Chapter 8 Hell week

Chapter 8

Teri was in the final rehearsal of hell week. Her show opened that Saturday.  They were off on Friday for the cast to rest and Teri to do the same, which never happened.

She’s distracted. Which made sense Richie thought. Her focus was on the production. He knew she wouldn’t be available much in the next few days. I’m gonna surprise her and be at opening night. It’s a big night for her. He WANTED to be there... Richie reminded himself. He walked up the stairs and into the theatre lobby. The box office had a few people in line to pick up tickets. There was no one else around. Richie thought about Teri and their conversation last night and cuddlin’ after their marathon round of sex. She was so tired she fell asleep mid-sentence. Again…  Hope she’s not working too hard. More stuff to examine. He sighed at the thought. Am I really going all in again already?

He opened the theatre door into chaos. There was an energy that you could feel the moment you walked into the room. Songs sung near the piano, a few people running lines sitting in the audience seats. There was another group on stage practicing a dance with whom Richie assumed was the choreographer.   The costume master was walking across the stage as he looked for Teri to get approval on the clothes he had in his hands and over his shoulder. There, in the middle of it all Richie saw Teri. She had on torn jeans, sneakers; her hair was in a ponytail that didn’t stay in place as many pieces fell around her shoulder. She wore a t-shirt, which was oversized, and looked very soft and worn with a silk cami under it as the shirt fell off the shoulder too far. He looked again and smiled. It WAS oversized because it was one of HIS t-shirts.  Richie had wondered where that was. He thought it ended up under the bed or something... She had left him in bed this morning with directions written out to the theatre. He was so comfortable; he rolled over and slept a few more hours. 

Richie took a seat in the audience and watched Teri as she worked. She answered tons of questions while at the same time signing stuff that someone he could only assume was Susan, kept putting in front of her as she talked to staff members and looked at props, scenery, and costumes. 

“Marty, will you run the light cues for act 2 scene 3? I want to see how it works with the new costume and your set design changes.”  Teri shielded her eyes from the lights as she yelled up to the lighting booth.

“On it. Give me a minute to cue the board.” An anonymous voice from above in the lighting/ sound booth replied.

“Clear the stage please.” Al yelled into the room as he walked by Richie. He stopped and looked at the unfamiliar shadow of man who sat in the house.

“Can I help you?” He asked. “These are closed rehearsals. No one’s allowed to be here.”

“Hi, I’m here to see Teri.” Richie turned to talk to the man.

“Oh, wow. Hey, man. I didn’t recognize you. Sorry. I’m in hell week mode and you here is not something I would think of... I’m Al, Teri’s stage manager. So, you know Teri?”

“Yes.” He said with an inward grin as he remembered how WELL he knew her.

Al looked on stage for Teri she was just there… Where the hell did she go THIS time he thought? Al then grabbed the walkie-talkie off his belt. He looked around once more and didn’t see Teri. She disappeared again. He sighed and spoke.

“Teri, Ter, Al.  Need you in the house.”

He waited.

“Ter, you on?”

Still nothing. With a sigh of resignation, Al once again spoke into his unit.

“Lookin’ for Ter. Who’s got eyes on her? I bet she put down her damn walkie-talkie again.”

He waited for a response. There were typical, funny responses about Teri and her walkie-talkie issues that involved duct tape and her ass. It happened every show. These people work with Teri often. She is fair, and she always tried to get the same crews each time. In the theatre world as with any performance-oriented job, people keep moving from one show and venue to another. They contract per performance or per theatre so it’s always a shot-in-the-dark who they will be working with or for. Teri on the other hand had gained respect and loyalty of her staff. She had gone to bat for them all on some occasion or another when she felt it was justified. AND she was fun to work with.

“I got her. She’s with me in the costume room.” Dan the costumer and friend of Teri said.

“She’s got a visitor here in the house. Please send her my way.”

“Got it.” Dan said.

Teri appeared from stage left and looked into the house. She couldn’t see anything as the light cues were being run and blinded her from anything past the third row. She hopped off the edge of the stage with the ease of someone who had done it many times, and headed toward where she could now see Al as he stood talking to someone.

Teri got a huge smile on her face when she saw Al was talking to Richie. She hastened up the aisle. Richie stood when she approached. They hugged tight then; Richie tilted Teri’s head up by a finger under her chin and kissed her.  All of a sudden, a spot light was on Teri and Richie during their kiss. Thanks to the ever-efficient Stage Manager, and his walkie-talkie, he felt the scene needed more light. 

There was a cough, then another, and another. Soon everyone in the house on stage and the lighting booth were coughing loud.

“Alright, alright already you heathens, get back to work.” Teri said with a fake growl.

She and Richie sat and they talked.

“How much longer are you here for? I never got around to asking last night. Did you have trouble finding the place?”

Teri had a grin on her face. They didn’t do a whole lot of talking last night after they got home. That bed got a workout like it never saw before.

“No issues finding it. Your directions were perfect. I’m here Just for the day Bright eyes. I have to be in LA tomorrow.”  Richie lied through his teeth. He DID have to get to LA but not until after Opening Night. He ran his finger down her cheek and traced the pretty, little pout on her lips.

“Bright eyes.” She gave Richie a soft smile.

“My cousin Don used to call me that. Wow, many years ago. He’s passed due to AIDS. Whenever I hear Bright Eyes I think of him.”

Richie stuck that piece of information in the back of his mind as he planned to use that as one of her pet names. He surprised himself at that. Guess there is more to this one than just a good lay he thought.

“I’m stuck here all day,” Teri continued.  “Lunch break will be after we run act one of the show and I do an interview. I actually thought you were the reporter now. Can you hang out? Or, maybe do something and come back?”

“Yeah, I have some calls to make. I could run to the house if you want me out of your hair.”

“You don’t have to leave. Stay here. Why bother going back and forth?  Of course, you can go to the house if you prefer. You probably would be more comfortable. Or, I can set you up in my office if you want something quieter than this madness but stay here instead of driving back and forth. I know that, there are a couple of unused offices but I stole the comfy chair... so using mine is your best bet, “She grinned at that. “This is a great space. I love not having to schlep all my crap back and forth.  Being able to have an office in the same place as your show is so much easier. Then you can sit in on our full dress rehearsal. That would be so great! I’d love to get your feel on the show.” She was rambling as she was so happy to see him.

As they talked, Teri showed Richie to the lobby, then, through a locked entrance. They headed to her office. She opened the door with a nameplate.

Beware
Artistic Director
Enter at your own risk

Richie laughed. The place looked like a cyclone went through. There were costumes, props, old programs, and just stuff everywhere. Teri grinned.

 “It’s a sign of a good director,” She said with a smug voice at the mess. “Us creative types thrive on it. That nameplate was a gift from the cast of one of my shows. They still tease me about it.”

Richie sat at the only available spot. Teri’s comfy desk chair. He swiveled the chair around and grabbed Teri by her waist, she ended up in his lap, which was his intention. They sat there for a moment just to bask in the warmth of their bodies together.

“Hey Ter, Oh, sorry,” Al walked into the office through the open door. “That guy from the Register is here. He brought a photographer. What do you want me to do with him?”

“Feed him to Audrey?” Teri replied. 

 Teri gave a huge smile as she sat in Richie’s lap. He didn’t let go of her when Al showed up. He even tightened his grip on her waist to keep her in place.

They all laughed. Teri was directing Little Shop of Horrors and Audrey was the man-eating plant.

“Actually, have the finale set up. I want him to have a shot of Audrey, as she gets so big she moves out over the audience. Tell Curt to help with that. He made some changes yesterday so she goes past row 4. He needs to be on hand anyway to make sure she works properly.”

“Hey, you know what would be a cool shot? You, sitting on stage with the big Audrey looking over your shoulder into the camera like she is going to eat the photographer.”

Teri and Al laughed at Richie’s suggestion. It was good. VERY good. Al discussed it with the photographer and even took a couple of the pics with his own camera to use in the lobby where they set up some rehearsal shots for patrons to see before they enter the house during the interview.

Rehearsals during hell week were always a mess. What could go wrong, did go wrong. Teri was constantly up from her spot at the “table” the crew had for her made from a sheet of plywood, over some of the audience rows of seats. She constantly stopped, adjusted, and fixed things. The 50-minute act took close to two hours. Richie and Teri’s production coordinator sat with her at the table.

“Pick it up. Pick it up. Someone pick up the damn prop. Don’t leave it on stage.” She kept saying as the cast ended the scene.

The prop was left on stage. Susan moved to grab her walkie-talkie. Teri took out of her hands and used it herself.

“Al, that damn prop is still on stage. Make sure it’s off during black out. This is not acceptable.”

“I’m on it Ter. Saw it happen, and probably had the same internal ‘Pick up the damn prop’ conversation you had.

“HA! Mine wasn’t internal. Surprised you didn’t hear me. Thanks Al. Note on this Susan. Okay, keep going... No time for this kind of shit.” She said to Al, Susan, and the theatre company in general.

At one point Richie moved from his seat.

Teri, as she watched the scene with extreme concentration didn’t notice Richie move. The next thing she knew there were two hands on her shoulders. He massaged her neck, and back. It felt wonderful. She almost moaned with pleasure.  She called dinner break soon after. The need to de-stress was too tempting not to give into it.

Susan leaned into Teri to tell her dinner had arrived, and was setup waiting for everyone. Immediately Teri jumped at the chance to break.

“Dinner break everyone. ‘Bad rehearsal, good performance.’ I get it. But come on! Dinner is in the green room, ready for you Hoovers. Go enjoy your break and forget about the show for half an hour. Al, call dinner. I’ll see everyone in a little bit. We are staying on schedule tonight.” Teri said to her department heads over the walkie-talkie. Al called dinner and they were free to go.

Teri, and Richie, along with Marty, Dan, Susan, and of course Al all moved to a conference room where they set down their dinner to get a break from everyone. Teri ordered pizza, salads, garlic bread, and soda or water for everyone so no one had to leave, except the PC, who would run out for coffee for Teri and probably Richie, Al, Marty, and Dan before the final dress rehearsal began. They run it like the show with no stops no matter what happens so time was of the essence for her to get the coffee.  It was not required of her but something she knew Teri wanted, craved, and needed. She leaned over Richie’s shoulder to ask in his ear if he wanted coffee too. She didn’t want to let it get out or she would spend the next hour getting and delivering orders for everyone. He said yes then pulled out his wallet. Richie gave Susan enough money to pay for them all.

The full performance was run with a very short 10-minute break between acts for everyone to do their intermission jobs. They had to be out of the theatre by 11:30 per the union and board’s directive.

 “Okay everyone. That’s it! Quick notes and we are outta here. Susan keep me on time by 11:15 I need to stop to meet curfew.

The ever-efficient PC Susan, had her watch on the table, she passed Teri her notes, as well as Teri’s. Susan sat back, knowing her part was done for the night, other than clarification and time. She knew Teri well enough, to know that she wouldn’t look at any notes tonight. They would meet for breakfast in the morning for that. Then Susan would send out an email with notes to the entire production after her meeting with Teri. It was more efficient and less time consuming to get everyone out on time. Now Teri would just hit the big issues.

“Teri, ten minutes.”

Teri thanked Susan.

“Ter, eight minutes.”

Teri thanked Susan.

“Ter, five minutes.”

Teri just waved.

Richie watched the process. In some ways, it was a lot like his own on stage rehearsals, and sound check. but in many others it wasn’t. This was all new to him. He was fascinated. He’s seen his ex in rehearsal but TV is very different from a live stage show.

“A couple of things. First, you all got this. Just relax and have fun. Issues will be discussed and resolved in your emails tomorrow morning. Department heads we are meeting no matter what tomorrow. Susan will give you a time. Probably morning as I have a full day. We can meet and run over the issues and then be good to go.”

“That’s it. Thank you everyone. You have 11 minutes to get your stuff, and your ass out the door. I’m gonna turn over the stage to Al. Be prepared to be on stage at seven tomorrow night performance ready. We are at opening night. Call is 5 p.m. Callboard will be as usual by the stage door. I can’t wait to see what y’all came up with for the board. G’Night.”

With that, Teri left the front of the stage. She walked to Richie.

“Ready to go?” She asked.

He was surprised. He thought for sure she would stay.

“We’re not staying?”

“Nope, they’ll survive. I only have so much time with you.”

With that, they hand and hand left the theatre.     

Feed me Seymour (Get it) Little Shop of Horrors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ea5jKFGgUw