Red Sangria and Planters'

Yep, it's 12:30 in the morning/night, I am drinking my second glass of Red Sangria and eating Planters' Peanuts and so you know what that means - or you don't. I'll tell you. It means it is Tech Week at Parkway!

Last year, it became a bit of a ritual when I got home late, late at night after our Tech Week rehearsals: I'd sneak around in the kitchen, put my bags down ever so silently, and tippy-toe into my bedroom (to get my nighties and remove my contacts) and then I'd get yelled at by a sleeping/snoring Scotty P. who vehemently explained, "I WAS NOT SLEEPING BECAUSE YOUR LOUD ASS WOKE ME UP AND WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? WHAT TIME IS IT? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" to which I'd respond, "Where do you think I've been? We live in Burnsville you know. I was at Parkway," to which he'd sleepily crone, "It's awfully damn late to be out. But good night sweet pea." And then he'd gently creep back into slumber, from whence he had come - despite his claims to the contrary.

Okay, that isn't the point of the story, but he is a light sleeper and just tonight claims that my car door woke him and so my quietness was lost. After all that other jazz would come the true ritual: I'd retire to the dark living room, get my obligatory glass of Red Sangria and can of Planters' Peanuts (with sea salt) and put on some true crime late-night television to settle in with Facebook or the memories of a long, hilarious evening at the Parkway Playhouse. And I would think to myself, "I am so happy right now."

This might all sound completely corny because it truly is. It also happens to be the honest truth. Late nights before the opening of a show at the Parkway Playhoues with my castmates/friends/second family are my favorite summertime treat. I know it's only my second summer and I am relatively green in terms of the long storied history of Parkway, but I don't care. You might be hard-pressed to find someone who loves it quite so much as I do or who feels so passionately it changed their lives so dramatically.

Or, there might be a million of us out there and so be it. Parkway has been around generations and lifetimes before me and I hope it lasts hundreds of years after I'm gone. But before my departure, I hope to enjoy plenty more summers full of new stories and giggles.For now, it's four days until we open "Annie" and I"ve got my Sangria and nuts all lined up. Yippee for me and Summer 2010! I already know it's going to be a good one.

It already is.