This Friday, my first show of the semester was performed. The show was produced for our workshop, a department wide tradition in which the various directing classes show their work. Each Friday there is a different set of directors, presenting scenes from different types of plays. This past Friday was for the second year grad students to produce a post modern scene. As part of my own course work, I did the light design for 70 Scenes of Halloween. In any production, with light design comes blackouts and with blackouts come hilarity.
Example 1: As a class we got together to hang the instruments for the scenes (there were actually two scenes) and to focus the lights where we wanted them. I was on the ground trying to focus the lights and decided to trade places with the other designer, Tyler. As I walked backstage it was completely dark, but it was not until I hit the door frame of the free-standing door unit that I realized anything was in my path. I was so surprised to find something in my way that in order to get a feel for the object I simply pushed the door open and hugged the frame. Impressively, I had managed to straddle the giant brace on the side that I should have tripped over before reaching the door itself. My friends in the catwalks had no idea what happened and were calling to me, but I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything. They all thought I had crashed into something and broke my face! This was all good and well until my professor mentioned it in front of the whole cast during tech. Thanks, JoJo.
Example 2: Most directors want a true blackout for transitions, then realize that they need some sort of glow for the actors to see. The glow was even more necessary this time since the girl moving around during all the transitions was wearing a sheet as a "ghost". When we were adding the cues for the first time, I did not have time to add the glow to all of the blackouts before the run started and it was difficult to find the buttons quickly to fix the cues as they came. The poor girl with a sheet over her head kept crashing into the chairs and walking very confidently into the curtains. This was all good and well until my director told her, "Every bruise on your body is Sarah Chanis' fault." Thanks, Dan.
Overall the show was a success and the lights were fun. Thanks, friends!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Missed Calls
Tonight I as I was digging in my purse I discovered something that made my heart skip a beat: I had left my cell phone at home. After the initial and terrifying discovery, I reminded myself that it probably healthy for me to be without my phone every once and a while. After all, I had spent the previous three hours without it, I could leave it a couple hours more. If anyone called or texted I would be able to see that when I got home and respond then.
When I walked into my apartment, there was my phone sitting on the coffee table. In an effort to detach myself further from the Compulsive Cell Phone Disorder, I refrained from checking it immediately. A minute or so later I heard the satisfactory beep altering me to two missed calls. Both were from the number Unavailable which I knew immediately was my mom. She is the only person I cannot call back since it is actually a Skype number. I won so much ground in my fight against cell phone addiction and I actually missed the call I needed to answer right away and on a rare occasion when I could have talked to her. Sad.
This story does have a happy ending though! I emailed my mom right away to tell her what happened and a few minutes later I received a call from Unavailable. She has the day off today (tomorrow?) for the Midautumn Festival and was able to call later in her day and talk for a while. How long? 40mins 54 secs. When does that ever happen? I am the luckiest girl in the world.
When I walked into my apartment, there was my phone sitting on the coffee table. In an effort to detach myself further from the Compulsive Cell Phone Disorder, I refrained from checking it immediately. A minute or so later I heard the satisfactory beep altering me to two missed calls. Both were from the number Unavailable which I knew immediately was my mom. She is the only person I cannot call back since it is actually a Skype number. I won so much ground in my fight against cell phone addiction and I actually missed the call I needed to answer right away and on a rare occasion when I could have talked to her. Sad.
This story does have a happy ending though! I emailed my mom right away to tell her what happened and a few minutes later I received a call from Unavailable. She has the day off today (tomorrow?) for the Midautumn Festival and was able to call later in her day and talk for a while. How long? 40mins 54 secs. When does that ever happen? I am the luckiest girl in the world.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Song of the Week
Hello. The song of the week is Music Box by Regina Spektor. It is an incredibly random song that has no real connection to the week or to much of anything for that matter. The music is fun though, so enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjWoOk53joM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjWoOk53joM
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Audition Season
The first few weeks of school are always filled with auditions for various things. On the first day of class there were auditions for the two new grad students and at the end of the week there were auditions for the opera (people from the theatre department, myself included, will work for the opera, but the majority of it is produced by the music school). For all those in a directing class, myself included, there is a general audition of all the freshmen, fondly known as "cattle call". Lastly, we had auditions for the next two theatre productions which have taken place over the last three days.
The hall overflows with nervous students dressed in heels or ties. Intense.
Normally sophomore designers are in charge of running the auditions, but since we only have half of one, the first thing my professor said to me this year was, "Could you run cattle call?" This was closely followed by, "How was your summer?" He asked me three times, and each time I said I could not attend. He finally roped me in to help run auditions for the opera and for Eurydice (our next mainstage show). My job is relatively simple: collect the forms the actors need to fill out and answer the repetitive questions that are coming at me rapid fire (while smiling calmly of course). I personally find it fascinating to watch the actors deal with their nerves. Some pump themselves up by singing hardcore songs, some shake out their hands, and all of them pace and mutter to themselves. In fact, I love being out on campus on an audition day and finding an actor reciting a monologue to themselves while walking past the library or science building.
Audition Season is an interesting part of our lives. Hours are long and tensions are high. Yet auditions are a pivotal part of theatre. As my professor says, if the stage manager (SM) makes the actors comfortable at auditions they will perform at their best, which allows the director to put together the best cast, which allows the show to be good, which allows a show to run for a long time, which allows the SM to have more paychecks, which allows the SM to become independently wealthy. Basically, if auditions go well, the SM will become independently wealthy. Therefore, Audition Season provides me with many opportunities to perfect the art of becoming financially secure.
The hall overflows with nervous students dressed in heels or ties. Intense.
Normally sophomore designers are in charge of running the auditions, but since we only have half of one, the first thing my professor said to me this year was, "Could you run cattle call?" This was closely followed by, "How was your summer?" He asked me three times, and each time I said I could not attend. He finally roped me in to help run auditions for the opera and for Eurydice (our next mainstage show). My job is relatively simple: collect the forms the actors need to fill out and answer the repetitive questions that are coming at me rapid fire (while smiling calmly of course). I personally find it fascinating to watch the actors deal with their nerves. Some pump themselves up by singing hardcore songs, some shake out their hands, and all of them pace and mutter to themselves. In fact, I love being out on campus on an audition day and finding an actor reciting a monologue to themselves while walking past the library or science building.
Audition Season is an interesting part of our lives. Hours are long and tensions are high. Yet auditions are a pivotal part of theatre. As my professor says, if the stage manager (SM) makes the actors comfortable at auditions they will perform at their best, which allows the director to put together the best cast, which allows the show to be good, which allows a show to run for a long time, which allows the SM to have more paychecks, which allows the SM to become independently wealthy. Basically, if auditions go well, the SM will become independently wealthy. Therefore, Audition Season provides me with many opportunities to perfect the art of becoming financially secure.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
A Perfect Day
It's not today, but yesterday. Yesterday one of my childhood friends got married (on her parents 28th wedding anniversary). Getting to the wedding was an adventure in itself, but it was worth it!
The ceremony took place in Pensacola, FL, a long day's drive from Texas. Fortunately, a Baylor friend, moved to Pensacola three weeks ago so I was able to stay with Michelle. I left Baylor on Thursday evening and stayed with a friend an hour-and-a-half down the road. We wrote papers together while listening to music on pandora.com, then I took off early Friday morning and made the trek to Pensacola. Michelle had a home cooked meal waiting for me and we chatted it up for a while before turning in early.
Saturday: my perfect day. Neither Michelle nor I set our alarms, so we woke up naturally and lazily. We got ready slowly, had a late breakfast, and I even managed to get a good start on a project. The wedding was in the afternoon and when I got there Elisa's dad noticed me straight away and took me to the bridal room. Elisa was precious, repeating the question, "What time is it now?" The ceremony was beautiful, if surreal, and the reception was very enjoyable. After I got back to Michelle's, we went to the beach to watch the sunset. The sun didn't set directly over the water, but it was still beautiful and we were able to get our feet wet and sandy, eat brownies, and make up constellations (a turtle and a camel, myths coming soon). I couldn't ask for a better day!
Today I drove the whole stretch: Pensacola to Waco. About the time I thought I couldn't stand it any more, the radio station I was listening to decided to play a complete set of only Led Zeppelin. What a wonderful way to get a second wind! Since I did not get a chance to post on Friday, I would like to offer two songs for the week. The selection of these songs is based on the trip because every couple of hours I had to change radio stations and I heard the same song on almost every station. Going east, it was The Boys of Summer by Don Henley and going west, it was Ramble On by Led Zeppelin. The good news is, I still like both songs!
With that, it is time to come off the vacation mindset and think about school again. I'll let you know how that works out!
The ceremony took place in Pensacola, FL, a long day's drive from Texas. Fortunately, a Baylor friend, moved to Pensacola three weeks ago so I was able to stay with Michelle. I left Baylor on Thursday evening and stayed with a friend an hour-and-a-half down the road. We wrote papers together while listening to music on pandora.com, then I took off early Friday morning and made the trek to Pensacola. Michelle had a home cooked meal waiting for me and we chatted it up for a while before turning in early.
Saturday: my perfect day. Neither Michelle nor I set our alarms, so we woke up naturally and lazily. We got ready slowly, had a late breakfast, and I even managed to get a good start on a project. The wedding was in the afternoon and when I got there Elisa's dad noticed me straight away and took me to the bridal room. Elisa was precious, repeating the question, "What time is it now?" The ceremony was beautiful, if surreal, and the reception was very enjoyable. After I got back to Michelle's, we went to the beach to watch the sunset. The sun didn't set directly over the water, but it was still beautiful and we were able to get our feet wet and sandy, eat brownies, and make up constellations (a turtle and a camel, myths coming soon). I couldn't ask for a better day!
Today I drove the whole stretch: Pensacola to Waco. About the time I thought I couldn't stand it any more, the radio station I was listening to decided to play a complete set of only Led Zeppelin. What a wonderful way to get a second wind! Since I did not get a chance to post on Friday, I would like to offer two songs for the week. The selection of these songs is based on the trip because every couple of hours I had to change radio stations and I heard the same song on almost every station. Going east, it was The Boys of Summer by Don Henley and going west, it was Ramble On by Led Zeppelin. The good news is, I still like both songs!
With that, it is time to come off the vacation mindset and think about school again. I'll let you know how that works out!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Labor Day's Labors
After one whole week of school, we have a day off! Good 'ol Labor Day. Somewhat miraculously, I went the entire week and weekend without rehearsal, so naturally the best thing to do with my time was visit family. My sister graciously let me come spend a couple day with her and her boys (David 7, Alex 4, Miguel 2 this month). It was a nice time of normalcy -- baseball, Cars video games, and shopping (much to David's lament) -- and the kids were entertaining as always. Here is one particularly amusing conversation that happened while we were trying to cross a street:
Rachel: Do you see any cars?
Alex: No.
Rachel: (pointing to a car coming our way) What do you think that is?
Alex: I think it's a Honda.
He was right; it was a Honda.
I came back home for the day so that I could clean up my apartment and get some work done. I had a chance meeting with my friend, Anna, at Common Grounds (Baylor's coffee place of choice) which led to a pleasantly long lunch and several hours of reading plays for class on my porch and in my living room. It would have nice if I did not need to read the plays, but it was more enjoyable to have a good friend sitting on the ridiculous and brightly colored patio chair next to me. I even pulled out the taco salad for dinner, which should have been delicious except that we found sugar ants in the Tostitos. My roommate, Christina, and I have been fighting the foul intruders ever since we moved in and have built up an arsenal of complaints against the unpleasant trespassers. Anna said I should share this one more often:
One day Christina made dinner for some friends then they went out to a movie afterward, so she did not have a chance to clean up the kitchen. I came home and found the counter absolutely crawling with ants, a whole colony. Some of the ants were moving spryly as usual, but some were sluggish, almost stumbling. I finally realized that a purple spot on the counter was some wine that Christina had used for the sauce and that the ants looked sick because they were drunk! You learn new things every day and that day I learned that even ants can become inebriated.
So the long weekend turned out to be a simple and cozy weekend with family and friends. A great time to take it easy, but get some work done too!
Rachel: Do you see any cars?
Alex: No.
Rachel: (pointing to a car coming our way) What do you think that is?
Alex: I think it's a Honda.
He was right; it was a Honda.
I came back home for the day so that I could clean up my apartment and get some work done. I had a chance meeting with my friend, Anna, at Common Grounds (Baylor's coffee place of choice) which led to a pleasantly long lunch and several hours of reading plays for class on my porch and in my living room. It would have nice if I did not need to read the plays, but it was more enjoyable to have a good friend sitting on the ridiculous and brightly colored patio chair next to me. I even pulled out the taco salad for dinner, which should have been delicious except that we found sugar ants in the Tostitos. My roommate, Christina, and I have been fighting the foul intruders ever since we moved in and have built up an arsenal of complaints against the unpleasant trespassers. Anna said I should share this one more often:
One day Christina made dinner for some friends then they went out to a movie afterward, so she did not have a chance to clean up the kitchen. I came home and found the counter absolutely crawling with ants, a whole colony. Some of the ants were moving spryly as usual, but some were sluggish, almost stumbling. I finally realized that a purple spot on the counter was some wine that Christina had used for the sauce and that the ants looked sick because they were drunk! You learn new things every day and that day I learned that even ants can become inebriated.
So the long weekend turned out to be a simple and cozy weekend with family and friends. A great time to take it easy, but get some work done too!
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