Foggy and ten of twelve

Today we’ll have the first of two “ten of twelve” rehearsals, as they’re called. The term refers, intuitively enough, to a 12-hour period during which ten hours are spent in rehearsal. “Six of eight” is its little brother.

Breakfast at the Dairy Bar this morning was followed by a visit to the dry docked train engine across from Java Express. It’s the centerpiece of a small park that includes a depot-turn-real estate office and a one-room railroad museum. The Amtrak train zips by periodically on its way from Southern Pines, but it doesn’t stop here, a poignant commentary on so much, it seems.

The Temple, like most of its counterparts across the country, is struggling financially. Even business at the Java Express, Sanford’s only internet cafe, is slow. Elsewhere in Sanford, Mary Ann Gabriel, owner of the local screen print company that’s making our show shirts, says she thinks she’ll survive the current recession, but hasn’t seen numbers this discouraging since she first opened her doors in 1992.

Our director, here on sabbatical from his position as artistic director at Actors Guild of Lexington (KY), says he’s hoping to land a teaching position to supplement the salary he receives from Actors Guild, which he gives only a 50% chance of surviving the next fiscal year. Signs near and far auger ill for the future of the arts in our country. So we do ten of twelves in the fog. And hope.