(okay, okay, I do normally eat, sleep, and even shower. My grades suffer for it, but I do it.)
I am not returning to VA for Thanksgiving. I've never gone back for Thanksgiving, as it's a long/expensive journey for such a short amount of time. I actually have no Thanksgiving plans as of yet, except sleeping in, making the Ritchie family cider, and ... wait, actually, that's all my plans. My voice and speech teacher suggested giving myself a day where I have nothing to do, which I think is wise. Thanksgiving break is coming at a perfect time in regards to my show - I load-in on Sunday. I had rehearsal last night, and I have my final rehearsal before tech on Saturday. This gives me and my actors a nice break to get some perspective and rest before everything goes crazy during tech week. I've been inundated with Tongues lately, as is expected. I've started thinking in Tongues lines, sleeping and dreaming of budgets and tech week. It's not that I'm overly anxious about the show - we're in a really great place. I've gone through some rough spots lately (my personal life went up in spectacular flames), but throughout it all, Tongues has been going really well. The play, which is hugely abstract, is becoming very clear to me, my cast, and my designers, which is necessary for the audience to be able to begin to step into this world. Our first run, which was rough because it was a first run, was 42 minutes long. My "time limit" is 45 minutes, but Tongues should run much shorter just with the nature of the play. Our second run was 44 minutes, which freaked the actors out with how long it ran. (That run, to be fair, also started at 11pm.) Our third run ran 33 minutes. We cut off ELEVEN MINUTES, without cutting any text or really changing anything except for cutting the space out of things. Tech-wise, we're even more prepared for load-in than most shows - as all of my designers are going home for Thanksgiving, they've wanted to get things figured out before they left. We've got all our props, and the only missing set piece will be arriving at my dorm on 3pm on Friday.
Woo!
Now, in terms of celebrating the holiday, I did most of my Thanksgiving celebration today. Thanksgiving is a time to be with family, and this morning I did just that. I got to spend some quality time with my PHTS family at Hidden Talents Day. A "talent show" at a theater school makes very little sense, as talent shows tend to showcase talents that people at theater school generally possess. Hidden Talents Day is about the talents we didn't know you have. A teacher of mine once made a journal during Hidden Talents Day. Like... sewed the paper and all of that. We've had lasso-ing, kung-fu, the ability to make farting noises with every part of the body... lots of fun things. It's ridiculously fun. This year, I wrote a sonnet confessing my love for our resident drag queen and read it for her, accompanied by my friend on the ukulele. There was soundpainting, juggling, rapping to the words "cantaloupe", "topiary" and "phlebotomy", waltzing, and a Thanksgiving pageant performed by our teachers. Also, delicious apple sauce made by the director of our studio. What more could you ask for? It was a lovely morning filled with laughter. And bread shaped like a turkey.
In the tradition of the holiday (and not far from the tradition of this blog), I'll use this space to note a few of the many things and people I am thankful for.
- The cast of Tongues. They are some of the most creative people I have ever worked with, and work harder than anyone else. Ever. I walked into the common room half an hour before rehearsal to wait until we could get into the space... and they were there, going over things before rehearsal. After one recent rehearsal, we were all (the cast, myself, and my stage manager) walking in the same direction towards our respective dorms. Lindsay, my SM, and I were talking, until she veered off onto 10th St. Then I realized that my cast had been talking with each other this whole walk about the show, and things to try with different voices, and then my Speaker turns to me and says, "I'm still a bit confused on Josh." (As a director, I try to respect their time and not constantly bombard them with thoughts. I once tried to give them a note on a break in rehearsal, then I stopped myself and said, "No, you're on break, I'm shutting up." But as this time, she was the one bringing it up... we talked about Josh until we parted on 14th.) The two of them are spending Thanksgiving together, and I've heard them chat about what they're planning to do to work on the play over the break. They say, "Yeah, this feels a lot better. We'll work on it over break and show you some more choices inside of it." I say, "Awesome. The first thing we're going to do on Saturday is a run so we can see where we are." They say, "Great! We'll bring in a lot of new things for you." Also, last night, when I had to end rehearsal slightly early because (I think) I had food poisoning and needed to go home and vomit, they cleaned up the space for me. They're simply the best people.
- The designers of Tongues. It is so, SO nice not to have to worry about everything (unlike 1st and 2nd year directing scenes, where you are not only directing a scene, but designing everything about it). My designers are enormously responsible people who do so much for me. There are so many logistics to work out when you're mounting a production, and knowing that I can trust my designers to do their work, make my ideas infinitely better, and keep me in the loop is beautiful. I ask them a lot of silly, curious questions and they indulge me sweetly. ("What's the difference between raw silk and silk?") They're also a really fun group that I'm excited to be spending so much time with during tech. I've learned a lot from them and hope to be half as good to the people I design for as they've been to me.
- My stage manager, Lindsay. Again, it's incredible to be able to go into tech knowing that i don't have to worry about things getting done, because Lindsay will be worried about that for me. She knows I become a logistical vegetable during tech, so I feel absolutely free just to have to worry about the artistic side.
- The people at Rosebrand fabrics. My set designer was on the phone with them all day today, they're getting things to us fast and with a huge discount and apparently are just the nicest people ever. (Our set is largely fabric, and while we've worked with the kind of fabric we want, the fabric we're actually going to use needs to be flame retardant, so we're ordering to save time, money, and sanity. Also, if anyone needs 28 yards of 60-inch, mostly white, flame retardant chiffon that's cut into 4 pieces of approximately 7 yards each after December 5th, let me know.) Also, again, about my designers taking care of things/me.
- My teachers. I talk about them a lot, but only because they deserve it. Right now, a lot of my classes involve critiquing the shows that have already gone up, and the amount of care and observation from all of these teachers who are seeing six shows a week is huge. Also, all the critique is phrased hugely constructively, and even people who I know tend to have a negative self-image and think everyone hates their work are coming out of post-mortem critiques with their heads held high while looking at their work extremely objectively. It's phenomenal. I had a conference with one of my teachers last week that was a joyous time largely spent talking about things I'm horrible at doing, to help me work through them. (Also, I walked out of that conference feeling talented? That's very strange, as I don't really believe in talent.) The teachers' enthusiasm is infectious and refreshing.
- This program. I'm starting to see how much it WORKS. I hear a difference in how we talk about work. I see a difference in our presentations. I feel a difference, myself. I was part of a proposal meeting last week - basically, the creative team presenting to a board to try to get our show produced at a certain space at NYU next semester. (I'm dramaturging this piece.) This was one of the first times I presented and did not feel extremely nervous, but instead felt like I knew what I was doing. It's not like we've had classes in presentation technique, we've just had to present all the time and have gotten feedback and felt what works and what doesn't. I still have a ways to go, but when I think back to last year's disastrous presentations, I'm floored at the difference. This is also one of those things that is so universal. Sure, being able to draw a groundplan and make a modelbox might be a more specifically theatrical skill set (though a groundplan and modelbox is making its way to Bon Air right now to help with planning for the new Sunday R&R service)... but being able to present ideas articulately and compellingly is helpful in everything. I think that's been the biggest lesson and improvement this semester - how to get your ideas across. That's directing a play. That's giving a presentation. They're actually very much the same thing, just with different languages.
- Everyone who has come up to me excited about my work, even work they haven't seen yet. I've had several people tell me how excited they are for Tongues, and that's inspiring. I could choose to be intimidated by that and worry that I'm not going to "live up to their expectations" or something foolish like that, but I've learned that if people come in already excited about something, it's easier to bring them along with you and they're more likely to chose to like it.
- The Facebook game "Food Friendzy". It's the best Facebook application ever, because you play to win coupons. I got lucky one day and won an $8 coupon, so my meal tonight that would have cost about $10 cost me less than $2. THAT is effective procrastination, folks!
- Assistants! 2nd years at PHTS are required to assistant design, and they make life so much easier. I costume designed a show, which is funny because I know very little about clothing. I did it by having an assistant who knows a lot about clothes, so I was able to talk about the overarching ideas of shape, function, color, etc., and she was able to list out more logistical options than I would have thought of myself. And then she wandered the city for hours investigating getting them when I was in tech for other things. And then she sewed lace. The set assistant for Tongues has also been vital to the process. The hilarious thing is that I forget that having assistants sounds like a big deal. I had something on my facebook status about my sewing kit, and when Russ from this summer commented about how I was becoming a costumer and I said, "Not really, it's for my assistant who actually knows how to sew," another one of our co-workers commented with a confused/awed, "YOU HAVE AN ASSISTANT?!"
- The fact that my coccyx injury is healing quickly. (Yup, I injured my coccyx. How, you ask? By sitting down. Well, technically, by sitting down and missing most of the chair. I'm just that talented. It reminds me of the time I strained my shoulder last year doing a normal, every day, "just woke up" stretch.)
- Certainly not least, the always-forgiving grace of God. I forget a lot, I slip into old habits, I have to work really hard to remind myself of what I learned this summer and why I do this. And throughout all my stumbling, throughout all the times I am focused selfishly instead of outwardly, He is always forgiving.
- You. No, really.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Perhaps I'll find a meal to crash tomorrow... or perhaps I'll stay in and read Proust. Who knows?
"my personal life went up in spectacular flames"...oh? I don't think I've heard about that.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Ritchie needs a "t".
Heh. That's from my typing my friend Richie's name so often, since I'm working on his show. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, that's because I don't tend to talk about my personal life. Blogged that phrase so that the people who have interacted with me in the midst of all of that can know it's not about the show.