Butterflies

Last night was night one of the parks Ghosts of Providence Lantern Tour. This is probably our biggest event of the season (or at least one of 2 or 3 of them...in any case, it's traditionally a big event.) I had a part & a script to memorize. (Actually 2 parts to memorize...long story, but I'm glad I did 'cause I ended up doing the part I wasn't assigned to but learned "just in case"). I have to admit, I was a little nervous that I would bomb it. There are a couple of sections where my part is very long winded...lots of lines to learn. But all in all, my co-worker/co-star :0) & I were able to get enough practice run throughs in before having to do it for real in front of people & all went well. We had 6 groups come through &did well for each group. Kinda makes you feel good to have pulled something like that off after being apprehensive about it.

Night two is this evening. I'm not worried about it any more. We've got it down. It should go great. I'll post some pics maybe tomorrow.

There was a bit of excitement last night while we were rehearsing. I almost lost a foot & lower leg. My co-worker was suppose to enter the scene towards the end of my first paragraph by coming down a manually operated elevator (pull yourself up & lower yourself down by a big rope). We had finished one run through & she got in the elevator to pull herself up so we could go through it again. Well, the elevator decided it didn't want to move. She gets out & I give it a try with no success.

So I step half out of it & start fighting with the rope thinking it may be caught up on something thus not allowing us to move. Keep in mind I still have one foot on the elevator at this point. The next thing I know the elevator starts moving. And because it works off weights, & there's no one in the elevator to weigh it down, it starts shooting up...with my right foot still on it!

My attempts to move were pretty useless considering I now only had one foot on the floor... & the other foot was now at a height somewhere around my head. Who knew I was that flexible...I haven't done yoga in something like 3 years! Mandy was able to grab my flying foot & pull it off of the elevator, thus saving my limb from amputation. The elevator then proceeded to fly up to the 4th floor of the mill at speeds of creepy intimidation.

Luckily for us, neither of us were on it. Apparently, the last time that happened was about 6 years ago, & there was someone in it when it flew up all the way to the 4th floor. The occupant was extremely bumped & bruised & nearly broke their femur. They were pretty injured from the sounds of it. So thank god we were both okay. But it was a close call that I would rather have done without. It makes me good that my employer is willing to put me & co-workers at risk of serious injury for the sake of making a cool entrance. If we would have been provided with proper training, perhaps this wouldn't have happened, but the thing is a safety risk regardless & just shouldn't ever be used in my opinion. Luckily I came away with a few sore muscles & small scrap on me knee - nothing more. The situation could have easily turned serious.