Granted, this is not an issue most people face in their lives. But over the past couple months, I have been on a quest for Victorian era Bulgarian officers uniforms. Seriously. We need them for our production of Arms and the Man which dresses, oh, on Friday. As of last Thursday- still no uniforms. I was going crazy. Finding these stupid uniforms had pretty much taken over my life.
Back in beginning of August, I thought about trying to have them built. It would be great to have some in stock. That didn't work out since most uniform companies are madly building band uniforms this time of year. So we decided- renting it is. Ok- so I contact the 3 biggest rental houses in the US- one in New York City (which I used to frequent when I was in Philly) and 2 in LA- no luck. The people in other theatres in town SWEAR they got their uniforms from LA when they did Arms and the Man. And that may very well be, but the other challenge we are facing is that one of the actors we are trying to find a uniform for is 6'6" and another is 6'3"- for anyone who has ever rented or borrowed, they know that most uniforms are TINY. So this has been another...ahem... challenge(pain in my tush). And since I am not designing this show, there has also been a lot of confusing third party communication with our very busy guest designer. And to top it all off...at work, our server crashed so I did not have access to any of the responses to the 20+ inquiries I sent out as of last week. Needless to say, I had the entire company praying like crazy- and I prayed, but quite frankly, I was too busy trying to find those DANG UNIFORMS!
Thankfully- on Thursday afternoon and into Friday morning- I began working with a wonderful group of people at a rental house in New York called "The Costumer." These ladies, Anne and Erika- have been a delight to work with. And while the uniforms are not the uniforms of our dreams, they are in the ballpark and they FIT and with a little strategic trim- they will be the uniforms of our dreams. AND (God is good- ALL the time) they turned out to cost much less than originally quoted- which means we won't go over budget! Huzzah! Suffice it to say- I've spent the majority of time over the past 2 weeks working on this project and if I never see another uniform, I'll be a happy girl. But that is a very unrealistic expectation in my line of work. I am just happy we found them, in fact, I feel like a 50lb. weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I have actually slept through the night the past few days.
I wish I could say I was calm and full of peace and grace during this process, but I think I pretty much flunked that. I am thankful for my husband, who was surprisingly patient and supportive and extremely thankful for God- who didn't love me any less during that time than He does when I am calm and full of peace and grace. I find that concept mind boggling and extremely comforting. I really tried to be full of calm and peace and joy- blah, blah, blah. But- sadly, the flesh won out in that battle. I have repented and moved on- but oh, how I hate it when I behave badly- especially when non-believers are involved. Oh well.
In other news- we auditioned for the Christmas play at Northwest yesterday. I actually had a great time. Poor Marty was very nervous- but I thought he did great- and I say that with my "director brain" vs. my "wife heart." There was a scene he did with another lady- a difficult scene- and there was so much beautiful subtlety in it- I was really impressed. Amazingly enough, the role I had the most fun with was "Aunt Pookie" who really is a mean old biddy- and I was the youngest to read for her. But she's a hoot to play. "I guess I should be ashamed that I didn't love him. But I'm not." She really is a mean old biddy.
I am intrigued to see what happens. The group of folks who auditioned look like a fun group to get involved with- they are big fun. And I am DELIGHTED to not be the one in charge, after directing Christmas plays for 5 years running (in addition to acting, designing and building sets and costumes and lights- egad) and then having to block the variety shows (snooze) for 3 more years after that. Running a drama ministry is exhausting and draining. Right now, I am just happy to be part of the team and leave the running, directing and managing to someone else.
So that's all the news here. Life feels pretty good today. Mostly because we have victory over those dang uniforms. Funny what makes you lose your peace, isn't it?
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