It's weird to be home. It's not bad, it's actually kinda nice.
I just saw the special that ETV did on me talking about my internship. For some reason I'm feeling kinda sad. I'm not sure if it's because I'm now waiting or what.
I've gotten an email from Charlie- my sponsoring priest, he asked me what I was planning to do now.
I talked to Ed last week- on Friday. We talked about working in a call center. I don't think it's a horrible idea. I don't understand why I'm feeling sad, and what I'm sad about.
I think I'm a little nervous about my upcoming meeting with my committee on the 18th and I'm a little anxious about going down to Columbia tomorrow. Getting my stipend from this experience is cool, I know I deserve it but I'm sad.
I wonder if part of it has to do with this being truly the end. I'd like to do more with theatre and I think it'd be ok to do it for fun. I'd prefer to do it as a professional. I think the part that makes me sad is that in the interview, everyone seemed excited about the fact that I was doing my internship, but now it feels like "yeah that's cool, but now it's time to go get a real job." Nobody has actually said that.
I think another part of my feeling so sad is Cole... It's very hard for me to look at Cole. I can see that his eyes are cloudy. I know what that means, I can see it. He gets lost in the backyard. He runs into things. I'm having a really hard time with this. It's hard to watch him struggling to walk around like this. He's a shadow of my guide that he once was. It's painful. Even though I know there was nothing I could have done, I feel like I could have done more. I know that's not rational. I know it doesn't make any sense but I just feel... awful. I want better for him. He deserves better. I called my eye doctor yesterday and haven't heard back from him yet. He's in the Sierra club or something but I was wondering if he could help me find ways of funding surgery for Cole.
The surgery is 6,000 and I can't afford to pay for it. I'm going to look at colleges that teach vet medicine and see if maybe one of them would be willing to do it at a reduced rate.
My dad heard about a vet in Greenville who would do it and help with raising the money for it but the lady he heard it from he hasn't seen in a while. I want to do something! I'm having a hard time sitting here waiting. I kind of feel like I'm drowning. And I don't feel like it's something I'm expressing very well.
I have no idea what this post was supposed to be but here it is. Prayers, suggestions and whatnot would be helpful.
Later
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Hasn't been much going on
Hi all,
So yeah, it's been over a week almost a week and a half since I last posted.
In brief, the show is going quite well. I'm about to the point now where I don't really need the stage manager much as far as calling cues, mostly for scene shifts.
As for other news, I'm getting a lot of publicity for this internship. I've already done an interview with ETV (SC's version of PBS). They're actually doing a ten minute segment about what I'm up to. I'm still in awe about that though, I guess I forget that being a vision impaired persion doing theatre is a rare thing. It's just normal to me. I guess that makes me even more interesting. I donno.
Other than that, I've got one more week here. I got a roommate last week, she's pretty cool. I'm going to be on the news tonight, so I'm going to go. I'll post the link here later.
Nancy
So yeah, it's been over a week almost a week and a half since I last posted.
In brief, the show is going quite well. I'm about to the point now where I don't really need the stage manager much as far as calling cues, mostly for scene shifts.
As for other news, I'm getting a lot of publicity for this internship. I've already done an interview with ETV (SC's version of PBS). They're actually doing a ten minute segment about what I'm up to. I'm still in awe about that though, I guess I forget that being a vision impaired persion doing theatre is a rare thing. It's just normal to me. I guess that makes me even more interesting. I donno.
Other than that, I've got one more week here. I got a roommate last week, she's pretty cool. I'm going to be on the news tonight, so I'm going to go. I'll post the link here later.
Nancy
Sunday, July 11, 2010
a couple shows down, 11 or so more to go
So, we opened Friday night to a full house. We got a standing O at the end.
I've found that because I've seen this show more times than I can count, I forgot about the jokes and the things that make people laugh, so it's a surprise when they laugh at things. Then at other times when their are things I thought were funny the audience doesn't laugh at. I'm guessing that a particular line or thing that an actor does is associated with something funny that happened during rehearsal.
My parents came to the show yesterday. Their reaction was the same that I had, the show is "cute". I mean, c'mon you've got dancing kids, people in disguise, a dancing Santa (my Dad thought that was funny) and two dogs, one of which sometimes goes to Annie when she calls him/her. Yesterday, Daisy was facing the wrong way and the guy playing the cop had to walk her backward. Then he delivers the line "well I guess he really is your dog". The house was practically falling out of their chairs laughing.
Something funny that happened opening night was in the change between the second to last, and the last scene, I think an actor (possibly the guy playing Warbucks) just-so-happened to be changing and someone moved a curtain or something and evidently you could see someone standing there in their boxers changing.
The SM- Toni is great, she gives me the play-by-play when things like that happen. She doesn't have to do that, but I am really appreciative of the fact that she does.
Running lights is proving to be a lot of fun. I've never done it for a show before. It's not really a hard show to do lights for, there is an anxiety-producing scene, it's the N.Y.C. number in Act 1. There's a lot of lighting changes in quick succession all the while there are also cues to turn the spotlight on and off, dropping and securing the trap and flying some things in and out.
I've encountered a shift in ideology here in-regards to waiting for the Stage Manager to say 'go'. The TD believes that if I know when to go and if Toni is busy, then I should just go. I'm not really sure how I feel about that. I pretty-much know when things are going to happen, but I feel a bit uncomfortable with doing it independently due to the fact that I may not see something. I've learned where to look and what to look for, but still... I generally just wait for her to say go. I've also noticed that I'll get excited or nervous and once I hit go prematurely and they weren't even done setting up yet. At least it wasn't opening night. I've found that waiting for go gives me a sense of calm and reassurance. Weird, I donno.
We've got about 11 or so shows to go. We close on the 24th and strike on the 25th. As of right now, I'm not sure what I'll be doing, or even where I'll be. There's the possibility to stay here to get more JAWS training (talking software). I've been getting some and it's proving helpful. Just kinda wished I'd had it before college, but hey I survived and did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.
So, we shall see. The bus schedule is changing on Monday, don't know how that's going to affect me. We've got dark days on Monday and Tuesday anyway, so I'll keep you guys posted with what's happening over the next two weeks or so.
Bye for now.
I've found that because I've seen this show more times than I can count, I forgot about the jokes and the things that make people laugh, so it's a surprise when they laugh at things. Then at other times when their are things I thought were funny the audience doesn't laugh at. I'm guessing that a particular line or thing that an actor does is associated with something funny that happened during rehearsal.
My parents came to the show yesterday. Their reaction was the same that I had, the show is "cute". I mean, c'mon you've got dancing kids, people in disguise, a dancing Santa (my Dad thought that was funny) and two dogs, one of which sometimes goes to Annie when she calls him/her. Yesterday, Daisy was facing the wrong way and the guy playing the cop had to walk her backward. Then he delivers the line "well I guess he really is your dog". The house was practically falling out of their chairs laughing.
Something funny that happened opening night was in the change between the second to last, and the last scene, I think an actor (possibly the guy playing Warbucks) just-so-happened to be changing and someone moved a curtain or something and evidently you could see someone standing there in their boxers changing.
The SM- Toni is great, she gives me the play-by-play when things like that happen. She doesn't have to do that, but I am really appreciative of the fact that she does.
Running lights is proving to be a lot of fun. I've never done it for a show before. It's not really a hard show to do lights for, there is an anxiety-producing scene, it's the N.Y.C. number in Act 1. There's a lot of lighting changes in quick succession all the while there are also cues to turn the spotlight on and off, dropping and securing the trap and flying some things in and out.
I've encountered a shift in ideology here in-regards to waiting for the Stage Manager to say 'go'. The TD believes that if I know when to go and if Toni is busy, then I should just go. I'm not really sure how I feel about that. I pretty-much know when things are going to happen, but I feel a bit uncomfortable with doing it independently due to the fact that I may not see something. I've learned where to look and what to look for, but still... I generally just wait for her to say go. I've also noticed that I'll get excited or nervous and once I hit go prematurely and they weren't even done setting up yet. At least it wasn't opening night. I've found that waiting for go gives me a sense of calm and reassurance. Weird, I donno.
We've got about 11 or so shows to go. We close on the 24th and strike on the 25th. As of right now, I'm not sure what I'll be doing, or even where I'll be. There's the possibility to stay here to get more JAWS training (talking software). I've been getting some and it's proving helpful. Just kinda wished I'd had it before college, but hey I survived and did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.
So, we shall see. The bus schedule is changing on Monday, don't know how that's going to affect me. We've got dark days on Monday and Tuesday anyway, so I'll keep you guys posted with what's happening over the next two weeks or so.
Bye for now.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Tomorrow! Tomorrow! We Preview Tomorrow!
Lol, I couldn't resist. I gaurantee I'll know every line of every song in this show by the end. I'm about half way there already!
So, I've been running lights for the show this being my second day of a full run with lights, I think. My brain's a little tired.
I know this is normal with tech but it's a little frustrating when every time I show up, we've got more cues. They look great, don't get me wrong, it just makes my life that little bit more complicated. The SM has a lot going on and she's missed a few cues here and there and it was only because I remembered there was a cue there that we got it going.
It's really not that bad, I'd say 60 or 70 cues but I heard the director say that she wants more, so there's no telling how many we'll have by opening night. I'm actually not doing too bad with this whole light thing. I'm finding that it's easier when cues follow along with the music or some sort of action that's happening on stage. Then there are those random ones that don't make any sense when I hit the button because they're on 5 seconds fade, but by the time they're up, it looks great.
I don't know why it got so hot here again, but man it's not cool litterally and figuratively. I woke up this morning about 3am feeling sick and my mom thinks it might've been the heat. So, I'm tired, and having a slow brain is not a good thing when there are a lot of cues that happen in relatively quick sucession.
Anyway, I had more to talk about, but I'm falling asleep here at my computer.
Night
So, I've been running lights for the show this being my second day of a full run with lights, I think. My brain's a little tired.
I know this is normal with tech but it's a little frustrating when every time I show up, we've got more cues. They look great, don't get me wrong, it just makes my life that little bit more complicated. The SM has a lot going on and she's missed a few cues here and there and it was only because I remembered there was a cue there that we got it going.
It's really not that bad, I'd say 60 or 70 cues but I heard the director say that she wants more, so there's no telling how many we'll have by opening night. I'm actually not doing too bad with this whole light thing. I'm finding that it's easier when cues follow along with the music or some sort of action that's happening on stage. Then there are those random ones that don't make any sense when I hit the button because they're on 5 seconds fade, but by the time they're up, it looks great.
I don't know why it got so hot here again, but man it's not cool litterally and figuratively. I woke up this morning about 3am feeling sick and my mom thinks it might've been the heat. So, I'm tired, and having a slow brain is not a good thing when there are a lot of cues that happen in relatively quick sucession.
Anyway, I had more to talk about, but I'm falling asleep here at my computer.
Night
Monday, July 5, 2010
Tech Rehearsal- Just hang out and watch
So we've been in tech rehearsal for almost a week now... What a weird thought.
I'm not used to having so much time for tech, I'm glad though, I feel like I will be very prepared once we start the show.
This is particularly important for me because I will be running lights for this show. I've seen a rough que of the lighting for act 1. It's not as... there is not as much going on with the lights as was in a show like Godspell, but it's pretty good. I came in yesterday morning and helped focus lights.
It was an experience and I'm glad I had it, but I'd rather not do that again. It was a little scary. It was in an attic, it was dark up there, there was conduit and pipes laid down on top of the attic floor. There were large holes cut out where pipes were hung and lights were hung from them. Some of the things going through my head while I was up there was making sure I was far enough from the hole so that I wouldn't fall into it. This building is about 90 years old, and the floor would creek when I walked on it, and I didn't want to trip over something and fall and go through a hole and die. Honestly, I was more scared there than I was in the 48 foot grid. There I knew that I was standing on steel gurders, here I was standing on attic and ceiling... a little scary. To make things more interesting was that I had to replace gels and do the focus for these lights and for the ones that are hanging from the attic floor, I had to lay prone on top of the pipe to reach down and focus the light. For the lights that are closest to the stage, I had to lean out and focus them. I was protected from falling by a wall that was about mid-thigh tall but you had to kneel down anyway because there were things that it wasn't cool to step on because we could unplug them. That wasn't scary, it was getting there that was scary. The two light positions that were furthest away from the stage had a gap in the middle that you could walk through, so it was easy to go past them... the one that was the second closest to the stage didn't have this gap so you had to step over the space where the lights were hanging. If it was something I did on a regular basis, I don't think I would have been so scared, let's just say that I'm glad that Tyler was there, I held onto his hand and stepped over... it was scary.
So I survived and never have to do it again.
Oh and an interesting development with my transportation to work. Today, since people were still on holiday the bus system was running on saturday schedule, which is normally when I get a ride because none of the busses come to my job. So, today, not knowing this, I went out to the bus stop. Well... my bus wasn't running today. That being said, I got taken to the transfer station and to walk seven blocks to the theatre.
There is an episcopal cathedral at the other end of the block from the theatre. I have never been happier to see a church in my entire life.
So on the 11th, the schedule for the bus system is changing. I'm not sure how it's changing so it will be interesting how it impacts my trip to work each day.
So, tomorrow I'm going in at 1 or so to help tie up loose ends now that summer camps are over. Jill and I didn't go in last week during the day, and the week before, Danny had been finding stuff for us to do. His thought was that since these kids were paying about $200 to be there that we should let them do most of the work and gain the experience.
We have two more nights of dress rehearsal, a preview with audience thursday night, and we open Friday night.
Night all, I'm tired.
Nancy
I'm not used to having so much time for tech, I'm glad though, I feel like I will be very prepared once we start the show.
This is particularly important for me because I will be running lights for this show. I've seen a rough que of the lighting for act 1. It's not as... there is not as much going on with the lights as was in a show like Godspell, but it's pretty good. I came in yesterday morning and helped focus lights.
It was an experience and I'm glad I had it, but I'd rather not do that again. It was a little scary. It was in an attic, it was dark up there, there was conduit and pipes laid down on top of the attic floor. There were large holes cut out where pipes were hung and lights were hung from them. Some of the things going through my head while I was up there was making sure I was far enough from the hole so that I wouldn't fall into it. This building is about 90 years old, and the floor would creek when I walked on it, and I didn't want to trip over something and fall and go through a hole and die. Honestly, I was more scared there than I was in the 48 foot grid. There I knew that I was standing on steel gurders, here I was standing on attic and ceiling... a little scary. To make things more interesting was that I had to replace gels and do the focus for these lights and for the ones that are hanging from the attic floor, I had to lay prone on top of the pipe to reach down and focus the light. For the lights that are closest to the stage, I had to lean out and focus them. I was protected from falling by a wall that was about mid-thigh tall but you had to kneel down anyway because there were things that it wasn't cool to step on because we could unplug them. That wasn't scary, it was getting there that was scary. The two light positions that were furthest away from the stage had a gap in the middle that you could walk through, so it was easy to go past them... the one that was the second closest to the stage didn't have this gap so you had to step over the space where the lights were hanging. If it was something I did on a regular basis, I don't think I would have been so scared, let's just say that I'm glad that Tyler was there, I held onto his hand and stepped over... it was scary.
So I survived and never have to do it again.
Oh and an interesting development with my transportation to work. Today, since people were still on holiday the bus system was running on saturday schedule, which is normally when I get a ride because none of the busses come to my job. So, today, not knowing this, I went out to the bus stop. Well... my bus wasn't running today. That being said, I got taken to the transfer station and to walk seven blocks to the theatre.
There is an episcopal cathedral at the other end of the block from the theatre. I have never been happier to see a church in my entire life.
So on the 11th, the schedule for the bus system is changing. I'm not sure how it's changing so it will be interesting how it impacts my trip to work each day.
So, tomorrow I'm going in at 1 or so to help tie up loose ends now that summer camps are over. Jill and I didn't go in last week during the day, and the week before, Danny had been finding stuff for us to do. His thought was that since these kids were paying about $200 to be there that we should let them do most of the work and gain the experience.
We have two more nights of dress rehearsal, a preview with audience thursday night, and we open Friday night.
Night all, I'm tired.
Nancy
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