Deck the halls!
It’s that time of year again and the CATCO staff has been busily converting Studio 3 into a veritable Winter Wonderland! It’s not an easy task, but we always have a lot of fun with it. Our rehearsal space isn’t meant to be a performance venue, and we always push the limits with the power that we have available in there (thanks to a donation of L.E.D. lights we can actually light up the whole stage in a variety of colors!)
The process begins when Keya (our Master Electrician) hangs the lights, the stage is built, and we all start putting up Christmas trees. We’ve discovered over the last couple of years where our talents lie in Christmas decorating – and it’s usually up to me to fluff the trees and provide some quality control…
- Me (Cheryl Ruschau – Production Stage Manager) draping the garland while very concerned about the tree Erika and Jon put together…
Allison Walker, the Stage Management Fellow from the 07-08 season, joins us to help for the 3rd year (and loans us her Christmas tree, too!). She and Jess Jackson made the snowflakes that you’ll see hanging, and Allison actually took them home this year to fix them up and re-glitter them for us.
We listen to some of the wide variety of Christmas music that Keya has on her i-pod while we decorate, focus lights, and try to remember how everything looked last year. In two days (or less) the room is ready and we have a dress rehearsal with Jon Putnam in his elf tights while the rest of us are ready for our long Christmas naps.
Santaland runs through December 27 – come see the final product of our decorating and tell us what you think!
- Our festive fellows – Erika Prizzi (left) and Kelly McBane (right) showing their Holiday Spirit
Whitney Thiessen (Assistant Production Manager) building the stage – he’s no longer allowed to decorate after he and Jon Putnam put together the world’s most unfortunate Christmas tree last year
Erika Prizzi (junior tree fluffer) supervising tree assembling with Jon.
–Cheryl Ruschau, Production Stage Manager
Cheryl – I am so sorry I missed the decorating this year! Even at home I am out of luck do to the puppy dog. Plus, a tree would add an extra obsticle on my wheelchair race track. I look forward to seeing you and many of CATCO’s friends at the Holiday Party on Tuesday!
Cheryl– Looks like so much fun!! I’ve been trying to decorate our tree with an over-zealous 4-year old, a curious 1-year-old, and an 8-week-old puppy running around. I’m sure your stage Christmas decorations look a million times better than our tree does right now!