Wonka Jr

So I have pretty much planned out a way to finish building the set. I don't have much to do before we're totally done With the first act. There are a few things I'm still waiting to get approval on but I'm so glad that we're on track. I got to take pictures for the bucket shack today and we all had fun with that and I got to see some of the costumes for different characters, it was really cool and the kids are adorable. I'm so happy that I'm working on this show.

Willy Wonka Jr.

We had another production meeting where we got to see what projections we're hoping to have on the cyc during the show.  They look great.  I got a few of my questions answered as it pertains to blocking and choreography.  Worked on better detailing my cue list, though I intend to go through the script a few more times at least.

However, with what I did come up with, I've begun to sketch out a preliminary light plot.  It's by no means complete and is bound to go through alterations, but I hope to have something close to complete by next week's meeting.

Pippin: ACTORS Theatre, Ames - Rehearsals up to 5/12

*first point to make: I am behind on my blogging, so this one covers from the beginning of rehearsals through this past Sunday
**I was cast as a Chorus member, but was also brought on as the Assistant Choreographer/Dance Captain, due to my heavy dance experience
     The first two weeks were devoted to working on the music for the majority of the show, focusing on the ensemble-heavy songs as well as learning choreography for some of the songs (just War is a Science and No Time at All). Within these two weeks, I sat down with the director and the choreographer to discuss ideas for choreography for the majority of the numbers, so I could know where we were going with this show and what they wanted for starters; they also gave me two areas where I got creative freedom, which made me both excited and nervous (meant I would have to do some research).
     In terms of the rehearsals, the music rehearsals started  off slow for me, as I was still recovering from a nasty illness from Fiddler on the Roof that weakened my voice. The music also surprised me - it was much more difficult that I expected; in addition, there are no good resources for me to learn my music the way I do best (by listening to recordings), for the recordings we used from the original show have differences compared to the script, creating an unexpected challenge.
     As for choreography, we spent rehearsals learning very simple movements for a couple numbers. I understand that some members of the cast are not trained in dance at all, but I am already starting to feel a little nervous for opening night; I worry that the simple movements we have learned so far won’t keep the audience as engaged as they could be. I may try to speak with the choreographer and see if we can spruce up the dances a bit – I have a lot of fun ideas.

The third week, many of us (myself included) were gone, for it was not only finals week for the ISU students, but all of us were involved in the One-Act festival. Though we were unable to be there, the cast continued on with rehearsals, teaching new dance numbers in our absence; however, I wasn’t informed of the new material until it came time to run it again; I was hoping the choreographer would inform us before then and teach the new movements to us.

     Throughout this process, I have noticed some problems occurring. First off, I am sensing a lack of creative communication between the director, choreographer, and the designers. I am beginning to understand firsthand why that communication is so vital - without it, little progress can be made. In addition, thanks to my directing experience in classes, I have truly grown to appreciate Brad's style of directing, especially his process and preparedness. Another issue that has me worried is the constant shifting of the cast; we lost about half of the original cast within the first few weeks, due to either schedule conflicts (which I understand), or the adult nature of the show. I think it would have been a good idea to let auditioners know beforehand about the adult nature of the show, in order to prevent these problems. Even with some slight problems, it is still early on in the process – I bet it will all work out.

Willy Wonka Jr.

I've gone through the script and made a preliminary list of the different light cues.  Judging from Andre's sketches, the majority of the action in Act One will be taking place either stage right or stage left.  So Act One will have a lot of back and forth.  One important question I need to ask about is how far down and up stage they want to be able to go.  I know there will be a section in front of the cyc that will be a "no go zone" to avoid shadows on the projections, but Andre's sketches appear to keep the action mostly downstage.  In the next couple days, I plan on re-re-re-reading the script and come up with a more detailed list of cues, and soon I shall begin sketching rough ideas for a plot.

CLE Internship 2

Gig 3 day 2. we mostly finished tearing out the old fly system at Dowling high school. we took out the rest of the arbors, along with all of the lift lines, loft blocks, head blocks, toe blocks and lock rails. we even took out the angle iron that was bolted to the building structure to hold all the head/loft blocks up. we basically gutted ALL of their rigging equipment. I also learned that it's easy to get the hang of driving a scissor lift. especially since i was showing up my boss. learned a little bit more about rigging and what is considered proper form now V.s. then too. and there is a hell of a lot of difference. I would tell you what I learned but that would require way too much time and I have other things to do. so have a fantastic day! today was 6.5 hours of work. new total is 27 hours


Justin "Chops" Voga

CLE Internship

hello,
it's Chops here. I thought I would start sharing what I have been doing for my internship so far.

I am working as a contractor for a CLE (Central Lighting and Equipment) based in Des Moines.
The first Gig I worked for them was at Waukee High School near DSM where we Replaced an arbor on their fly system. (we replaced it because the other one was too tall and they wanted their CYC to fly out farther) so that was fun. It took about 7.5 hours just to replace one arbor. (a lot longer then I expected)

gig 2 was just setting up some chain motors and truss with a grand total of 5 PAR Bars (Bars with PAR cans attached to them) and 3 source for zooms. it took a lot longer then it should of simply because the crew head (guy in charge) was new at the leader role and was a little un organized. but thats ok because it just means more money for me. they also really need to learn how to use motors for cable picks because they were trying to pull the cable as tight as they could while it was on the ground and couldn't figure out why it was pulling the entire back truss (just had a curtain on it) about 6 feet forward. that was 5 hours.

gig 3 day one. we are working at Dowling High school in DSM (a private Catholic high school) over the next few days we will replace their entire fly system. today we focused on gutting out most of the old system. ya want to know something? ours may be a piece of crap, but theirs is worse. everything is original to the theatre. there was so much dist on the top of everything; dust was actually puffing off of the tie line on all of the drapery when we took it off. i'm not even sure any of it has moved since it was put up.  the hand lines were still original too. (those are supposed to be replaced every so often) one of them actually slipped through the line lock and hit a worker in the head. (don't worry he was fine. he was in a scissor lift so the batton only moved about half an inch before it hit him) so after the drapery, we took the battons and electrics down, then took most of the wire rope and head blocks down. (btw, I also learned how to drive a scissor lift today) it was about an 8 hour day. bringing my total hour count up to 20.5

stay tuned for gig 3 day 2.





Justin "Chops" Voga

Willy Wonka Jr

So I've started working on Story Theatre Compay's Willy Wonka Jr. I have six rehearsal blocks that I've painted and plan to make look like cubes of steel that has been welded together. We finished the first block and I realized that doing that much detail on each block is going to take a bit longer than I expected, however, as long as come up with a plan of attack for how the rest of the set is going to be built I sure we'll be fine. I'm going to spend the rest of the day getting the rest of the blocks done.