My school year ends in 9 days. There's so much to do in such a short amount of time, but while I'm caught up in getting myself ready for summer, I can't help but think of what an amazing year it's been.
When I started feeling at home at school, it was because I found a community of people who are simply amazing. I found people who have common interests with me, but also who are of varying ages. As plans for things to do next year are in the works, I'm realizing how much I am going to miss the seniors who have made such an impact on my year, and probably how I will go through the rest of my years at this university. It's hard to articulate how I'm feeling in conversation, and I don't know when I'm going to have a chance to tell you these things, so I have to do it in writing.
I don't normally name names, but I will be using first names only to thank these people. You know who you are.
Let's start with my theater friends:
Dan: you were the first designer I worked with. You were the one who got me hooked on student theater, on the team for DM, and being on your team this January taught me pretty much everything I know about lighting. I didn't find my community until Dolphin happened to me, and your influence on that experience will always stand out in my memory. Thank you.
Maria: I met you during Dolphin, and we hit it off right away. I've enjoyed getting to know you over the past year and working with you on various projects. I will miss your smiling face, tales of Ultimate, and hugs as you move on in your life. Thank you.
Jeff: I will always remember the night I met you. It was after the opening of Dolphin, and nobody could believe that it was the first time we'd been introduced. When we got to B Dubs after the Gala, you said to me, "what's your story," and were so genuinely interested in finding out who I was that I didn't even know where to start. We didn't work together until DM, and that was one of the most meaningful experiences of this entire year. I will miss your never-ending smiles. Thank you.
Mary: Some of the best times of winter quarter were spent hanging out in your apartment after performances of Ragtime. I'll never forget our late-night failed grocery run :) You have been a great friend and advisor as I've navigated my first year at university. Thank you.
Dan: Although we hung out a little during Dolphin, I think we really got to know each other through the crazy hours of DM. We were quite a team during our block together at the light board when I ran the colors and you kept the beat with the grand master, and dancing through the off blocks was so much fun! The Irma Vep process was capped off by seeing your fantastic performances night after night, and I can't imagine what the couches at Norris will be like without you and your laptop. Thank you.
Tina: Dolphin, DM, random techs, and just chatting, you have been such a positive force in my life. I have a special memory from February when I was chilling in Norris waiting to go to class, and you came in to eat lunch. We just sat on the couches and chatted about nothing in particular, but it was really nice. You're such an easy person to be around, and I will miss our random conversations and your smiles. Thank you.
Danny: You will always be a ninja to me: eternal ninja points. I really enjoyed getting to know you this year and working with you on Vep. You got me working on your team even though I was supposed to focus on set! Your puns, calmness, and artistry will truly be missed. Thank you.
Trina: I met you when we were laying floorboards for Buried Child, but we didn't get to know each other until Vep. You are a brilliant designer, great actor, and such a sweet person. I will always remember visiting you in your sad little sweatshop and that late night run to Wendy's when we sang along to They Might Be Giants. Thank you.
And now the non-theater seniors. Yes there are fewer, but their impact has been just as significant.
Laura: You were my Peer Advisor, the first student I knew who could tell me the real deal with how to get through this school. But you were more than your role; I could tell that you actually care about helping us through this confusing first year. From our meetings during your office hours fall quarter (aka getting Kafein and Cold Stone while chatting about life) to random run-ins around campus, you've been a significant force in guiding my university experience so I can handle the next three years. Thank you.
Rachel: I remember my first Friday night when you took the initiative to introduce yourself to me. I was debating which service to attend, but because you were nice, I went to yours and sat with you at dinner, and now you've passed leadership on to me. Beyond this institutional relationship, you've been a great friend for chats, advice, and hugs. I don't know what university will feel like without you, and I truly appreciate the guidance and influence you have had on my life. Thank you.
Yes, this was sappy. But I needed to express these thoughts. To any seniors I didn't name, I love you, too, and will miss you. The Class of 2011 has contributed so much to the university and I can't wait to see what you will contribute to the world now that your time here is ending.
Today is awesome because I've been wearing purple all day.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
5 Ways I Won Armadillo Day
My school has an annual Mayfest tradition of Armadillo, or Dillo, Day. Dillo Day is the Saturday before reading week, and it is a full day of outdoor concerts and activities (like henna, face painting, making hemp bracelets, free food, etc.). This year, the concert lineup was the student band Why So White, The New Pornographers, Chiddy Bang, Peter Bjorn and John, Kill the Noise, N.A.S.A., student DJ Guns and Sons, and B.o.B. It was a really fun day when everyone relaxed and let the stress of school go while enjoying being outdoors (when it wasn't raining :P) and listening to live music.
When things went well, I decided that I "won" Dillo Day (even though you can't really "win" and event, especially one that isn't a contest). Here are five wins from Dillo Day (in no particular order):
1. I took bubbles with me. They were fun for me, my friends enjoyed them, and a bunch of random people got excited to chase them, asked to have a turn blowing bubbles, and I even got an offer to trade my bubbles for a glow necklace.
2. I packed intelligently. When it started raining, I had an umbrella and jacket in my backpack, so the walk home wasn't unpleasant. After returning to my room, I changed into rainboots and shifted my necessary belongings into the pockets of my raincoat and my fanny pack (they are totally in for events like this!), and was able to enjoy the rest of the day without having to carry a bag.
3. I was with a great group of people. I went to my friends' apartment for brunch at 10AM, after which we went to the first concert (The New Pornographers). When it rained, we went back to their place to watch a movie (Risky Business), have dinner, and then go back for the last concert (B.o.B). It was just fun and relaxing to be with them.
4. I realized how many people I've met this year!! When the majority of the student population is at an event, you realize how many people are part of the university community. However, I was happily surprised to continually run into people I knew from various places. Chance encounters with friends make me acknowledge that I truly have made a place for myself here.
5. I let myself forget about the schoolwork that is still left before I can go home for the summer. It was so freeing to let it all go for a day, but now it's back to work.
Today is awesome because, despite the rain, I had an amazing first Dillo Day!!!
When things went well, I decided that I "won" Dillo Day (even though you can't really "win" and event, especially one that isn't a contest). Here are five wins from Dillo Day (in no particular order):
1. I took bubbles with me. They were fun for me, my friends enjoyed them, and a bunch of random people got excited to chase them, asked to have a turn blowing bubbles, and I even got an offer to trade my bubbles for a glow necklace.
2. I packed intelligently. When it started raining, I had an umbrella and jacket in my backpack, so the walk home wasn't unpleasant. After returning to my room, I changed into rainboots and shifted my necessary belongings into the pockets of my raincoat and my fanny pack (they are totally in for events like this!), and was able to enjoy the rest of the day without having to carry a bag.
3. I was with a great group of people. I went to my friends' apartment for brunch at 10AM, after which we went to the first concert (The New Pornographers). When it rained, we went back to their place to watch a movie (Risky Business), have dinner, and then go back for the last concert (B.o.B). It was just fun and relaxing to be with them.
4. I realized how many people I've met this year!! When the majority of the student population is at an event, you realize how many people are part of the university community. However, I was happily surprised to continually run into people I knew from various places. Chance encounters with friends make me acknowledge that I truly have made a place for myself here.
5. I let myself forget about the schoolwork that is still left before I can go home for the summer. It was so freeing to let it all go for a day, but now it's back to work.
Today is awesome because, despite the rain, I had an amazing first Dillo Day!!!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Into the Woods
Last week I was the Master Electrician (ME) for Into the Woods.
It was a totally different experience from Irma Vep. This time, I actually knew how to do the things that needed to get done!! At 8AM on Monday, I got the truss from its storage space and built our large truss structure (the metal thing for hanging lights) in 2 hours. I feel like that's a pretty big accomplishment because we had a lot of truss. After my classes, I was in charge of getting cable to all of the lights. This task gave me a mini identity crisis because people were asking me how they could help, a question I usually ask others. It felt odd yet good to be the knowledgeable one.
Once all the lights were hung and cabled, we hoisted the truss and ate dinner. The rest of the week was spent focusing lights, getting color on them, and fixing things that needed fixing. Basically, I spent multiple hours each day at the top of a very tall ladder manipulating heavy and expensive instruments. It was fun!
The performances went well, though I don't really like Into the Woods as a show. Our production was set in a prison camp, so I made my acting debut as a guard in one of the guard towers during a performance. I just had to look intimidating and die at the end.
On Sunday, we had a really tough strike. We had four hours to take everything apart and be out of the space, and our set was HUGE! (and beautiful). The company that recycles set pieces did not come, and we had to make an emergency change of plans to get everything stored, so we ended up finishing strike two hours late in the hallway outside our room. I'm particularly proud of how fast I was able to get the truss disassembled; I got the pieces separated in 18-30 minutes.
Overall, it was a fun show to be part of! This process made me really appreciate the teamwork aspects of theater because the cast was so helpful and there was amazing collaboration between the set and lighting teams to get everything done; these teams are dependent on one another to get the space cleared because we cannot put the truss on the ground until the stage is gone.
Today is awesome because Neil Gaiman wrote a fantastic episode of Doctor Who that I finally watched, I had a They Might Be Giants singalong on Sunday night that made me very happy, this is my 70th blog post, and it's the last week of classes!
It was a totally different experience from Irma Vep. This time, I actually knew how to do the things that needed to get done!! At 8AM on Monday, I got the truss from its storage space and built our large truss structure (the metal thing for hanging lights) in 2 hours. I feel like that's a pretty big accomplishment because we had a lot of truss. After my classes, I was in charge of getting cable to all of the lights. This task gave me a mini identity crisis because people were asking me how they could help, a question I usually ask others. It felt odd yet good to be the knowledgeable one.
Once all the lights were hung and cabled, we hoisted the truss and ate dinner. The rest of the week was spent focusing lights, getting color on them, and fixing things that needed fixing. Basically, I spent multiple hours each day at the top of a very tall ladder manipulating heavy and expensive instruments. It was fun!
The performances went well, though I don't really like Into the Woods as a show. Our production was set in a prison camp, so I made my acting debut as a guard in one of the guard towers during a performance. I just had to look intimidating and die at the end.
On Sunday, we had a really tough strike. We had four hours to take everything apart and be out of the space, and our set was HUGE! (and beautiful). The company that recycles set pieces did not come, and we had to make an emergency change of plans to get everything stored, so we ended up finishing strike two hours late in the hallway outside our room. I'm particularly proud of how fast I was able to get the truss disassembled; I got the pieces separated in 18-30 minutes.
Overall, it was a fun show to be part of! This process made me really appreciate the teamwork aspects of theater because the cast was so helpful and there was amazing collaboration between the set and lighting teams to get everything done; these teams are dependent on one another to get the space cleared because we cannot put the truss on the ground until the stage is gone.
Today is awesome because Neil Gaiman wrote a fantastic episode of Doctor Who that I finally watched, I had a They Might Be Giants singalong on Sunday night that made me very happy, this is my 70th blog post, and it's the last week of classes!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
The Mystery of Irma Vep: A Penny Dreadful
This past weekend was the performance weekend for a show I've been working on called The Mystery of Irma Vep: A Penny Dreadful. It was a wonderful show experience.
I was the assistant technical director (ATD). I had never been on a set team before, so I learned a LOT every day. After the set was up, I was able to look at it and touch the pieces I had helped construct: hinges on doors, lots of painting, and the sarcophagus. The sarcophagus ended up being a bit of a pet project for me, and I had put doors on it (with hinges!), painted the entire inside and outside with metallic gold spray paint, and rigged a fake back for it. Seeing the things I had a hand in constructing or painting was really gratifying and an amazing experience. I went from being power tool incapable to impact driver competent over the course of three weeks.
For me, the thing that makes any experience special is who I work with. This team was AMAZING!! I had been going to themed production meetings since February (cardigans, everyone wear red, super heroes, spring break, pirates vs. ninjas, sea life, pajamas, and tech week), and I already knew many of the people on the team. The producer and my TD had both worked on Ragtime with me in January and the rest of the team I either got to know through the process or met when I was tech hopping in the winter. Every single person was good at what he/she did, wonderful as a teammate, and truly collaborative as artists.
The nature of this show makes every component completely dependent on the others. Yes, this is true of any show, but it felt more interwoven than many shows I've seen. Our actors were amazing; they could turn any moment into a comic bit to make the audience laugh. The lights guided the storytelling, as did the sound, which included underscoring and not just effects. The set was extremely important because of the various doors, and the costumes were all rigged for quick changes, which necessitated a crew of three people per actor to get through the show.
Watching four of the five performances was a great experience, particularly to see how the different audiences reacted as well as finding new things in the text and performance. Our closing audience was my favorite; they all laughed a lot at every joke, were completely invested in the play, and there were a handful of people who had returned to see the show again. My favorite audience moment was when a plot twist was revealed and before the other character could react, a girl in the front row said, "What?!?" very loudly. It was awesome!
After that performance, we struck the chairs, risers, and front of house lights, then had a really fun cast party before returning to strike the rest of the equipment on Sunday. It was a wonderful process from start to finish, and that type of process is hard to anticipate but amazing to have.
It's strange to already be onto my next show (I'm the master electrician for Into the Woods--I'll blog about it when it's over), but Vep will always be remembered as an epic part of this year.
Today is awesome because I had time to blog, and I've been wanting to write for a long time.
I was the assistant technical director (ATD). I had never been on a set team before, so I learned a LOT every day. After the set was up, I was able to look at it and touch the pieces I had helped construct: hinges on doors, lots of painting, and the sarcophagus. The sarcophagus ended up being a bit of a pet project for me, and I had put doors on it (with hinges!), painted the entire inside and outside with metallic gold spray paint, and rigged a fake back for it. Seeing the things I had a hand in constructing or painting was really gratifying and an amazing experience. I went from being power tool incapable to impact driver competent over the course of three weeks.
For me, the thing that makes any experience special is who I work with. This team was AMAZING!! I had been going to themed production meetings since February (cardigans, everyone wear red, super heroes, spring break, pirates vs. ninjas, sea life, pajamas, and tech week), and I already knew many of the people on the team. The producer and my TD had both worked on Ragtime with me in January and the rest of the team I either got to know through the process or met when I was tech hopping in the winter. Every single person was good at what he/she did, wonderful as a teammate, and truly collaborative as artists.
The nature of this show makes every component completely dependent on the others. Yes, this is true of any show, but it felt more interwoven than many shows I've seen. Our actors were amazing; they could turn any moment into a comic bit to make the audience laugh. The lights guided the storytelling, as did the sound, which included underscoring and not just effects. The set was extremely important because of the various doors, and the costumes were all rigged for quick changes, which necessitated a crew of three people per actor to get through the show.
Watching four of the five performances was a great experience, particularly to see how the different audiences reacted as well as finding new things in the text and performance. Our closing audience was my favorite; they all laughed a lot at every joke, were completely invested in the play, and there were a handful of people who had returned to see the show again. My favorite audience moment was when a plot twist was revealed and before the other character could react, a girl in the front row said, "What?!?" very loudly. It was awesome!
After that performance, we struck the chairs, risers, and front of house lights, then had a really fun cast party before returning to strike the rest of the equipment on Sunday. It was a wonderful process from start to finish, and that type of process is hard to anticipate but amazing to have.
It's strange to already be onto my next show (I'm the master electrician for Into the Woods--I'll blog about it when it's over), but Vep will always be remembered as an epic part of this year.
Today is awesome because I had time to blog, and I've been wanting to write for a long time.
Friday, May 6, 2011
5 Cool Things
Blogging in lists seems to work well for me, so here goes:
1. Last weekend and this weekend I am building set pieces for The Mystery of Irma Vep: A Penny Dreadful. It's been amazingly fun, and I have discovered that I really like painting (especially with metallic gold spray paint) and that sunburn is particularly painful on one's elbows.
2. Since I now have a major and two minors declared, course registration contains fewer options to get lost in, so I know exactly what I want to take. I have pre-registration for my Sociology classes and a permission number for my Theatre class, so I'm hoping that I can have 3/4 of my schedule done by Wednesday. If this happens, I'm going to have an awesome Fall quarter!
3. Black holes are super cool, and the more I learn about them, the more science approaches science fiction.
4. I'm writing a song. It's about black holes.
5. I'm disappointed that my first songwriting experience is for my physics class, but songs about science make me learn better.
I think 5 items is enough for one list. Plus 5 is my favorite number.
Today is awesome because of SUN! and advising and feeling like I have my life put together.
1. Last weekend and this weekend I am building set pieces for The Mystery of Irma Vep: A Penny Dreadful. It's been amazingly fun, and I have discovered that I really like painting (especially with metallic gold spray paint) and that sunburn is particularly painful on one's elbows.
2. Since I now have a major and two minors declared, course registration contains fewer options to get lost in, so I know exactly what I want to take. I have pre-registration for my Sociology classes and a permission number for my Theatre class, so I'm hoping that I can have 3/4 of my schedule done by Wednesday. If this happens, I'm going to have an awesome Fall quarter!
3. Black holes are super cool, and the more I learn about them, the more science approaches science fiction.
4. I'm writing a song. It's about black holes.
5. I'm disappointed that my first songwriting experience is for my physics class, but songs about science make me learn better.
I think 5 items is enough for one list. Plus 5 is my favorite number.
Today is awesome because of SUN! and advising and feeling like I have my life put together.
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