Romo Was Right
Well I like to think that my obsession to getting my cues is because I am deeply passionate about what I'm doing to the stage. You know, I like to have people who are relaying dialogue to be seen. But there's also the issue with the board. Yeah, there's no way to plug in a 49.1 or 49.5, there's no decimal system and there's no way to insert cues. Go STRAND!!!! So what I've had to do in some cases is throw a dimmer up during scene where I should have had a cue or go back to certain cues during the show. In the last couple of hours before the show went up I checked and rechecked my cues hoping that I wouldn't fuck up too much. The result was that yes, for another time, I was adjusting some of my cues five minutes before the doors opened. Yep, good times, but overall the show looked really good. I have some pictures on facebook for those who are interested, and I hope to get more, but because I'm in the booth calling the show and my own lighting cues I don't have the opportunity to take pictures. Oh well. I'll just have to get Alie to do it next week when I have all my cues right :)
The one thing I enjoy about this production is that we're in the space for two weekends and not just one. Although it's a matter of paying for the space and having to deal with a million other people wanting the spaces that the UMTG has to work with when putting on a play, I wish that all that work lasted more than 4 shows. Especially because that way word of mouth can really work and if a bad weekend is selected to perform the play people will still show up. Oh well, a problem that I'll have to remedy when I get involved in my own production company.
Working for The Sandbox Production Company has been interesting, but there are things that I think the now sophomores (yes, most of the people involved with the production are 19 or just finished their first year of college) really have to work on. But most of it is the restult of being young actors and inexperienced tech people. First of all they break character a lot in between song and dialoge, which is quite common in musical theater, so they'll need to learn that a song is the emotional release for the character and not a seperate entity before they get better. Second, they'll need to learn the different jobs of the directors, designers, and managers. Because this is the first production, the trustees took on the role of the producers and then the roles of the rehearsal team. As the production continued they then added their responsibilities to set designer, sound designer, costumes, properties, and stage manager (no assistants, no tech director, and not to mention that this whole thing has happened in a four week rehearsal period). So yeah, it's been pretty intersting when I've been talking to the trustee/producer/set designer/costume designer or the trustee/producer/artistic director/sound designer/scenic designer/properties designer. But I love this group's ambition, they took nothing and made something, and I hope to keep in contact with some of them because they are planning on moving to the Boston area, so when I with others get a theater company up and running we can quickly tap them and share ideas and experiences. Despite this critical review, having to deal with some really crappy equipment, the inexperience, the young acting, and my one pet peeve that every show is the same as the last, with no change in delievery or actors using their instincts they have a show on their hands. It took the UMTG 100 years to get to the level that it is at with making great sets with the concept of building equipment for not just the show being made but seven productions in the fact, so I have to emplore patience onto myself because these guys have something to share and they're not afraid to do it.
The one thing I enjoy about this production is that we're in the space for two weekends and not just one. Although it's a matter of paying for the space and having to deal with a million other people wanting the spaces that the UMTG has to work with when putting on a play, I wish that all that work lasted more than 4 shows. Especially because that way word of mouth can really work and if a bad weekend is selected to perform the play people will still show up. Oh well, a problem that I'll have to remedy when I get involved in my own production company.
Working for The Sandbox Production Company has been interesting, but there are things that I think the now sophomores (yes, most of the people involved with the production are 19 or just finished their first year of college) really have to work on. But most of it is the restult of being young actors and inexperienced tech people. First of all they break character a lot in between song and dialoge, which is quite common in musical theater, so they'll need to learn that a song is the emotional release for the character and not a seperate entity before they get better. Second, they'll need to learn the different jobs of the directors, designers, and managers. Because this is the first production, the trustees took on the role of the producers and then the roles of the rehearsal team. As the production continued they then added their responsibilities to set designer, sound designer, costumes, properties, and stage manager (no assistants, no tech director, and not to mention that this whole thing has happened in a four week rehearsal period). So yeah, it's been pretty intersting when I've been talking to the trustee/producer/set designer/costume designer or the trustee/producer/artistic director/sound designer/scenic designer/properties designer. But I love this group's ambition, they took nothing and made something, and I hope to keep in contact with some of them because they are planning on moving to the Boston area, so when I with others get a theater company up and running we can quickly tap them and share ideas and experiences. Despite this critical review, having to deal with some really crappy equipment, the inexperience, the young acting, and my one pet peeve that every show is the same as the last, with no change in delievery or actors using their instincts they have a show on their hands. It took the UMTG 100 years to get to the level that it is at with making great sets with the concept of building equipment for not just the show being made but seven productions in the fact, so I have to emplore patience onto myself because these guys have something to share and they're not afraid to do it.