"The Secret Garden" Opening Weekend

Left: Lily (Caitlin Kiley). Below: Archibald Craven (Bret McLaughlin) and Lily (Caitlin Kiley).
























Nice weekend! There were a few problems, of course.

In 2002, I was Stage Manager for "The Secret Garden", and on opening night, at the end of Act I, the brilliant lights behind the gate failed to function (the power strip switch was in the "off" position).

In 2008, I am Assistant Stage Manager for "The Secret Garden", and on opening night, I got confused about exactly when the gate came on stage, and so I had to open the traveller curtain and run out to my post behind the gate while exposed the full view of the audience. The folks from Runaway Stage on hand Friday night were so nice and cheery: "We saw you on stage, Marc!" (just shoot me).

In 2014, I anticipate being the Personal Assistant to the Assistant Stage Manager for "The Secret Garden", and on opening night, I hope to finally get the opening-night gate sequence right.

On Saturday night, costumer Jean Henderson was trying to find a way to exit the theatre back stage right just before a scene change. I had moved all the furniture as far away from the stage as possible to accomodate the approaching scene change, and the exit was momentarily blocked. Jean *thought* she saw a path through the furniture and tried to exit, but tripped and took a face plant on a platform. She was basically OK (small cut and bruise), but it was embarrassing.

Sunday went quite well, though.

Left: Anne-Marie Pringle, Norma-Jean Russell, Darryl Strohl and Jabriel Shelton (both obscured), Karina Summers, Scott Sablan, Paul Fearn, and Bridget Maguire.

Below: Anne-Marie Pringle, Scott Sablan, Bridget Maguire, Caitlin Kiley, Richard Lui, Paul Fearn, and Joshua Smith (obscured).



Left: Dickon (Joshua Smith) and Mary Lennox (Kaylynn Rothleder).

Below: "Opening Dream". Scott Sablan, Karina Summers, Bridget Maguire, Aaron Rothleder, Norma-Jean Russell, Paul Fearn, and Darryl Strohl.



Left: Lily (Caitlin Kiley) takes a bow on opening night. Back arc, from near to far: Christian Salmon, Emily Jo Seminoff, Andrew Lampinen, Aaron Rothleder, Linnea Lampinen, Rick Eldredge, Darryl Strohl, Norma-Jean Russell, Jabriel Shelton, Paul Fearn, Scott Sablan, Dannette Vassar, and Richard Lui.