We've hit the halfway point. I have so many stories, and so many backstage happenings, but one of the downsides of being in professional theater is a limit on what I can publish - including several hundred wonderful pictures which would constitute a copyright violation.

It's been a great run, sold out every nigh but opening, and standing ovations almost every performance, except the last one, where it was so cold by curtain call that people were too swaddled to stand. We didn't take it personally. It's amazing to think that this show will be the means of making about 10,000 people happy this summer. How neat is that?

The best part of a long-ish (date wise, not show-wise) run is the developments that occur as the show goes along. I was out for cookies with one of my Liesls, and she was talking about the new things she finds each show: new motivation, new inflections. She said it's great, especially since it's her second summer in the role. I've been trying to find new ways to say things, especially in the emotional scenes, and I tried to pep up "Confidence" one a good friend warned me that it looked a bit forced.

My second show has just opened, and I'm still finding myself backstage panicking because a cue has come and gone, realizing just in time that it's the cue not for my own character, but the one I'm understudying. I asked the other female understudy if she was having the same problem. She is. It's too bad it's so dark backstage. With all the free time I have as my glorified walk-on, I could be quilting.

I splurged with my first acting paycheck and bought batting, so my quilt I brought along as my summer project is laid out, safety pinned, and I'm listening to the 7th Harry Potter on CD while I work on it. We had our hot tub up and running for a couple of days, but today it's been drained again. I spent both nights out in it, especially after the frozen SOM night.

Four week and I'll be back in Seattle.