**Note from Gina: Tonight’s preview of The Lion In Winter marks the opening of the 2010 Festival — woo hoo!  Can’t believe it’s already here, and will be over before we know it.  Hope to see you all this summer.  It’s going to be an amazing season!

My inner child is wildly happy right now.  She is just elated.  That’s because I’ve finally become what I wanted to be as a little girl: a princess.

No, not in real life (sigh).  But starting tonight you can find me onstage as French princess Alais Capet in SSC’s production of The Lion in Winter.  Under the leadership of the incomparable Richard E.T. White, our director, we just finished that busy and exciting time in the rehearsal process called tech.  Tech involves moving into the theater, acting on the set for the first time, and spending a few days working with all the design elements.  This is when the play comes to life, when months of preparation come together to create theater.

I’m always slightly shocked during the first day of tech, like a kid who’s forgotten it’s Christmas and suddenly finds presents everywhere.  In this case, I found myself onstage in an exquisite blue gown, surrounded by our magnificent castle of a set, watching as designers and technicians adjusted sound levels or refocused lights.  And the design in this show is nothing less than spectacular.  You’ll have to see for yourself the stunning set created by John Iacovelli, which glows under Kent Dorsey’s beautiful lighting; or the utterly gorgeous costumes by B. Modern, complemented perfectly by Jessica Carter’s and Jakey Hicks’ wigs and hair styling.  The awesome music and soundscape were composed by the fiercely talented Bonfire Madigan Shive in collaboration with sound designer Gregory Scharpen.  And the candelabras that look straight out of 1183?  Those, and all the other 12th century-esque objects, were made by the props department under the leadership of Lydia Bushfield.  These designers, with their tireless crews, have given us a world worthy of James Goldman’s funny, ferocious script.

Mairin (center) with acting interns Kelvyn Mitchell, Alexandra Pucci, Brendan Ward, and dresser Olivia Schlueter-Corey

Tonight we have the honor of opening SSC’s 29th season with our first preview of The Lion in Winter.  After a month of rehearsal and four days of tech, we’re ready.  As the afternoon becomes evening, I’ll bounce into the dressing room, stuffing my car keys and cell phone in my bag, and slip out an hour later as a princess from 1183.  I’ll have stopped thinking about the world outside and will turn my mind toward Alais and Henry; kings and queens; love and family.  I’ll be backstage, excited to spend the next two hours as a character I’ve grown to know and love (and who is, I’ve discovered, not just a princess but a warrior as well), and I’ll be ready to welcome that final, vital element to complete our piece – that is, the audience – you!

–Mairin Lee, Actor (Alais Capet in The Lion In Winter)