Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday....

Sunday April 26, 2010


I watched Mona Lisa Smile with Julia Roberts and a ballywood film called Bride and Prejudice. I enjoyed Mona Lisa Smile better just because it had a strong message of female rights with a twist. Lewis and Alex moved in today, they are both with electrics. The house will be even fuller soon or so rumors say. I was not very productive over all but it was nice to relax.

Monday April 26, 2010

Today I worked on the cinder block units again. I did a lot of caulking again today. Patti and I painted in the grout and cinder blocks. We all had lunch together again and after lunch I did a little bit more bucket washing. The carpenters brought over the last cinder block unit which is a door unit on wheels, it rotates in the show. I spent the rest of my afternoon putting on the first layer of caulking on to that unit.

Tuesday April 27, 2010

In the morning I spent finishing the first layer of caulking and starting on the second for the door unit. Phyllis made a strawberry rhubarb pie for all of us and it was fantastic. I had never tried rhubarb before and it was wonderful. In the afternoon I finished the second coat of caulking on the door unit. Then on the opposite side on the cinder block was the tile area so I put the green base coat on to the opposite side of the unit. Then I spent my last half hour cleaning out prevalves and misters because we were running low on clean ones.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Week 5...

Sunday April 18, 2010


Today I went to the airport to do a dry run of my trip in two weeks. Carla is giving me Friday off in two weeks so I can go home and visit my family given the recent event of my Aunt passing. I may not get to go to the funeral that is tomorrow but I will be able to go home and visit my family. Also, in other good news I forgot to mention Carla offered me a job to extend my internship until December if I would like to stay for the whole season. In mid May we are going to discuss my actual dates.

Monday April 19, 2010

Carla let us sleep in this morning and we started work at 9:00 am. The whole team got everything loaded into Patti and Phyllis’ cars and we headed over to the Chester Theatre. Then we loaded everything into the theatre and started preparing the place so we could paint the floor. It took a while to get everything cleaned up and masked off. Then we put the primer coat on. By this time it was lunch and the four of us decided to walk into downtown Chester which was a block away and have lunch. We went to this small little place called Smith’s Market, it is really cute and has dishes similar to Panera.

All of us walked back to the Chester theatre after lunch and we began preparing for the base coat because the primer was dry. We had to paint in all the little screw holes in the floor because it was faster then trying to get them with a roller. So in the next step we put a base coat down for the floor and left so it would dry. I spent the rest of my day consolidating more show paint and getting rid of old paint.

Tuesday April 20, 2010

In the morning we went down to the Chester theatre again Sam and I painted the floor some more. When we got back Carla had me mixing texture for some of the units in Band, Geeks! which is our next show. We all had lunch and after lunch I finished mixing the texture. I then started working on the cinderblock and tile sample for the next show. I also cleaned more buckets today and cleaned around the shop. It’s Phillip’s Birthday on Friday so were all going out to some wing place. It sounds exciting. I also was aloud to run to the hard ware store and get supplies and I took inventory, so Carla is letting me have more responsibility, yay.

Wednesday April 21, 2010

Today I spent most of the morning cleaning and doing maintenance things around the shop. I also did some inventory because we got a shipment of paint in. I made a run to the hardware store for some caulking. Then before lunch we masked off the two new units the carpenters brought over for the show. After lunch we primed the units and then used the texture I had made to create a cinderblock look on the units. It was very interesting to see the plastic paneling take shape into something that appeared to be stone. The texture I made is 3 parts joint compound (light weight) 1.5 parts flexbond and 3 parts sand. The mixture is fascinating to me for some reason because is makes something appear to be something it is not. Then when I came home I made hamburgers for dinner, yum.

Thursday April 22, 2010

In the morning Phyllis and I kept working on the units for Band, Geeks! by adding more texture to the cinderblock areas. We also recaulked everything because when the caulk dries it smaller then when you applied it, since Carla wanted more bulk to it we added another layer. The whole group had lunch again which was nice we discussed America’s food problem it was interesting. The rest of the day I spent caulking so there is not much to report. Also, there was this wicked thunder storm that rolled in and rained buckets but was gone by the time we left work. When we all stepped out side in was breath taking because it looking like a spring morning.

Friday April 25, 2010

In the morning I kept caulking the two units and adding a second layer. Needless to say it takes a long time to do and a lot longer then I thought it would take because you have to be precise and make sure it looks correct. I went to Subway for lunch and it reminds me of home even though I know they exist all across the United States. When I returned from lunch Sam and I went to Chester and took down the masking paper and cleaned up. We basically made it look like we were never there except the floor is ready for the show now. For the rest of the afternoon Sam, Carla and I primed the brick units. I also cleaned more when I had some down time.

In the evening the carpenters and painters went to New London for Phillip’s birthday. We went to his favorite wing place, it’s called Hot Rod’s Restaurant and Bar. The wings were very spicy needless to say but it was so good. Everybody played pool, and there was a Wii there to play, and foosball so it was a pretty cool hang out place.

Saturday April 25, 2010

In the morning I got up and took a walk around the neighborhood. There are not a lot of side walks around here so most of my walking was of the side or in the road. It was a little scary because people are speed demons around here. I watched a couple of movies during the day and worked on my paper. I was able to relax today I also did laundry and went to the grocery store.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Friday and Saturday....

Friday April 16, 2010


Not all of us came in today just Krista, Sam, and I. I washed buckets all day long. Literally all day long so it doesn’t give me much to talk about in this entry. At the very end of the day during dinner break we did some notes over at the theatre. In the evening I went to see the opening show with Patti, Krista and her fiancĂ© Drew, he is the assistant technical director. The show was very good everyone was amazing, the costumes, lighting, and scenery were well done. After the show Goodspeed hosts a Opening Night Party so we all went to that, it’s for employees, donors, and board members. It was a very classy event.
Saturday April 17, 2010

I finally was able to sleep in a little today which was exciting because my body is so used to this new schedule I have not been able to in weeks. I got up and did laundry at the little laundry place that Goodspeed has for employees. Then I went grocery shopping ay Stop & Shop which was fun, I find grocery shopping calming for some odd reason. When I got home I made spaghetti and meat balls, yum. I watched the movie Made of Honor that I got from the library earlier this week. It was a nice relaxing day.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Thursday...

This morning we all meet at the theater to do notes from last night’s tech rehearsal. Then we all went over to the shop and cleaned a little more. Lunch was good today even though it was the regular deli sandwiches. The rest of my day was spent removing sample pieces from frames and then applying new canvas on the frames for the next show. I was surprised how many canvas flats there were and how many were used. It’s also nice to be able to do samples for drops on canvas frames. I got paid today, yay.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Wednesday....

Today the whole group met up at the theatre and we did some paint notes and we cleaned up the road box a little bit because props had made a mess of it. When we all got back to the shop we cleaned up a little more and swept the floor. We also put new paper down on all of the tables and the moveable storage units. There was lunch at the theatre again but this time it was hot dogs, yum, and they had turkey dogs that weren’t too bad.


After lunch we went back and had bucket wars, which is a game the paint ladies made up to make the time of washing buckets go faster. Patti won for the first time ever so it was pretty funny. She won the golden bucket and boy did we take a lot of pictures. We were also let out early, which was nice.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday....

Sunday April 11, 2010


Today I got up at 8:30 am which I was not happy about and try as I might I could not fall back asleep. I got up and went hiking at Devil’s Hoplake State Park it was very pretty and had a large creek winding through it. I made pierogies for lunch and they were awesome.

In the afternoon I read my book outside and sat out in the sun for a little bit. I also, worked on the SYE paper for a while. I went with Tyler and Eric to the Gelston House for dinner, it’s the restaurant right next to the opera house. All three of us hung out outside of the theatre talking to people on there dinner break. I talked to some people back home after dinner. In the evening I watched some TV.

Monday April 12, 2010

In the morning we all met at the theatre to take care of paint notes. In the afternoon I went back to the theater to help paint the border on the act drop. I also, aged some rope for the show with a pre-valve. I was really fun because I had never used one before. Lunch was provided today so that was fun, and there was egg salad, yum. The act drop was pronounced done because the carpenters will be loading it in at 6:00 am tomorrow morning.

Tuesday April 13, 2010

Today all I did was wash buckets, brushes, spatulas, etc. For some of the afternoon I cleaned the entire shop more because I don’t think a pant shop is ever technically clean. The whole group had lunch at the theater again which was nice even though the theater only serves sandwiches for lunch, I have been noticing a trend. In all it was a very productive day and now I am going to go over to the theatre for dinner and I hope its not sandwiches.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Saturday..

Today I got into the shop at 9:00 am to do some smaller projects that needed finished. In the morning I worked on the hotel sign for a little bit and base coated the footlights because the lighting people needed them by 11:00 am this morning. I then proceeded to put more of the show paint into the road box while doing this I cleaned up the shop a little bit. All the painters went down to the theater for lunch because during tech and dress rehearsals the theater provides meals for the whole company which is awesome.


After lunch I kept working on the road box and putting dirty buckets by the sinks to be washed. I then cleaned off the mixing table and reorganized it. I also, cleaned off over half of the deck and took the eight bags of trash out. Needless to say I cleaned for a very long time today but the shop looks better now. When I got off work I went and threw some laundry in at Goddspeed’s laundry room and then went to dinner at the theatre. I went to Wal-Mart and got some new sunglasses because I broke my old ones. I also went to Stop and Shop tonight and got a little bit of groceries but not a lot seeing as how Goodspeed is providing food for most of the week.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Friday....

Today I based out another coat on the porch pieces and then Patti and I put stars onto the footlights. This morning I also perforated our last sign in the show, Thank God. I then pounced it onto some sticky back paper and drew it in with pencil. Then it was time for lunch and some people went out to the Cooking Company but I just ate what I had packed.


The afternoon I spent putting show paint into little deli cups with Patti. Any extra paint we put in a large deli cup and put it on a shelf organized by color. Some of the paint became combined and labeled as back paint. My last hour at work was spent making the back of a flat look aged. I used brown and black by watering it down and making each of them into a glaze. I had a lot of fun with it and now I am at home debating what to do on this Friday night because we will be working tomorrow.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Thursday...

Today during the morning hours I painted the first coat of lettering on the shootout banner with Phyllis. That was that the two of us did all morning needless to say it was really stressful because you can’t mess up on final lettering. Then we all had lunch and some of us had leftover pizza from the night before.


During the afternoon we tested the sky drop to make sure that is was the right intensity for the stage lighting and some of it needed to be darkened more so we stappled it back down and Julia finished it just before we left for the day. The rest of my afternoon was spent base coating some pieces in the porch scene and more lettering. Also, Annie Oakley was done so she got taken to the shop. The banners with the Indian and cowboy were done so they were also taken over to the opera house. Were going to have to work again this weekend but I don’t really mind because I am learning an awful lot.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Wednesday....

This morning when I got into to the shop I worked on perforating the shoot out banner with Patti. Once it was perforated we pounced it onto the drop itself. By this time it was lunch when we had finished pouncing the drop. I went on a walk today with all of the painters and it was fun. It was cool to see what was behind the shop, there were several small businesses. After lunch cleaned the shop up a bit and I painted a second coat of dark green onto the railing as well as a base coat for wood grain on the railing pieces. I painted some of the shoot out banner and helped flip the Annie drop one more time. The rest of my night was spent cleaning and washing brushes. The whole group got pizza for working late which was really nice, and yummy.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Tuesday...

This morning I pounced the entire shootout banner by myself and helped take down a banner that needed to get transported to the opera house. After lunch I finished pouncing the whole banner. I got to use the electric pounce machine which was really cool because you run a wand across the paper on top of a metal plate and it burns hole into the paper, it’s a lot faster then just using a regular pounce wheel. In the afternoon I got to paint the moon for the show essentially it’s a light box that is lit at some point in the show, when I am not sure. Today I got to load up the road box which was very exciting because it’s interesting what exactly you need to load up ad move to another space. Trust me there is a lot more in there then just the show paint, spray paint, latex paint, brushes, buckets, paint concentrate, bamboo sticks, just to name a few. I also painted a railing that I think is apart of the train scene. Today was a very insightful day and it was sunny outside.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Week 3...

Went into work and started back painting the train seats which didn’t take very long. Krista and I made a box for the shoot out banner and then stapled the drop into it. While Phyllis and Krista were starching the drop I took bridges out of the large Indians and pioneers drop. I also covered the bottom lettering with bogus paper so they wouldn’t get messed up while the majority of the drop was being painted. We all had lunch and I ran to the library in town and printed off application stuff I couldn’t send via email. All afternoon I spent drawing out the letters for the shoot out banner so that tomorrow we can ounce it. I am now going to finish the applications I printed out in the library and send them out tomorrow.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Friday and Saturday....

Friday April 2, 2010


In the morning I pounced out Annie for the drop. Phyllis and I pounced all of the lettering on to the bottom of the Annie drop. The rest of the morning was spent starting to ink in the lettering. We all went to The Cooking Company for lunch and it wass very good. The place is kind of a cross between a Panera and a Boston market.

When we all got back from lunch we spent the rest of the day inking in the lettering and managed to finish with enough time to pounce the horse and Annie onto the upper half of the drop. It was quite an accomplishment to get that much done on the drop in a day but then again everything has to be done by Thursday and we have six drops to finish.

Patti had all of us over for a lasagna dinner and some of the carpenters came over too. It was nice to just hang out and not talk about work. I could tell everyone just needed to unwind because all of us are kind of tense about finishing everything on time. I got to meet Patti’s husband Bob he is really nice.

Saturday April 3, 2010

Today we all got in at 9:00 am and worked on the projects we were working on Friday. Emily went to work on the Indian banners, Julia kept working on her sky. Krista, Patti, Carla and I kept working on the Annie drop. We inked in the horse and Annie herself. The four of us managed to paint in all of the lettering at the bottom of the drop which was awesome to get knocked out. All of us had leftovers from last night for lunch and the lasagna was as awesome as it was last night.

I ran over to the laundry room to get laundry done for the week because it’s not open on Sundays and it was around 5:00 pm so it closed soon. Goodspeed has a laundry room for their employees to use, it’s very nice of them to provide one so close. I think one of the administrators lives above it. 

I am also including pictures of the paint shop so you can see my daily work space.




Thursday, April 1, 2010

Happy April Fools Day

Today during the morning I finished completely pouncing everything on the Annie Oakley pounce. Then we turned the Annie drop over after we cut whole in it and stapled scrim over the whole. Patti, Phyllis and I then proceeded to glue the scrim to the drop. The whole group went outside for lunch today because the sun was actually out for the first time all week. It was nice to sit out side and get some vitamin D. I asked Krista and Emily about resumes and interview since they were both interviewing people for summer jobs right now. I got some fun little points about how to make my resume seem I wrote it just for that company and to not sound like I know everything in the world but I knew about the last part.


After we got back from lunch I started painting in a second coat of lettering on the two drops I have been working off and on all week. I took one of the bridges out of the sky drop and then went back to lettering. After the second coat of color was put on the drops Patti and I put two coats of red on the letters for the Indian/pioneer drop. I then took masking off the top of the train where small windows are. Both Patti and I snapped chalk lines on one of the lettered drops that were done.