(no subject)
actf was exciting. for those of you who don't know, actf is the american college theater festival, and i went with other theater students from our school to support some of our irene ryan candidates, and for the rest of the crap that goes on on such an adventure. it was held in pittsburgh, pennsylvania this year, and will probably be there next year as well.
looking at the displays for the dtm (design, technical, and management) exhibit pumped me up for gathering images and research for my set design for the hfs effect, julia's thesis production. the overall setting is a post-apocalyptic house. the style of furniture i've chosen is the kind of pieces you'd find in the home of a rather wealthy person. beautiful pieces of furniture that is going to be destroyed by burning and breaking or tearing them up to be used as scenery and seating... both on stage and off. pieces collected for the audience are not going to be too destroyed, just made to look distressed so that the seating is safe. this means we'll be replacing the ordinary black chairs in the rifle range theater used for all other shows.
he hfs effect is conceived based on the inner demons everyone has. the deepest, darkest, most secretive part of your soul is one of the few common denominators that lies within all of us as a species. the style of furniture chosen reflects this by creating a juxtaposition; beautiful pieces of furniture made to look ugly after being destroyed and weathered.
back to actf however! thomas and i found this light box used for scale models that you can arrange a miniature light plot in and light it up for an even more professional display. i want one for myself, but they're expensive. the school could get one for the use of all students, but there are not enough scenic design students and the odds of me alone being able to pull enough strings to get one for the department are slim to none... at least not in enough time for the actf julia's thesis will be going to, 2009. well.. perhaps.
i'm disappointed in myself for being foolish enough to skip the few workshops i wanted to attend (a design concepts class for kicks, a 3-part workshop on dramaturgy, a puppetry class, an applied theater class-street theater, creating blood and gore on stage, and color pigment under different color lights) however i did attend three shows and a series of 10-minute play readings aside from other random things like the irene ryan scenes, and a few little things held by the festival. i really REALLY wanted to see this one work done by a school for the deaf. it was a movement piece and silent the whole time. unfortunately, they ran out of tickets before i could get one. everyone raved about it, at the end everyone gave a standing ovation - in sign language. the school was one of two chosen for consideration to go to the national festival. i hope they get to go.
the first show i saw was this is our youth by kenneth lonergan. i liked the set, however it threw me off time-wise. it took place in the early 80s, but the set looked like they were living in the late 60s. the play itself was... strange. there were three characters, one of which was female and a brief "love" interest, if you could call it that, for the underdog of the show. all of the background information about the two male characters given had next to no connection to anything in the show. the female character in question served no purpose to the plot and i really didn't understand her significance at all. any kind of plotline introduced led nowhere. it was entertaining but left me feeling dissatisfied. the acting was alright, though i don't know much about it, i could tell there was something off. on the other hand, the girl in her useless character glory, was the best of the three.
the second show was a musical, the cradle will rock by marc blitzstein. the entire play consisted of flashbacks of all the characters involved, and how "mr. mister", the allegorical figure of big business was a dick, basically. he was anti-unions and whatnot, and formed a committee against them... or something. It was alright, but kind of odd. It didn't really deliver a message so much as it seemed it was just bad-mouthing an opposing opinion. the set was minimal, to honor the first production of the play, directed by orson welles. the sets and technical aspects of the production, right on down to the orchestra, was extravagant. on the opening night of the show, the theater showing it decided to shut it down due to budget cuts. it was after all, 1937...towards the end of the great depression. so they took a copy of the score, and the cast, crew, and audience walked down to another theater and put the show up using nothing; a complete contrast from the original production.
the third show was put on by an all-african-american cast. day of absence, by douglas turner ward, was a play taking place in the 1960s in a small southern town. one day all the african americans disappeared and all the white people were going crazy, not knowing what to do because all the black people did the labor. a mother can't even take care of her own baby or cook food because she "doesn't know how". the town does all it can to make them come back, in the only way they know how, by being nice while still offensive, thinking it's a good tactic. the next day, the african americans have returned, not even knowing they've missed a day. the closing lines reflect a possible change in attitude towards them: everything seems as though it's back to normal, but things will never be the same again.
i'd missed the first 10-minute play reading, but the last five were rather good. dreaming of darfur by cary glitter held my interest and made me want to know more. it also preached a bit of a message without being headstrong and without beating you over the head with it. my friend katherine was the reader, as well. without parachutes by eric levitz was really fucking good. the last 10 minutes for a young couple madly in love, on a plane that will inevitably crash. they escape to a happier time in their minds: the moments sparks first flew between them. ceasefire by ken kaissar was about two soldiers patrolling the borders of their countries, lebanon and israel. they discuss the differences between them as yossi, the israeli, attempts to be friendly. the play ends with the hardened lebanese man soften up towards him. satellites by dane jerabek was my favorite. there was a girl who speaks out into the audience like a little girl, who we later learn is 14. now that we know there's something wrong, her actions and words seem more and more like she is autistic. in the background are her parents, arguing over her "fall", her mother appearing more concerned than the father. then the twist comes when the mother suggests they run away, leaving their helpless daughter behind. she justifies this by claiming the daughter "won't even notice". waiting on the #17 involved a man and a woman waiting at a bus stop and their conversation which ends up in deed asking out shirley and she finally accepts. it was good, but not nearly as powerful, especially after i'd just seen parachutes. the winning play was satellites, with the runner up being without parachutes. what can i say, i have good taste.
i've already began to collect images of furniture styles i'm interested for my set design. i need to collect the necessary materials for a model so i can build a model of the rifle range theater. i also need to start compiling a serious list of what i'm going to need for my design. tomorrow i'm going to go to the library and get some books with furniture, perhaps make a run to the sunrise mall to look at the waldenbooks with my $100 gift card to a westfield mall. i'm also going to go collect paint chips from the paint store to compile a color pallet. i'll be posting sketches, collages, research, and conceptual statements in the future. now it's time for a salad.
farewell
looking at the displays for the dtm (design, technical, and management) exhibit pumped me up for gathering images and research for my set design for the hfs effect, julia's thesis production. the overall setting is a post-apocalyptic house. the style of furniture i've chosen is the kind of pieces you'd find in the home of a rather wealthy person. beautiful pieces of furniture that is going to be destroyed by burning and breaking or tearing them up to be used as scenery and seating... both on stage and off. pieces collected for the audience are not going to be too destroyed, just made to look distressed so that the seating is safe. this means we'll be replacing the ordinary black chairs in the rifle range theater used for all other shows.
he hfs effect is conceived based on the inner demons everyone has. the deepest, darkest, most secretive part of your soul is one of the few common denominators that lies within all of us as a species. the style of furniture chosen reflects this by creating a juxtaposition; beautiful pieces of furniture made to look ugly after being destroyed and weathered.
back to actf however! thomas and i found this light box used for scale models that you can arrange a miniature light plot in and light it up for an even more professional display. i want one for myself, but they're expensive. the school could get one for the use of all students, but there are not enough scenic design students and the odds of me alone being able to pull enough strings to get one for the department are slim to none... at least not in enough time for the actf julia's thesis will be going to, 2009. well.. perhaps.
i'm disappointed in myself for being foolish enough to skip the few workshops i wanted to attend (a design concepts class for kicks, a 3-part workshop on dramaturgy, a puppetry class, an applied theater class-street theater, creating blood and gore on stage, and color pigment under different color lights) however i did attend three shows and a series of 10-minute play readings aside from other random things like the irene ryan scenes, and a few little things held by the festival. i really REALLY wanted to see this one work done by a school for the deaf. it was a movement piece and silent the whole time. unfortunately, they ran out of tickets before i could get one. everyone raved about it, at the end everyone gave a standing ovation - in sign language. the school was one of two chosen for consideration to go to the national festival. i hope they get to go.
the first show i saw was this is our youth by kenneth lonergan. i liked the set, however it threw me off time-wise. it took place in the early 80s, but the set looked like they were living in the late 60s. the play itself was... strange. there were three characters, one of which was female and a brief "love" interest, if you could call it that, for the underdog of the show. all of the background information about the two male characters given had next to no connection to anything in the show. the female character in question served no purpose to the plot and i really didn't understand her significance at all. any kind of plotline introduced led nowhere. it was entertaining but left me feeling dissatisfied. the acting was alright, though i don't know much about it, i could tell there was something off. on the other hand, the girl in her useless character glory, was the best of the three.
the second show was a musical, the cradle will rock by marc blitzstein. the entire play consisted of flashbacks of all the characters involved, and how "mr. mister", the allegorical figure of big business was a dick, basically. he was anti-unions and whatnot, and formed a committee against them... or something. It was alright, but kind of odd. It didn't really deliver a message so much as it seemed it was just bad-mouthing an opposing opinion. the set was minimal, to honor the first production of the play, directed by orson welles. the sets and technical aspects of the production, right on down to the orchestra, was extravagant. on the opening night of the show, the theater showing it decided to shut it down due to budget cuts. it was after all, 1937...towards the end of the great depression. so they took a copy of the score, and the cast, crew, and audience walked down to another theater and put the show up using nothing; a complete contrast from the original production.
the third show was put on by an all-african-american cast. day of absence, by douglas turner ward, was a play taking place in the 1960s in a small southern town. one day all the african americans disappeared and all the white people were going crazy, not knowing what to do because all the black people did the labor. a mother can't even take care of her own baby or cook food because she "doesn't know how". the town does all it can to make them come back, in the only way they know how, by being nice while still offensive, thinking it's a good tactic. the next day, the african americans have returned, not even knowing they've missed a day. the closing lines reflect a possible change in attitude towards them: everything seems as though it's back to normal, but things will never be the same again.
i'd missed the first 10-minute play reading, but the last five were rather good. dreaming of darfur by cary glitter held my interest and made me want to know more. it also preached a bit of a message without being headstrong and without beating you over the head with it. my friend katherine was the reader, as well. without parachutes by eric levitz was really fucking good. the last 10 minutes for a young couple madly in love, on a plane that will inevitably crash. they escape to a happier time in their minds: the moments sparks first flew between them. ceasefire by ken kaissar was about two soldiers patrolling the borders of their countries, lebanon and israel. they discuss the differences between them as yossi, the israeli, attempts to be friendly. the play ends with the hardened lebanese man soften up towards him. satellites by dane jerabek was my favorite. there was a girl who speaks out into the audience like a little girl, who we later learn is 14. now that we know there's something wrong, her actions and words seem more and more like she is autistic. in the background are her parents, arguing over her "fall", her mother appearing more concerned than the father. then the twist comes when the mother suggests they run away, leaving their helpless daughter behind. she justifies this by claiming the daughter "won't even notice". waiting on the #17 involved a man and a woman waiting at a bus stop and their conversation which ends up in deed asking out shirley and she finally accepts. it was good, but not nearly as powerful, especially after i'd just seen parachutes. the winning play was satellites, with the runner up being without parachutes. what can i say, i have good taste.
i've already began to collect images of furniture styles i'm interested for my set design. i need to collect the necessary materials for a model so i can build a model of the rifle range theater. i also need to start compiling a serious list of what i'm going to need for my design. tomorrow i'm going to go to the library and get some books with furniture, perhaps make a run to the sunrise mall to look at the waldenbooks with my $100 gift card to a westfield mall. i'm also going to go collect paint chips from the paint store to compile a color pallet. i'll be posting sketches, collages, research, and conceptual statements in the future. now it's time for a salad.
farewell