I Thought I'd Have the Summer Off

It's funny how, when you don't go looking for things, they tend to come to you. Of course, not always in the way you expected or wanted.

I had planned on remaining free of theatre commitments for the summer season. My plan was to focus on music projects, take the next part of The Artistic Home's Meisner program, and leave myself time for trips to Boston and, of course, San Diego for Comic-Con. That's...sorta...held.

The folks at Steep Theater Company asked me to audition for their upcoming show, Moment, which was very, very exciting to me. Alas, the opening weekend is when I'm in San Diego. I went back to them with true thankfulness that they thought of me, but I was really sad to say I couldn't do it.

Ultimately, I've been asked to understudy 2 roles in the show. Which, despite the fact I'm not a huge fan of understudy jobs, I'm very excited about. Steep is an exciting company for me, and I'm hoping to make a good impression. Get my foot in that door.

It did give me half a pause about going to Comic-Con again. This year has been incredibly aggravating on a number of levels. The long delay in opening ticket sales (at least from where it was the last time I went, in 2010), made getting tickets a stressful mess. Ultimately, by some miracle, we scored 4-day passes, with preview night. Which makes us luckier than most.

Of course, then came the damn hotel debacle. I've been to San Diego before, this year will be my 4th trip. I've always managed to get a hotel downtown, somewhere. The Doubletree has been the go-to location. This year, with three of us vying for rooms, two of us were shut out completely, and the third...got a room in Mission Valley.

Now, on one level, I'm just happy we got a room, and it's on a 24-hour shuttle route. Not to mention the public transport light-rail option. Plus, with the near-miracle of getting a full-show pass, I couldn't walk away from the trip. On the other hand, I'm struck again by how much of a nightmare going to San Diego has become. Once you're there, of course, the stress falls away and it's just a good time. It's the 6 months leading up to going that becomes unbearable, at times.

Personally, I'm going to try to talk my brothers-in-geekdom into the New York Comic-Con in 2014. San Diego has just gotten too big, and the lack of adequate hotels and room in the convention center has set off a series of dominoes. I understand the need to control the amount of people, I do, but it's making the whole experience kinda ugly. I never thought I'd actually wish for Comic-Con International to pack up and leave San Diego, because the city is beautiful and fun.

But moving the show to, say, Las Vegas looks really good, right now. I also can't help thinking of a quote from the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce representative when they were vying to take over the contract from San Diego a couple of years ago, "I have more hotel rooms on one corner than San Diego has in the entire city" (paraphrasing). I believe their convention center is larger, too.

I understand the nostalgic vibe. Like I said, I love going to San Diego. Comic-Con International has been in San Diego since day one, with a group in a basement somewhere. You don't walk away from that history easily, and a move to Las Vegas, in particular, would result in the convention sorta being swallowed by Vegas itself. When the convention rolls into San Deigo, it's like a little "United Nerdom" erupts in the city. You cannot miss what's going on. The whole downtown area shows signs of the influence. Plus, you can almost guarantee you'll run into comic pros on a nightly basis, because they congregate in specific areas. With Vegas, everyone would be thrown to the winds.

So, that's a downside, but now it feels like the SDCC organization is using this lack of space as a marketing tool. Driving demand WAY past any reasonable supply, using the resulting "sold out in an hour and half" stories to up it's media footprint, and perceived power in the pop-culture realm. It feels like this is all being orchestrated in order to guarantee a fan frenzy every year, when you could just move to Las Vegas (or any of a few other options), who clearly want the show, and actually meet the demand. It feels somewhat sketchy.

Anyway, we're going. (Long digression, there, I know.) Hell or high water. I'm behind where I usually am on my saving for this trip, and that makes me nervous, as usual. It'll all work out, it always does.

The rest of the Summer is coming together. The music project is moving forward, though I am still waiting for confirmation on what the schedule will be for the next Meisner class. It just amuses me, my plan for "taking it easy" is basically out the window.