ok, so I had a good time with the stage hand gig and now my rent is paid for next month, so i'm back at DCT. actually, I was back on Friday, but it wasn't the best day-Thursday night I took my truck into the shop because it has a leak in the clutch fluid- so I took my brothers motorcycle to work. first problem of the day which should have been a warning sign is the throttle was having some issues in the last mile.- (I will finish this story later because i'm going to go in order of the days events)
at DCT I started by drilling a shit ton of holes in some pipe to hang the picture frames for Flat Stanley-it's 28 feet long (2 pieces 14 feet long that connect in the center) and it's really not that many holes, but it filled up the morning, during this, I also managed to fling some flaming metal shrapnel into one of the mutton chops, where it continued to smoke for a few seconds longer then was comfortable.... and I gashed my arm on a metal burr which took a lot longer then it should have to stop bleeding...... at lunch the motorcycle started up fine and ran great for the 500 yards I rode it across a busy intersection for food.
after lunch I ran eye bolts through all of those holes I drilled, but because Home Depot only had enough eye bolts in the size that was about 3 inches too long, I had to cut the bolts- twice- The deep well socked head couldn't fit all the way on it because it was too long, so I could only drive the nut on a little over half way before I had to cut it, then after I did that and got all the nuts on all the way, I had to cut them as short as possibly to keep them out of the way. then I did just a few minor carpentry things- cut a couple boards, nail then to a flat, then fix a Christmas tree to make it tour worthy. after that we spent the last hour doing an extremely thorough cleaning of the shop. then I left for home.
thats when my night got really exciting. I live about 25-30 miles away from DCT- about 10 miles into the lovely drive on the highway, the motorcycle starts having issues, and actually dies on me- so I pulled over to the shoulder (coincidentally about a 100 yards from the exit I would have to take from that direction to get to where my dad works) so I called my brother to tell him his bike is a piece of shit, then I had my dad come pick me up- he showed up anyways- then decided it would be best if he went and got the trailer, and I stayed with the motorcycle.....due to rush hour traffic, this took him about 2 hours....... (it's normally a 20 minute drive each way) I didn't even get home until about 9:30 pm....it's now Monday, my truck is still in the shop, the motorcycle is pretty much out of commission.... I have no vehicle at the moment......it's gonna be a fun week.....
I hope y'all have a better week then me!
Justin (Chops) Voga
Monday, June 30, 2014
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Much Ado About Nothing: Diving In
This past week, rehearsals finally started for "Much Ado". It's a very welcome thing. I'm ready to be up and going with this project, and so far it's been good.
"Much Ado About Nothing" consists of a lot of scenes within five acts. The director and a couple people helping her have made cuts to the script, but it's still several hours long. We rehearse in small segments, either full scenes or partial scenes. A few of the cast members are in other shows, so we haven't had everyone all at once yet. This coming Saturday is a stumble-thru of what we are calling Act 1.
I appreciate the direction Angie is taking with doing this Shakespeare show. Words are always important, but I feel that's true even more so with Shakespeare. So far, the rehearsals have been reading through a scene, then breaking it down. We're figuring out exactly what is going on, what is being said, and finding all the little hidden treasures in the script. She is constantly encouraging us to not memorize the words to just say them, but understanding and diving into the script. The words have beauty and meaning, and that needs to come across in how we understand and play our roles.
So after the initial read of the scene and talking about it, Angie gets us up on our feet to give it a go. She'll give suggestions and different tactics to play off of. She definitely has a vision for the show, but she wants us to be involved in it as well.
Angie and I talked about my character Conrade on Wednesday. I've been doing a lot of thinking on my own, and it was great to have her thoughts. The setting is 1960, Virginia, just after JFK's successful election. In our production, Don John (the main villian) has more of a communist persepctive on life and society. Conrade believes and sympathizes with his words and what he stands for. Some of this is due to her background story (which is being created). I've discovered her superobjective and some traits in her character as well. Having a couple days off (my director is in NYC), I'm excited to get back in and explore.
We're supposed to be off book by the 14th, but I should be off here in the next two days. It's always nice to not have the script in hand.
Until next time!
~ Noel VanDenBosch
"Much Ado About Nothing" consists of a lot of scenes within five acts. The director and a couple people helping her have made cuts to the script, but it's still several hours long. We rehearse in small segments, either full scenes or partial scenes. A few of the cast members are in other shows, so we haven't had everyone all at once yet. This coming Saturday is a stumble-thru of what we are calling Act 1.
I appreciate the direction Angie is taking with doing this Shakespeare show. Words are always important, but I feel that's true even more so with Shakespeare. So far, the rehearsals have been reading through a scene, then breaking it down. We're figuring out exactly what is going on, what is being said, and finding all the little hidden treasures in the script. She is constantly encouraging us to not memorize the words to just say them, but understanding and diving into the script. The words have beauty and meaning, and that needs to come across in how we understand and play our roles.
So after the initial read of the scene and talking about it, Angie gets us up on our feet to give it a go. She'll give suggestions and different tactics to play off of. She definitely has a vision for the show, but she wants us to be involved in it as well.
Angie and I talked about my character Conrade on Wednesday. I've been doing a lot of thinking on my own, and it was great to have her thoughts. The setting is 1960, Virginia, just after JFK's successful election. In our production, Don John (the main villian) has more of a communist persepctive on life and society. Conrade believes and sympathizes with his words and what he stands for. Some of this is due to her background story (which is being created). I've discovered her superobjective and some traits in her character as well. Having a couple days off (my director is in NYC), I'm excited to get back in and explore.
We're supposed to be off book by the 14th, but I should be off here in the next two days. It's always nice to not have the script in hand.
Until next time!
~ Noel VanDenBosch
Thursday, June 26, 2014
US Performing Arts Camp
Finally! I got this site to upload my blogs! Okay, so here's the deal, this past week since Thursday, I have been incredibly busy with training and my first week at UCLA.
The summary of my job this summer is working as a mentor to over 50 kids as they go week-by-week taking theatrical classes that range from acting for the camera and digital film to animation and musical theatre conservatory. As a mentor, my job is to look after the kids throughout the day, as well as be a guide as they learn new skills in the area of the arts.
The training days went very well, although they were quite long and tedious. We would get up at 7, and be in the mentor lounge as we would be given manual after manual and we would role play different scenarios that we may have to deal with throughout the summer. There are currently 10 mentors including me and we each had 10 students this first week.
The first week went wonderfully as my group was incredibly sweet. It took them awhile to warm up, but they finally broke the ice with each other. My group was the Digital Film crew and their assignment was to shoot a film with several different scenes and types of shots. I got the honor of being in two of the films that will be shown tomorrow at the showcase. The kids loved the assignment because it sounded like they were gaining so much more knowledge than they had previously.
Different activities throughout the week outside of class include Monday: pizookie night which entails having a cookie sized pizza with ice cream, Tuesday: a guest speaker comes in (Stephen Rider came this week) to talk to the kids about the industry, Wednesday: we take the kids to the Westwood area that includes shops and restaurants, Thursday: Talent Show which means the mentors put on a talent show in front of everyone (I did a poetry slam), and Friday: a "Works In Progress" day that shows off the work of the groups from the week.
I am having a wonderful time and look forward to these next few weeks as we continually gain more kids.
The summary of my job this summer is working as a mentor to over 50 kids as they go week-by-week taking theatrical classes that range from acting for the camera and digital film to animation and musical theatre conservatory. As a mentor, my job is to look after the kids throughout the day, as well as be a guide as they learn new skills in the area of the arts.
The training days went very well, although they were quite long and tedious. We would get up at 7, and be in the mentor lounge as we would be given manual after manual and we would role play different scenarios that we may have to deal with throughout the summer. There are currently 10 mentors including me and we each had 10 students this first week.
The first week went wonderfully as my group was incredibly sweet. It took them awhile to warm up, but they finally broke the ice with each other. My group was the Digital Film crew and their assignment was to shoot a film with several different scenes and types of shots. I got the honor of being in two of the films that will be shown tomorrow at the showcase. The kids loved the assignment because it sounded like they were gaining so much more knowledge than they had previously.
Different activities throughout the week outside of class include Monday: pizookie night which entails having a cookie sized pizza with ice cream, Tuesday: a guest speaker comes in (Stephen Rider came this week) to talk to the kids about the industry, Wednesday: we take the kids to the Westwood area that includes shops and restaurants, Thursday: Talent Show which means the mentors put on a talent show in front of everyone (I did a poetry slam), and Friday: a "Works In Progress" day that shows off the work of the groups from the week.
I am having a wonderful time and look forward to these next few weeks as we continually gain more kids.
This got deeper than I had intended... whoops
So our first 3 day break is fast approaching and I am ecstatic. I can't wait to be back in Ames for a few days. I have made some pretty good friends here and a couple of them who were here in years past have told me that this year is not typical. The company is largely lacking in competence, drive, and professionalism. But I am making the best of it. I take great pride in the work I do in the box office. I enjoy talking to the customers in person or on the phone and brightening their day by either fulfilling their expectation of a friendly and welcoming interaction or surprising them with it.
The shows here are selected explicitly for entertainment purposes, unfortunately. It is fun to provide the audience with an enjoyable evening of theatre, but I want to do theatre that matters. I want to make people think and ask questions like "why am I where I am?" and "how can I put purpose into my life?" This can be done in an entertaining way. Obviously it can because theatre is largely entertainment. But stories do not exist just to entertain. They should teach. They should challenge. They should remind people to care for one another.
There are very few acting challenges in this kind of theatre, which I am very disappointed about. I am here to learn and grow. Not just to showcase what I already know. But unfortunately, I don't feel like I am experiencing much growth in acting. However, I have been challenged to be patient with people who either don't care about the art or whose regard for it does not outmatch their own personal agendas or lack of capability. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn in this way as I am certain I will cross paths and work with similarly frustrating actors for the rest of my acting career, but I would much rather be surrounded by people who are exceedingly more talented than I am so that I could see masterful storytelling first hand every day and be a part of it. I don't want to do things just to do them or to be able to say I did them. Unless I am doing them to do them with excellence. Which would undoubtedly be accompanied by several noble side effects such as growth and learning, beautiful storytelling, deep meaningful relationships, self fulfilment and fulfilment within the company, useful experiences, precision and depth, and above the rest: reminding the audience of their reality and the incredible but fleeting opportunity they have every day to live it with intentionality and with the knowledge that they will never get to do it over again.
I refuse to be robbed of these integral byproducts of this art I love so much. This experience will not deter me from these goals, because I know without a doubt that they are anything but unreasonable. Instead my experiences here will serve to spur me on to do theatre with immense reverence for my own transient existence and that of everyone around me. We only get one chance. And this should not lead us to stress out over it. In fact, it ought to squelch the hold that stress threatens over us. Because in acknowledging that we only have one chance, we should understand that every moment we spend on stress is a moment full of love and meaning lost.
I just can't comprehend people who so easily disregard their mortality and who spend each day just waiting for the next. Where is the purpose? Where is the meaning? What would keep you going? And most of all, in living in such a way, how could you not spend each moment regretting the hundreds before it that you have thrown away and wasted?
Not me. I'm here. And while I'm here, I'm going to live. Not just exist. But live. And I am ineffably excited to spread this gospel in the way I live my life. In hopes that some of the people who are living stagnant, dormant existences will wake up and join me. I sincerely hope so. For their sakes.
W
The shows here are selected explicitly for entertainment purposes, unfortunately. It is fun to provide the audience with an enjoyable evening of theatre, but I want to do theatre that matters. I want to make people think and ask questions like "why am I where I am?" and "how can I put purpose into my life?" This can be done in an entertaining way. Obviously it can because theatre is largely entertainment. But stories do not exist just to entertain. They should teach. They should challenge. They should remind people to care for one another.
There are very few acting challenges in this kind of theatre, which I am very disappointed about. I am here to learn and grow. Not just to showcase what I already know. But unfortunately, I don't feel like I am experiencing much growth in acting. However, I have been challenged to be patient with people who either don't care about the art or whose regard for it does not outmatch their own personal agendas or lack of capability. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn in this way as I am certain I will cross paths and work with similarly frustrating actors for the rest of my acting career, but I would much rather be surrounded by people who are exceedingly more talented than I am so that I could see masterful storytelling first hand every day and be a part of it. I don't want to do things just to do them or to be able to say I did them. Unless I am doing them to do them with excellence. Which would undoubtedly be accompanied by several noble side effects such as growth and learning, beautiful storytelling, deep meaningful relationships, self fulfilment and fulfilment within the company, useful experiences, precision and depth, and above the rest: reminding the audience of their reality and the incredible but fleeting opportunity they have every day to live it with intentionality and with the knowledge that they will never get to do it over again.
I refuse to be robbed of these integral byproducts of this art I love so much. This experience will not deter me from these goals, because I know without a doubt that they are anything but unreasonable. Instead my experiences here will serve to spur me on to do theatre with immense reverence for my own transient existence and that of everyone around me. We only get one chance. And this should not lead us to stress out over it. In fact, it ought to squelch the hold that stress threatens over us. Because in acknowledging that we only have one chance, we should understand that every moment we spend on stress is a moment full of love and meaning lost.
I just can't comprehend people who so easily disregard their mortality and who spend each day just waiting for the next. Where is the purpose? Where is the meaning? What would keep you going? And most of all, in living in such a way, how could you not spend each moment regretting the hundreds before it that you have thrown away and wasted?
Not me. I'm here. And while I'm here, I'm going to live. Not just exist. But live. And I am ineffably excited to spread this gospel in the way I live my life. In hopes that some of the people who are living stagnant, dormant existences will wake up and join me. I sincerely hope so. For their sakes.
W
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Chops internship update 4
my last post was almost a week ago.... I've not been lazy, but life has been a little hectic the last week with a lot of stuff not relevant to theatre. but that just means I have a large amount re report.
so Thursday of last week we did some building specific stuff- we mostly built some racks for the costume store room and that took an entire morning. for the rest of the day I finished all of the platforms we needed to build for Flat Stanley. On Friday in the morning we started with the flats. we got everything cut listed before lunch, then after words I got a little over half of it framed out.
Yesterday was a simply, yet busy day. I got all of the flats completely built- unfortunately the other intern (who is only in before lunch) was having a bad day so a lot of it took twice as long as normal because of all of the tearing apart and re cuts that had to happen, but it still wasn't too bad. after lunch I found a mistake of my own that usually isn't a big deal unless the designer is either just a little more picky then most, or is an asshole- I cut the angle on the wrong side of a piece of lauan so I had to put it on backwards so they made me tear it off and replace it. after that we made a run to home depot (which is actually right across the street) to get some more supplies, then we put all of the flats on the platforms; hey presto it's starting to look like set pieces!
Today we started fidgeting with the parts of the set they are recycling from the original (non touring) production of this show. we repaired and put together two beds, then we fixed some large picture frames that needed a metric fuck ton of help- and we had to make them sturdy enough to withstand the the abuse of tour life.....and they weren't built well to begin with.....after that we made yet another home depot run for some 1 X lumber, then we build some headers for the flats- essentially they sit on top of the walls and rais up to make then larger, but lower down so they will fit in the trucks.
thats pretty much it for the last week. tomorrow and Thursday I will actually be working with a stage hand company in Fort worth so I can pay the bills.
have a wonderful night!
Justin (Chops) Voga
so Thursday of last week we did some building specific stuff- we mostly built some racks for the costume store room and that took an entire morning. for the rest of the day I finished all of the platforms we needed to build for Flat Stanley. On Friday in the morning we started with the flats. we got everything cut listed before lunch, then after words I got a little over half of it framed out.
Yesterday was a simply, yet busy day. I got all of the flats completely built- unfortunately the other intern (who is only in before lunch) was having a bad day so a lot of it took twice as long as normal because of all of the tearing apart and re cuts that had to happen, but it still wasn't too bad. after lunch I found a mistake of my own that usually isn't a big deal unless the designer is either just a little more picky then most, or is an asshole- I cut the angle on the wrong side of a piece of lauan so I had to put it on backwards so they made me tear it off and replace it. after that we made a run to home depot (which is actually right across the street) to get some more supplies, then we put all of the flats on the platforms; hey presto it's starting to look like set pieces!
Today we started fidgeting with the parts of the set they are recycling from the original (non touring) production of this show. we repaired and put together two beds, then we fixed some large picture frames that needed a metric fuck ton of help- and we had to make them sturdy enough to withstand the the abuse of tour life.....and they weren't built well to begin with.....after that we made yet another home depot run for some 1 X lumber, then we build some headers for the flats- essentially they sit on top of the walls and rais up to make then larger, but lower down so they will fit in the trucks.
thats pretty much it for the last week. tomorrow and Thursday I will actually be working with a stage hand company in Fort worth so I can pay the bills.
have a wonderful night!
Justin (Chops) Voga
Adventures Under the Sea: Making a Splash
I come to you beaming with proud because the kids nailed! opening weekend! It was so great to see all their hard work finally pay off. And I was so impressed with the end product. Rehearsals had been going great, but there is something about a live show that really just amps the kids up. Everyone was making choices that were spot on with their characters, and a lot of kids who had been struggling with certain parts really hit it home. Our Sebastian especially was something to get excited about. She was clearly one of the crowds favorites with her comedic timing, and sass which had completely changed levels from what we saw on Thursday. The audience was having a great time because you could feel that the kids were having a great time. Even when things went wrong (because with children's' theatre, its bound to happen) the kids barreled through. They had a costume malfunction backstage which left our Ursula onstage by herself for several long moments, but she handled it with the grace and poise you would expect from a professional. Another one of our kids apparently threw up from pre-show sugar indulgence right before going on, but me and Kivan didn't even know until afterwards because of the way he dealt with it, and the kids determination to continue and use a table that had only been hastily cleaned from the throw up. At another moment, the music which plays under the dialogue during the climax of the play skipped to the next song, resulting in the music being paused, but the kids just rolled with it. All these snafus just made me more excited because I got to see them deal with it like the professionals they are becoming. It is so different to sit in the audience and not be cataloguing notes, like I had done during rehearsal. I always enjoyed watching the kids during their practices, but being able to watch and truly enjoy it as an audience member was definitely the greatest experience of the whole experience. I can't wait til next weekend to see what that brings. :)
Friday, June 20, 2014
Much Ado About Nothing update
This is my first update since I started, basically because nothing has been going on and the rehearsals are finally starting up. That first read-thru was the Sunday after I got back to town (May 13th) and since then the theatre group members have been planning, making the final cuts to the script, and figuring out a rehearsal schedule. My first rehearsal will be Sunday evening (June 22nd). I have the script that Fourth Room Theatre has cut and changed, but I decided to purchase a First folio edition of the play along with Lexicons so I get a better understanding of the language, words, and thoughts.
The month lay time in between that first rehearsal and actually getting everything into gear has been hard for me. Personally, I feel like the energy has died with these weeks of not getting the group together. I wish we could have gotten together like once a week and kept doing read-thrus. At the same time, it's been a good opportunity to look over the script myself and learn the lines before even getting to rehearsal. So there are pros and cons to each side, as with everything in life.
Oh! Something I should mention: not too long ago, one of the group members emailed and asked if I'd be willing to costume the production. After thinking about it and asking some questions, I said yes. I haven't costumed a show in almost a year and a half, so it will be good to get back into it. I've also never worked with costuming on a show set in the 1960's. Lots of learning experiences with this play!
Basically I'm really excited to finally start weekly rehearsals. The cast is incredible and there are a ton of people here that I've wanted to work with for a long time.
~ Noel
The month lay time in between that first rehearsal and actually getting everything into gear has been hard for me. Personally, I feel like the energy has died with these weeks of not getting the group together. I wish we could have gotten together like once a week and kept doing read-thrus. At the same time, it's been a good opportunity to look over the script myself and learn the lines before even getting to rehearsal. So there are pros and cons to each side, as with everything in life.
Oh! Something I should mention: not too long ago, one of the group members emailed and asked if I'd be willing to costume the production. After thinking about it and asking some questions, I said yes. I haven't costumed a show in almost a year and a half, so it will be good to get back into it. I've also never worked with costuming on a show set in the 1960's. Lots of learning experiences with this play!
Basically I'm really excited to finally start weekly rehearsals. The cast is incredible and there are a ton of people here that I've wanted to work with for a long time.
~ Noel
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Week before Tech
So, it is the week before tech and our costume parade that was supposed to be last Friday was moved to Monday, so I continued to frantically pull costumes together. After the costume parade on Monday (which I was unable to attend as I was at another job at the same time) I learned that we were not as far behind as I had expected. I still need a couple undergarments for characters that are made out of boxes and we just need to modify a couple that were originally considered finished.
Needless to say when this process is over I will never complain about the amazing costume shop ladies at ISU Theatre, (not that I would have done that in the first place), but seriously our ladies are brilliant and deserve more credit than what they get, end unselfish plug about costume ladies.
Until Tech week,
Lauren Dursky
Needless to say when this process is over I will never complain about the amazing costume shop ladies at ISU Theatre, (not that I would have done that in the first place), but seriously our ladies are brilliant and deserve more credit than what they get, end unselfish plug about costume ladies.
Until Tech week,
Lauren Dursky
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
chops internship update 3
so today was fairly repetitive- for the 3 hours before lunch i was making some rigging points to hang a large number of picture frames for the touring show. after lunch I framed out about 6 platforms, jig sawed some lauan shapes, went on a home depot run, then cleaned the shop. (all for Flat Stanley- the show that will be going on tour)
some other exciting news! I can now tell you that the in house show will be Rapunzel that we will be starting in a few weeks. thats about it for today.
have a wonderful day!
Justin (Chops) Voga
some other exciting news! I can now tell you that the in house show will be Rapunzel that we will be starting in a few weeks. thats about it for today.
have a wonderful day!
Justin (Chops) Voga
catch up
It has been crazy busy here recently. We now have 3 of our 5 shows open. The most recent one is the musical, Smoke on the Mountain. There is plenty of musical talent in the company which is nice, but this is accompanied by a bit of arrogance and pretentiousness unfortunately. My character is a very awkward 17 yr old twin who I interpret to be slightly deficient in regards to not only his social skills but also his mental development. This is a dangerous choice to make, but it has been met with support and encouragement so far. I don't feel that I am doing anything offensive. Just living honestly under imaginary circumstances like I was taught.
We are now rehearsing for the last show that will open, which is the 3rd and last one I am in. I am the male lead and I'm working alongside the most competent girl here - in all respects. Also the director is a member of the company and not the same one who directed the first two shows I am in. Blocking seems to happen about ten times as fast as before which is a huge relief and great help to the cast who is required to prepare shows in such a small timeframe. So far I am mostly happy with how it is going, but the play is not very good mostly due to the writing. It is very hard to memorize, especially at such a fast pace, but it's coming along. A couple of the other actors in the show don't take the work as seriously as I would like, but that's something that has become normal around here, unfortunately. The purpose of their roles in their eyes seems to be to entertain themselves rather than to tell the story with as much truth as possible. One girl consistently invents traits for her characters that either have nothing to do with anything in the text or traits that blatantly conflict with the circumstances provided in the text. It kind of makes me sick to my stomach, but with the hundreds of battles I have to choose from each day, it gets more and more unrealistic for me to attempt to preserve the integrity of the theatre. The bullshit is just piling up much faster than I can shovel it out, I guess. But we carry on!
The company is kind of split right now as to who gives two shits about the work they do. The half that DOES care is experiencing an ever growing animosity for the other half. It is incredibly unfortunate that such a split exists here, but I finally feel some comraderie now that I know I'm not the only person who recognize the rampant irreverence for our art here.
W
We are now rehearsing for the last show that will open, which is the 3rd and last one I am in. I am the male lead and I'm working alongside the most competent girl here - in all respects. Also the director is a member of the company and not the same one who directed the first two shows I am in. Blocking seems to happen about ten times as fast as before which is a huge relief and great help to the cast who is required to prepare shows in such a small timeframe. So far I am mostly happy with how it is going, but the play is not very good mostly due to the writing. It is very hard to memorize, especially at such a fast pace, but it's coming along. A couple of the other actors in the show don't take the work as seriously as I would like, but that's something that has become normal around here, unfortunately. The purpose of their roles in their eyes seems to be to entertain themselves rather than to tell the story with as much truth as possible. One girl consistently invents traits for her characters that either have nothing to do with anything in the text or traits that blatantly conflict with the circumstances provided in the text. It kind of makes me sick to my stomach, but with the hundreds of battles I have to choose from each day, it gets more and more unrealistic for me to attempt to preserve the integrity of the theatre. The bullshit is just piling up much faster than I can shovel it out, I guess. But we carry on!
The company is kind of split right now as to who gives two shits about the work they do. The half that DOES care is experiencing an ever growing animosity for the other half. It is incredibly unfortunate that such a split exists here, but I finally feel some comraderie now that I know I'm not the only person who recognize the rampant irreverence for our art here.
W
Adventures Under the Sea: Tech Week
I don't have a (supposedly) clever title for this blog because, let's face it, its tech week. Tech week to me has always been the most terrifyingly, frustratingly, fun experience of the show. Since its Wednesday, we have already gone through the grueling rehearsal of making sure all the light cues match the songs and the actors. And that, as always, was slow going. But the kids were troopers. It was probably the best behaved I had seen them the whole show. Tuesday was a whole new kind of fun because we added full hair and makeup for the leads. Our makeup artist, Teddie, came up with some pretty snazzy makeup ideas. Our eels looked creepy as hell with eyes completely rimmed in black and some dark lipstick. Flounder looked like this adorable, bouncy punk nerd which made me laugh every time. After all the makeup was settled in, we started a moment-to-moment run through which fixed a lot of the little issues we had been noticing. I was thrilled that one of the songs I had been working with the Land Ensemble on a lot on had gone so well. With a little time left, we started a run through of the first act and it was great to see them put to use the corrections given to them. Ariel and Eric looked significantly better in their almost-kiss scene for "Kiss the Girl." And in "She's in Love," we all had a laugh when two of the costume skirts fell off while they were shaking their booties. The first girl looked shocked and then ran offstage laughing while the second girl grabbed her skirt and did the rest of the dance with this half smile. We were all roaring with laughter. Tech week does that to you.
Adventures Under the Sea: Sequins and Tulle and Glitter, oh my!
I'm not physically creative. What I mean by that is arts and crafts are not in my forte. When I draw a person, its usually a stick figure and my trees are the only things that resemble their real life counterparts. Yet, I found myself helping create some of the costumes last week. Due to some artistic changes Kivan and the costume director Julia made, it was necessary that a few extra hands were needed to help finish them on time. We spent several hours with glue guns in our hands, sticking "scales" onto t-shirts in what I hope is a fishy way. Some things we found worked and some things didn't, just like in every aspect of life. We came up with a way to make some scales look super cool by sticking some sparkly tulle over it. And I personally learned that tulle is literally the worst thing to hot glue in the world. Seriously. The hot glue seeps through the tiny holes and sticks to your fingers, causing your fingers to get hot glued to the tulle and extra, horribly painful seconds are added on while you peel your fingers off. I still have a blister on my thumb, but I like to think of it as my battle scar. All in all, it was a pretty interesting thing to add to my list of newly learned skills. I'm not saying I should be hired, but if you need someone to cut and glue things, I'm your girl.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Chops Internship update 2
hello all!
so I just got home from the first day of my internship- it was a pretty good day. we started off by building some platforms out of 1x lumber- they are a lot sturdier then i'd have thought- because they are for a touring set, they have to be multi functional, so there are a lot of angles that need to be cut to match and it's a somewhat time consuming process. after we got 3 platforms done we went to lunch at about noon. after that I finished another platform, then built 2 stock platforms (4 X 8) then did some cut listing and kitting for tomorrow.
so far I like this space- the only real complaints I have are minor concerns about their table saw safety rules- you have to use a push stick for any cuts shorter then about a foot, and they keep the blade up at all times because "it's easier on the saw" other then that, it was a good day!
Justin (Chops) Voga
so I just got home from the first day of my internship- it was a pretty good day. we started off by building some platforms out of 1x lumber- they are a lot sturdier then i'd have thought- because they are for a touring set, they have to be multi functional, so there are a lot of angles that need to be cut to match and it's a somewhat time consuming process. after we got 3 platforms done we went to lunch at about noon. after that I finished another platform, then built 2 stock platforms (4 X 8) then did some cut listing and kitting for tomorrow.
so far I like this space- the only real complaints I have are minor concerns about their table saw safety rules- you have to use a push stick for any cuts shorter then about a foot, and they keep the blade up at all times because "it's easier on the saw" other then that, it was a good day!
Justin (Chops) Voga
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Chops internship update
so as any of you read my last post, I was having some issues with the internship I had lined up- but you also know that there were two more possibilities that I had lined up. well, I had an "interview" and tour on Thursday of the Dallas Childrens Theatre. it's a fantastic space to work in!they have two scene shops, and a paint shop that have work space as big as the theatre.
so, apparently they decided that they were going to hire me before I even got there, so I start on Tuesday for my initial "training" before the TD leaves for vacation on Wednesday- after that I work full days on Wednesday-Friday for about the next 5-6 weeks. in the shop we will be working on two shows this summer; the in house show i'm not allowed to disclose at this time, but I can tell you that we will also be building the national tour of Flat Stanley starting on Tuesday. if you have any questions or want to know more let me know!
Regards,
Justin (Chops) Voga
so, apparently they decided that they were going to hire me before I even got there, so I start on Tuesday for my initial "training" before the TD leaves for vacation on Wednesday- after that I work full days on Wednesday-Friday for about the next 5-6 weeks. in the shop we will be working on two shows this summer; the in house show i'm not allowed to disclose at this time, but I can tell you that we will also be building the national tour of Flat Stanley starting on Tuesday. if you have any questions or want to know more let me know!
Regards,
Justin (Chops) Voga
Thursday, June 12, 2014
One Magical Night...
Last night was magical.
I can't really think of any other way to describe my evening at the Royal Albert hall watching the ballet, Romeo & Juliet performed by the National English Ballet. The building was magnificent. It was opened by Queen Victoria in 1871 and sits in the South Kensington area of London. The building is quite inspiring with it's round Victorian architecture, high ceiling, and tier ceiling. The performance was spectacular in this venue. It contained a full orchestra and a huge company of dancers. Even though I was at the very top of the hall, the sound was as if I was sitting right next to the orchestra and it was really interesting sitting above the dancers. This provided the opportunity to witness the choreography as a whole.
I started crying when the performance began because the overwhelming beauty of the hall, dancers and music. What an incredible experience!
I just have a few things to pack up and I'll be on my way to the airport. I'm ready to see my family and friends back in Iowa but I am going to miss London a lot. I have learned incredible lessons and experienced wonderful things. This place will always be a part of me.
Until next time,
Bethany Rose
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
The Last Few Days
The last few day are flying by.
They have been mostly made up of studying for our huge final in our class. It's been overwhelming but I am pleasantly surprised at how much I have learned here. London history is amazing. There have been so many famous writers inspired by this city and I get to take part in that legacy and inspiration. It has been a great privilege.
We read this poem in class today and I thought it was an accurate description of the city and what I think of it (make sure you read it in a British accent ;)
The London Breed
by Benjamin Zephania
I love dis great polluted place
Where pop starts come to live their dreams
Here ravers come for drum and bass
And politicians plan their schemes,
The music of the world is here
Dis city can play any son
They came here from everywhere
Tis they that made dis city strong
A world of food displayed on streets
Where all the world can come and dine
On means that end with bitter sweets
And cultures melt and intertwine,
Two hundred languages give voice
To fifteen thousand changing years
And all religions can rejoice
With exiled souls and pioneers.
I love dis overcrowded place
Where old buildings mark men and time
And new buildings all seem to race
Up to a cloudy dank skyline,
Too many cars mean dire air
Too many guns mean danger
Too many drugs mean be aware
Of strange gifts from a stranger.
It's so cool when the heat is on
And when it's cool it's so wicked
We just keep melting into one
Just like he tribes before us did,
I love dis concrete jungle still
With all its sirens and its speed
The people here united will
Create a kind of London Breed.
Saying goodbye to this city is going to be hard.
I'm preparing myself now..
Until next time,
Bethany Rose
Monday, June 9, 2014
Costume Parade Week
So, another week has come and gone and to say the least a little progress was made on costumes. However, on the flip side of that Friday is our costume parade, usually held in Rep theaters and for the costume designer to decide if all the costumes look good with limited input from the director. However, my director gets all the say and it's just far enough out from tech week and opening that she could potentially scrap an entire costume and have me re-do it. (Totally not looking forward to that)
On another note, because it is last 4 days before costume parade I am frantically running around to make sure all of the parents that were assigned costumes to fix got finished, if not frantically put them all together and calling it good!
Until the drama of costume parades subsides,
Lauren Dursky
On another note, because it is last 4 days before costume parade I am frantically running around to make sure all of the parents that were assigned costumes to fix got finished, if not frantically put them all together and calling it good!
Until the drama of costume parades subsides,
Lauren Dursky
A Lovely Day
Yesterday was lovely.
A day spent reflecting on my trip
and resting.
I went to a little French Café near my flat for brunch. I ate the most delicious poached egg on toast. I actually don't know how good the egg was because, well, I'm in London and everything is super great here. I'm gonna miss the slow pace of this culture. No hurry to order, no hurry to leave but all the time in the world to enjoy the sunshine and write a little bit.
In the afternoon I revisited Buckingham Palace. This time I was able to get closer to the gate and actually sat on the Victoria Monument. My favorite part was sticking my feet in the water of the Victoria Fountain. The water was cool and refreshing on a hot day like yesterday.
Later in the day I stopped at my favorite Tesco express (basically like a Walmart BUT better) and bought some food for a picnic. Everybody else stayed at the flat but I wanted to get out and enjoy London. I packed up my bag and headed to St. James's Park. I sat under a huge tree facing the lake with the weeping willows, sparkling water and an assortment of ducks and swans. I am not ashamed to say I ate an entire carton of raspberries (best decision of my life). I read and I wrote for the second time in the day.
It was a beautiful day.
Blue skies and sunshine.
Couldn't ask for anything better.
Maybe someday I'll be able to process everything that I have learned here. Maybe some rainy day I will be able to write out every experience in detail and be able to catch the moment in a jar to keep forever, but for now, I can only live, breath, experience and hope that in the end I will be better for it.
Cheers!
Bethany Rose
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Just Humans: Imperfection
I had a really interesting conversation with my professor yesterday about the humanity of all the different authors and people that we study.
The conversation stemmed from dialogue while in Oxford sitting in the pub that C.S. Lewis and the Inklings would meet in once a week. We talked about how C.S. Lewis is easily idolized, especially by the the Christian community. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of C.S. Lewis' work. He was a genius man, but I also realize his humanity. People often take offense when you talk about how Lewis suffered from PTSD from seeing men die right in front of him during the War, or the fact that he swore like a sailor and drank a little too much. He is in fact, in danger of being built up too high, and presiding over the Christian community with some sort of intellectual angelic status when he was just a man. He was brilliant but he suffered from the marring of sin just as much as any other human.
It got me thinking about how we are all humans (thank you, captain obvious) and that we all make mistakes, have successes, attempt, fail, break, celebrate, want, strive...
you get the picture.
WE ARE ALL HUMAN.
It reminds me of...
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them."
From Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
Yet another genius very fallen man.
(I also, just wanted to quote him because we visited the Globe Theatre this week.)
I want remember the people who have fought for what they believed to be right, had the courage to pen new ideas, and who lived life dangerously in order that I might have opportunity, but I also want to remember their humanity, that they weren't perfect and that it is ok that they weren't perfect. After all, it is the humanity that can allow us to be inspired to realize that we too can be great. It is not the perfection of the world that causes us to question the way we live it is, in fact,, the imperfection.
Thanks for listening to my ramblings.
Cheerio!
Bethany Rose
ps.
Fun highlights of this week....
-The British Museum and the Rosetta Stone
-Seeing 39 Steps
-Taking a boat ride on the river Thames
-Seeing the Prime Meridian at Greenwich
-Visiting Oxford
-Sitting in The Eagle and the Child, the pub that the Inklings used to meet in and have a pint.
-Seeing Anthony and Cleopatra at the Globe Theatre.
Saturday, June 7, 2014
The people make up for the lacking work related artistic fulfillment
We opened the first show last night. It didn't go very well, but I guess that's what happens when you try to make a play with full design elements and everything in just a week. I get to try again with the other two shows i'm in so we'll see if those go any better. Now that we opened, not only do we not perform that show again for 2 weeks, but we also don't have a single rehearsal for it between now and then. The planning seems a little ridiculous sometimes. Especially since they've been doing this for 47 years before I got here and still haven't figured so many things out.
I do really enjoy being here though. The people are all very nice for the most part and I like engaging with them. Which is nice because its not atypical for me to find myself avoiding conversations with people under a large variety of other circumstances. Other than two of the company members who are in a relationship, there hasn't been any problems with cliques or even people who stick together all the time. Most of us are kind of like free agents on the social side of things, but in a really interesting way that still lets us all connect with each other person without a hitch. We are all getting comfortable with each other and there are plenty of jokes and poking fun at one another. It is a very livable environment.
I have plenty of complaints about how the theatre is operated but my cohorts are all really great people as far as I can tell. I only wish a few of them would take a little more pride in what they do. Not just on stage, but in their technical assignments as well. It has gotten better though. I recognize that I am an idealist. And sometimes my ideal is not feasible. Actually it rarely is. But when the bar is high, even a failure looks like something magnificent to those who are used to bars of the lower variety. I just don't understand why you would waste your time doing something half way. We don't get to redo anything in life. It will always cost you more precious time to go back and do something again. And I know how limited time really is. It just confuses me when other people seem to disregard how transient our existence is and how important it is that we use every minute to its fullest potential while setting ourselves up to use the next minute to its fullest ability as well, instead of having to use the next 3 minutes to go back and fix what we did without really doing in the last one.
I know that is a really confusing train of thought, but there is meaning there somewhere.
Anyways, back to the theater. =]
W
I do really enjoy being here though. The people are all very nice for the most part and I like engaging with them. Which is nice because its not atypical for me to find myself avoiding conversations with people under a large variety of other circumstances. Other than two of the company members who are in a relationship, there hasn't been any problems with cliques or even people who stick together all the time. Most of us are kind of like free agents on the social side of things, but in a really interesting way that still lets us all connect with each other person without a hitch. We are all getting comfortable with each other and there are plenty of jokes and poking fun at one another. It is a very livable environment.
I have plenty of complaints about how the theatre is operated but my cohorts are all really great people as far as I can tell. I only wish a few of them would take a little more pride in what they do. Not just on stage, but in their technical assignments as well. It has gotten better though. I recognize that I am an idealist. And sometimes my ideal is not feasible. Actually it rarely is. But when the bar is high, even a failure looks like something magnificent to those who are used to bars of the lower variety. I just don't understand why you would waste your time doing something half way. We don't get to redo anything in life. It will always cost you more precious time to go back and do something again. And I know how limited time really is. It just confuses me when other people seem to disregard how transient our existence is and how important it is that we use every minute to its fullest potential while setting ourselves up to use the next minute to its fullest ability as well, instead of having to use the next 3 minutes to go back and fix what we did without really doing in the last one.
I know that is a really confusing train of thought, but there is meaning there somewhere.
Anyways, back to the theater. =]
W
Friday, June 6, 2014
Adventures Under the Sea: What the Fish?!
Kudos to Kivan for the blog title.
So tonight we had quite an undertaking before us. We had to go through all the costume ideas that our costume designer had laid before Kivan. It was not quite right yet in the eyes of him, so we had the fun (and that is not sarcastic) task of going through and specifying the ideas that he wanted in more detailed picture examples. This is when I thank the Holy Diet Coke Can that me and Kivan communicate creatively so well. We had several hours of hardcore Googling and Pinteresting (and as a stereotypical girl, Pinteresting is my JAM) ahead of us, so it was nice that we could break it up into creatures and with just a few key words, I could find pictures to put into hardcore visual material the things that Kivan was thinking. For example, he would say, "The colors on the fish aren't right. I want...deeper, you know?" And I came up with this:
And it worked. Daaaaaang, I'm good.
So tonight we had quite an undertaking before us. We had to go through all the costume ideas that our costume designer had laid before Kivan. It was not quite right yet in the eyes of him, so we had the fun (and that is not sarcastic) task of going through and specifying the ideas that he wanted in more detailed picture examples. This is when I thank the Holy Diet Coke Can that me and Kivan communicate creatively so well. We had several hours of hardcore Googling and Pinteresting (and as a stereotypical girl, Pinteresting is my JAM) ahead of us, so it was nice that we could break it up into creatures and with just a few key words, I could find pictures to put into hardcore visual material the things that Kivan was thinking. For example, he would say, "The colors on the fish aren't right. I want...deeper, you know?" And I came up with this:
And it worked. Daaaaaang, I'm good.
My favorite part was finding the Mersister images, because boy can I tell you, I love me some bling and glitter and that's basically what it was.
See? Aren't these all fun? And I'm not entirely sure why my text is pink now, but it seems fitting after those veeeeeery girly tops. All in all, tonight was about professionally shooting down ideas that don't work with the director's vision. Theater, as we know, is all about collaboration and in this particular production, that is very clear with the costumes.
To wrap it up, look at some other pretty pictures I found.
Yeah. thats it. Tomorrow is our first run-through of act 2, so that's going to be pretty darn fun. I can't wait to see my land ensemble dancers doing their thing. Fingers crossed they remember which way to turn.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Adventures Under the Sea: Chatty Cathys (And Bens, and Alecs, and Clays)
This is just gonna be a super quick one to talk about the biggest problem we had a rehearsal today. They just wanted to TALK! About everything! Loudly! When you are trying to get through 2 hours worth of stuff in 1, it is not always easy to remember that they are still very young and have Oh! so much energy. I had the pleasure of working with the Land Ensemble today which is 7 (eek!) boys and one blissfully quiet girl. And I do dearly enjoy each and every one of them. But with school ending this week, they definitely had their Summer Spazzings underway and it can get a little overwhelming sometimes. Luckily, they are all old enough to understand when I tell them to quiet down because I mean BUSINESS that I mean BUSINESS!
...At least for about 15 minutes until something else distracts them. Still, even with the chatterboxes in full swing today, their enthusiasm for the show and just for life in general left me feeling good about where we left off, if not a bit exhausted.
...At least for about 15 minutes until something else distracts them. Still, even with the chatterboxes in full swing today, their enthusiasm for the show and just for life in general left me feeling good about where we left off, if not a bit exhausted.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
The Clubhouse at the Playhouse
Do you wanna build a Clubhouse?
A Clubhouse at the Playhouse!
It will be a lot of fun
Everyone will want to come
To the PLAYHOUSE!
We tell stories for the children to act out and create a fun new craft everyday. Today we made Russian Maryshka dolls out of card stock, it was surprisingly simple for such an unconventional idea. The children are excited to take the dolls home tomorrow but they're even more excited to get the special treat of seeing Cat in the Hat on Friday morning. Now my task for the week is to figure out how all the children can make a craft related to this, I'm thinking their very own Cat in the Hat hats out of butcher paper and paper plates with custom designs (created by the children of course!)
The morning camps have been rather fun but as soon as their done my afternoons resemble the prep work we've been doing for the kids. This afternoon I gave a tour of the Playhouse with the other interns and we also organized games to play with a group of daycare kids that came to visit. It was interesting to see the staff that came with the children because the kids were not "troublemakers" and while the staff was kind, there was what seemed to be a lot of them and they corrected every questionable behavior the children made without realizing that it was more important for the children to learn what the rules taught in our games instead of being chastised for making an honest mistake. It made me realize that theater has always emphasized trying your best but that making mistakes was okay and you'll get a second chance while the outside world often teaches children that perfection is the only way and if you're individuality hinders that strive towards societies' standard of perfection than its better to be like everyone else instead of yourself. It was frustrating for me and the other interns to be leading games and having the daycare instructors over correct the children, not only because honest mistakes are okay during the Playhouse games but also because there are moments during certain games where its okay to let the children run and scream for the five seconds it takes them to go back to their spots. The games are actually designed that way and we purposefully play them because those brief moments that allow the children to burst with energy means that they will be able to play the quiet, slower paced games that require more patience and attention for longer. Seeing the discipline style that contrasted our training as Playhouse interns today really helped us understand the value in not having perfection be the end goal and letting kids be kids.
So after learning what the intern I don't want to be looks like, it was nice to head home and get to crack down on my 9 credits of summer class. The only problem was my 9 week old kitten with the most ironic name in the world, Harmony. As I was working on homework she decided to play a game of peek-a-boo where she hides behind my laptop screen as I am typing. Which is adorable, except the "boo" part of peek-a-boo where she actually gives me quite a scare by biting the edge of my laptop's touchscreen as she tries to catch a glimpse of me. The more I toss her on the bed next to me every time she bites something she shouldn't the more she comes at me with the fervent energy of a toddler who is convinced your reaction means you want to play harder. She seems to have finally fallen asleep for the night though, so I guess I can finally call it a night and get ready to deal with not only Harmony's antics tomorrow but also the Clubhouse.
chops internship
hello all!
I just wanted to take a few minutes to tell everyone whats going on with my internship. I had one lined up all nice and pretty up in Minneapolis at Secoa-a theatre supply company- what it was going to involve was actually the management side of things- checking orders and packing list against CAD drawings and customer specs, as well as going out to job sites to set up things like permanent rigging instillation like i did last summer, and various other details. this position was basically an experimental position they wanted to try out on an intern before they made it a full time job. the unfortunate thing is, the higher ups in the company decided that they like the idea of the position so much that they opted out of the trial stage and are now looking for a full time person instead.
so now i'm looking for something else. I have several possibilities but am waiting to hear back- though some of them seem like a done deal at this this point. the option that are looking best so far are Dallas Children's Theatre, and The Eisemann center in Richardson Texas. as soon as I know more I will let you know!
Thanks for reading!
Justin (Chops) Voga
I just wanted to take a few minutes to tell everyone whats going on with my internship. I had one lined up all nice and pretty up in Minneapolis at Secoa-a theatre supply company- what it was going to involve was actually the management side of things- checking orders and packing list against CAD drawings and customer specs, as well as going out to job sites to set up things like permanent rigging instillation like i did last summer, and various other details. this position was basically an experimental position they wanted to try out on an intern before they made it a full time job. the unfortunate thing is, the higher ups in the company decided that they like the idea of the position so much that they opted out of the trial stage and are now looking for a full time person instead.
so now i'm looking for something else. I have several possibilities but am waiting to hear back- though some of them seem like a done deal at this this point. the option that are looking best so far are Dallas Children's Theatre, and The Eisemann center in Richardson Texas. as soon as I know more I will let you know!
Thanks for reading!
Justin (Chops) Voga
Turning Point
We open There Goes the Bride on Friday. Thus far, I have done my best to prioritize courtesy over productivity when the others have been screwing around and wasting what little time we're allowed to prepare the show. But since we open on Friday, that has changed now. Last night during a line shoot, the girl who plays the Bride and probably has the fewest lines missed every single one of her cues. She was on facebook on her phone the whole time, so after about the 6th or 7th missed cue, I just said "why don't you put your phone away. You have missed every single one of your cues. not cool. We open this show in 4 days." There have been so many times I have bitten my tongue instead of speaking out about all the bullshit I've seen here, but I felt such a huge relief after finally calling one of them out on their bullshit. And it was completely called for. She was mad at me for a few minutes but I think it sunk in that she really needs to get her shit together. And everyone else who was there for the line shoot has buckled down since.
I don't want to be bossy. I never have, because I hate bossy people and know-it-alls. But I have come to realize that I'm sometimes going to have to risk people mistakenly labeling me as such if I honestly want to do all I can to make sure the work we do is the best it can be. I really just want to help. And until recently, it was more important to me that other people think I am a nice person than it was that I do all I can to ensure our success. Not just for my own sake - even though I have absolutely no desire to be associated with any form of shit show - but for the sake of the work and the art and the audience.
Everyday it becomes more apparent to me that ISU's staff has been equipping me incredibly well for what I want to do. I had to explain to a few of my cast mates last night that the reason I know most of their lines - or at least the ideas within them - and not just my own lines, is that I learn the whole story and not just my character, Bill Shorter's story. I also told them that I am more concerned with what I'm doing when I DON'T have lines than when I do. This might not be completely true, but it's close. I told them that reaction and listening are just as important as your mastery of the lines you deliver. Otherwise the audience would just stay home and listen to old radio programs instead of coming to the theater to WATCH real humans portray real life in a stylized way. And just to be clear, my point is that the reason they are having trouble remembering their lines is that they engaged with the story in relationship to all the other characters around them who are giving them a reason to say what they say!
Anyways, I feel really good about being able to help people who have goals like mine in the theatre, even though I'd rather just lead by example and not have to risk sounding bossy or condescending or like a know-it-all or be labeled pretentious. I really just want to help. And I think they can see that here. My work ethic has yet to falter so hopefully that helps to, because like I said, I would much rather just lead by example.
Also I have made a couple of closer friends now. One of them is an alum who is back working of our sets and the other is the protagonist in There Goes the Bride. He clearly wants to do the best work we can and we team up to kick people into gear when we need to. I am very grateful that they are here, because there are also people on the opposite side of the spectrum with deplorable work ethics here.
There are two others that have impressed me in the past week as well. The guy playing the granddad of the bride and the girl playing the flapper who shows up as Tim the protagonist's hallucination when he gets hit in the head. They are really on the ball with their parts and I can see that they have a similar apprehension toward calling their fellow actors out on their bullshit - even if it is completely screwing their own work up when that problem person is their acting partner in a particular scene. It was also for their sake that I made the decision to stop sitting idly by instead of calling bullshit. The script manager (stage manager) doesn't do diddly squat. It really pisses me off, but we open in 3 days now so I don't exactly have the time to call her out on it. I'd rather just pick up the slack myself so we can do what we need to get done.
I'm sure most of this makes me sound like I am a complete asshole here, but I promise you I am constantly aware of the fact that I am representing ISU theatre in a way, and I conduct myself accordingly. I show respect to everyone here, including those who might not even deserve it or who aren't decent enough to return the favor.
That's all for now
W
I don't want to be bossy. I never have, because I hate bossy people and know-it-alls. But I have come to realize that I'm sometimes going to have to risk people mistakenly labeling me as such if I honestly want to do all I can to make sure the work we do is the best it can be. I really just want to help. And until recently, it was more important to me that other people think I am a nice person than it was that I do all I can to ensure our success. Not just for my own sake - even though I have absolutely no desire to be associated with any form of shit show - but for the sake of the work and the art and the audience.
Everyday it becomes more apparent to me that ISU's staff has been equipping me incredibly well for what I want to do. I had to explain to a few of my cast mates last night that the reason I know most of their lines - or at least the ideas within them - and not just my own lines, is that I learn the whole story and not just my character, Bill Shorter's story. I also told them that I am more concerned with what I'm doing when I DON'T have lines than when I do. This might not be completely true, but it's close. I told them that reaction and listening are just as important as your mastery of the lines you deliver. Otherwise the audience would just stay home and listen to old radio programs instead of coming to the theater to WATCH real humans portray real life in a stylized way. And just to be clear, my point is that the reason they are having trouble remembering their lines is that they engaged with the story in relationship to all the other characters around them who are giving them a reason to say what they say!
Anyways, I feel really good about being able to help people who have goals like mine in the theatre, even though I'd rather just lead by example and not have to risk sounding bossy or condescending or like a know-it-all or be labeled pretentious. I really just want to help. And I think they can see that here. My work ethic has yet to falter so hopefully that helps to, because like I said, I would much rather just lead by example.
Also I have made a couple of closer friends now. One of them is an alum who is back working of our sets and the other is the protagonist in There Goes the Bride. He clearly wants to do the best work we can and we team up to kick people into gear when we need to. I am very grateful that they are here, because there are also people on the opposite side of the spectrum with deplorable work ethics here.
There are two others that have impressed me in the past week as well. The guy playing the granddad of the bride and the girl playing the flapper who shows up as Tim the protagonist's hallucination when he gets hit in the head. They are really on the ball with their parts and I can see that they have a similar apprehension toward calling their fellow actors out on their bullshit - even if it is completely screwing their own work up when that problem person is their acting partner in a particular scene. It was also for their sake that I made the decision to stop sitting idly by instead of calling bullshit. The script manager (stage manager) doesn't do diddly squat. It really pisses me off, but we open in 3 days now so I don't exactly have the time to call her out on it. I'd rather just pick up the slack myself so we can do what we need to get done.
I'm sure most of this makes me sound like I am a complete asshole here, but I promise you I am constantly aware of the fact that I am representing ISU theatre in a way, and I conduct myself accordingly. I show respect to everyone here, including those who might not even deserve it or who aren't decent enough to return the favor.
That's all for now
W
Frantic Rehearsing
This was written on 5/31.
So the phones and internet service have been out of order for the past two days in the entire town of Brownsville. I wasn't sure I would survive till today but I made it.
The girl who works in the box office with me is turning out to be more harm than help. I end up having to do the work two and three times in order to check her work and fix her mistakes. It's very important that we don't screw things up because all the money comes in through us and by "all the money", I don't mean there is a lot. We are running on very little which makes it a big deal if we lose track of even just $50 somewhere in the system. For some reason she doesn't seem to understand that. When I tried to explain it to her, she referenced how much money we as the box office still have for our budget, which has nothing to do with the theatre's actual income. This is just one example of the carelessness that surrounds me here. It's hard enough running the box office as it is with a ridiculous amount of information to sort and enter into several different modes of record without having to combat the constant menial problems that she causes. She's a nice person as far as I can tell, but she apparently has no accountability for her technical assignment to the box office. And I only have so much patience.
Since we put shows up so quickly here, the rehearsal process is very frantic and unforgiving. Keep in mind that we were instructed not to memorize anything before rehearsals begin. The director separates the show into sections (what ISU would call beats) and then we block 6 sections at a time. Then we go back to the first of the 6 and walk through the section on book 3 times and then off book twice with line-calling allowed and once more with no line calling. We repeat this process for all six of the sections and then we start combos. During combos, we are off book but allowed to call for lines. For this example, let's assume we're working section 1 through 6. First we would go through 1 twice, then 1 and 2 together twice, then 1, 2, and 3 together twice, then 2, 3, and 4 together twice, then 3, 4, and 5 together twice, then 4, 5, and 6 together twice, then 5 and 6 together twice, then 6 twice more. Then we do all of them in succession twice with the director watching the second run of the full 6 sections.
It's a very effective model for getting a show up and running in such a small amount of time, but last night my brain felt more fried than I can ever remember it being before. We learned all of Act 1 in two days and we had to stay a half hour late last night because apparently we were behind schedule. I am looking forward to getting everything in my head so I can stop learning lines and start playing with them more. Some of this is already happening, because I memorize pretty quickly. Usually by the third run of a section on book, I don't need to look at my script and I seem to be retaining everything very well so far. I really like that we get to start rehearsals with the full set right off the bat. But I am very confused how the box office can be such a shittily built machine when the rehearsal process has been designed to be so effective in contrast.
I still have more qualms with the director than I can count, but one thing that we agree on is blocking. It was not uncommon for me to be moving to the next position he would want me before or as he was telling me it was what he wanted. He even said something about how I was reading his mind. I was able to stop myself from responding with any of the hundreds of smart ass comments that he set me up for by saying that, and I was glad that we finally agreed about something. Now here are the problems:
he instructs us never to stand in any shape but a line. An instruction that goes against everything I have learned at ISU.
he takes 15 minutes to block each section (1-2 pages) because he has to read each individual line to himself sometimes 3 to 5 times in order to jog his memory of what he wanted the blocking to be and then makes us stay late to rehearse because we're behind schedule.
He ignores the concept of comedic timing and demands that the entire show is done with a uniform pace which he wants to be as fast as we can possibly go.
I could go on but I have to get back to rehearsing, Maybe I'll post more later on.
Just to be clear since I realize I've been doing quite a bit of complaining on here, I am not miserable all the time here. There are just extreme ups and downs. But being on
So the phones and internet service have been out of order for the past two days in the entire town of Brownsville. I wasn't sure I would survive till today but I made it.
The girl who works in the box office with me is turning out to be more harm than help. I end up having to do the work two and three times in order to check her work and fix her mistakes. It's very important that we don't screw things up because all the money comes in through us and by "all the money", I don't mean there is a lot. We are running on very little which makes it a big deal if we lose track of even just $50 somewhere in the system. For some reason she doesn't seem to understand that. When I tried to explain it to her, she referenced how much money we as the box office still have for our budget, which has nothing to do with the theatre's actual income. This is just one example of the carelessness that surrounds me here. It's hard enough running the box office as it is with a ridiculous amount of information to sort and enter into several different modes of record without having to combat the constant menial problems that she causes. She's a nice person as far as I can tell, but she apparently has no accountability for her technical assignment to the box office. And I only have so much patience.
Since we put shows up so quickly here, the rehearsal process is very frantic and unforgiving. Keep in mind that we were instructed not to memorize anything before rehearsals begin. The director separates the show into sections (what ISU would call beats) and then we block 6 sections at a time. Then we go back to the first of the 6 and walk through the section on book 3 times and then off book twice with line-calling allowed and once more with no line calling. We repeat this process for all six of the sections and then we start combos. During combos, we are off book but allowed to call for lines. For this example, let's assume we're working section 1 through 6. First we would go through 1 twice, then 1 and 2 together twice, then 1, 2, and 3 together twice, then 2, 3, and 4 together twice, then 3, 4, and 5 together twice, then 4, 5, and 6 together twice, then 5 and 6 together twice, then 6 twice more. Then we do all of them in succession twice with the director watching the second run of the full 6 sections.
It's a very effective model for getting a show up and running in such a small amount of time, but last night my brain felt more fried than I can ever remember it being before. We learned all of Act 1 in two days and we had to stay a half hour late last night because apparently we were behind schedule. I am looking forward to getting everything in my head so I can stop learning lines and start playing with them more. Some of this is already happening, because I memorize pretty quickly. Usually by the third run of a section on book, I don't need to look at my script and I seem to be retaining everything very well so far. I really like that we get to start rehearsals with the full set right off the bat. But I am very confused how the box office can be such a shittily built machine when the rehearsal process has been designed to be so effective in contrast.
I still have more qualms with the director than I can count, but one thing that we agree on is blocking. It was not uncommon for me to be moving to the next position he would want me before or as he was telling me it was what he wanted. He even said something about how I was reading his mind. I was able to stop myself from responding with any of the hundreds of smart ass comments that he set me up for by saying that, and I was glad that we finally agreed about something. Now here are the problems:
he instructs us never to stand in any shape but a line. An instruction that goes against everything I have learned at ISU.
he takes 15 minutes to block each section (1-2 pages) because he has to read each individual line to himself sometimes 3 to 5 times in order to jog his memory of what he wanted the blocking to be and then makes us stay late to rehearse because we're behind schedule.
He ignores the concept of comedic timing and demands that the entire show is done with a uniform pace which he wants to be as fast as we can possibly go.
I could go on but I have to get back to rehearsing, Maybe I'll post more later on.
Just to be clear since I realize I've been doing quite a bit of complaining on here, I am not miserable all the time here. There are just extreme ups and downs. But being on
Monday, June 2, 2014
Reflections
"It will come sometime. Some beautiful morning she will just wake up and find that it is tomorrow. Not today but tomorrow. And things will happen...wonderful things."
Anne of the Island
It's hard to believe that I have been here for a week. It still feels like some sort of dream. I was looking back at some of my blog posts from last summer and reflecting on the last year. I would encourage you to do the same thing, take a moment and reflect on where you were a year ago.
Last summer I wanted to have adventures. I was anxious to get out of Ames, and be somewhere where I had never been with people I didn't know BUT instead of having grand adventures all summer, I stayed home and worked at the local coffee shop. I was bummed. As the summer progressed though, I started to really enjoy the peacefulness of home. I learned to enjoy the simple moments and treasure time that I had with my family and friends. This was such a valuable lesson for me.
Fast forward a year and I'm in London, England, exploring notable landmarks, sitting in beautiful gardens, wandering through countless museums and crying at God's faithfulness in my life.
I'm so glad I was given this opportunity this summer. I know that the this trip is even sweeter because I was taught patience and how to appreciate beauty even in the small, mundane every day tasks of life.
Saturday and Sunday of this week were full of enjoying sunshine, gardens and tea. A few of us walked around Hyde Park ate ice cream and enjoyed the water after visiting Buckingham Palace on Saturday and then on Sunday we visited Kensington Palace (current residence of Prince William and Princess Kate Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) and had tea at the fancy restaurant in the gardens. It was relaxing and much needed after a long week.
I am beyond thankful.
Chip Chip!
Until next time,
Bethany Rose
The Horrors of Costuming
So, I will not lie I have put off working on this show. Cardboard has sat in my car for 4 days now and I put off picking it up until 4 days ago. I got paints and tape, but still need other things. I have started to paint the flower pot that will be "Chip." However, now I am getting to the other costumes that require a little more assembly, "Cogsworth" "Lumiere" and the "Armoire" needless to say still have yet to be touched.
This is a crazy process and I'm learning all about the importance of communication or the lack of communication. The director does not communicate well with me. She has my phone, my email and if she wanted to she could find me on Facebook in a heart beat. So, I would expect a little more communication from her. Anyway, I learned 4 days ago that there was ANOTHER casting change that happened over a week almost a week and a half ago. I was not notified of this and luckily the amazing assistant that I have was given this information, refitted the costume and informed me of all the changes that were taking place.
Here is to the next 2 weeks to get costumes done and here's another to that poor cast of children to make it the next four through show time!
Until more drama occurs,
Lauren Dursky
This is a crazy process and I'm learning all about the importance of communication or the lack of communication. The director does not communicate well with me. She has my phone, my email and if she wanted to she could find me on Facebook in a heart beat. So, I would expect a little more communication from her. Anyway, I learned 4 days ago that there was ANOTHER casting change that happened over a week almost a week and a half ago. I was not notified of this and luckily the amazing assistant that I have was given this information, refitted the costume and informed me of all the changes that were taking place.
Here is to the next 2 weeks to get costumes done and here's another to that poor cast of children to make it the next four through show time!
Until more drama occurs,
Lauren Dursky
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