Hi, I’m back! Sorry for the hiatus, class was canceled the week of our Thanksgiving break, and well, when class is canceled and I am scheduled for a date with the dinner table, no work gets done.

We learned about sewing November 13th, and that was an interesting experience to say the least. My fingers ended up looking like Julius Caesar, that’s how badly I stabbed myself. In other words, I wasn’t the best at it, but at least I gave it my best efforts. We learned the running stitch, the cross stitch, and the back stitch just to name a few. I think I would need a few more home economics classes to master the art of sewing, but thankfully I think I could replace a button or two on a costume with my current knowledge.

Last class, we talked about creating sound effects and working with the sound board. We were assigned a project where we take a song that our group believes really sets the tone for the scene given to us (our scene was the witch scene from Macbeth). I was very proud of our ideas, and thankfully I was in a group where someone knew how to work the editing software so we could create.

Music is an outburst of the soul.

~Frederick Delius~

Hello! Long time no blog post. Much Ado About Nothing was peformed a week ago; remarkable how fast time flies when I’m not at rehearsals for 5 hours every night. The performances went swimmingly, and my family members and friends were charmed by each character and how well the show went. I wish I could go back to it, honestly.

Striking the set was arduous, but I felt proud to use some of my stagecraft skills! I used a screwdriver for 90% of the time, but I also used pliers for a bit to yank out staples (it was quite satisfying). I unscrewed the screws in the platforms, removing the legs and putting them in recycling piles in the work room. Overall, the pizza at the end of the night tasted so wonderful, so I knew I had worked hard to contribute to the striking of the set. It certainly was the most beautiful set I’ve ever worked with, so I was sad to take it down.

The class after the play, we learned about lights, and I honestly have to admit I was slightly confused the whole time on the wonders of how the colors change. We learned about how RGB lighting is common in order to make all these other colors, which is quite remarkable. More to come on next week’s blog!

~Photo taken by one of my best friends, Abby Usrey~

Ambiance is very important when preparing for an audience to arrive in your theater. Last class, we started with rearranging the tables and furniture in the lobby, opening up the room and using the space properly.  Then we proceeded to open up the prop closet and went to work on filling the display cases with fun masks, books, a wine jug, and any period paraphernalia that would set the mood for our show. We also organized the patio furniture out in front of the entryway. The prop closet was like a portal to another world, or an antique store, or grandma’s house. I didn’t really want to leave; I wanted to keep exploring all the beautiful props. After we were done with the display cases and the furniture, we were allowed to leave early. However, I left class that day proud of the work we had done and excited for our audience to come to our theater and be transported to 1940’s Messina, Italy.

“If music be the food of love, play on.”

~William Shakespeare~

Last class, we learned about the rigging system. We even got to participate pulling down the mid stage border, or as some like to call it, the Mexican border *rolls eyes*. We called out “mid stage border moving!” Then wait for the all clear from everyone else. Then we’d should “midstage border locked” after locking it and then move it back up. It was fun, but also heavier than you’d think! We learned about the tension pulleys, the counterweight arbor and how that is important to have so when the rope is unlocked we don’t go flying away up to the ceiling, and about the lift lines that hold the curtain.

“How is it that music can, without words, evoke our laughter, our fears, our highest aspirations?”

~Jane Swan~

We learned how to use the jig saw and the circle saw. The jig saw, also known as the saber saw, moves up and down in order to saw through the wood, and it takes a lot of control in order to maneauver the saw. That saw is more used with curvy lines. It is also helpful in cutting a square chunk out of the wood. Our teacher had to change out the circle saw blade because it was blunt. It’s for long, straight cuts, so the opposite of the jigsaw, and it can also rip wood. The upcoming class we are continuing with the rigging system.

Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.

~Ronald Reagan~

Last class, I was very nervous because we were busting out the big guns, literally. We worked with stapler guns and screw drills. We used the pneumatic stapler guns to attach the muslin to our soft flats. Pneumatic tools require a compressor to generate air pressure, and compressors have regulators on them that allow you to set the pressure your tool requires. Muslin is 100% woven fabric and is used primarily as a base for other things. (there’s a little bit of vocabulary for you!) Today in class, we will be finishing tool certifications, and I’m excited! Wish me luck.

Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasize about a world we aspire to.

~Willem Dafoe~

Hello, and we’re back with another episode of what Emma learns in stagecraft 101. Last class, we split into 2 teams to work on building a platform. My team’s name is the Pencilheads. The layout of the platform was tricky to grasp, and here is a picture for reference:

The stiles are the left and right sides, the rail is the top and bottom pieces, the toggles are the rails in the middle. Measuring can be very tricky as well. We will be working on the corner blocks and keystones next class, which are used to connect the rails and stiles. We will most likely use screws for that part, as nails are becoming less ideal to use. This is because nails are harder to remove if you want to reuse the wood or deconstruct the platform. Tune in next time to see the final product!!

Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue.

~Plato~

 

Last week, I was successfully certified to use the miter saw. It was a terrifying experience, but I survived.  I was super excited once I went through with it, my earmuffs on tight and my sweating hand grasping the wood on one end and the other hand maneuvering the saw. We also learned how to use tape measures and a fast square in order to measure pieces of wood before we sawed through them. Evidently, a fast square is actually a ruled triangle…no one saw that coming.

I am nervous about using a hammer, even though Nathan, our professor, told us that we won’t be using hammers often except to press things closer together. I just don’t want to smash my finger…*shudder*. I have never been that helpful with a screw gun, so that will be interesting to work with and get certified on. Normally when building set at my high schools, I assisting with painting, and I left the heavy duty power tools to those who knew them better than me. In short, I am interested to learn about power tools; it will certainly be amusing.

“I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from, everyone loves music.”

~Billy Joel~

Today is a crappy Monday, but I have my theater buddies to cheer me up. Theater has always been an important part of my life in that it helps me de-stress, and I love the people and the challenge involved. Memorizing lines and the major time commitment are tough sacrifices, but the character choices I get to make and the people I meet make it all worth it. Now, you are probably expecting some theater vocab words to bring this blog post home, so here we go:

Periaktoi: triangular columns that revolve to reveal other sides and sets, multiple periaktoi are usually used in each wing or across the upstage side of the stage, replacing the backdrop

deux ex machina: Latin phrase from Greek, many tragedy writers used this to resolve complicated or even seemingly hopeless situations in the plots of their plays, phrase loosely translated as “god from the machine”

(Fun fact! I read Medea and we learned this term when she rides off in a chariot)

Trap: a hole in the floor with a replaceable plug, when the plug is in place the floor looks complete and it is usually hard to detect where the plug may be

(Another fun fact! We used a trap hole for Peter Pan, and I as Captain Hook jumped into the ‘water’ to escape)

Hard flats: ‘Hollywood flats’ which are traditional in television but becoming more standard in theatre and have styles and rails just like a soft flat

TTFN, ta ta for now, thespian friends!

 

 

 

 

Last week was busy, busy in a good way. This week, I can already tell on this Monday evening, is going to be busy in a bad way. Maybe that’s just the bad Monday vibes dampening my mood, though. I got to visit my family this past weekend, so that was awesome. Watching Psych with my sister, spending time with my parents, and shopping with my best friend were all my favorite parts. I also loved watching I Feel Pretty starring Amy Schumer; it’s one of my new favorite movies. It’s all about positive body image, confidence, and lifting up other women, and I am totally for that 100%.

SO, now I know you’re expecting some theater info, so let’s get to that invigorating part of my blog post.

One of my favorite parts of the reading for this week was imagining where I fit into the theater crew. I think that being a scenic designer would be incredible (learning about how Nathan Wyman creates sets for productions was AMAZING). Also, I agree that no production is inferior to another. I have always tried to keep my head focused on one thing: the show must go on. Even at my private religious school with a crappy fine arts program, I tried my hardest and as a result, I ended up with the lead role for the majority of the productions, and I took charge to make the show a masterpiece in our small auditorium.

Now, for some VOCAAAAB! My personal favorite 😉 First up…styles of productions…

presentational style– offers a performance in which everyone is fully aware that the actors are at work on a stage, speaking and acting out a script, under lights, and in costumes

representational style– it shows the naked truths about ordinary existence withing specific situations

realism– based in our world, with recognizable characters having no supernatural powers

naturalism– no stereotypes per se but specific characters in specific environments, purpose is to show how a person’s character and life choices are determined in part by the environmental or social forces

Now…orders of architecture…

1. Doric– earliest order to develop, used for the Parthenon and for most temples, no base
2. Ionic– scroll like capitals
3. Corinthian
4. Composite
5. Tuscan

That’s all for now.

Music is life…that’s why our hearts have beats.

~Anonymous~