Tag Archives: theater

Moving and Theater

More busy moving times! Wednesday afternoon, evening, and night was spent moving DC and Beth out of their condemned apartment. Scott, Will, and I wandered over around 4:30 and joined the party of shoving large furniture and piddly boxes into vehicles, soon joined by more friends and family, caravaning the stuff out to Beth’s parents’ workplace, wherein a warehouse existed to hold their belongings. It was a very efficient and successful move.

If my work in the theater has given me one thing, it is the appreciation of how tame the average move is. After working numerous strikes and road shows at the Norton Center, moving and storing the entirety of DC and Beth’s belongings in a single day was a mild ordeal (I mean, we had the whole day! It was practically leisurely!)

In the theater, no person, even the smallest, escapes the frantic, precarious, and downright hard physical labor of tearing down and packing up shows. Even after many ninjutsu-like escapes, I took my turn carrying the damned sound board up the stairs of the Norton Center. Common household furniture is nothing! After detaching and loading an intelligent stage light with the sickening knowledge that it was probably worth more than my life, I can move fragile and sentimental belongings with utmost confidence. Scraping myself on a bookshelf is nothing compared to being bitten by an alligator clamp.

Though my work in the theater was often grueling, it has made me strong and confident in the face of common moves. I am very appreciative of all that the theater has taught me. So, future moves, I fear you not! For no matter how big the couch, no matter how many boxes, it will never be as painful as striking a show. And so I close with the words of Bill the Props Carp, spoken as he and I attempted to get a precarious chaise lounge off a very tall shelf: “You know, once mankind finishes filling in that periodic table, we’ll find something heavier to build this out of.”

Chicago!

Hooray for visits!! This weekend I made a brief jaunt up to Chicago to visit D Flo, who has been wanting visits since my short stay with him last year before my Japan trip (note, I still haven’t put up all my pictures from that, doh!)

I arrived at Midway and trained my way downtown successfully, with the loss of only one man. Two mans left for the rest of the weekend! (Also, D Flo, I swear there is no means of transferring from the red line to the orange line at Lake without leaving the station!)

We ate at a Mexican restaurant which was alright, except I think they made their tortilla chips with flour tortillas instead of corn. Grah! We then went to Best Buy and picked up a cheap compilation game for the xBox with Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell, and spent the latter part of the evening gaming away.

D Flo’s new pad is super nice, especially compared to his old no-bedroom one. It is great big and decorated in a very D Flo style, with hardwood floors all around. It is also right above a bar, and the living room (where I slept) was right above the stage area. It wasn’t so bad except that Friday night was apparently Live Punk Rock night.

Saturday I slept in, a big step for the no-later-than-8 trend I have picked up since starting work, but it was mostly attributed to the aforementioned punk rock show. We went out to grab food at a diner, and my appetite made a guest appearance, which I took advantage of.

We went down to Navy Pier and hopped on a boat tour (one of D Flo’s friend from his acting class is a tour guide, so we got to go for free). It was really fun and interesting, and since said tour guide was a comedian-in-training, it was entertaining as well. I got a little more sun than I had anticipated, but ah well, it will not kill me

After this, we met up with Rebecca, who works in the box office at the Briar Street theater, and assured me that if she’d known I was coming she could have hooked me up with Blue Man tickets. Doh! I may attempt to take advantage of this on my next Chicago visit.

We dined on Cold Stone (French vanilla with strawberries and oreo mix-ins, yum!) then saw a show at Second City. It was pretty funny sketch comedy and quite enjoyable. I can’t wait to see a show that D Flo is in (his D&D Improv hoo-hah starts up soon!)

After the show, D Flo and I picked up a pizza from the pizzeria right next to his place. T’was my first experience with Chicago style deep dish; it was strange but delicious. We spent the rest of the evening gaming (by which I mean my hands hurt, so I watched him play Splinter Cell).

A fine visit! I would like to go back again and have a museum day, and maybe catch Blue Man Group. Everyone should go visit D Flo and hang out at his new apartment. Win!

In other news, this visit has opened up the gates for a whole line of summer and fall visits! Lisa will have no money! But that’s okay, who wants a visit?

Going Home

I stole this link from Scott Ruggels. It’s an awesome Dutch minimilist puppeteer. Go to “filmpjes” and watch away!

http://www.xs4all.nl/~lrvk/lejo/

Yesterday was my last day at Long Wharf. It was very nice and everyone at the theater has been extremely supportive of me and my decision to leave. Bill the props carpenter got me an AWESOME Cowboy Bebop T-shirt. It was funny, too, because I had just recently been scouring the internet searching for one, but all the ones I found were either:
a) Horrible or uninteresting designs or
b) Images of Faye in a lewd pose
I never thought to look at Hot Topic.

Anyway, these next couple of days will be full of packing and pre-moving stress. I am happy to be going home, but I am very tired and don’t feel like deciding the next step in my life. I have a web design job lined up to bring in a little bit of money, but I’ve always hated job hunting. Anyway, I probably will be fine once I get a bit of rest, I have much to do when I get home!

HOORAAAAAY!!!

I HAVE A JOB!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!!!

I got a props internship at Long Wharf Theatre in Connecticut which I had applied for in early April. It is very exciting for me, and is another wonderful load lifted off my shoulders what with not having to worry about what I’m going to do next year (That, and I can now officially answer the neverending questions of “So what are you going to do after you graduate?”)

The senior art majors defense was today and went quite well. I was able to form coherent thoughts and sentences even though my face was continuously trying to slide off. Lots of people showed up to the opening and it was really fun, I got a lot of great compliments on my pieces and on the show in general (and I made a trade for one of Augustine’s paintings! Yay!) I’ll be sure to post pictures once I get them.

Tonight was also the Jr/Sr drama dinner at Tony’s. It was very pleasant; I got a sock puppet as a gift and learned how to play Cricket (sort of).

Overall, things are going awesomely, with the only damper being that I am very very sick. However, tomorrow after my algorithms final I intend to take some cold medicine and sleep for about 3 days.

I HAVE A JOB!!!!!!!!

Cocoanuts

Holy Crap for Crap! The show was abso-frickin-lutely awesome! I was so impressed with everybody. D Flo fell into the Groucho role so well, and Ian as Chico was amazing, considering Chico is one of the brothers I often overlook. Strother, I know you were sad about being the normal one, but you were a fabulous Zeppo. Plus, I got to hug Colin in his Harpo costume, which was very gratifying. I was not disappointed in the slightest.

Everyone else, I am astounded at the awesomeness with which the dance numbers came together. I know you guys put a buttload of work and pain and sweat and tears and the occasional blood sacrifice into this, but it really paid off. I almost peed my pants on several occasions.

So, as the “Who’s your favorite Marx Brother” poll wraps up in my last post, it looks like Harpo is in the lead with 6, followed by Groucho with 3, Chico with 1, and Zeppo with a few “I also liked him”s

Thus as the prize, I will draw Wertle dressed up like Harpo, doing something….Harpo-ish. Don’t be dismayed if you don’t see it until after graduation though ^_^

Strike!

Yellow Boat is finally officially over!

Strike was delayed a bit due to an impromptu private concert from Colin’s dad (note: Colin is Colin McCann, son of Peter McCann, who wrote “Do You Wanna Make Love (Or Do You Just Wanna Fool Around)?”, which the cast and crew was in love with). So after the pleasant sing-along, the disassembly started.

After putting props away, I spent most of it de-tangling the fiber optics used for the stardrop. What a paaaaaaaain.

In spite of my heavy workload, I’m dropping everything to go home tomorrow to see Les Triplettes de Belville, which I’ve been anxiously waiting to see since Brendan showed me the trailer a year or so ago. I’m very excited!

Time for an Update!

The Yellow Boat opened really nicely, and I was happy to see that we had reduced the audience to tears much earlier in the play than I expected would happen. Muahahahahaha! The Quilt ceremony was also really touching. Strother, you have a very haunting and powerful voice, I will capture you and put you in a jar and make you sing for me, and then I’ll give you cookies as a reward.

In other news, classes are rough, but interesting. The Beowulf Clusters class is going to be an ordeal, as the only available place for us to build our little cluster is apparently a closet. Granted, it’s a spacious closet, it’s just mostly filled with biology lab equipment. I have been partnered up with Ryan the Younger, and as we discovered, neither of us knows squat about linux administration, networking, or any real hardware stuff. It’s going to be a fun term (we’ve already decided to paint flames on the side of our node…you know…to make it go faster). To make things easier, I made sure our node was set up next to Jared and Zaid’s, so we can pester them relentlessly for help.

Algorithms is going to be tough, because it’s one of those “thinking” classes, and it’s at 8:00. I’m trying desperately to convince Dr. Shannon of my poor arithmetic abilities. When we had our quiz this morning, we asked if we needed a calculator, and she said no. And I said “Are you SURE, you know I can’t do math.” and she’s like “Nooo, you’ll be fine, it’s just a little arithmetic.” Sure enough, I butchered Euclid’s algorithm because I can’t divide or subtract.

Why is that? Why is it that I can do derivatives in my head, or even standing on my head, but I can’t do math. Like, at all. I’m a horrible banker in monopoly, because I can’t subtract to give change (also, because I steal from the bank ¬_¬).

Anyway, moving on, glass seems like it will be good. I have some good ideas to get my rolling with my senior show. Databases should involve some fun and useful projects.

I wanted to go home this weekend and visit friends, but I think this week’s workload will be too great. Guess I’ll be spending Valentine’s Day* getting ahead in my work…or catching up.

*Notice how I didn’t say V-day

The Second so Red…

The most important thing I learned from The Company:

Gloss black spraypaint can make anything–from wooden dowels and tubing to the cheapest of plastic children’s toys–look like legitimate and authentic medical equipment.

I’m up in Connecticut having a wonderful recovery period. Granted, my connecting flight out of Detroit was canceled and I had to spend the night up there, but they gave me a room with a jacuzzi, so all was quickly forgiven ^_^

I’ve been spending the time when Carleton is in class sleeping, lazing about, and even doing some artstuffs! I’m trying very hard to think as little as possible about the upcoming spring term. At least winter term came to a nice close, there isn’t going to be anything drastic to do when we start teching the play.

Come see The Yellow Boat!!!!!

There sailed 3 boats from the harbor…

Last weekend of winter term, one more official day of class, and I am totally beat. I’m having trouble getting motivated this weekend, as there is much to do before it is through.

I’d like to go in today and do some work on Yellow Boat–mainly painting and touch-ups and small bits of work–but the thought of going in on a weekend to work is terribly exhausting for some reason. I’ll have lunch and then muster up the motivation to go in.

In addition, I must clean clean clean for winter break, as well as pack for my trip to see Carleton. There are other things, like filling out and sending in my registration for SETC and cleaning my fishtank (oh, did I mention I have a fish now? Well I do ^_^ ) which need to happen soon as well.

In other news, downstairs in the prop room yesterday and I found ANOTHER abandoned and forgotten Christmas cactus. It was in pretty much the same shape as the last one, so hopefully I can revive it (I’m considering making a sign for props storage that says “NO LIVE PLANTS!!”)

Busen lull, cook the kettle full…

More important information

More specific dates and times for our performance of The Yellow Boat

Public performances:
Sunday, February 8, 2:00 pm
Wednesday, February 11, 8:00 pm
Friday, February 13, 8:00 pm

There are school performances at 9:30 am and 12 noon on the 9-10, and Lord of the Dance is coming in on the 12, which is why we don’t have a performance then

Also, we are getting 12 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to display in the Norton Center lobby. Each panel is made of four smaller, individual panels, so that’s 48 people represented. There will be an opening ceremony after the first performance on Sunday and the quilt will stay on display most of that week. We tried to request quilt panels of people who were connected to the local community, and we also requested the panel for Benjamin Saar, who the play is about.

I really encourage anyone who will be nearby during that week to try and come see the play! The class has put an incredible amount of work into it and I know it’s going to be a great show. Acquire tickets through the Norton Center for the Arts box office at (859) 236-4692 or 1-877-448-7469.

Press Release…
http://www.centre.edu/web/news/2004/show04.html