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THE WEST WING 2.16 – “Somebody’s Going to Emergency, Somebody’s Going to Jail”

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Q2Q Comics #529: Noodle Arms

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Back at it again.

"Guys and Dolls", Fall 2019

Adventures in taping a set for a musical, or, when you and your SM professor are smartasses of equal proportion

“Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown”, 2018

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I got to play with some sweet new toys at Road Less Traveled today! The console is so nice, and the Releve Spot units are unbelievably quiet.

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Different venue, slightly different note, same gesture.

"Julius Caesar", Spring 2019

Adventures in taping a set for a musical, or, when you and your SM professor are smartasses of equal proportion

“Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown”, 2018

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"The Threepenny Opera" has the band on stage, so we will not be dropping the pit, but one of the ASMs has developed her own cheeky way of denoting a very long set of escape stairs.

Adventures in taping a set for a musical, or, when you and your SM professor are smartasses of equal proportion

“Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown”, 2018

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Found in the wild: an advertisement for UB's fundraising campaign featuring images from our Lumagination project in past years. Top banner is from 2017, and the bottom photo is from 2018 (my first year working on the project).

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(15/15)

Up next: Lumagination at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens! This is my second year on the project, and this year I will be working as the Production Manager/Lighting Director for UB's contribution. I've already been hard at work on this project, researching show control solutions and creating production schedules.

This is a model I created in Scene Design 1 class as a proposed design for sculptural elements we will be constructing/installing. Since the theme is "air", my design is based on "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins, taking inspiration from the section of the sound file that includes that drum solo in the middle. However, due to copyright concerns, we will not be constructing this in reality.

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(14/15) I just finished my first tech rehearsal process as a sound designer, for the Emerging Choreographers' Showcase. While I love working with the dance department, and I appreciate the concept of needing some awareness of sound design to be a well-rounded theatre professional, I don't think it's really for me. Even though I normally love mundane tasks such as alphabetizing forms and labeling cables, I found editing to be painfully tedious. I had to learn ProTools and Qlab, which probably wouldn't have been quite as awful if I had touched a Mac computer at all since approximately fourth grade. But alas, I had to basically learn an entire operating system as well. ProTools did end up being somewhat intuitive once I learned where certain functions were, but to my stage management and ETC Eos-oriented brain, Qlab made very little sense; I couldn't wrap my head around the way Qlab organizes cues. The show has now closed, and I still have barely any idea of what just happened.

Hopefully I do retain most of my discoveries about Qlab moving forward, especially as it relates to timecoding and other control protocol, as I will need to deal with syncing lighting with sound for my upcoming Lumagination project.

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(13/15) My other major gig this semester is as an RA in the new sophomore dorms. I'm on the second floor in the B-wing, so I couldn't help making a Shakespeare pun on my bulletin board. I've also spent a lot of time with my trusty X-acto knife, making nametags for all of my residents' doors, and adding a "We Are Groot" banner to the hallway to contextualize the theme of the nametags.

This job has presented some all-new challenges in terms of work-life balance. While in orientation, the professional Campus Living staff often say the only thing we should prioritize over being an RA is being a student, but I've discovered that this is impossible because when I prioritize my major above all, I find very little time to do all the other things. Now that I know what to expect, however, I can spend time this winter prepping everything from door tags to program proposals, so that when the time rolls around for each item I have very little work to do. I can schedule my programs early each month (instead of the last few days of each month as I've done this semester) to get them over with. I'm hoping these new revelations will help me have a successful spring semester.

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(12/15)

Finally got a chance to see Speed-the-Plow at Road Less Traveled! I'm in love with the new space, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else is done with it.

I particularly enjoyed the lighting of this production, especially in Scene 2 with the reddish glow through the window. However, I wasn't the biggest fan of the overall show. I found it hard to keep up, and firmly believe the only reason I didn't get completely lost in the fast-paced dialogue is because of how often I watch Aaron Sorkin's work. I do think the actors did a great job given the source material, though.

Looking forward to RLTP's upcoming work!

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(11/15) Spent the last two days working as an electrician for the Netta Yerushalmy dance residency at the CFA. I love working these types of performances, because it's where my personal intersection between lighting and stage management really gets to shine. One moment, I'm prancing around the grid focusing lights; the next, working with the group's tech manager to spike furniture and write preset lists.

As for the above photo: the artist wanted the upstage curtain pulled away at the top of the show, and i just thought the cascade created by pulling the curtain back was awesome.

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(10/15) One of my favorite Pippin production shots, taken by our props designer @madisonmksullivan. I love the way the beams of my floor seal specials frame the marquee sign.

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(9/15) Got a note in the performance report that an element of one of our practicals did not work yesterday. Investigated to find this interesting-looking burnout in the lamp. Easy fix, cool picture.

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(8/15) Last cue is in the board, and we are ready to open! Very proud of what we've created.

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(7/15) Tech is going pretty smoothly, I'd say. We managed to get a whole dress run in the evening of our Sunday tech rehearsal. Although that's what is always scheduled for the evening of Sunday tech for our plays and musicals, this may be the first show I've done here where we actually got to do so instead of teching in costume or cancelling the "dress" part of the rehearsal altogether.

Photo by my wonderful programmer @ldsbstevez who recently got to hand the reins over to the official light board operator for the run of the show.

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(6/15) Marquee is in the air and fully operational! Now to program some chase effects into the scene it's used for...