i'm getting paid for this?

Who knew that paradise was in Colorado?

I am in a double queen suite.  It's huge.  I have two beds, a couch, a sweet bathroom, a roomy mini-fridge, wireless internet, a really nice restaurant/bar one floor up from me, a 25 yard swimming pool and really really hot hot tub on the first floor, and about five bar/restaurants within walking distance of me.  The theatre is around the corner from my hotel, as is Circuit City, Lowe's, Staples, Target, a grocery store, Walgreen's....well everything really.  It's about 76 degrees during the day and we had a brief but fantastic thunder storm right when I finished work.

And now that's the best part.  Work.  Seriously, today I felt like I did everything right.  Sam and I basically cast the show in 45 minutes.  We had 128 kids at the audition.  We have 3 fantastic ADs (Assistant Directors), one of which is a budding make-up designer, and a phenomenal cast.  I taught Red Riding Hood, the Girlfriends and Ranger Rooney all of their blocking for the entire show with 30 minutes to spare.  We then reviewed about half the show.  Sam got through all of the Shadows blocking for the show THREE TIMES.  And we were told that we might not get to teaching them their final song and dance.  I was so proud of the girls during rehearsal today when I had them run everything they had just learned, had an AD read all of the lines that weren't theirs, and barely ever had to tell them what to do next blocking-wise.

Most importantly, today I felt like a good person.  A young woman came with her cousin today who had down syndrome and asked if it would be okay for her to audition for the play, and if there would be somebody who could work with her.  Naturally I said yes, as we do not discriminate at all.  Well this girl's case is very severe, but she is enthusiastic and follows directions well.  We cast her.  She is in the group of kids that Sam teaches, but she says that she is really doing very well, clearly enjoying herself, and that all of the other Shadows are nothing but nice to her.  Plus, we can assign one of our ADs to be her special helper, since all three of them are extremely smart and helpful.  The girl's cousin and the girl herself came and thanked us after rehearsal today.  It feels wonderful knowing that you did the right thing.

That's what is so great about this job.  In real life, even in most community theatres, she would never be given the opportunity.  But we can let her be in the show and have an experience that she would almost certainly never have otherwise.