Orientation

CHIRP! CHIRP! CHIRP!

I opened my eyes, wondering what that sound was.

CHIRP! CHIRP! CHIRP!

I sat up looking around the room. It was just getting light outside. As I turned my head, the sound got louder or softer.

CHIRP! CHIRP! CHIRP!

I raised my hands to run my eyes. The sound got really loud. I looked at my arm. Sheesh, I thought. My new watch was blinking and chirping happily at me. I fiddled with the buttons until it stopped. It was 05:00. I stood up, stretched and grabbed my towel and soap and headed for the bathroom.

After my shower, I padded back to the room, pulled out clothes for the day, redressed my foot, which thankfully looked much better today. I thought about Klaus and the nightmare we had gone through to get out of Morocco and get him to doctor.

I pulled my gear together and strpped everything down. I was a bit sad to leave this place. It was comfortable, clean, quiet, and the breakfast was amazing. Just then my stomach growled in agreement.

I geared up and headed downstairs. The matron was busily dusting and straightening things that had no dust and were already perfectly straight. I wished her good morning and asked to pay for last night.

"Good morning, Mr. Rex," she said pleasantly. "I trust you were comfortable?"

"Oh yes, I had a wonderful stay and I also want to thank Mr. Tomas. He was very accommodating," I said.

"Yes, he's a great help," she smiled. "I couldn't run this place without him." She was busy writing out a receipt for the two nights. She handed it to me. "Don't forget to eat, yes. You can't work without a full stomach."

I took the receipt, checked it more as a formality than anything else. I paid the difference, and matron led me into the dining room.

"Enjoy!" she beamed.

Tomas came in with the usual cold cuts, cheese, rolls, and coffee.

"Good morning, sir," he said as he laid the table. "I hope you slept well."

"Indeed I did. Thank you for your service. You've been very kind."

"My pleasure, sir."

When he left the room, I folded up a few Deutsch mark and slid them under my plate. I ate ravenously. I would be staying at the theatre dorm for the next five weeks, and I was sure the breakfasts would not be this good.

I finished and geared up. Tomas came in again to clear the table. I wondered if he had a spy hole to know when to appear, but in any case, I thanked him again and went out. I met matron and thanked her again, remembered to hand over the key and stepped out into the brightening day.

It was a bit warmer and cloudy today. There was a breeze, but it wasn't quite as refreshing as the day before. At the S-bahn stop, there were several people already waiting. When the car came, it was nearly full. I paid the fare and stood near the rear, rather than taking my pack off and trying to fit into a crowded seat. After a time, I recognized the area and prepared to get off. I pressed the signal and climbed down when the car stopped.

I walked up the street and came again to the large courtyard, and once again I was stunned by the majestic opulence of the building.

After ogling for a minute or two, I headed for the alleyway and the stage door. This morning the door was open and I spotted Karl on stage, setting up chairs and tables. There were about 20 chairs, so I assumed this was a company meeting and not just for the new guys. I found a corner by the Stage Manager's desk and dropped my pack. Karl had just put out coffee service on one of the tables.

"Good morning, Karl," I said enthusiastically.

"Good morning, er…Rex, correct?"

"Yes, that's correct," I confirmed.

"Please, have some coffee. You are a bit early, but I imagine everyone will arrive shortly."

I took a cup and fixed up some coffee just as another guy walked in. He was tall, curly brown hair, ruggedly built, and dressed to work.

"Hello," he said. "I'm Tomas." I nearly gagged on my coffee. The name Tomas was becoming a theme for this adventure. The only difference was that he said it with "sh" at the end – Tomash.

"Hi, I'm Rex," I said. "I'm on the construction crew. From Texas."

"Ah, good," Tomash said. "I'm a carpenter, as well. I am from Varsava." It took me a minute to realize he was saying Warsaw, Poland. "Did you just arrive?"

"No, I came in Saturday morning and stayed at a zimmerfrei," I said. "How long have you been here?"

"I just arrived last evening," he said. "It seems you and I are the foreign crew for this show. I am told they only hire one or two per show."

"Yup, that's what I heard, as well. It's an amazing theatre," I said looking around. "I can't believe the size of this stage."

Tomash laughed. "Yes, it is big, but this just the third largest proscenium stage in the world. My home theatre in Varsava is the second. The first is Opéra Bastille in Paris. If you have not been there, you must try to see it."

I couldn't imagine what a bigger stage would look like. The one I was standing on was already big enough to house several families.

As we chatted, more people filtered in – more carpenters, electricians, soundmen, a pair of cute costumer girls, the lighting designer…they kept coming.

I looked at my watch. It was 07:30, and crew call was 08:00. I made a mental note that on time here meant at least a half-hour early. I was glad I had done a dry run yesterday.

As we milled about doing introductions, a man appeared out of nowhere pushing a wheeled table with something covered by a cloth across the stage. He was a stern looking man, about average height and sharply dressed in a casual kind of way, completely bald but for a fringe of grey-black hair. His face ws dominated by a prominent nose that pulled his features to a point that made him look slightly like an eagle, with narrow piercing eyes and a complete lack of laugh lines.

By the time he reached center stage, everyone had settled into the chairs and was waiting quietly. The man came around the head table and stood perfectly upright and unmoving.

"Most of you know me, but for the new people, I am called Bruno Heisman. I am the Technical Director for this production. As you know, we are doing "Die Fledermaus" by Herr Johann Strauss, Peter Christoph Runge will play Gabriel von Eisenstein." A murmur rose up, apparently a famous name, though I didn't know it. "And maestro Nikolaus Harnoncourt will be conducting." A bigger murmur rose up and even I had head this name – one of the top conductors in the world.

"I apologize," Bruno said, "Tomash, Rex, I assume you both speak German?"

We nodded yes.

"Good, just so," Bruno continued. He whipped the cloth off the table to reveal a model of the set we were going to build. "This is our setting. As you can see," he manipulated a crank on the side, "it is composed of three turntables that rotate to change the scenery."

We all oohed and ahhed, and it was a magnificent design. I wanted to look at it close up, but no one else moved, so I sat still.

"We have four weeks to build and install it," Bruno continued. "The carpenters will stay on until opening to make any adjustments, then you will be cut unless you are on the running crew. During the final week, we will have a soft run-through, a tech run-through, a full tech rehearsal, and a final dress. The turntables will be built in place," he said waving his hand to indicate the stage, "and the rest will be done in the shop. Tomash and Rex, you will build the turntables."

I didn't know about Tomash, but I suddenly felt as if I had an entire flock of hummingbirds in my stomach. I had never built a turntable, certainly not three of them, and definitely never as big as these.

Bruno went on a few more minutes talking about the production in terms of painting, costumes, special lighting effects, and sound design. After an hour, he stopped and invited everyone to come up and see the model. Instead of the usual opera design of completely separate scene units, this show would be built in four sections that would rotate to form different settings. It was very complex and intricate for a comedic operetta, I thought, but it was beautiful.

One of the other hands, apparently seeing my thoughts on my face said, "We have a rivalry with the Stadtztheatre in Vienna. They keep trying to outdo us, so we must always go bigger to show them up," he grinned.

"Please follow me," Bruno called out. We all fell into line through the sound door and down a large passage into the scene shop. It was a massive and long building with heavy planks for the floor. The cutting area was at the far end, and we entered through the paint shop. It was perfectly logical, of course. Raw materials delivered at the rear, cut lists, assembly, touch up, and paint, before rolling out the door to the theatre.

As we walked through the shop, a man appeared out of a side door. He was short with a paunch, mostly bald with dark blonde and disheveled hair, and large bushy beard, dark rimmed glasses, demin pants and vest over a black t-shirt. He had an impossible number of tools on his belt. I knew immediately that he was…

"I am Max, the Scene Shop Foreman," he announced unceremoniously. "Carpenters, you stay here with me, the rest of you follow Bruno."

There were ten carpenters, including Tomash and I. We moved over to gather around Max while the others went on with the tour.

"No long hair," he scanned each of us, "no jewelry, no loose clothing, and no bullshit. This is my shop, you follow my rules. I don't care how you do it somewhere else." He looked us over again and stopped on Tomash and me. "You must be my foreigners." We glanced at each other then back at Max. "You two are building the turntables. I will meet with you separately. That's going to be a massive project."

More hummingbirds.

Max led us around the shop showing us the tool cage, lumber racks, various saws, and the general work flow of the shop. We ended up at his desk, where he started handing out bundles of blueprints and assigning crews of two the units they would build.

"The tolerance is less than one millimeter," Max growled. I did a quick calculation in my head…that was about 1/32nd of an inch, which was normal for my work. "I don't like to waste materials, so don't fuck up. Also, the carps are responsible for back painting, and nothing leaves this shop without back paint. Rex, Tomash, over here, the rest of you start your cut lists."

We moved in to his table as the others moved off. Max pulled out an impossible stack of blueprints.

"So, you two have the turntables," he said as he spread the drawings across his desk. "Let's go over these and make sure you are absolutely clear on what's happening."

We sat for another 30 minutes going through the drawings, the order of construction, and the timeline. The motors would be installed in two weeks, so we had to have the deck and tables functional by then. We were to frame out the deck first, mark out the circles and cut them, frame the circles separately, then assemble the entire thing once the motors were installed. Week three was deck painting, so we would swing over to help out in the shop at that point.

Tomash and I looked at each other and nodded. Max handed us the drawings and we went off to start planning the cut list and work flow.

At lunch, a cart covered in cold cuts, cheese, rolls and coffee was brought in. We descended on it like flies and cleaned every spec of food. At about 16:00, Bruno came in and called me over.

"Grab your pack and I'll take you down to the dorm."

I ran over to the theatre, got my pack, and ran back to meet Bruno. He led me out a side door and down two flights of stairs to a group of small rooms. He unlocked one of the doors and handed me the key.

"You will stay here, Tomash is the next room over. There's a shower next to the costume shop next floor up. Do you have a towel?"

I said I did and he led me back up to the shop after I had dropped my pack and relocked the door. We went back up to the shop and I caught up with Tomash. At 17:30 sharp, Max blew a whistle and called everyone to his desk.

"So, questions?" he asked. We all shook our heads and he said, "Good. Just over there you see the bins labelled A, B, C, D, and E. You each have your team designation. I want you to keep your drawings and notes in your bin when you are not using them. Understood?" We all nodded. "So, 08:00 sharp tomorrow. Thank you and have a good evening."

We all stashed our papers in the bins – Tomash and I were Team E – then he and I went off down the stairs while everyone else left.

As we were walking down the stairs, I asked Tomash, "How do I get in at night if I go out?"

We stopped on the second floor, where the costume and prop shops were and he led me down the hall to an outside door. "Your key will open this door so you can go in and out," he explained. "Are you going out tonight?" he asked.

"Yeah, I promised to meet a girl," I said, half blushing.

"Whoa, you move fast, my man," he laughed. "Where are you going?"

"I'm not sure," I said honestly. "She's picking me up and has something planned."

"Nice, so you want to shower first, yes?" he grinned.

"Sure, if you don't mind," I said.

"I have no plans, so I can wait."

We continued down the stairs and to our rooms. It was a tiny room, practically a closet, but it was free. There was just enough room for the bed, a lamp, and a pitcher for water. I would have to ask where to fill it. The bed was lumpy and slightly musty, but otherwise serviceable. I grabbed my towel and headed up to find the shower.

I wondered what Ute had in store for me, and I hoped she wouldn't keep me out too late. I was going to need my strength for this job.