I Think I Almost Died of Fear...

H'okay, h'okay. Maybe not died, but it sure was scary!

My work-study is Technical Theatre and Stagecraft. From time to time, we have to go up on some pretty sizeable A-frame ladders. The one in Slade Theatre (the bigger proceneum space) is like 18', with the fixtures at 20'. In the Lab Theatre (blackbox/flexible space), the ladder is like 14' and on wheels with the fixtures at 16.5'. So you really have to get up there. I'm not afraid of heights. I love climbing trees, indoor rock climbing, rope adventure courses, all that stuff. But A-frame ladders, well those are different. I can totally do your normal built-into-the-wall ladder, but get one that is self suppourting, and thats a whole different matter. What if I tip it over? Yeah, I'd fall and die.

Today, I had to reterive a source 4 parkane from up in storage (on the electrics, but offstage). This involved going up very high on the one with wheels! I was literally dripping sweat. It turned out that I got the wrong light (hey, I havn't taken lighting design yet!) Then, I had to hang it at an angle, not just straigt down like it was stored. This required going up even higher on the ladder...I braved it. I was at the top-okay, well two steps away from the top. I was sure I was going to die. I needed to be at a different angle, so I thought of what I'd seen others do. I was going to straddle the ladder. Woah. Having one foot on it for a prolonged period of time. And with the deep desire to let my supervisor know that I'm not useless to have around, I did it.
And then, in the end, I had to take the light down. And it was hot. So I could only hold on to the C-clamp. But I did it.

Yay for conquering fears!

Catching Up

Hey there!

Its been a while, I know. Things have been happening--my apologies for not keeping y'all updated!

Here, chronological order for ya!

Sept 13
Casting for the mainstage, "Enron" was announced that day. Unfortunately, due to the lack of female roles in the show, and the director's quite understandable decision to cast true to gender (it was not his goal to be addressing gender roles in big business in this production), I was not cast. But I was called back both times! So confidence is great.

September 14-15
24 Hour Play Festival!
I had the great privilege of directing, which is super awesome as a freshman-I think I was the only first-year director! :) We performed "The Murderous Rat" by Sarah Walsh. It's and interesting piece of work in which the protagonist, It was about a rat, Jewel Pepperjack (Megan Steely)  whose uncle had been killed by a rat serial killer and to cope with it she makes herself an imaginary friend/hallucination named Muffin (Sam McCol Garfinkle). Then Muffin wanted to avenge the uncle by killing the killer and Jewel is all like "you can't solve murder with murder" And eventually Jewel kills Muffin but because Muffin is a projection of her id she kills herself in the process... Its one of those things that you just really don't know how to feel about it because its sad because the Megan rat is like all crazy, but then there are a bunch of cheese puns...because they're rats... (ie oh my gouda). Additional cast members: Honour Harlow (Linda Sargento) and Jeromy Slaby (Rex Swiss). Make up by Brittany Lester.

Sept 19
After much tension, my roommate (name ommitted to protect my butt) decided to move two doors down. She wasn't too keen of being great friends (or even friends with me) because if we were to get into a fight as roommates, it would effect our friendship and if were were to get into a fight as friends, it would effect our roommateship. But I'm sorry-I you're going to live with someone and leave your worn underwear on the floor, you at least have to be friends with them. Now I have a "super single." Her bed has become my couch! I lovee it. Someone might move in eventually, but that's a "might" and an "if." And I want to keep it that way!

Sept 21-23
I was home! I saw my kids (I do not have kids, I am speaking of my BFFLs from BTC), and got to go out to their post-casting dinner. Yay! I also saw Jason and Fiona. Just talking to them was worth the 7h10min trip to get there (note that Oneonta is only three hours away from Hastings. Oh how I love public transportation.)
Allyson, my brother's fiancee (OK not really; they're 13, but its gonna be true some day) had her bat mitzvah...I was so proud of her! And at the end, when they named the persons whose yardseight was being observed, I said my great grandmother's name...I was two days off, but close enough.
Then there was a fantabulous party. Yes, there was the Cupid Shuffle!
Later that day, I went to Westchester Sandbox Theatre's production of "Avenue Q". I was less than pleased by their performance, especially the lack of quality in their set. I'm pretty sure it was made of unpainted form board. And it wasn't the real puppets! Sigh. I really wanted it to be good. I really did.
Sunday was Peter and the Starcatcher with my Fundamentals of Acting class. It was absolutely AMAZING! Great performances by all.

Sept 29
Alumni and Homecoming Weekend
That was the Monologue Festival! I directed Kara Kavanagh in "Literally, a Monologue". Although our dress rehearsal was akin to the Titanic, she made me proud to have my name attached to her performance in the end. Kudos!

The Cacophony

THERE ARE UPS AND DOWNS to dorm life. I may know this intellectually, but at this moment in time, I’m having trouble seeing the ups. The reason for this is, that at this moment there is an alarm clock in the room next to me that will not stop blaring. It’s not just an ordinary one, no; it’s one for über-heavy sleepers. Our walls appear to be cinderblocks and it is loud enough to wake me up, I imagine, with the door open. The second reason is that when the room to the building sets off an additional alarm when open for an extended period of time. I sincerely hope and pray that this will stop. Or at least become background noise.