A Hobby | New Assistant

The forecast for this weekend is VERY promising. I am headed out with Joanna, Sue Jane and Anya to scour the weekend flea markets for objects to use in costumes for the show. I have been warned repeatedly that these markers are quite a site and great fun. I have also been told to be as discreet as possible about speaking English if I am interested in buying something. Prices for an American who doesn’t know how to barter are guaranteed to be higher than for a local. Luckily we have Joanna who is not only a local, but has said that she loves to barter…or as she put it, “I don’t do it to save money, I do it as a hobby.” This is my kind of gal.

I met my new assistant Anya yesterday morning and she is wonderful. With a strong background in theatre, graphic design and set design, I am certain she will be excellent to work with for the next week. And, another blessing, her English is good and she was more than willing to take me around the city all day yesterday to procure what I needed in order to get working on the designs we’ll be preparing for the next week of rehearsals. Fabric shops, department stores and artist suppliers were scoured for the better part of the day before we were able to break for coffee and enjoy the new tools that I’ll be using to get to work this evening and tomorrow in the studio.

Without the help of these people I would be wasting incredible amounts of time to find the simplest of things. Surely it would have taken me an entire day to just fine a tape measure or one swatch of cloth. With Anya it was a matter of a quick train ride and a few quick taxi trips before we had everything we needed.