The Isabel Series

A few weeks ago I did a photoshoot with Steph. This one came out of reflecting on the fact that I don't have a lot of interesting locations to serve as backgrounds for pictures... but one I do have access to that's kind of neat is my kitchen. It's bright and airy and blue-and-white, one of my favorite color schemes for decor. (I know, I'm an old lady.) I also have lots of blue and white household items to serve as props, and it also goes well with the color of my beloved copper cookware. So in order to take advantage of this, I created kind of a Perfect Hostess character named Isabel for Steph to pose as. I like the act and accoutrements of cooking, though my desire to not make a mess and the slow speed at which the process goes made me cut back on the verisimilitude. Also I wish my microwave didn't love over the stove. Microwaves are not lovely. Aw, well.

These photos are, as usual, minimally edited, just cropped a little and with the color saturation punched up. One of these days I'm going to have to learn how to use a more serious editing program. I'd love to have these with real stark white, very rich blue, and extremely bright copper. Add that to my ever-expanding projects list. They are full-sized so they LiveJournal does not make them fuzzy.

We put a ballerina in a tree, and she turned into a wood nymph

I enjoyed doing the photo shoot with Gigi so much that I felt the need to do another one!

Yesterday niobien* was kind enough to allow me to dress her up and mess up her hair and send her up into trees so I could take pictures of her. katiescarlett29* served as my lovely assistant helping me figure out shots. The genesis of this one was that I had these two unusual dresses that I thrifted a while back, the ballerina-like pixie dress and a hundred percent silk empire-waisted gown in shades of green and brown. They are quite pretty, and I've never had a chance to do anything with them. At the same time, I've always loved the way Carolyn looks. She is petite with a dancer's body, a sweet face, and a gorgeous fall of wavy hair. It occurred to me that as she's close to my size, she would be able to wear the interesting things I've bought myself at thrift stores. The fact that she has a background in ballet-- she even was nice enough to come to class with me once --gave me the idea to put her in the pixie dress. Once I decided that we'd do the shoot outside, taking advantage of Carolyn's tree-climbing skills, I thought the brown and green silk dress would both suit her and fit into the environment.

Carolyn is a wonderful model. I knew she'd be fun to work with because of her expressive physicality-- it was what allowed her to bring such life and humor to the pantomime character Audrey in Merely Players. But she is also just a wellspring of ideas for poses, kind of dreamily flowing from one into the next, always finding some way to work herself into her environment in an interesting way. I gave her some suggestions for shots I wanted to see, but mostly everything we captured was her idea, with Steph moving around helping to spot good angles from which to take the picture.

Here's one of my favorite shots, completely unedited. Would you look at how beautiful this girl is?

We went to the area around the chapels on Brandeis campus because it's so pretty. The idea behind the shoot was not as cohesive as the one for Gigi's. I saw her as a sort of fairy-spirit-creature who incorporated the elegant composition of ballet into a more wild natural setting. Steph suggested we call this character "Daphne," which I think fits. I like the strong contrast between those two elements, and the contrast between the more structured, precise poses of Carolyn in the ballet dress and the more freeform poses of Carolyn in the silk dress. It really took advantage of Carolyn's look and physicality-- she could climb the trees, she could do the ballet positions, and she could do them both at the same time! The look of the silk dress and its accompanying style probably worked a little better, but I am happy with everything. Here's a nice one of her in the ballet dress:

With the brown and green dress we also got to include another neat little detail that I think added a lot. I like to save little bits of material from other things and incorporate them into later projects. It can be fun to tell the story of where those pieces came from when showing off the final product. For this other costume, we braided two green ribbons into Carolyn's hair for kind of a wild, messy look. One of those green ribbons was around a box of fancy nuts that morethings5* once so sweetly brought as a host gift to a dinner party I had (which impressed my parents mightily!) The other was a table favor from the wedding of Kerri and Andrew, whose wedding colors were green and brown.

So I'm really happy with this project. I will clean up the pictures a little and post the best ones here and on Facebook. I will be doing more of these in the future, I think, and I would definitely love to shoot Carolyn again sometime.

Good larp news burning through my gloom

Stressed. Overworked, overtired, and over-scheduled. Panic over it set in yesterday at the first possible time, and in my upset I was a complete ass to katiescarlett29*. She was gracious and understanding, but I feel terrible about it. I will make it up to you, dear, once I have my head back on straight. I promise. I got a decent chunk of schoolwork done last night, which helps, but there's still a fair bit more to go.

On the positive side, the larp fairy knew I am longing for larpy things, and she has granted my wish. In lovely news for our little roleplaying community, ninja_report* has released the schedule for Festival 2012! I am excited just looking at it. As for the games I will be running, The Stand will be 9AM Saturday morning, while Paranoia will be 2PM Sunday afternoon. That leaves three possible slots for me to be a player. Ideally I have a break somewhere in there, so I will try to limit myself to signing up for two. We have tiered signups this year (yay, natbudin*!) so that means one must prioritize. My first-round choice, no question, will be Jesriah, the noir-style game set in an insane asylum within morethings5*'s fascinating roleplaying world, written in collaboration with lightgamer* and ninja_report*. That takes care of Friday evening. My second-round choice I think has to be Folding the River, written by wired_lizard* and mllelaurel*, a futuristic sci-fi game that may or may not involve time travel. They always run such great larps, so I'm excited. That will take up Saturday evening. Unfortunately it is across from High Rollers, acousticshadow2*'s World War II-era caper game which I've heard excellent things about. I've already told Tory and Lily I'm going for Folding the River, but if I don't get in, I will try to get into High Rollers instead. There are some pretty cool-looking games in the Saturday afternoon slot-- bleemoo* and staystrong62805*'s Vampire game, zapf* and ninja_report*'s Edwardian game, and laura47*'s amnesia game --but I think I need to have at least one free period, where I can go home and take a nap before I die.

The first signup round will open at 7PM this coming Monday, February 6th, so to be sure you get your first choice, register for the con at the website, then be ready to jump in once Shannon throws open the gates!

In other larp-con-related news, I got my casting for my other game at Intercon, The Feast of the Minotaur! It's an ancient Greek mythology-themed game centering around the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. I will be playing Princess Ariadne, who in the story was the daughter of King Minos of Crete who falls madly in love with the Athenian prince. No character sheet yet, but that sounds promising that I'll have a lot to do. I will have to come up with a pretty pretty Greek princess costume between now and March. Once I get this homework assignment done, I think I can afford to give that a little time and attention.

Merely Players Hoot review

‘Merely Players’ more than just a side-project for HTP'

By Candice Bautista
November 18, 2011

“Merely Players” was a wholly successful side-project put on by the Shakespeare group Hold Thy Peace this past weekend. A comedy by Brandeis graduate Phoebe Roberts ’09, M.A. ’12, “Merely Players” playfully mocks theater troupes’ and actors’ constant bid for the spotlight while still glorifying them.
The play was put on in Schwartz Auditorium, a venue that I personally had never seen used for a show, having only attended lectures in there. HTP successfully utilized the space, however, by moving the desks out and moving in tables for a sort of dinner show/cabaret setting. Indeed, placed on the tables were pieces of papers that doubled as mini-playbills and menus. Proceeds from items ordered went toward HTP fundraising. HTP actresses not acting in the show were waitresses as they took my table’s orders for brownies and cider. It was a very welcoming and surprising part of the setting that helped set the jovial mood for the play beforehand.

While we ate and waited for the show to begin, the actors in the actual show appeared in character and engaged in hilarious banter. At one point, Malcolm, the pretentious lead played by Ben Federlin ’14, yells to another actor, “You fungal growth! You’re homeless! Go back to under the bridge where we found you!” before hitting her on the head with his copy of “Othello.” These conversations occurred mostly along the sides of the stage portion of the auditorium, but occasionally the characters would venture into the audience along the side rows of the theater to great effect.

The humor only continued to flourish when the show began with the introduction of Cornelia (Stephanie Karol ’12) as the reluctant leader of the Shakespeare group. She discussed the difficulties of the burden of leading and how repulsed she was by actors. Karol, dressed in all black and donning white gloves, was hilarious and simultaneously terrifying. Having spent much of the pre-show act rolling around on various surfaces in Schwartz Auditorium, her entrance was doubly funny.

After her introduction of the theater troupe, the group breaks into a well-choreographed scene depicting the different aspects of acting, from applying make-up, to practicing lines, to struggling to get so much done in such a short period of time. From then on, the play depicts the actors rehearsing for Shakespeare plays that are clearly noted by a sign on the side of the stage. This works incredibly well as it gives the actors something with which to pretend to be preoccupied while also having source material at which to poke fun. For example, at one point in the play, Malcolm and Orlando (Andrew Prentice ’13) fight for the attention of newcomer Sylvia (Gabrielle Geller ’12) and end up pulling her back and forth during the “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” rehearsal. Other plays mentioned include “Hamlet,” “The Tempest,” “Henry V” and “King Lear,” which features a particularly hilarious bit with Malcolm tearing his shirt open, ripping off one of his buttons. Whether or not that was intentional will never truly be known by this audience member.

“Merely Players” differs greatly from the main shows that HTP puts on due to the fact that it is not written by Shakespeare, but the underlying emotions and passions the group has for Shakespeare carries through to put together a great show. Arcite the fool was played by Lenny Somervell ’12, well-known for her comedic roles in previous HTP shows, and this translates extraordinarily well in the small Schwartz venue. She showed no restraint when it came to breaking down the fourth wall and walking into the audience, petting one of my tablemates, and going around to give someone else her phone number. Truly Karol’s and Somervell’s performances were the highlights of the play, their acting pulling the various pieces of the show together into a clever whole. The show ended with just the two on the stage, concluding the show with Arcite’s line, “Better to be a witty fool than a foolish wit,” a reference to “Twelfth Night.”

The exact allure of “Merely Players” is hard to pinpoint because of the various phenomenal parts of the show, but a great contributing factor is the DIY nature of the show. Every part of the performance from the food, to the wait staff, even to the script was all made for and provided by the HTP members. At some points, it felt as though I was just in my friends’ basement on a Friday night, finally seeing the show my friends had been preparing. In fact, since HTP’s fall show “Margaret: A Tiger’s Heart” was put on about a month ago, the members must not have had that much time to put this together. All in all, “Merely Players” was a very good show with a homey feel that showcased not only HTP’s talent but also their dedication and affection for Shakespeare.

Merely Players triumphant

Merely Players came to its triumphant conclusion this weekend, and I am incredibly pleased. We filled our little house both nights, and most gratifyingly of all, they laughed! They followed the show and got the humor! Thanks so much to all you lovely people who came out to see it. Your support means a great deal to me.

Plus we got to test the unusual performance format. More than just our show doing well, I am pleased by the proof of concept. People will come to a show with a cabaret-style setup and buy the snacks and have a good time. That is a doable endeavor that will succeed. Hold Thy Peace could use this format for side projects in the future.

Schwartz is a shit theater space, let me tell you. It's more meant to be a lecture hall than a performance venue, so opportunities for tech are minimal-- a presention sound system and a couple of light switches you can flip on and off are pretty much the extent of it. But we chose it because it fit the aesthetic of our show. I didn't want the polished atmosphere of trying to immerse you in the illusion of another world that so much theater aims for. Instead we wanted, as I like to say, all the nuts and bolts of theater on display. Instead of hiding the trappings of a production, we used them as our set dressing-- you could see our cruddy worklights on the side aisles, the props tables and costume rack set out in plain view. And on top of that, the actors were almost never out of sight, always in character off to the sides even when they weren't on the stage. It drove the point of the metatheater home nicely, and created an immersion of another sort, one where the audience almost feels like it's on the inside of the production rather than just being witness to the final product of it.

It wouldn't have happened without our fabulous staff. Sari, Sam, and Elena came in to wrangle the lousy space and equipment into submission, making our technical functions work in spite of everything. The hardworking waitstaff made up of Plesser, Caitlin, Charlotte, Tziporah, and Simon I thank most graciously for lending their time and effort to pulling off this whole "cabaret with concessions" scheme. Rachel is consistently one of the only designers I feel like I can simply hand off the job to, because I always trust her to do good work. And of course there's Bernie, for whom none of my theatrical endeavors would ever get off the ground. He supports me tirelessly with his work and expertise, and I can't express how amazing I find it that he can take the entire technical burden off my shoulders and make it appear, almost by magic, for me every single time.

My cast was great as well. Lenny, for example, blows me away with how incredibly generous an actor she is, having an excellent sense of how to balance the push-pull of onstage interaction. I chose the role of the Fool for her just to watch her GO, and she did not disappoint. For someone so big and active onstage, she really know how to share it, to extend when it's her time such that she holds the eye captive, and to withdraw to allow attention to shift to those onstage with her. She and Andrew have a particularly remarkable ability to read one another, to pick up on where the other is going and then to move to meet and balance them. I saw it first in Othello when they played Iago and Roderigo, but it definitely showed here too. Andrew himself is finally really hitting his stride as an actor, learning how to use his physicality, make effective choices, and convey expression with his voice. I can't wait to see how he continues to grow; this was a very good semester for him, first with an important serious role in Margaret, and then a comedic one in Merely Players.

Steph was so great in her part as the Director. The character was very much outside her acting experience, and she'd also never done comedy before, so the great work she did here really impressed me with her stretching. The character is in many ways one big parody of yours truly, and Steph exaggerated many of my habits and mannerisms to great effect. I loved how she threw herself into it, pushed herself and tried stuff to see what worked. I think she was one of the funniest parts of the show and probably my favorite of the characters.

I love Gigi's acting. I find her to be incredibly expressive and her enthusiasm makes her a joy to work with. She was my first choice for the role of the Ingenue because pretty much all of her previous roles required her to portray a more mature and dignified presence, something she is very good at, but I love seeing people do things that are different. She was adorable and charming, using a lot of her natural energy to bring the character to life.

Ben was just perfect as the Lead. I don't think he's ever had such a large important role before, so the chance to really get into and develop a character helped him immensely. I find it is often the case that an actor with growing room will often make a lot of progress if trusted with a part he can really work with. Ben has a gift for comedy, which helped, but I think it also encouraged him to create a definite physicality and expressiveness in letting him cut loose and really own the stage. I wonder if he can translate that forward leap into drama as well, and I look forward to seeing what he's like in his next role.

I just fell in love with niobien*'s work. The play would not support another person with dialogue, but I wanted to have a stage manager character in there. It was Bernie's suggestion to make the character silent. It turned out to be the coolest idea. People have a prejudice against non-speaking roles as less important, but pantomime is a difficult and dying art and I did NOT write this role to be a throwaway. It takes a lot of skill and effort to convey yourself without getting to say what you're thinking. Carolyn was amazing at that. She's never done a show as an actor before, but she was so enthusiastic and adventurous. Her expressions and her instincts were wonderful, making the character funny, endearing, and totally readable. I'd love to work with her again in a speaking role, but I am so glad that I trusted the difficult challenge of building a character out of pantomime to her.

April made for an excellent Diva. She learned to balance the over-the-topness of her character's humor with the occasional moments that demanded real, serious acting. She had great chemistry with Ben, and they made for some really fabulous interaction. Those two characters are supposed to constantly try to outdo each other, and it's no small thing that they managed to convey that without actually upstaging each other or failing to work together on the meta-level.

I also loved the visual texture provided by the techie characters, Emma, Jenna, and Miriam. Having them support the scenes made for so much additional humor. Their pieces required a lot of timing, energy, and discernment to nail just right, and they did wonderful things with it. This is a very pro-techie show, you'll notice, depicting them as the most competent and least screwed-up people involved. Though make what you will of my choosing to make the stage manager the silent character; some would say I have stolen that technical voice, while others may see it as a a reflection of how she's given up in the wake of so much actor madness.

Thus concludes my second produced play. Here's hoping that things continue on this vein, and I am blessed with such wonderful collaborators who will help me put on my work. Thank you again, all who shared the experience with me, and came to see the results of our labors. <3

Sewing project finished: Steph's purple toile apron, part V

I finally was able to finish the apron I've been making as a gift for katiescarlett29*!


The only real stumbling block I'd been having, besides finding the time, was it was tough to decide what would be good material for the straps. I went through several possibilities, but the fabric the apron itself was made of wasn't sturdy enough and the rug binding I tried was too stiff to be tied. Eventually I settled on this sort of woven poly stuff that could be easily sewn, has some heft to it, and knots and unknots easily. The color's a little bit off, but I think it works anyway.

I had three yard-long sections of the stuff, which only occurred to me later was not the most useful measures in which to buy it. So first I attached the neck strap by tucking it under the fold on the top, folding it up over itself, cutting off the excess, and sewing it in with the top fold sandwiched between the two layers of the woven length. It hangs nicely and seems secure. Then I laid the two other yard-long sections over the middle of the apron with the ends meeting in the center. Those I also sewed in place with a long rectangle over the span of it. Then I took that extra bit cut off from the neck strap, tucked under each cut end to make it look nicer, and sewed it over the belt to hide where the two pieces joined in the middle. It looks kind of decorative that way, and hides the fact that it's not one continuous piece like it should be.

I gave it to Steph last night. She has a birthday coming up at the end of the week, so I guess I could have waited, but I was so pleased to have finished that I wanted to her to have it. She's waited long enough. I am glad to report that she really liked it, as I hoped she would. She even liked the way the trapezoidal shape allowed it to wrap more around her legs. Since that shape is a remnant of having to correct for the problem with the original pattern, it's quite lucky that it works so well for her. I hope it proves useful, and given that it's purple, it should at least match most of her clothes. ;-)

Official Invitation: Hold Thy Peace presents MERELY PLAYERS

“All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.” —Jacques, As You Like It, II.ii.139-166









Meet the Walking Shadows, a ragtag little troupe of Shakespearean actors as they struggle to revitalize a company that has seen better days! Come join us for this fun and funny Shakespeare revue that intersperses scenes from the Bard's most famous work with original comedic material poking fun at the nature of performing in a troupe and working together to make theater.

Seating is cabaret-style, with drinks and snacks available for purchase! All proceeds benefit future productions of Hold Thy Peace. Cash only, please.

Two nights only!
November 11th at 8PM
November 12th at 8PM

in Schwartz Auditorium at Brandeis University

Runtime: ~1 hour

Admission is free, donations gladly accepted

CAST
CORNELIA, the Director - Stephanie Karol (Goneril, Helena, Mark Antony, Thalia, Duchess of Gloucester)
SYLVIA, the Ingenue - Gabrielle Geller (Lady Capulet, Portia, Hermione)
DIONYZA, the Diva - April Farmer (Regan, Nurse, Decius, Shepherd)
MALCOLM, the Lead - Ben Federlin (Montano, King Lewis of France)
ORLANDO, the Lover - Andrew Prentice (Lord Montague, Cleomenes, Roderigo, Edward of York)
ARCITE, the Fool - Lenny Somervell (Edgar, Theseus, Autolycus, Iago)
VALERIA, the First Chorus - Jenna Schlags (Oswald, Clown, Emilia)
CRESSIDA, the Second Chorus - Emma Lieberman (Perdita, Bianca, Lady Bona)
CHARMIAN, the Third Chorus - Miriam Goldman (Brabantia)
Introducing
AUDREY, the Stage Manager - Carolyn Daitch
with
Waitresses - Caitlin Partridge (Juliet, Casca, Euphrosyne, Camilla, Desdemona, Margaret) and Charlotte Oswald (Hippolyta, Selene, Duchess of Venice, Duke of Gloucester)
Bartender - Jonathan Plesser (Albany, Lysander, Friar Lawrence, Julius Caesar, Damon, Polixenes, Othello, Duke of Suffolk)

CREW
Writer, Director, Costume Designer - Phoebe Roberts
Stage Manager, Technical Designer - Bernie Gabin
Producer, Research Assistant - Stephanie Karol
Hair and Makeup Artist, Choreography Assistant - Rachel Feldman
Choreography Assistant - Carolyn Daitch

Margaret costuming, part I

The aesthetic was "vaguely World War I"-- emphasis on the vague --where most people would be in military uniforms. As I mentioned, I tend to prefer to applying a very unified design to a show's array of costumes, here I mostly shot to honor Dave's preferences and keep the characters looking distinctive from each other. To be honest, things worked out even better than I expected, hitting my main goals as well as suiting some of my personal design theory. The cast was good enough to allow me to take pictures for my portfolio, so I thought I'd show them to you and explain what I was thinking.


Here is lovely Caitlin as the main character Margaret. Dave wanted her in red to make her stand out visually and to indicate her powerful personality. Caitlin has a fabulous figure that not many people are blessed to have, which made finding red dresses to fit her a bit tough. The best I could do was a dress of mine I thrifted a while back fortunately made of a stretchy fabric, which I've always liked because of the high-low skirt and the unusual combination of one flutter sleeve and two spaghetti straps on the other side. One of these days I'd like to make a copy of it by hand. The fit isn't perfect on her, but overall I think it's all right. Over her shoulder is my red blazer-- which Caitlin once remarked upon seeing as "very sharp" --to make her seem more serious and offiical in other scenes. The shoes were costume heels I thrifted specially for the purpose, which were sexy and striking but apparently quite uncomfortable. Apologies, Caitlin, you made them work beautifully even so.


Here is Plesser as the Duke of Suffolk. This is probably my favorite costume in the show. I found the jacket and the pants at the thrift store in Waltham, separately even though they match so well. The red collared shirt is from club storage, actually quite nice, chosen because of his allegiance to the red-rose Lancaster family. It also made a nice subtle connection with Magaret The "boots" aren't actually boots, but rather a pair of brown dress shoes under the leather half-chaps I wear to horseback ride. The belt belonged to Plesser, fortunately matching the color of the boots. I like this ensemble particularly because it looks very, very much like pictures of my my great-grandfather in his WWI cavalry uniform. I made the sash myself out of synthetic red shantung, trimmed in yellow braid I had among the sewing notions my mom packed up for me. He looks very handsome, and I don't think I came up with a sharper look for this show.

Here are Charlottte and Steph as the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. It's a little hard to tell in Charlotte's picture because of the weird light, but I fashioned a uniform for her out of a blue blazer and a pair of navy tuxedo pants I found at the Garment District, which made me decide that the color of this couple with be blue. I wanted to get Charlotte a real military dress uniform, but I couldn't find one in any store I could get to in the time I had; there wasn't time to order one online. So I had to improvise. In order to make the blue wool blazer more like a dress jacket, I sewed red and gold braided trim on the cuffs, the pockets, and across the shoulders. More gold fringe like on Plesser's sash was sewn to the shoulders, and a larger version like what you'd find on the edges of a rug went across either breast. At Charlotte's suggestion, three more gold buttons were put on to make it look more like a men's jacket. A white mandarin-collared dress shirt she had completes the look. I wish I'd had time to take in the waist of the tuxedo pants, but otherwise they created the right look. Beside her is Steph in the iridescent blue dress with the cowled back that Emma so graciously lent us. I think it's very flattering on her, and the way it shimmered beneath the lights was lovely. I am very glad they ended up in the blue because it made them stand out nicely against all the olive-drab in court, and because it made for a great moment when Margaret and the duchess faced off and created a great visual of red versus blue.

To be continued in another installment!

Official Invitation: Hold Thy Peace presents MARGARET, A TIGER'S HEART

Here is your official invitation to Hold Thy Peace's next main stage show, Margaret: A Tiger's Heart, a cutting together of Shakespeare's Henry VI plays and Richard III threads that center around Margaret, a French princess who was prominent in the War of the Roses. I hear the costuming was thrown together a week before the show. Don't you want to see how that mess came out? ;-)

MARGARET, A TIGER'S HEART
Directed by Dave Benger
Assistant Directed by Jenna Schlags and Lenny Somervell
Produced by Jonathan Plesser and Yoni Bronstein
Staged Manged by Elena Livak

Starring such familiar names as:
Caitlin Patridge as Margaret
Jonathan Plesser as Suffolk and Prince Edward
Charlotte Oswald as the Duke of Gloucester
Stephanie Karol as the Duchess of Gloucester
Andrew Prentice as Edward of York
Emma Lieberman as Lady Bona

Thursday, Oct 21st- 8PM
Friday, Oct 22nd- 8PM
Saturday, Oct 22nd- 8PM
Sunday, Oct 23rd - 2 PM

In the Shapiro Campus Center Theater

Tickets are free, donations gladly accepted

Random notes on Margaret costuming

Things go well. I would say we have about half of all the pieces we need, due to a vigorous scouring of the thrift store, club storage, and a raid of whatever might be useful in my own closet. I have found a bunch of military uniforms that will likely serve, though they all will require a little taking in to fit their wearers. Thus is the trouble with thrifting; selection is based on luck and you get whatever you find. But for the stage I know a couple quick fitting fixes; I find adding two darts in the back of a blazer do wonders for taking in across the chest and shoulders. There's also a bunch of cuffs I want to take up, both in sleeves and pant legs. These are minor fixes that I could even do with pins if I had to, but if I find the time to sew them that's probably better. Not bad for two days' work, eh?

Today me and the other two costumers are going to hit the army surplus store. I'm hoping to get the last handful of military jackets and suits there, as well as a few pairs of fatigues and maybe hats. That will hopefully finish off the major, "character-identifying" pieces. After that we would just need supplementary pieces like shirts to go under jackets, belts, and boots. Boots are always a pain, as nobody ever seems to have them and they're too expensive to buy new, so I guess we'll have to do one last thrift store raid to get anything even vaguely combat-like we can find.

I also need just a couple of color-specific things before I can nail done some final piece assigning. I have decided that the king of France and his sister Lady Bona will wear the same color, and that Gloucester and his wife the duchess will wear the same color. It's a small touch of my costuming theory that I can put in. To that end, I have procured two fancy dresses for the actresses arthoniel* and katiescarlett29*, one in dark green and the other in dark blue. The green is a dark forest stretch velour with criss-crossing straps in the back, the blue is iridescent with a cowl back borrowed from arthoniel*, the one she wore to the fancy party. Fortunately both of them fit into both. The deciding factor, then, will be what color military dress uniform I can find for nennivian*, who is playing the duke of Gloucester. I am planning on choosing this with care-- I want Charlotte to look good, and perhaps in solidarity for the efforts she has put into making her male performance, I want her costume to work with her performance as much as possible. I already have a number of other people in green or olive military pieces, and I'd like to have more contrast, so I think my preference is for blue, which means that I'd put Steph in the blue dress. In that case, Emma would wear the green and I will have to find a green dress shirt for Ben, who is playing the King of France. But if all I can get for Charlotte is a green dress uniform, it will have to be the other way around, and Ben will need a blue shirt.

The sizing on those dresses I eyeballed pretty nicely for Steph and Emma's bodies. I didn't do quite so well on another dress I bought, a diaphanous light blue gown with a drape over the bust. It was meant as another alternative for their costuming but didn't fit either of them. I should have known, based on how it fit me. I have an odd habit, you see, that when I'm costuming a show where any piece I'm considering buying I feel compelled to try on myself, even if it's intended for a person of a totally different size and shape from me. I guess the theory is if I know what body I'm trying to fit, I can extrapolate how it might work on them based on the differences between us once I see how it fits on a body like mine. This technique... does not always work. I think the fact that we're used to our own bodies as what's "normal" for us means that we don't always recognize the ways in which we're unusual, or at least not average. I sometimes don't have a good frame of reference for how much thinner I am than average, so if, say, a possible costume garment is a little bit too big on me, I might think it will fit someone who I perceive to only be a little bit bigger than me. Often in reality it ends up that because I am a good bit smaller than an average person, that average person I'm aiming to fit is going to need more than just a little bit bigger than me. Or I'll try to remember how much smaller I am, and think that something that's absolutely huge will be better filled out by a larger person, when in fact they are nowhere near that big. Thus this problem meant that light blue dress would not work as intended. Fortunately it ended up fitting Samantha, the girl who's playing Warrick, and will serve when she's playing a lady-in-waiting in the background. I had not been optimistic when I asked her to try it, and she is a tall statuesque girl, but I guess she doesn't have the same sort of bust or hips that made it unworkable for Emma and Steph.

Which brings me to another thing that always strikes me when costuming. When trying to find things for the best possible fit for the wide variety of the cast's forms, it becomes necessary to assess, and frankly discuss, the shapes of your actors' bodies. This is something that under normal circumstances I don't think people feel it's polite to do. When dressing actors, I will do it out of necessity with no critique or comment one way or the other, and then right after feel a little guilty about it as if I've said something rude. I think it's almost as if you are assumed in that case to be evaluating where it's no one's place to make value judgments about the bodies of others. But even though I must confess I have been known to make those judgments, in this process I have no trouble looking at everyone's shapes dispassionately. You can't really dress people properly unless you look at this stuff. If someone can't fit into a dress because of their hips, I need to be aware of that in order to find something that will accommodate those hips. If someone doesn't have the shoulders to fill out a jacket and they look swallowed by it, then I need a jacket to fit narrower shoulders. Even though in other cases it might be considered focusing on things that might be perceived as flaws, in this case it is appropriate, and without judgment.

Related to this, comparing people's measurements is an interesting way to see the differences in how people are built. I find it fascinating that a six-foot guy can have a 27" inseam, and a five-nine girl can have a 30" inseam. Though it occurs to me that I should have taken slightly different measures. I learned how to take measurements based on seamstress's techniques, which are more useful if you are making the garment yourself than if you are trying to find it in ready-to-wear. Wish I'd measured the men, or women playing men, around the chest rather than just sleeve and shoulders, because that's the usual sizing by which jackets and blazers are sold.

Got a ton done in just a short amount of time. Here's hoping today's trip is equally productive.

Bridgewater Larp Day concluded

Bridgewater Larp Day is accomplished. It turned out to be a pretty good event that I had a lot of fun with, despite the fact that I wasn't feeling particularly healthy or energetic. Congrats to EB for organizing it. Oz ran well, if a little on the quick side, lasting about three hours rather than four. I guess everyone pushed their plots very fast! Everyone did seem extremely busy, which is my usual marker of people enjoying their play experience. It would have been notable if for no other reason than katiescarlett29*, who has been trepidatious about larping, seemed to have a good time! She was cast as Dorothy, which tends to be a very good newbie role, and got into her plot and connected with the other larpers around her. I was also amused by how people seemed to be constantly putting the environmental cataclysm on the back burner; I'm very glad they were that engaged with their individual plots, but you'd expect a little more concern for the threat to the entirety of the universe. ;-)

After Oz, I finally got to play in House of the Rising Sun, which has been Jared and EB's project for the last year. I was very excited, and the game itself did not disappoint. House is a dark, angst-filled game, perfect for people who like emotional extremity and dramatic scenes in larps. I really enjoyed the presence of the ghosts, and the way the walls between their world and ours slowly broke down as the game went on. I was in a privileged position of being able to see the ghosts straight off, which made for some fun freaking out, and it gave me an interesting position to glimpse into the struggles and closet skeletons of everyone around me. I was also really luck to be in it with such a great group of players; morethings5*, captainecchi*, electric_d_monk*, wired_lizard*, mllelaurel*, April, Nick, vortexofchaos*, darkoni, kamianya*, Alison, and more. I have some minor criticisms about issues in certain characters' back stories, but they are mostly literary stylistic points that don't affect the thrust of the narrative too much. All in all, though, I highly recommend this game, as long as you're not bothered by dark content. I'm really proud of EB and Jared for putting this together. This is Jared's first finished four-hour larp, and I'm incredibly happy for him that it went so well. Well done, my love. :-)

Merely Players cast list!

After a great deal of wrangling, adapting, and making hard decisions, with the release of the Margaret list I was able to nail down the cast of Merely Players. Our ragtag but intrepid troupe The Walking Shadows shall be portrayed as follows:

Cornelia, the Director - Stephanie Karol
Sylvia, the Ingenue - Gabrielle Geller
Dionyza, the Diva - April Farmer
Malcolm, the Lead - Ben Federlin
Orlando, the Lover - Andrew Prentice
Arcite, the Fool - Lenny Somervell
Valeria, the First Chorus - Jenna Schlags
Cressida, the Second Chorus - Emma Lieberman
Charmian, the Third Chorus - Miriam Goldman
Audrey, the Stage Manager - Carolyn Daitch

As always, I had more people than I could use, which meant some talented, awesome actors could not be cast. And since I'd made a promise to prioritize those with smaller roles or no roles in Margaret, or even those that weren't booked up by other shows, that meant certain poeple who I would normally leap to work with could not be chosen in fairness to the stated mission. *sigh* Let it not be said that I am not a woman of my word, even when it requires me to make some cuts that pain me. It was really important to me to do right by the club, and I feel like I can say that I did.

Looking at the complete list, it strikes me how little overlap there is with this list with those of the previous shows I've directed. To Think of Nothing had three actors in common with Hamlet, probably the three that struck me the most with their particular abilities, while this show has none. There's only one actor from To Think of Nothing in it, though not for lack of trying. Much as I miss them, it does kind of make me feel good that I was able to use a number of people tried out for To Think of Nothing that I wasn't able to cast that time, not for their lack of talent, but just because I didn't have room. I assured them once that I still though they were worthy in my estimation even though I had no parts for them, and it's kind of nice to be able to make good on that assurance now. And it's good to work with new people, to vary up your theatrical experience. It may help me improve and grow as a director.

The first read through is tonight. As I did for To Think of Nothing, I plan on cooking dinner for all those lovely souls who will be contributing their time and effort to act out this play. I think it's a nice way to start off the working relationship. Got to win goodwill from your actors straight off, and God knows if you feed those creatures you've won their loyalty for life.

So many friends!

This has been a nice week for seeing people I have been missing. The early part of it saw lovely friends crearespero* and aurora_knight* coming to Waltham to visit, which involved playing on playgrounds and nice dinners and a trip to go swimming and a lovely long walk. I've missed both of them terribly, so this visit was really lovely. Jane could only stay for one night, but Frances only just leaves today. She is going to spend a little extra time with katiescarlett29* before the whole gang of us goes up to her place this weekend. On Friday I will get to see nennivian* when she joins Jared, Bernie, and I to drive up to Long Island together. Steph is finally back from Argentina and has invited us all to visit her and see a Shakespeare in the Park performance of Measure for Measure. And that means that not only will I be reunited with Steph, who I have been missing painfully since she shipped off for Argentina, I will get to see Plesser and thefarowl* as well! So a good chunk of all the people whom I haven't been able to spend time with in a while will all be in one place. I'm really grateful to Steph for inviting us, because it will be so wonderful for us all to get together again.

Sewing project progress: Steph's purple toile apron

Yesterday I made some progress on the sewing assignments I gave myself yesterday. I made a little bit of progress hemming my skirt, though it's not finished yet. And I also began planning the apron I am going to make for katiescarlett29*.

I am a big fan of aprons made out of toile, I think they're pretty and classic; I have one in a blue print myself. So, forcing my aesthetic on others the way I often do, I began scouring the Internet to find a nice toile in purple. which for those of you who don't know is Steph's favorite, favorite color. I settled on this one I found on eBay:

Very pretty, no? I think it's perfect; Steph, I really hope you like it. (Probably should have consulted you first! My bad.) The only problem is that there was only one yard of it, which isn't quite enough fabric for the whole project. So what I am thinking is that I will make the body of the apron from this and make the straps and maybe the pockets too in a complementary fabric-- perhaps something in violet or lavender that matches the color grading in the print.

Yesterday I also drew up the pattern for the apron. Normally pattern-making is a pretty tough job requiring lots of special knowledge, but I used a tutorial that basically involved making a big rectangle and cutting off the top two corners, so it was easy enough. I taped together several sheets of printer paper and then marked off the pattern according to the specified dimensions. I then elected to fold under the excess paper rather than cutting it; one side needed a half-inch taken off, and then for the places that are supposed to allow for the arms, I drew marks along either side of the corner, and then folded under on the line that connected them. Not the most polished pattern ever made, but when I folded the whole thing in half it came out very symmetrical, which pleased me, and when I held it up to my body it seemed to be the right dimensions for an apron. Here it is on the floor of my office, where I drafted it:

The next step will be when I receive the fabric. I will cut out the pieces using my pattern, and I will go to a fabric store and see what I can find in the an appropriate material that will go with the toile to make the straps and pockets. It's already shipped, so I'm hoping I'll get a hold of it soon.

Sewing plans

Now that the house is more or less in order (except for the room painting, soon to come) I can turn my thoughts back to the projects I have been wanting to work on. I want to go back to sewing now that those pressing matters are taken care of, and here are some things currently on my mind.

1. Finish my red silk skirt.

My skirt is very close to completion at this point, lacking only a finished hem to make it accomplished. That shouldn't be too hard, as I enjoyed trying out the blind stitch, but I am concerned that the material is too thin to genuinely hide the sitches even if the blind hem is done properly. I look forward to wearing it somewhere, as it fits nicely and is actually kind of pretty.

2. Make a gift for katiescarlett29*

I want to take on another easy sewing project to practice my skills, and I also want to give a gift to Steph when she comes back. Since we like cooking together so much, I thought I would make her an apron out of some interesting fabric (in purple, of course), as that is both simple to construct and something she might like and use. Though I might buy the fabric sooner rather than later, I am planning on waiting till I have my sewing machine before I start on it.

3. Study up to make the two dress patterns I bought

Due to a large sale, I purchased two dress patterns, Butterick 5559 and Vogue 1117 by Michael Kors. I got them in the mail last week, and upon looking at them I think they are massively too hard for me right now. I don't even understand what all the words they use mean. I am going to have to study up on the terms so I understand the directions. That may require the obtaining of a good beginner's sewing text. I am open to recommendations if anyone knows a good one.

Ten Day Meme: Day Six

Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)

1. Jared

2. My mom

3. My dad

4. I'm going to count Steph and Jenn as one in this spot, as I want to put them both down for the reason of being "friend Phoebe actually confides in."

5. Bernie

Tea party with Tegan

Again I am forcefully reminded of how much against my nature it is to hope. In trying again at something at which I failed in the past, I have to really fight to keep the fear of it happening all over again from paralyzing me. I confess I have no hope of this time being any different. But I am reminding myself again and again that there can only be a chance if I try.

Yesterday I didn't get much done, but instead I was pleasantly surprised by an afternoon and evening of socializing. twilighttremolo* mentioned on Facebook that she had Thursday off and planned to be in Waltham for the day, was anyone available to hang out? Having not much seen her or gotten to spend any real time with her lately, I asked if she might be interested in afternoon tea. We had a lovely time chatting over Earl Grey, and I learned that she is adapting an early gothic novel into dramatic form for the BORG play this upcoming semester. I can't wait to see what she does with it. It was very nice getting to spend so much time talking with her, AND I got a chance to use my lovely bone china tea set that Jared gave me. :-) Afterward, our little tea party expanded to include katiescarlett29*, in_water_writ*, and Bernie in what was described as a "social katamari ball" and we all went out for a nice dinner at Watch City. Bernie had to run a little bit early, so I took the rest of us back to my place for BSCF. The night went a bit later than I would have wanted, but it was a very nice time with very good company, so I am pleased.

I am trying to keep from worrying. I need to stay relaxed, and just do my best to deal with all the things on my plate. Nice days like yesterday help.

Close of Winter's Tale

Finally Winter's Tale has done. I couldn't be happier with how the process went. I remember Caesar's tech week going very well, but this for Winter's Tale was even better, due to a confluence of lucky circumstances, an abundance of technically skilled people, and the strong sense of camaraderie that has enabled everyone to work so well together. This is certainly one of the best-looking shows we've ever had. The set is gorgeous, the costumes are strong, the lights are more beautiful and complex than anything we've had before, and we worked better together than we have on build for any other show. Even our strike went beautifully.

 Our actors were amazing. Plesser is fantastic, bringing humanity and soul to his character, growing in nuance with every show. To se him working to build a performance unlike anything he's done before was fascinating. Gigi has this beautiful quiet dignity that she brings to roles, a refusal to be compromised and to cave in to adversity. Her firm, upright stillness makes an excellent counterpoint to everything else that happens onstage, giving her an unassailable serenity that draws the eye. Emma's sweetness as Perdita makes me glad to have her in the club. Lenny is unbelievable, funny and fascinating as Autolycus and easily the most fun part of the show. She and Jenna as Clown, who was clever and hilarious, really stole the show. Chris brought warmth and charm to Florizel. Nicole's Paulina was skillful, intense, and powerfully captured the eye. Nati rose admirably to the challenge of his difficult character. And of course, for pure facility as an actress, none of us equal Caitlin. She is so natural, so believable, so talented that she makes it look effortless. Her voice is powerful and conveys so much, her body is held so exactly, her movement is so dynamic and illustrative. To see her filling the stage while so many of the rest of us struggle to keep from physically stagnating leaves me in awe. She is the best of us in so many ways, and I admire her so much.

Now I am extraordinarily tired. I am incredibly happy with how things went, but now I need to crash and recharge. Congratulations to Steph, who has done such an amazing job bringing everything together, and now is inducted into the sacred society of HTP directors.