Bits and pieces



A year or so ago, Jared's parents went on a Mediterrainean cruise and brought me back a woven scarf in various shades of pink/purple/blue on black. At the time I didn't really think it was my style; it was a little over-embellished for my tastes and I don't usually wear patterned things. At first the only way I really cared to wear it was as a wrap over my mesh shirt, a look I still enjoy when it's warm enough and not totally in poor taste. ;-) But as I tried to dress more like a grownup, I realized what a versatile accessory it was. It complements a surprising array of colors-- black, white, cream, gray, navy, green, purple, pink, blue. It occurs to me that I've always chosen solid scarfs because I thought they would coordinate better, but shockingly this patterned thing goes with more outfits than any of my others, and because it's so striking-looking I get compliments on it all the time. Perhaps patterns, at least in scarves, might be the way to go in the future.

Winter's Tale cast party was last night. It went beautifully well, filled with nice friends and good food. Jared helped me clean the house and then Bernie and Charlotte helped me cook. We made a Rachel Ray chicken dish with apples and onions with a basil-tomato-mozzarella bruschetta on the side, while lots of other snacks and treats were brought potluck by the guests. I was reminded what a great cast Winter's Tale was blessed to have, not only because of their talent but because of what great people they are.

Proposal meeting tonight. We shall have a new show, or two, for next semester. I am excited for Hold Thy Peace build on the momentum Winter's Tale has generated and keep improving the quality of output. Onward and upward, as they say. :-)

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.

Day two of Winter's Tale build

We have a set! I arrived at a little after 1PM yesterday to help, and sadly found that besides Bernie and Plesser only a handful of others had shown up to help. We were a wee bit disappointed in the cast and crew for that, but there was nothing for it except to get to work. The framework of the set was already in place, so the next job was to attach the fronting to all the platforms. That is always a harder job than I expect it to be; it requires somebody to know how to use the router and the jigsaw, neither of which I do, and a lot of careful inching to get the pieces to fit just right. Our small but intrepid band finally got the whole thing put together as more people showed up, who were promptly ordered to attack it with rollers and black paint. It's always remarkable how fast things like this can go when they are swarmed by a large group, so that was finished in short order.

Unfortunately, since the paint got put on later than we'd hoped, the first run on the stage was delayed by having to wait for it to dry. The run went well, for all that there was a ton of starting and stopping to figure out how to adapt our blocking to the stage. The possibilities and limitations of platforms for an actor's physicality are, for me at least, near impossible to internalize without actually working on the set. Fortunately we seem to be properly utilizing the space, and I look forward to tonight's run, which will be expected to go as smoothly as we can make it. I will have to do a mental shift away from my build mentality and get my focus back on acting again.

I am endeavoring to become as theatrically omni-competent as possible. Not only does it make me more useful as a member of the cast and crew, I feel I improve as a director the more I absorb about how shows are put together. It pleases me immensely to look at this set and see how much of the process I contributed to. I built frames, I put on tops, I attached legs, I anchored things together, I affixed fronting, and I was also one of the detail painters working under the director of the lovely Miss Liz Baessler, who served as our scenic charge. It's a very satisfying feeling, to know one is capable, and that if need be I can accomplish so many necessary theatrical tasks under my own power. I also like that people trust me to get so many jobs done right.

The set looks very good now, especially since all the small visual imperfections in the structures are masked by the paint. Painting went very late, but for the most part it was fun because there was music playing and lots of people laughing and singing. Seeing Plesser dancing around after all the long day's work he had put in made me happy in my belly. Not to mention how happy everything was making Steph. :-) Also, when I was painting on the vines over the cobblestone pattern on the set, I was ridiculously pleased with myself for this dual-wielding brush technique I developed. In my dominant hand I held a thicker brush laden with the lighter green base color, and used it to apply most of the vine's shape. In my off hand I had a narrower brush with a watered-down darker green color, and traced over the lines of the light green. Then I went over it again with the thick brush in my dominant hand, using it to blend the two colors together. Though my left hand is by no means as adept as my right, the tracing work was simple enough that I could manage with it, and having a brush in each hand made the application and blending of the two colors go faster. I wonder if any artists work like this regularly. I was absurdly proud of myself for coming up with it.

This afternoon will be all about lights, lights, lights. Focus is the only major job remaining, and I for one am praying that things go smoothly. As I've mentioned, lighting is the one aspect of the theater I feel like I don't know anything about, and I have spent two twelve-plus hour days in the theater, so I am hoping there are enough other people who can be useful in this that I can relax a little bit. I'd like to take a shower and maybe a little nap. Focus always seems to go painfully slowly for me; I remember the one for Caesar seeming to take forever, though I don't remember what the hold up was. This time we have one of the most ambitious lighting plots we've ever had, including DMX-controlled color scrollers. :-) Very fancy! I'm incredibly proud of Bernie for that. There has been a DMX machine in the Shapiro Theater for ages, but it's been sitting unused because nobody could figure out how to get it running. Well, Bernie has been fiddling with it and got it to work. Ha! Good for him. :-)

So we're in very good shape for this point. I am tired but not exhausted as I have been on other builds, and with any luck by the end of today all technical elements of this show will be set and ready to go. Steph, your baby is about to be born. Here's hoping that the rest of this day sees a shower. a nap, and a light plot!

Day one of Winter's Tale build

Build for Winter's Tale has officially begun. We were very fortunate this time around, in that the show in the theater before us was a dance piece that did not have a set that needed striking. I saw the performance, it was pretty and fun. It also meant we had a nice early call of 4PM to get in there and get to work.

As Plesser said, "I'm a big fan of tech week." I love the collaborative aspect of everyone working together, contributing their effort and various skills to help build the show. I also like the chance to make things that I don't normally I get to do. I enjoy making all kinds of things, and where else do I get a chance to put together pieces of wood into useful structures using power tools? I was pleased by the wide variety of tasks I participated in yesterday, including platform-building with screw guns, hemming costume pieces, and cutting gels for the bottom set of cyc lights. I like when my theater experience gets to run the gammut like that; I feel like I'm contributing and learning more and more of the process of building theater.

We got a good chunk done yesterday. While there was no previous show's set that needed to come down, we needed to do a total light strike. I'm always impressed by the people who know their lighting stuff well enough to work on them. I'd always deferred to those with more experience and knowledge then myself, figuring I'd be more useful elsewhere. Helping Charlotte cut out those gels was the first lighting task I'd ever participated in. Perhaps someday I'll have to make a point of actually learning more about it, though I don't want to hold up the process during tech week. Hang was completely finished by the end of the night, and today we hope to get focus done as well.

We also made fantastic progress on build. This is the most structurally complex design (excepting one, but that was our only unsafe set to date :-P) we've ever had, with platforms stacked on top of each other in irregular ways requiring legs of different lengths even within one frame. Plesser is our master carpenter, and he's really doing a phenomenal job and has learned a lot about building a set and leading a build crew. He's working so hard that I'm hoping he doesn't wear himself out. But thanks to his efforts and those of our merry band, everything is built and anchored to the stage. Today will be painting and fronting, something I plan to help with once I can get over to the theater.

I'm proud of Bernie as well. He's seeing to it that people learn how to do these technical tasks for themselves, and doing more in the leadership capacity. He's organized things very well, even working out blueprints of Jenna's set design in a drafting program that also allowed him to make the plot for the lights. He's doing a wonderful job as a leader, and I am pleased and proud.

I'm also proud of Steph. She has done so much planning and worked so hard, and she's now seeing it all come together. I have really admired how organized she was, and how much thought an effort she put into the planning of the show, all the while working to respect and honor her actors and crew. I am hoping she is pleased with the final product; she deserves to have the show of her dreams.

And finally, Jared will be coming up to see the show! For a while he thought he wouldn't be able to make it, but at the last minute he got a flight and he will be here for the weekend. I wish I'd had a bit more notice to plan things; since this is tech week I'm afraid I'm going to be obligated for a lot of that time, and I want us to actually be able to spend some time together. Maybe he'll be willing to help out. We'll see what I can figure out in a couple of days' time.

Brain blah

Feeling unfocused and uncomfortable today. I didn't sleep well last night, my body is tense and knotted from the cold, and my stomach is all out of whack. The rainy weather is not helping me. Cannot really manage a detailed coherent entry today, so here are the broad strokes.

Signed up for Clockwork Cafe for first pick at Intercon. Surprised it didn't fill yet. The Stand has exactly one signup, and while I wasn't expecting many in the first round, I was surprised to see that one singup was natbudin*. I figured all my local friends would wait for it to run around here. I'm shocked but grateful. Thanks, Nat! Though I feel in all fairness I should let you know I'm probably going to run it at this coming Festival, if in that case you want to use your signup for something else.

Having such a hard time focusing amid all the busy that I haven't worked on The Stand in a couple of weeks. Really need to get my ass on that. Certainly want to validate Nat's willingness to devote a slot to it at Intercon. ;-)

Stars of Al-Ashtara happens this Saturday. I am excited, but my brain has had trouble getting through the character sheet. I will have to make sure I sufficiently absorb the content by the end of the day tomorrow.

Stupid fogged-up brain can't remember what I did with my wallet. Hope to God's it's just out of place in my room. Heh, whenever I can't find my wallet it tends to be in its proper drawer in my desk, which I never think to look in because I assume I would never be responsible enough to put it there.

Despite everything, however, had an awesome rehearsal tonight. Got to see a lot of scenes I'd never seen before, and I am pleased and impressed. I felt pretty on my game, which surprised the hell out of me, given how I was feeling about everything else today. We're about to go into tech week this Sunday, and I think we're in damn good shape for it. We even got to load in our wood today, giving the shop a good cleaning in the process. Tomorrow I hear they got permission to start getting boards cut. This is awesome, because this means a lot will be gotten out of the way early. The show before us is a dance performance which doesn't have a set, so we'll only have to strike the lights and not the stage as well.

I am going to be ridiculously busy over the coming week. But I am always happy to have these sorts of things in my life, so I guess I can't complain.

The Winter's Tale - Official Show Invitation

With less than two weeks to go, it is time to officially invite everyone to...

THE WINTER'S TALE
by William Shakespeare

Hold Thy Peace's Fall 2010 Show

Directed by Stephanie Karol
Produced by Walter Simons-Rose and Kiernan Bagge
Stage Managed by Walker Stern
Technical Directed by Bernie Gabin

In the Carl J. Shapiro Theater at Brandeis University
November 11th-13th at 8PM
November 14th at 2PM

Admission is free, and dontations are gladly accepted.

Come see me exit pursued by bear. ;-)

The busy marches on

Feeling much better after a good night's sleep last night. I still need a long hot shower and enough mental wherewithal to put an actual outfit together before I'll feel totally normal again. I look like a complete schlub today; will have to change later in the day when I have the brain to do it. Didn't have time or energy yesterday to finish cleaning the kitchen, but I am resolved to finish it today. My bedroom could also use straightening up; whenever I get very busy, the less I attend to things like putting stuff away properly, so the place is uncomfortably out of order.

So with Halloween and the Wrathskeller now behind me, Winter's Tale becomes my primary focus. Despite having finished up with several major activities, my schedule remains packed. I'm trying to keep myself busy; it staves off the gloomies, don't you know. ;-) As of now, less than a week away from the beginning of tech week, I am feeling pretty good about the show and my part in it; despite some kinks with how difficult it can be to get a large group of people scheduled to be in the same place at the same time, the scenes I've gotten to watch are very sharp. We did Act III and the first scene of Act IV yesterday, and at first I didn't really feel on my game due to tiredness, but with a few times through I actually felt like I nailed it. The one thing I really want to work on is my upset when I'm leaving the baby in Bohemia and it starts to storm. I never really felt like I hit on the right level of emotion; I always feel a wee bit flat. I shall have to practice that before we run it again.

Fortunately there is no rehearsal for me tonight. My dad is in town on business, so I will be having dinner with him and Casey. After lunch with bronzite, which I am looking forward to since I have not seen much of him lately, I am hoping to get my chores accomplished, and then spend the evening with the family.

Current state of my costume life

Finally found a skirt for my Al-Ashtara outfit-- sort of, at least. I have been hitting the thriftstore about once a week keeping an eye out for full skirts that might go well with my dark blue belled sashes, with little success until now. Yesterday with katiescarlett29* I found the most fantastic billowy garment in a lovely shade of blue with fanciful lighter blue designs on it that feel suitably Arabic to me. This magical garment is not exactly a muumuu, but it is close. I now have two options. The easier of the two is to just yank the dress down so that the extremely wide neckline hangs arounds my hips and then gather and tie up the rest of the dress interestingly such that it looks like a flounced skirt. The more labor-intensive but probably more sensible option is to cut the skirt off from the bodice and sew in some elastic to create a real waist. It has been some time since I've done any real sewing, and I don't have access to a sewing machine right now, so it might be challenging. Still, though I have never done it before, hand-sewing an elastic band into the waist of a costume skirt can't be too far beyond my admittedly atrophied skills. It might be nice to have a project for myself that involves working with my hands and improving/gaining a skill. I will have to play around with it to see which option will best serve my needs, and consult the all-knowing Internet for advice.

Also, laurion* recently asked me if I wanted to do run crew-type stuff during the Boston Babydolls Wrathskeller performance. I have happily agreed. It should be fun, and as he pointed out, meeting them might help me get my foot in the door if I do ever go ahead and audition. I think I will end up being the person that gathers up the shed clothes between each act, referred to by Chad as the "stage kitten." And since crew for the Babydolls do not wear stage blacks, that means I need an appropriate costume. Since the setting of the Wrathskeller is a seedy tavern-type place, I figure saucy tavern wench would be very appropriate. I think my black bodice would work, and perhaps a skirt over my black crinoline, but I believe I need one of those blousy white off-the-shoulder chemise-type things. I don't suppose anyone has one I could borrow for the week leading up to Halloween? An apron would probably also be a nice touch, as well as possibly a scarf over my hair. Shall have to start experimenting with different pieces together.

Finally, I am thinking about my costume for Winter's Tale. Of course I will not be constructing it myself, as there is a costumer for the show, but by this point I've gotten eager to get it. It always help me feel more in character to have a costume. Steph has told me that we Sicilians will be dressed in cool wintry colors while the Bohemias will wear warm springy colors, which I like. So I'll be wearing some cool scheme, until my last scene, after which I've been mauled by a bear and am appearing as a figment of my wife's imagination. Then I will be wearing all black to indicate my deaditude. :-) Works for me. My contribution to the ensemble will be my neato costume boots. They're actually women's fashion shoes, but my mom bought them for me one day on the belief that they looked a lot more like men's Renaissance boots, something I could use with all the larping and Shakespeare I do. They've come in handy many times now.

So I have so many fun outfits to look forward to, and to get to work on. Suggestions welcome!

Antigonus as Leontes's punching bag, emotionally and physically

I have developed a character trait for Antigonus that I really feel is helping build him. His role is often the person who wants to do the right thing, but wants to maintain respectful and correct behavior in the course of doing it as much as possible-- while his wife Paulina is the hothead, who is willing to throw all propriety to the winds in the service of standing up for the right, Antigonus is more moderate, more concerned about the consequences of rash action. Therefore he must be a steady, reliable personality with a kind of inner strength, and I wanted a way to portray that.

I had a gut instinct that in our scenes of confrontation that Leontes should shove me around and rough me up, which I should take without resistance or complaint. I realized I wanted Antigonus, in keeping with his explicit actions in the rest of the play, to be the one who tries to absorbs all Leontes's acting out on his bad feeling, so as to protect other people from having to do it.

Have you ever found moments in your life where you were doing really badly, and you had a person that you seemed to take out all your bad feeling on because they felt safer than anyone else? Like, you want to vent your upset somehow, and if you did it to anyone else, they would resent you and judge you for it, but that one person you knew would bear the mistreatment and be able to forgive you for it? I want my Antigonus to be that person for Leontes. He sort of offers himself to be Leontes's punching bag, both physical and emotional, so that other people who cannot bear it as well will not be victims of it. He feels that if the king has to vent his rage somewhere, he is the safest target for it, and better him than Paulina, or the child.

So when I am in the scene with Leontes's upset, we have been having him manhandle and push me around, because Antigonus will not shove his liege lord back, and will not condemn him for it afterward. Even in the state he is in, he will not just physically hurt a woman, or a baby, so Antigonus becomes the only acceptable target. And Antigonus is willing to bear it to spare the others. I feel like it dovetails nicely with his willingness to sacrifice himself to save the child. He is the sort who puts himself forward as the one to absorb all the strife and suffering so that others do not.

It feels pretty good. It feels like it fills out the character for me.

Wooo cheap costuming!

Had an extremely good rehearsal for Winter's Tale last night. I really like the character of Antigonus. It's fun playing a brave, righteous person, and getting to do courageous things and agonize over the terrible things that other characters do. Not since Cordelia have I gotten to play someone so straight-up heroic. I particularly like the physicality of the scene we did last night, with Leontes shoving Antigonus around and Antigonus takes it because he's his king. I like balancing the defiance of the mad orders with the still-unquestioned allegiance to his liege lord. This is a really good role and I am having a lot of fun with it. I hope Steph is pleased with me. I enjoyed working out the scene with her.

Got my character hint for Stars of Al-Ashtara. At this point we are not allowed to say anything about who we are, so I will say only that apparently my highly flexible casting questionnaire for some reason made me a tougher rather than easier cast, but still from what little information my hint contained I think I like the sound of it. It inspired me to go on eBay and find myself an amazingly well priced couple of costume pieces of the sort I've always wanted to wear. I agonized over what color to buy, settled on one in a panic, and then immediately regretted after purchasing it. Hopefully my frantic e-mail request to change colors will be received before shipping. If not, oh, well, most colors look good on me anyway. It may be too sexy for the role, but it's an Arabian game-- when else am I going to have an excuse to dress like that? ;-) I may end up using it as my Halloween costume as well, since at the moment I have no plan for one.

*Sigh* I'm turning into that girl who has to use any dress-up occasion as an excuse to look slutty. I hate that girl. She's so uninspired. But I really really like this costume.

Exit pursued by bear

So it seems I will be taking part in Winter's Tale after all. I had definitely decided not to audition when I saw how many people were on the sign up sheet. It would be much better for the club to try and include as many new people as possible, especially if there were a lot of new good actors. At first it seemed like Steph would have no trouble rounding out the cast with solid people, with a respectable numer of new recruits who seemed like decent people. But unfortunately one of the new guys, Dave, turned out to have a family obligation the same weekend as the performances, so he was unable to take the part. It's a real shame; the kid was talented and he seemed like a nice person too. It would have been good to have him as part of the club. At least he seems genuinely interested in taking part, which bodes well for future shows. He should be coming back out next semester, with any luck.

The upshot of this is that Steph asked me to fill in his role for him. Sorry as I am to see Dave go, I think I will enjoy being part of the show. The part I will be playing is Antigonus, the man who bravely steps up to take the rejected baby away, and meets him end by the wild things on the shores of Bohemia. I like the part too, small but interesting, with good business to do onstage and good interactions with other characters. I also get to act out the greatest stage direction in all of Shakespeare-- "exit pursued by bear." :-D

שנה טובה ומתוקה

So Winter's Tale is now cast, and has even begun rehearsals. They had only the read through and then one night of blocking so far, since there are never any rehearsals on high holidays, and it is now Rosh Hashana. I am happy to hear that Steph is extremely pleased with her cast. I am as well; I attended the read through and was really happy to see how many good actors we've got. Hold Thy Peace seems to be starting off the year in very good shape, and I have secured permission from Madame Director to visit rehearsals every now and again so I can see a little of the process. Onward goes our little Shakespearean family.

Tomorrow night I will be attending a Rosh Hashana dinner. I am going to be making a mixed berry pie, one of my showiest dishes, which just happens to be pareve and therefore can accompany any other dish whether milk or flesch. I have all the crust ingredients, and I'm pretty sure I have corn starch and chambord for the filling, so all I need to buy is the various kinds of berries. I'll leave that till tomorrow.

L'shana tova to all my lovelies.

Waaaaah, busy

Wah, so busy. Busy at work, busy at play, and busy all this week. I was going over my schedule for the next week and it is packed. Yesterday I spent the day with Jared until it was time to take him to the airport, and then I helped Steph run her auditions for Winter's Tale. We saw a lot fewer people than signed up, but there were definitely some promising candidates. Unfortunately due to family committment I was unable to attend the second round. My parents are in town today and tomorrow to help my brother move from his old apartment into his new one, and I am expected to report for moving crew duty. There's a chance I can show up tonight for callbacks, but I'm afraid I won't count on it. Thursday won't be so complicated, but this weekend is packed full. There are two parties I must attend, one of which I must cook for, as well as a show to see. Rawr, so very, very busy.

At least I did something useful today. To make up for my deliquency at auditions, today I ran Steph through my favorite exercise to help with casting a show, the one where you make lots and lots of sample casts in different combinations to see how you feel about them. She's considering a lot of people for a lot of roles, and doing this helps you compare how you feel about one person as opposed to another in any given part. I've used it a lot in the past, and I think the stuff we talked about it will help her run an efficient callback. I'm really excited to see how things go!