Saying Goodbye

It was a wonderful summer at ComedySportz. I finished my improv class with a show which went smashingly!
I really learned about interacting with people on a one-on-one basis. I honed my comedic skills and took home valuable improv experience which is sure to help me this year!
Most importantly, CSz made me feel like I was part of a family, everyone reaching towards the same goal: to make people laugh.
I am so very grateful for my time there this summer, and I cannot wait to go back.

For the last time my friends:
Over and out!

-D

And the Journey Comes to an End

Little Mermaid did great I have never been so proud in my whole life.  those kids got to do some many professional things that I can not believe how lucky they are.  I learned so much about teaching and even learned things about myself.

Final Blog of Summer 2012

Now that I have some time to breathe, I will throw up my final post from Logan, WV and The Aracoma Story, Inc. 3 months ago, I drove 850 miles to Logan to work on 3 shows. The first show dealt with the story of Johnny Cash. It sharpened my carpenter skills with using tools like an old table saw that can only cut lumber under a foot and a very very old chop saw. Then, we moved onto the show the company was named after. The show tested our problem solving abilities. It was very similar to the Christmas Carol puzzle, but instead of just the platforms, we had to also piece together the foam pieces of the mountains. It also opened up the world of pyrotechnics. I learned how to load up 5 ft flash strip and safely fire it from back stage. Then we finished up with Winnie the Pooh. This was the show we could flex our creative muscles by creating 6 'houses'. With the aid of our Stage Manager/Head Scenic Designer, we brought the world of Pooh to life with 4 2D 'houses', details and 2 full 'houses'. I also have learned how to successfully run a spotlight for the first and last show. I have 3 days left, all of which will strike and clean up, before I make the 850 miles trek one more time. I would gladly come back next year if I can't find anything after I graduate. So for the last time, good bye from Logan and hello home!

Catching Up

Completely forgot to blog last week. Last week at the DMPH was Audition Workshop. Kids in grade 4-12 spent the week learning about auditioning and what that entails. I had the 5th and 6th graders. It was a unique week for me, my teacher became ill with pneumonia (he is recovering well). As a result, the last three days of the class were taught by me. I really enjoyed it. I got to work with the kids on things I find important, reflect what I learned in ISU classes last year. The kids I had were at that age where what I was teaching could either work well for them or be above their heads, but they were a very intelligent group, and handled the activities we did not only well, but applied them well. On their last day of class they did a mock audition for three of the playhouse directors, and were more than prepared. So overall a successful week, it was a bit daunting at first, having to take over teaching a  class the final three days, but it went very well and I got paid twice as much as I normally do, so works for me! This coming week is the final week of my internship, it is also the third week this summer where I am not an intern, but a teacher. I and two other teachers have 50 kids. With these kids we have the next five days to direct a 35 minute play about a time traveler who goes back in time to Arthurian Legend, Aladdin and his Lamp, and Aeschylus at the Dionysus festival. More to follow.

Little Mermaid JR opens today!!!

Today is the day Bye Bye Birdie opened last night and did great, now today Cinderalla Kids and Little Mermaid open!  I am so excited for the parents because they are really going to see how much work and how much talent their kid has.  Also the parents will see the most important thing of all how much fun their kids are having.  I am so excited I can barely wait!!!

Last Day

Technically my last official day was Sunday, but tomorrow I'll be doing my last day of work at the Playhouse for the summer. Fame Jr. went off well, and strike didn't take too long on Sunday which was great. The show turned out really well, although it's weird to see something you put so much effort into just evaporate without even being there for the final show. I guess I've never had that kind of experience before without the closure of a final show, so it was weird to just come back the next day, and it was done. This week we've been steadily working on Sunset Boulevard. The show is really interesting because there is a cutter/draper working on the show named Ginny who has worked in opera and theatre all over the nation, including the Guthrie. I've learned a lot from her about professional fittings and ways of doing little things like putting in shoulder pads that is great experience. I'm sad that the experience is over but also VERY excited to get back to Ames! This summer has been crazy and full of surprises, but I'm definitely glad I did my first internship in state so that way I know what I'm getting into next summer.

Tomorrow is dress rehearsal!

Today I got to turn our Ariel into an actual red head, I died her hair and it turned out beautiful.  I cannot believe how perfect it worked out and now we have dress rehearsal tomorrow, we perform for the other campers on Friday, then we open on Saturday! Oh ya we also perform on Sunday, and then clean up Monday.  This is going to be one amazing, but also very busy week.

Lighting will be set tonight!

It is so unreal how time flies so quickly and the next thing you know it we have Wednesday and Thursday before the kids perform for the rest of the camp.  Then on Saturday it is open to the public, I am so excited for them!!!  Today a few of us stayed after to help paint the set and then the lights got set.

Tech week!

Today was our first day of tech week and I would say it went pretty well. We had our first full run through and then after lunch did another one.  This week is going to be a tough one, but I can't wait to see what these     kids can do.  I have been learning how to better communicate with children and how the tone of your voice can really change the way you say something.  I think it will help a lot in the future.

End of the summer

It's getting close to the final day here at Brownville and people are starting to get stressed. Costumes still has to inventory the entire storage space, plus all of the sewing supplies in the work space, which is all in addition to the deep cleaning we have to do before we shut up the theatre for the season. I think we're all a little bit excited to get back to the real world though, as much as we've come to love the people here.

Yesterday, Brian (who is leaving for NYC in September) managed to make a contact! One of the board members hear through the (particularly extensive) grape vine that he was leaving for New York to try and make it in theatre. As it turns out, the board member has a son-in-law who is an equity carpenter, so Brian is going to get a hold of him when he moves. It's a small world I guess.

There's not a lot of news, otherwise. Today we had a day off so we're all going to see Superman in Auburn and we're making enchilada's for dinner.

Dumbledore vs. Steve Irwin

This weekend I hosted both nights, and adopted two different personas.

On Friday, I was Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Dead Students. I ushered people into the arena in a burst and peppy British accent, separating them into houses based on the color of their sticker. Someone else at the show was a Starkid, like myself, so they knew some quotes from A Very Potter Musical, and we bantered for awhile. I was oh so proud! I yelled out a bunch of spells, made sure no one was bringing magical swords into the arena, and admitted that I didn't know what a Hufflepuff was (who does really?)

On Saturday, I decided to be Steve Irwin, and it was easily my most successful hosting character ever! I had so much fun creeping behind fake plants, inching out to poke people and run quickly away, and running live commentary on groups of people. There was a bachelorette party wearing all purple shirts, so I decided they were flamingoes, and announced that I was going to approach them. As I got halfway to the party, I yelled back that they did not appear to be hostile, and decided to adopt a one-legged flamingo stance in an attempt to establish contact. I was successful! A bit later in the evening, when most of the people had filtered into the arena, I threw my fake snake onstage and wrestled it to the ground. It caught me around the neck, but I eventually threw it off and stood up to an uproarious cheer from the crowd. It was extraordinary!

That ended my host stint for the summer. I have learned so much about directly entertaining people and really worked on my comedic timing and quick thinking. I have loved every minute of it, and cannot wait to come back over breaks.

The end of the year show for my Improv class is on Tuesday, so I have one or two more posts to go, but I am excited to put my skills to the test!

Over and out,
-D

One down, one to go

Finally, after 2 nights of having to call the show due to weather, we finally opened Winnie the Pooh. Out of all the 3 shows we have been a part of, this is the show that we don't want to call due to weather. We never had a true tech rehearsal, so a lot of the lighting stuff has been changing on the fly like adjusting the them and changing gels. We added a green gel to the spotlight I run to add an eerie feel to 2 different moments. This is the first show I've done where the director has added what she's called a "Glee" show, before the main production because of how short the main show is. The set didn't change from The Aracoma Story. The only changes were the 3 flats and 2 small huts that we built. Its amazing what can happen when we get to do our job and build different flats instead of just platforms or setting up pieces that were pre-made. After tonight, we've got one week before we start cleaning up and winterizing the theatre.

Put on Your Game Face

On Tuesday, we had our last practice before our show on the 7th. We had pretty much covered everything except Chain Murder, so we worked on that.

Chain Murder involves an audience-given location, occupation, and weapon. The weapon is generally spilt into two parts. Using mime and gibberish, person one must relay the location, occupation, and weapon of the murderer to person two. When person two figures it out, they kill person one, and in turn repeat the process to person three. Person three repeats to person four, and then person four must guess what the location, occupation, and weapon of the murderer are. If they get everything right, 4 points are awarded. If something is wrong, person three can guess, awarding three points. Two and one follow the same process. The hilarity comes in trying to mime something like a pizzeria, thumbtack and banana weapons, and a plumber occupation, which make no logical sense together.

I also hosted last weekend, and my mom finally got to see a show. She and my aunt had an awesome time, and said I was very entertaining. I was an elderly man at first and mostly yelled at kids to get off my lawn and told them that these newfangled video games didn't exist before the war. The second show I changed to Sassy Nanna, where I utilized my Jewish New York Mother accent, and hilarity ensued.

I host all weekend, starting tonight, and my next post will be my last as I return to school next Friday. What? Summer went where? Beats me.

Over and out!
-D

I think my work shop went well!

Today I did my improv workshop and it was totally amazing, I was so worried!  I really wanted to teach these kids, but I also was very nervous because I had never really done a workshop before.  We tried so many different games, and not only did i teach them I also learned myself.  Watching those kids laugh was amazing especially when you could totally tell when a student has such potential.  Its like a light bulb goes off and they finally let go.  I do admit it was a lot more difficult to teach the younger ones improv, just because I really wanted them to learn the basics and what it really takes to be able to do improv.  We played a lot of eye contact games, animal walks, basically just little games that would help them in the future.  I have one more workshop tomorrow and I cannot wait to see how it goes!!!

Improv workshop tomorrow!

So today we got to watch Legally Blonde the Musical and I have to say it was pretty impressive.  For every musical that we watch the TMP staff put together workshops that fit accordingly to each movie.  So this week its my turn to lead a workshop and I decided I wanted to do an improv workshop!  I can't wait to be able to work with these kids and really see the silly side come out in them.

Nearing the end

So this week/next week will be my last weeks at the Playhouse. It's been very bittersweet. I'm excited to be done and come back to school, but it's also been a great learning experience that I really needed to continue on with my education. Being at the Playhouse has not only taught me tons not only about designing but also directing, working with large groups, and as an assistant. Although I still wish I had had the chance to costume a show at the end of my internship to see how I would have progressed given working on RENT with Angie, I still feel like Pinkalicious was a great opportunity. Fame Jr. has been going really well so far. I officially have all 42 kids names memorized and almost all their costumes as well. This weekend is the performance weekend, so hopefully everything goes as planned!