Ahh, tech week.

I had initially thought that I was going to take my Easter afternoon to go see Circle's A Perfect Wedding before heading off to our second Brodie preview. Shortly and swiftly into tech I realized that was a foolish idea and it was quickly excised from my mind. I hope I can get out to see it after we open, but this weekend was dedicated to output, not intake.

And speaking of which! Signal's The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie opens downstairs at the Chopin tonight and runs through May 16. Come rock and roll with us Scottish school girl style and feast your eyes upon the finest assistant direction this side of Bonnie Kilmeny. For realsies, though, this has been a great experience and I'm going to come out of it feeling not only like I've been a part of a helluva production, but that I also had a part in making it a helluva production. This wasn't a "which one of you had the grande macchiato?" AD gig -- I can watch the show and know that I had a hand in helping to shape parts of it as well, which is immensely gratifying feeling for an assistant anything. Big shouts out not only to everyone involved in the show and the rest of the Signal gang, but especially to director Ronan Marra for rolling with me on this. He's been open, flexible and decisive through the whole process and a blast to work with on the other side of the fourth wall. So now that the process part of it is coming to a close, come see what we hath wrought! Not only am I proud of the show, but the audience response from the previews has been very good, so I feel quite comfortable saying you'll like it, methinks.

Ticket information is here, and every night is Industry Night at Signal Ensemble, so bring your proof of industry with you for a $10 ticket. It sounds like opening is already sold out, but there are plenty of other opportunities to come say hey -- may I suggest in particular the April 23rd charity night for the Chicago Academy for the Arts? Or the May 9th benefit performance from which all proceeds will go to Will Schutz (man of talent, friend of Signal, and Orgie winner extraordinaire) as he continues to battle pancreatic cancer? Or the matinees on April 19th and 26th, where you will have a chance to say hey to my smiling mug as I work box office? Or, you know, whenever you can -- we'll be glad to have you!

P.Rekk
2009