lx10go

[lx10go]

Good morning, SMblr! This is an assignment for one of my classes; while this isn’t *exactly* a tech brief, it’s right up my alley. I took a bit of an informal approach, but I want to share in case anyone out there would find this useful/have something to add. This is still a draft. 

Of course, there is more than one way to make a calling script; some people like to set up different columns in the margins and others like the dreaded text boxes…. But this is the way that works best for me, in Word, at least. You can do the same thing in Excel too! 

@stagemanagereej this is the assignment you asked about! What do you think?

[lx10go]

Hogwarts Houses as Stage Managers

Gryffindor: “You need that moved, I can move that.” Always down for drinks after the show. Fully believe in “the show must go on.” Memorizes the songs and calls from memory. Drinks a red eye or red bull. Loves rehearsals and tech but running the show is boring. Follows the spirit of the Equity handbook. Instagrams of group photos. Reports bootleggers to house management and the producer. Happy to work anywhere.

Hufflepuff: Loves every part of the process. Will comfort crying actors. Puts the actors needs first. Actually gives opening night gifts. Not always a great team leader but a great team member. Doesn’t drink coffee but can make it. Loves running the show. Calls Equity to clarify everything. Instagrams of props. Kindly asks people not to bootleg. Prefers to work regionally or theatre for a young audience.

Ravenclaw: Knows every line in the play. Prettiest paperwork you’ve ever seen. Calls from the score. Drinks all the coffee. Takes mentoring interns and PAs to heart. Loves the dramaturgical aspect of rehearsals. Loves rehearsals for new plays. Follows the letter of the law of the Equity rule book. Instagrams of their book. Reports bootlegs to the producer every time they see one. Works where new plays are being produced.

Slytherin: Tries to keep a neutral face because of actors. Puts the shows needs first. Great team leader, not always a good team player. Drinks coffee but wishes it were whiskey. Loves the whole process as long as they’re in charge. Has the Equity rule book but hasn’t looked at it in a while. Instagrams of coffee and paperwork. Reports bootlegs to the producer and also goes on rants about why they’re wrong. Will work anywhere that will help further their career.

[lx10go]

[lx10go]

colorful gradient 31708

[lx10go]

Seriously I ran out of small hinges, so I cut a binder clip in half and made two out of them. Then pop riveted the one side on using rubber feet as washers to make sure the pressure didn’t kill the plexi.  I was on a roll for ideas today. 

[lx10go]

So here's how I understand it...

The committee removed the sound design award because they felt it was hard to judge and basically, more of a technical area than a design or an art form.

First of all, if you do not understand what makes a good sound design, maybe someone else should be in your place. I’m not saying it should be me. I know for a fact that I would not be a good judge at that, but not being qualified to make that call and thinking the call is impossible to make are two totally different things.

Let me put it this way; I have two friends. One is a lighting designer and the other is a sound designer. Let’s say they work on the same show that eventually goes to Broadway. There are a million photographs of the lighting designers work and an album of the sound designers work. As someone who lives hundreds of miles away, these are what inform me of the show.

Do not get me wrong, I stare at pictures for hours, I watch every interview, I spend hours searching for snippets and videos. But you know what really makes me feel a connection to the show? That original cast recording. Ever since I was a little girl, I didn’t get to see many shows, but I did get to lay on my floor and listen to them. The SOUND flooding my senses. The SOUND making me feel the awe of Broadway.

I know that I’m a nobody from a tiny town in Michigan; no one really cares about the opinion of one girl. But maybe someone would appreciate the sound designers a little bit more if the first connection you had with a show was hearing that recording, hearing their work, hearing what is important in a show because of their artwork.

[lx10go]

I’ve updated my Shakespeare’s Birthday comic for the occasion. Happy Birthday, Bill!

[lx10go]

IM LAUGHING SO HARD

[lx10go]

"What do you do?"

“I watch people pretend to be other people and tell adults to quiet down.”

[lx10go]

[lx10go]

The Fourth Wall: Stages Klaus Frahm

“The Fourth Wall” is a concept in dramatic theory, often used by actors to signify the invisible stage wall where the audience is seated to view the play. The stage is classically perceived from the audience’s perspective, where they are able to glimpse the action through a “window” into the set—"The Fourth Wall.“

In this series, the direction of the viewpoint is opposite: we take the perspective of the actor. The camera is far behind the iron curtain.

It is the camera’s specific perspective, dissolving the traditional order, which questions the hierarchy of the stage and audience. For the French philosopher Lacan, an image is a gaze pointing outward, as the light-points send out rays to the viewer. In other words, the image looks at the onlooker.

Here, the space reserved for the audience becomes flat, like a postcard, and the real space of the theater, the stage, is explored in many directions. The camera looks up, taking note of the scaffolding and lighting structures: the mechanics of the space. Thus, we become aware of a workspace hidden behind the red velvet curtain. The contrast between backstage machinery and the sea of velvet seats is exciting.

Images and text via.

[lx10go]

Songs to make your Non-Broadway Friends Listen to with no context at all

My Unfortunate Erection: 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Sugar Daddy: Hedwig and the Anrgy Inch

Hasa Diga Eebowai: The Book of Mormon

Totally Fucked: Spring Awakening

Black Death: Something Rotten!

Friki-friki: Honeymoon in Vegas

Spooky Mormon Hell Dream: The Book of Mormon

You Can Be As Loud As the Hell You Want: Avenue Q

Telly: Matilda

Over The Moon: RENT

The Ballad of Farquaad: Shrek

Magic Foot: 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

The Word of Your Body reprise: Spring Awakening

Die Vampire, Die!:[title of show]

Something Rotten/Make an Omelette: Something Rotten!

Joseph Smith American Moses: The Book of Mormon

Hello Little Girl: Into the Woods

Angry Inch: Hedwig and the Angry Inch

It's Eggs: Something Rotten!

The Internet is for Porn: Avenue Q

[lx10go]

Wood I? Wood I EVER!

[lx10go]

Sawdust is my favorite accessory.

[lx10go]

For those of you getting ready for con season (ahem, Kamicon), here’s an easy way to remove old makeup stains! Mix a bit of blue dish soap and peroxide together and scrub the stained area with it.

[lx10go]

The way we perceive time and history is so weird I get so tripped out when I think about how Cleopatra lived closer tot he iPhone being invented than she did to the Great Pyramids being built. Or how Stonehenge would have already been ruins when Jesus walked the earth or how Oxford University is older than the Aztec Empire or how Anne Frank and MLK were born in the same year like man this it’s all so crazy

[lx10go]

I've had moments of "can you pan it this way?" "No" "what why?" "The fuck nut is gone" "gone?" "Yup. It's not there anymore." How does that even happen?

Part two of important parts that should not be broken while at work: the Jesus bolt