North To Alaska - T Minus 5 Days

Howdy there, folks. It's been a while since I checked in with you, and I thought I'd take a little bit this morning over a cup of coffee to bring you up to speed with what's been going on.

As the title indicates, Trish and I have been focused on getting ready for our upcoming trip to Valdez, AK for the Last Frontier Theater Conference. It's going to be a great trip... the first time I've been home in over ten years. Even though the UAA Theater Department reunion isn't officially happening, I should still be able to see some friends who are still up there, and re-visit some old haunts when I get back to Anchorage after the Conference.


The trip is definitely going to be a working vacation, though... as much as Trish and I are going to enjoy taking in the scenic beauty of Valdez and hanging out with my friends Dawson and Bostin, we're going to be busy. The very first night we get to Valdez we're performing in a short play called Two-Thirty by Rand Higbee for the Last Frontier Conference Fringe Festival. We'll have to leave Anchorage early in the morning to make it to Valdez in time for a noon tech... then a quick rehearsal before we go up at 9:30 pm (schedules are a little different up there. Since the sun won't be going down until around 3am, many events start at 10 pm or later).


For the rest of the week, Trish and I will be doing readings in the Conference's Playlab, a week-long reading-fest of new works by a variety of playwrights selected from across the country. Between the two of us, we'll be part of ten play readings. Then, on the final Saturday, we're both going to be part of the Ten-Minute Play Slam that closes out the conference. So, a busy week... we'll generally be rehearsing for one reading and then performing another each day.


This schedule makes our suitcase packing plans a little more interesting... aside from packing enough clothing to last us for a couple of weeks, we need to tailor our clothing choices to the pieces we're reading. We're not (for the most part) packing costumes... these are staged readings, after all, and not fully staged productions (the exception being Two-Thirty). We still want to represent the character's we're playing, though; we want to give the audience as good an idea of these characters as we can, so they can judge the play appropriately and give the playwrights the best feedback possible.

Thankfully, Portland's weather is preparing us for our Alaskan adventure. Generally, Portland has temperatures in the seventies this time of year, with a little rain from time-to-time. This year, though, we're experiencing decidedly Alaskan temperatures in the mid-to-lower sixties. At least we're not going to have to worry about a twenty degree temperature drop when we get off the plane. :)

So, that's what we've been doing for the past couple of weeks... reading plays, planning for our time out of town, and generally getting psyched up for our trip to "The Great Land."

This evening we'll head out to Portland's Drammy Awards at the Crystal Ballroom... maybe I'll see a few of you there!

-Harold