (goodbye fellow Bohemians!) and piled into our van. Next stop – Cerritos Center in Cerritos, CA. Until the next adventure…
Ciao!
XOXO-
Janine
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