tribute to genius

Big Spender at Listal

thinking ahead

finals done. portfolio review done. website updated. projects done. grading done.

yay christmas!

i started laying out my semester today in my little planner--its gonna be a fun one. two trips to NYC in March--one for InCite and the other for the Helmsley Portfolio Review , which I am observing. one trip to New Hampshire for ACTF Region One . One opera on the mainstage (Susannah--its gonna be awesome!) and lots of other fun things planned. im also taking a course in opera as well as scene design--which I am SUPER excited about!

in other news, I have managed to keep my actual life afloat much better this year--and in general, all things have been much calmer, much better, and much happier than last fall. yay! in the interest of keeping it that way, i am planning another hop across the pond for the end of my break, after InCite. after all, I'll be in NYC...

my other immediate goal for next semester is to acquire a nice camera and train myself to take pictures of my shows. i realize that is a tall order, but the fact that i can't do that REALLY gets in the way. and, as luck would have it, my camera died a few months ago--so i am in the market for a new one. any thoughts? im leaning towards the canon rebel... I really wish that i could take a photography class, but alas I am at the credit mark for the coming semester and honestly, I can not handle an overload with all of these extra excursions coming up.

in the meantime, enjoy the holidays! here's a christmas gift for yall: fireflies

merry christmas to all and to all a good night!!

photo call

today is photocall for one of my shows. photocall is something that i wish i were better at, because i always feel a little at loose ends and incredibly tense during them. i am lucky that i have good friends who are great behind the lens...bc i dont know anything about taking good pictures (other than to know what i want in those pictures) and i dont have a nice camera. in fact, i dont have a camera at all, due to the fact that my little one just broke a month again. i have only my cell phone....boo hiss.

i need to learn how to take my own pictures/get a nice camera, bc the fact that i dont have this skill is actually a huge problem. i have to rely on others and i cant control what images i get all the time...which is bad news for needing to maintain my website and just archiving what i want to archive in general.

any suggestions? im thinking canon rebel...

hold me batboy save me batboy

yes that's right. i just opened batboy at harvard. and it is beautiful! EVERYONE should go see it: BATBOY!

this is a pretty special show. first, the director and i go way back--i cant think of many directors who i would rather work with than matt at this moment. second, larry has been VERY involved in the production--and he is coming on wednesday night. cross your fingers that he likes it! third, weekly world news is VERY invested in our production--we are one of the top hits on their website...TWICE! see the MAIN ARTICLE
and the FOLLOW UP . they even sent us TSHIRTS! it is fabulous!

ill post pictures soon on my website. here is a link to the CRIMSON PREVIEW that features a nice photograph of my lighting.

the BREAKing of me

thanksgiving break has arrived. and i have been totally remiss in updating this chronicle of what it is to be in graduate school for an intangible art form. In the last four months I have designed DIVENTARE in the TheatreLab@855, assisted on Paula Vogel's A CIVIL WAR CHRISTMAS for the huntington theatre company, started work on the huntington opera SUSANNAH, begun to plan out the next two stops for DIVENTARE (NH and then NYC), and am halfway through tech for BATBOY at Harvard. *sigh*

also these four months: a tenfoot boom fell on top of me and hit me in the head. i declined to design INTO THE WOODS, but I took the classical club play. i became the second quarter graduate ME advisor for the Lighting Department. I became WAY better at drafting and I focused half of the huntington show that I assisted on--a process which was TERRIFYING. i find that i havent had a second to myself since school started---and that is just plain ridiculous. my mother asked me if it is always going to be like this--i just dont know.

and NOW: i have to sign up for classes for next semester...which i have failed to do. and i have to figure out my summer...AND what i want to do for my internship next year....!!!!! its all going by so fast--im basically halfway through my MFA....and that is scary.

sights: year two

In just 7 days, I will be beginning my second year. CRAZY! I am actually astounded at how fast the first year went by and how significant the start of the second year feels. And I'm not even there yet!

I am really excited about my production assignments this year: a new play, a huntington assist, and an opera in the new year. of course, I also have BB at the NCT and some other small projects---and I'm hoping to get a really good handle on my thesis topic (Electronic Music and Light, or something like that...). I'm taking some more art classes, a nice class about light and movement with Mark and Judith, and a class on EM so that I can perhaps make this thesis pipe dream a reality!

Im really really excited about getting back to my little apartment and the daily routine of going to the theatre and working with other people. I didn't realize how much I loved the BU system until this summer when I didn't have the BU system.....not that there is anything wrong with that, but there are a lot of awesome things about the SOT that I take for granted and I DEFINITELY know that now!

At this point last year I didn't know what to expect. At this point next year I will be on my way to an internship and a thesis. For now--well, let's go second year!

summerstock reflections

it is finished. summerstock, that is. i am not sure how i feel completely about my time at the h******, as it is so close to me still....but i can say some things with certainty. 1) i met some amazing people there who i can look forward to working with in the future. 2) i learned a lot about how to talk to/deal with/convince/disagree with/win over to my side/make the best of OTHER PEOPLE. that is probably the most valuable lesson that i have learned this summer at hangar. sure, i got to design a lot of shows (6 in fact). some were beautiful and some were just good. some i loved, some were not my style. but everything got done.

i put up some photos on my website from the summer--one of the costume designers took most of them. i wish i knew how to take show photos/had a nice camera to do so on. check them out here: Mary Ellen Stebbins Lighting Design

PS22 Chorus

I wanted to share a recent find that I've had in the world of YouTube. Im not quite sure how I stumbled upon this, but I am WILD about this group of children and their music teacher. This group of 70 odd NYC public school 5th graders is taking the world by storm--particularly as a result of their popularity on Perez Hilton's blog.

These two videos are especially moving for me:

"The Call" (Regina Spektor) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6bTtLPO5ao&feature=related

"Dont Dream It's Over" (Crowded House) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LutJSqspl4w&feature=related

These kids remind me of the Langley School Music Project, 1976-1977. I wrote about this before, but PS22 is the same sort of thing, just moved up a few years. Read about Langley here: http://keyofz.com/langley/

So right now, listen to PS22's version of "Dont Stop Believin'". It's totally worth it.

rotation 1 & 2

Major breakthroughs:

I am 23 now, a fact which was celebrated with much rejoicing and a pinata.

I have designed 2 of the 6 shows I am to design this summer and they have opened. I would post pictures, I issue a caveat on the professional ones and I haven't seen any of my friend's yet.

Minor accomplishments:

I have managed to endear myself to the shop, which I consider a good thing.

I like my preset cue sheet format.

I got a new printer for my images and it has a copier/scanner part, which is AWESOME.

summerstock?

In about a week, I head off to Ithaca NY, as one of the Design Fellows at the Hangar Theatre Lab Company for the summer. Now, I honestly dont know what to think--except the part where everyone is really excited and says that its tons of fun. what I do know is that im terrified. weirdly. we shall see...

epic fail

today was a giant fail. it all started when i was unable to save my project on the Hog and thus ERASED my project (note to self: "new show" and "save show" are not the same thing...). and then the light lab was completely booked until 11 am the next day (and i mean EVERY hour of the night as well) and then although i used the offline editor (which is a hot mess in and of itself) the Hog wouldnt read the disk (or ANY of the disks that i tried) and then i had no project. and then there was a fiasco with whether or not I was going to the preview tonight or colloquium....and that was a mess bc both sides of the question got mad at me about it when it wasnt my fault in the slightest...and then i came to the BCA to reprogram the end of Act I and ended up having to do WAY more than i expected and i wanted to cry.

and im sitting here at preview, with a full night in the light lab ahead of me to do this Hog project and a Mariann to do and a Roger project to do...

why am i in grad school?

my first foray into this so-called professional realm

so: the show I am assisting on for HTC went into tech today. Focus was yesterday--and I was TOTALLY scared. However, it went really well, and I got complimented on how well it went from the LD so I was happy. He was skeptical of my method of keeping track at first, but it works for me so all was well.

And now we are in tech. a LONG tech. today is very slow--slower than normal. i am doubtful that we will reach the 2nd act by the end of the day. And I started at 7:30. The end of the day is midnight. Yea. Im a wee bit tired. Thank goodness we have tomorrow off.

I dont know what I think of him yet. Ill have to sleep on it.

counting down...

Communication. People--it's that simple! I dont like looking like a flake but its very very hard to not look like a flake when the people who are supposed to tell you the schedule DONT include all the dates that you need to know. It is very important to me that my first professional assist here at the theatre go well, because I want to make a good impression and I want to learn alot--both things one cannot do when one has not been provided with the proper information.

Tomorrow is my first day helping out RR on the show over at the other mainstage. I think its going to be fun. The set it HUGE--but the plot seems pretty normal for the space. Im nervous about running focus on Saturday--I've run focus before but its scary in this case. I really want it to go well. Other than that, my first interaction with the LD will be tomorrow at 2 pm for a walkthru and then a runthru of the show. Oy!

light lab 2.0

When I arrived at BU, I discovered that one of my primary functions was to be responsible for the two student spaces at the theatre: the studio space and the Light Lab. While this sounds like a simple task (everything has a place and people put away tools, etc) is it NOT. and it has taken until NOW for me to get the hang of how to police these spaces accurately. I have discovered that the following (and ONLY the following) technique works.

Assess the space. What is in the space that shouldn't be? What is NOT in the space that should be? The large chalkboard on the wall is EXTREMELY handy for this!

In the case of the former, begin to annoyingly and persistently ask everyone you meet if the item is theirs and if so can they please remove it now. do not take "later" for an answer. In the case of unclaimed items that are clearly not useful to anyone make a big show of throwing it away in front of someone else so that they know you mean business. In the case of something belonging to HTC take extra care to show up in the office, with a concerned story and an incredible sense of urgency. How else do you think I managed to get 10 large tables to disappear in half an hour?

In the case of the latter, begin to constantly ask students "have you seen this?" the only way to find out where something is is to find out from someone else who used it last (the person who actually used it last will never tell you) and then to email and call and stop them in the halls until it is returned. keep in mind the disposition of the person and their schedule--the best is to catch them personally when they are clearly not in a rush and to demand that the item be returned "that day" for a project of some sort.

If these rules are followed, i have a 50/50 chance of being able to put the light lab back in order in about an hour. of course, when i come in the NEXT day it is completely in shambles again....people cant seem to pick up and respect all the equipment but then what did i expect? the worst is the gel, and the focus, and the cable, and the board being left on... sigh :)

at least I know where everything goes! :P

the aftermath

InCite is over. I have come to a conclusion--I do not like being production staff. never again (if i can help it!).

the show was a success--it looked like the pope, and it felt like the pope so I was happy. carmen seemed to go fine as well. and on top of that i got to see HAIR (thanks harvard!), AVENUE Q, and meet Kevin Adams (thanks Jim!). Alex and I had a date to the top of Rockefeller Center, which, after a slight altercation with the security personnel over the presence of 1 wrench and 2 knives and the subsequent burying of said knives in a planter outside of Rockefeller Center to be retrieved later, as thoroughly enjoyable and very beautiful. I said it then and Ill say it now: I love the Chrysler Building. :)

And now Im back (after a brief stint in the UK) and starting my Hunt assist, another design project and lots and lots of design homework. *sigh*

T-Minus 2 days

InCite officially starts for me in, count them, 2 days. That's right--tomorrow night this time I am going to be in New York City, getting my alphabet soup on before a 10 am load in. just kidding Jamie!! (0r am i???)

anyways, truck loads at 4 pm. and id like to say a word about the rep plot we are using.

so: the drafting and LW of the rep plot we were given have the following errors:
-pipes that do not exist
-pipes that DO exist but are not drafted
-lights on pipes that do not exist
-lights on LW but not on drafting
-lights in photographs of space not on LW or drafting
-conflicting dimmer and channel info between drafting and LW--ALL OF IT.
-lack of proscenium in drafting

this combined equals a major headache for ME, which i have now resolved after several hours of "WTF???"

and thus the truck WILL load tomorrow. see you there!

opera hang

it's that time of year!

....that time of year when i carry lots of scaffolding off of trucks and set it up for an opera. for some reason, EVERY opera that I have been involved with on the design side has used scaffolding as part of the rig. some have incorporated it into the scenic design, but the familiar yellow and blue towers never fail to appear!

so: today when our hang call was interrupted and we were asked to go unload scaffolding from the truck outside I thought to myself---it will never die. similar to PJ. and ED. VERY similar.

that being said, the hang is going very well. i am impressed with the professionalism of the call in general and im really really happy that the frantic, speed-demon mentality of the studio space is not present here on the mainstage. it makes one much calmer and the call much more pleasant. of course, i have been on the balcony rail all day....but i really do think that taking the time to slow down and not be so obsessed with speed is a much healthier way to do our work.

kennedy center

so......we are going.

yes, that's right. pope joan is going to the kennedy center in april. i can't really believe it--a fringe show at the kennedy center? that fringe show? but so it is!

it's going to be very cool, I think. but before we got to the kennedy center we had to rock out fitchburg......which was, shall we say, different.

the whole experience reminded me of how harvard used to be. and it also showed me how quickly ive gotten used to the new way of doing things here in grad school. however, there was one really talented guy on the crew. i later found out that he does overhire for yale rep. it was good that he was on the crew--let's leave it at that. jt was fantastic and i couldnt have done it without him. all in all, it was an experience. i now feel like i can do anything.

i regret having not taken any pictures. i was very surprised at how well the 3/4 show translated into proscenium. it looked hot. or was the adjective "tits"? thanks, gw!

CMY in real life

Ok, so as much as I hated Polaroid for discontinuing the instant camera and leaving millions of us stranded with no hope and empty boxes (see polaroid? i just met her! ), they have created a new product!! (which I am TOTALLY buying when I finish this dance show....) Of course the coolest thing about PoGo isnt that it is bluetooth happy and thus prints from ANYTHING, nor that it has a sticky back and can thus stick to ANYTHING, nor that it fits in your pocket and can thus go ANYWHERE....... No. The coolest thing about PoGo is that it is CMY !!! There is no ink---just little cyan, magenta, and yellow crystals that it heats up to create the perfect picture! How utterly cool is that? :P

red tape

the world of theatre is filled with all sorts of unconventional people and things who are defined as creative and dont care about the rules. For every one of these people there is a handler, whom we refer to as the bearer of red tape. Here is a standard experience which I have had over the last week. Remember: me-creative, C-A-red tape, JC-middleman.

sometime in december....

me: I got this email saying I am nominated for an award. I have to go F... for a week.

C-A: That's great! We will make sure you have a hotel to stay in, along with the other people who got nominated. Just figure out how to rent a car and give us the receipt. We won't pay for food, but other than that you are set.

me: Sweet.

sometime in january....

JC: So, youll need to be getting your hotel and we aren't getting reimbursed for the cars.

me: WHAT??? I dont have that kind of money for a week!

C-A: Don't look at us!

The truth about the matter is that dear old C-A has no idea what is actually going on in the world that he is trying to handle. And the result is confusion, chaos, and lack of funding. And now what am I supposed to do, seeing as I am supposed to go to this event in FOUR days. FOUR days to find a hotel in a completely booked town for the one event of the year which fills up their hotels. Not to mention that there are only two hotels, one of which is gross and the other of which is expensive. And I was nominated for an award and it sucks that my hands are tied like this.

In other news, the four draftings that I have due in four days are ....... not progressing at all. I keep getting distracted by lots of lovely things like making orange souffle, cleaning my house, organizing my library thing and perhaps most importantly trying to find a way to put all my books on the shelves without double stacking.

Which is never going to happen. I have too many wonderful books! And today my project is to clear the mantle so my loebs can go there instead of in the case and thus free up space. Yay for books!

man hole fire

Today was the first day back at graduate school. Officially. Of course, I was at school on Monday drafting and at school Tuesday in class and hanging a light plot....but that is all in the past now! What really matters is that today, on the day when I am actually scheduled to have class, we dont have class because of a "man hole fire". Yes. A man hole is on fire. I got the phone call after I was already on the bus, but that's ok. My hellish Wednesday just turned really low key--it's great!

things i had forgotten about

I forgot what it is like to work on a show in the ex. I forgot what it like when the sound designer doesnt come to rehearsals and as a result nothing is right. ever. I forgot what it is like to have an entire inventory of altmans from the 1970s. I forgot what it is like to be the only person in the room who knows how to set up foggers, attach molding, paint sets and run a tech rehearsal. I forgot what it is like to have a SM to whom the actors won't listen. I forgot what it is like to have a show about scene changes.

But, I also forgot what it was like to love every part of the silly old process.

a day in the life

december quote: "We will talk about this more as we get closer to the beginning of the next semester."

3 weeks of silence

january quote: "Your part of the project is due TODAY, tomorrow at the latest."

YAY for graduate school! and welcome to my life :)

so here we are, jan. 5th, and I have already teched one show and am apparently plotting another as i type. or rather, not as i type and that is the problem. i don't even know what format to submit this in! and this is just indicative of the way that it's been so far--me, not knowing what is going on and consistently being behind or wrong with everything that i turn in. of course, on the shows themselves im fine and apparently that is all that really matters. but i can't understand how i can sit in the room with five other people, take meticulous notes, and STILL not understand what i am supposed to bring to class the next week!! it blows my mind.

however, this most RECENT email from my professor perhaps explains it all. the answer: they dont want you to know what is due. its part of the process?????

*sigh*