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tinycartridge · 6 years ago

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Approaching Infinity ⊟

[Guest writer Caroline Delbert brings us a fully unexpected article that manages to be both philosophical exploration and interview-based journalism, at the same time. I couldn’t be happier to share this piece! Find more from Caroline at her Twitter and Medium. -jc]

We live in a golden age of computing power. Our games are filled with giant procgen worlds and RNGs and thousands of ticking background variables. The math is surpassing human ability far faster than we can grasp, and we’ve, I think correctly, put it to work making the grass in Stardew Valley so fun to swoosh through with a sword. But the idea of infinity horrifies people more than almost anything else and remains as confusing and terrifying as ever. As our games get closer to endlessly detailed, I chose four designers who’ve worked on four of my favorite games of the last few years, all with totally different ways of using space, time, and more to give the feeling of an infinite playspace. I’ve also been spelunking the idea of infinity itself and why it makes us feel so uncomfortable and intrigued.

We Contain Multitudes

What is infinity? We aren’t born with an understanding of the idea of something that never ends. Psychology researcher Ruma Falk put together existing studies about infinity. “[C]hildren of ages 8-9 and on seem to understand that numbers do not end, but it takes quite a few more years to fully conceive, not only the infinity of numbers, but also the infinite difference between the set of numbers and any finite set.” You could spend your entire life counting out loud and get to 2 billion. But in calculus, which is all about approaching infinity, a billion is rounded down to zero. An average 2019 computer could count to a billion in about two seconds, depending on the code you wrote. That’s how tiny a billion still is. Falk calls the distance between our human billions and the idea of infinity an “abyssal gap.”

When I talked with Immortal Rogue developer Kyle Barrett about this project, he mentioned Jorge Luis Borges’s famous short story “The Library of Babel.” Borges imagined an infinite-seeming library of books filled with random combinations of letters and punctuation. He sets out 25 total characters and 410 pages. I averaged a few lines from David Foster Wallace’s primer on infinity, Everything and More, which had 57.5 characters per line. For just two lines of, say, 50 characters each, there are over six googol possible versions: that’s a 6 with 100 zeroes after it, for just two lines of a book of 410 pages. The largest math Excel let me do was for about four lines total, which became 3 with 300 zeroes after it.

Philosopher Daniel Dennett has spent decades writing about how humans think about problems and ideas. His 2013 book Intuition Pumps is filled with helpful analogies, including a spin on the Library of Babel. “Since it is estimated that there are only 10040 particles in the region of the universe we can observe, the Library of Babel is not remotely a physically possible object,” Dennett explained. But despite containing far more books than the possible volume of our entire region of space, that number of books is still a real number, not infinite! The takeaway from all this, and then I swear I’ll stop talking about math, is that nothing we can measure in real life is truly infinite. Infinity is a pure concept reserved for mathematicians and philosophers.

Playing with Time: Immortal Rogue

In Kyle Barrett’s 2019 mobile game Immortal Rogue, you begin in prehistory and fight your way through progressive eras in chunks of 100 years. But time is a flat circle, and eventually your progress is bombed back into preagricultural oblivion. The mechanics of Barrett’s game are fun and satisfying and I can’t recommend Immortal Rogue strongly enough, but the framework of endless time is what got my attention.

“It’s not really infinite,” Barrett explained. “It’s a matrix that loops every time you reach the end of it. There’s an x-axis that’s based on time, basically—it goes from agricultural to pre-industrial to the industrial era to the computational era and space age, so time based on human technological development, and if you get too far into the space era you’re gonna destroy the world and go back to the preagricultural era. Then there’s a y-axis that is based on authoritarian control in the world, so at the bottom you have anarchy, at the top you have fascism, and if you go too far into fascism you’ll get anarchy because people will rebel.”

I said I wouldn’t talk about math again, but Barrett brought it up this time. A matrix is just a grid. The Matrix is something else, but if you’ve ever done a “Sally has a blue hat and wasn’t born in March”-style logic puzzle, you’ve used a matrix. There’s also a proper math definition of a matrix and a whole field of operations we do to those matrices, collectively called abstract algebra.

Barrett’s matrix of time and authority determines the overall feel of the levels, but each one is procedurally generated after that. His day job is in mainstream game development, and he originally shopped the idea for Immortal Rogue as the system to power an AAA game. “You can imagine any AAA game with that kind of variety in environment would cost just too much money to make,” Barrett says. “It was a game concept that I had pitched to studios earlier as a sort of introduction piece—not necessarily to make the game, because I know that doesn’t happen, but as far as getting into the industry.”

The way Barrett combined his basic variables means Immortal Rogue does feel endless. My longest life so far is 800 years, and Barrett says a complete cycle in which you beat the game can take anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 years. I’d love to tell you I believe I’ll beat the game at some point and see that full cycle. I’ll keep trying, at least.

Immortality and Endless Time

Would you want to live forever? This is one of the major philosophical questions that underpins western thought and especially the Christian form of the afterlife. Heaven and hell are each presented as an eternity, but again we run into Dr. Ruma Falk’s findings about how humans conceive of an infinite period of time. “One does not get closer to infinity by advancing the counting sequence because there is no way to approach infinity. Nowhere does the very big merge into the infinite.” If the lifetime of the planet Earth were condensed to one year, humans have lived for less than 30 minutes. We balk at the length of lives of record-setting elders who were born just a few years after the 19th century: imagine living that entire time and then living it again and again for literally forever. Our earthly understanding of time, and how our earthly brains process information, just isn’t compatible with thinking about living forever.

For many people, God or another higher power is the only way that infinity can make sense. In turn, a much longer afterlife helps to also make sense of how tiny and fleeting our earthly lives can feel. In the potentially infinite scale of time, our lives are the meager billions. They round down to zero, and it definitely feels that way sometimes. Falk cites 17th century mathematician Blaise Pascal, himself a late-in-life convert to Christianity and the trope namer of Pascal’s Wager. During Pascal’s lifetime, infinity was still a scandalous idea and a wedge issue for mathematicians and theologians. “When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in an eternity before and after, the little space I fill engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces whereof I know nothing, and which know nothing of me, I am terrified,” Pascal wrote. “The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.”

In her memoir Living with a Wild God, journalist Barbara Ehrenreich describes grappling with the same problems as an isolated teenager in the 1950s. “I didn’t think much about the future when I was a child—who does?” she writes. “But to the extent that I did imagine a future, it held an ever-widening range for my explorations—more hills and valleys, shorelines and dunes. […] The idea that there might be a limit to my explorations, a natural cutoff in the form of death, was slow to dawn on me.”

Randomizing Infinity: Alphabear & Alphabear 2

Game designer Pat Kemp worked on both 2015’s Alphabear and 2018’s Alphabear 2 at Spry Fox. Both have the same core word game, a fresh take on the classic Bookworm where you have to spell words from rapidly deteriorating letter tiles. Unlike in Scrabble and its knockoffs, rare letters don’t have higher point values. And into the mix you throw dozens of different collectible bears, each with a total score multiplier and a specific boost like a bonus for 5-letter words or preventing all Xs and Zs. Both games are free to play with in-app purchases. In Alphabear 2, Spry Fox took the mechanic of the first game and added a linear story, multiple difficulty levels, and a host of other features. Playing the game feels like getting an upgrade at the rental-car place and realizing you have heated side mirrors. I didn’t ask for them, but I love them and now I need them. But why did the second Alphabear get so much bigger?

“I hope this answer isn’t disappointing to you, but the first Alphabear, although it’s a lovely game we’re very proud of and was critically well received and we got lots of features and good reviews, wasn’t much of a financial success for us,” Kemp told me. So Spry Fox went into development of Alphabear 2 with goals to convert more users into purchasers and more purchasers into multiple-purchasers. “The decision-making around making it into a world, and a linear campaign, and building out all the different features […] was creating this rich, interwoven progression system that players can feel invested in and value. Basically how you monetize a free-to-play game is, people play your game for weeks and months and come to really value things in the game.”

In the first Alphabear, each chapter had a set of collectible bears that quickly eclipsed the power of the previous chapter’s bears. “And you would almost never go back and use bears from earlier chapters, just because of the way it was set up,” Kemp says. “So you had this weird ‘disposable’ feel to bears. It was cool when you unlocked them, but the game was telling you, ‘You’re done with that bear, here’s some new bears.’” Now, the bears accumulate over time as one big group, and you can continue to level them up as high as you want, but your progress is paced by how quickly you regenerate in-game energy in the form of honey.

After a certain chapter in the Normal campaign, players can begin again on Hard mode, and then after a later chapter, they can begin Master mode. I don’t know the full length of the basic campaign, but I’m probably 100 levels in and somewhere in chapter 9 on Normal mode. The scope of the whole thing including all three difficulties is staggering, and the game had been out for just seven months when I talked with Kemp. “Have people finished the amount of content you’ve made so far?” I asked. “We know of at least one person who’s completed the master-level campaign,” he said. When I said I was surprised, Kemp said, “Every game developer I know has this experience where they’re surprised by some small portion of their fanbase that is just so into it that it defies all expectations.”

In this case, the fastest player ended up lapping the development team. “It was so far off that we had planned to build whatever happened when you did that later on,” Kemp said. “They sent us a picture of their screen of the campaign board, and all it was was just a black screen, because it was trying to load the next campaign board, which doesn’t exist. We were like, ‘Oh my god, we didn’t even put anything in there, and it looks kinda like you’re in purgatory or something.’” Spry Fox plans to replace the Sopranos non-ending.

Purgatory or Something

Earlier this year, I talked with my friend Tristan about his existential dread. He’s pretty fresh out of college and still figuring it all out. “I was going to write about games,” he said, “and as I entered my last year or so, I was going to write about movies. I don’t know if I’m still going to do that, so that’s a large part of the dread. Not knowing what I was actually doing.” Humans can’t conceive of infinity using numbers, but we can use our pessimistic imaginations. Our set of plausible options is no match for what we dream or panic about.

Christian existentialist Søren Kierkegaard wrote about dread and fear of the unknown in his 1844 book The Concept of Anxiety, where the Danish word angest could be translated as “anxiety” or “dread”. Using the story of Adam and Eve, Kierkegaard posits that anxiety dates back to a fraction of a second after original sin. “The terror here is simply anxiety,” Kierkegaard writes, “since Adam has not understood what was said.” In other words, like a pet in trouble, Adam didn’t know what was being told to him, but he understood it was bad from the tone of voice.

“Anxiety can be compared with dizziness,” Kierkegaard goes on. “He whose eye happens to look into the yawning abyss becomes dizzy. But what is the reason? It is just as much his own eye as the abyss, for suppose he had not looked down.” Those who think about Dr. Ruma Falk’s “abyssal gap” between the finite and infinity may be dizzy forever with the uncertainty of what they’re pondering. “A persistent pursuit of the infinite may bring the individual to a blind alley, both emotionally and intellectually,” Falk writes. His analogy isn’t an accident. A blind alley is like another famous philosophical idea, Schrodinger’s cat: without shining a light, we can never know if the alley is empty or full, terrible or fine. And we can never shine that light.

Infinite Reality: Telling Lies & Her Story

At 2018’s E3 conference, Sam Barlow appeared on a panel about the future of narrative. “People will write to me and say, ‘I haven’t played a game in twenty years, and I played Her Story,’” Barlow said. “Or ‘My daughter installed it on my iPhone for me.’” It makes sense: Her Story’s core mechanic is as simple as a YouTube search, and the game is set in 1994, with a Windows 3.1 aesthetic to match. The game also fits with Barlow’s career arc. His 1999 XYZZY-winning interactive fiction Aisle gives players just one chance to type any command before reaching one of the game’s dozens of endings, placing players in a finite setting that even feels claustrophobic, but setting before them seemingly limitless possibilities. He was a natural fit to lead two Silent Hill games after that, and he views Her Story as the surprisingly successful “one chance” he had to make a successful indie game.

“This is something I’ve pitched so many times to publishers, with the rationale that in every other medium, crime fiction, police procedurals, murder mysteries, detective stories—if you have a TV channel and a film company, you’re gonna have a few stories in that world because it consistently works,” Barlow told me. “Games publishers were never into the idea. They felt like the things that sold in video games were power fantasies and superhero stories.” Barlow chose to home in on the interrogation room both as a convenient single setting and the place where his interest in crime stories was naturally drawn. “I wasn’t trying to do the police chases and locations and all those elements which would be expensive, but also, I was zooming in on the dialogue and the interactions and the human side of it,” he said, citing the groundbreaking ‘90s show Homicide: Life on the Street and its Emmy-winning bottle episode “Three Men and Adena.”

“I did a ton of research, reading the interrogation manuals for detectives, academic studies and pieces about the psychology of the interview room, a ton of crime books, movies with notable interrogation scenes and police interviews. This was slightly ahead of the true crime wave that we’ve had since, so I was discovering there’s so much footage online of real-life interviews and interrogations that has been released or leaked,” Barlow told me. “One day, as these things do, I woke up and went for a walk, and my subconscious—which is far cleverer than I am—put all the pieces and all the research I’d been doing together. [T]he detective’s sat at a computer, and there’s always the twist where they stay up all night sat at the computer and then they find that one little bit of information or the one piece of evidence that will break the case.”

Her Story is made of hundreds of discrete video clips, divided into main character Hannah Smith’s answers to an unseen detective’s questions. For his upcoming game Telling Lies, Barlow brought the setting forward into the Skype era and is introducing new mechanical twists to match. “To some extent Her Story was about giving you the writer’s perspective into a story, and here it’s giving you some of that editing room insight, where you spend so much time with the footage, choosing whether to cut out on this frame or that frame,” Barlow said. Instead of separate clips, Telling Lies gives you long, uncut videos that show both sides of a Skype call that you can scrub through—meaning drag the progress bar searching for highlights. “Not only are you coming at these stories in a nonlinear way, but also within a given scene you might end up watching it backwards.”

The text side of searching has also evolved. Because the videos aren’t separated into clips, searching for a specific word drops you into a video at that exact place. “Those conversations are split into two parts, so you can only see one side of a conversation at a time. You have the full seven minutes in front of you and you get dropped in to the point where someone says the word [or] phrase you've searched for,” Barlow said. “So early on, if you search for the word ‘love,’ you get dropped into a moment when Kerry [Bishé’s] character says, ‘Love you!’ and hangs up.”

Including Her Story and now Telling Lies in a group of very big-feeling games runs into a funny obstacle, because they’re both made of a very finite number of minutes of video. Her Story even has Steam achievements linked with what percentage of the total clips you’ve discovered and watched. “Something like 20% of people 100%-ed it. For most games you’re lucky if 20% of people finish the game. It had a display that showed you all the clips you hadn’t seen—that was an incentive and somewhat maddening if you could see there were clips you hadn’t seen. My approach with Telling Lies was to make it so big and huge and messy and colorful that it would feel less like something you could 100%, because I really wanted people to lose themselves in just the joy of exploring these characters’ lives.”

Just Out of Reach

Even with the incentive to find all the clips, in Her Story I found myself revisiting clips I’d already seen as I tried to find new keywords or listen for clues, and I maxed out just past the 75% achievement. The rest eluded me. With Telling Lies, this one kind of mystery will be removed, and that’s a blow against infinitude. In the perfect world of pure mathematics, having one more item just out of reach is one of the fundamental ways we can make proofs of infinite ideas. This structured approach also helps us turn the overwhelming idea of infinity into, at least right now, the one step in front of us. It’s infinity in the form of a child asking a parent for just five more minutes of sleep, then asking for five more, for eternity.

In Daniel Dennett’s book Intuition Pumps he uses this idea as an illustration for why infinity just can’t exist in real life. If every animal evolved from another animal, then there are infinity animals stretching back into infinity long ago, always with one preceding. We know that’s just not true. On the other hand, a study of how children process infinity showed that knowing the names of some large numbers made children think those were the largest numbers. Learning named ideas pushed out the very idea of having unnamed ideas, which makes sense given how large and robust our language brains are. Being strong, clear communicators has shaped our brains and the societies we form as humans. If we all became existentially troubled abstraction peddlers, I don’t think that would necessarily be a step forward.

To consider infinity with a finite mind is a paradox, and as Dr. Ruma Falk explains, “Mathematicians and philosophers are often no less addicted to resolving these paradoxes than some adolescents are to experiencing the limits of existence.” Like the Library of Babel, an infinite world is made mostly of incoherent and random nonsense, compared with a human mind that can only remember its own history in cohesive story form. My friend Martin has a rich life and a beautiful family, and he told me, “My personal greatest fear is probably losing my mind. The idea of being unable to make sense of the world is horrifying.” In fact, studies show that we’re more able to tune out conversations we can overhear both sides of than those where we can hear just one side—this is how deep our need for clear narratives runs, and it’s why we’re not made for an infinite world.

Infinite Liminal: Sunless Sea & Cultist Simulator

In February of 2019, Alexis Kennedy addressed something that had grown beyond his reach, and his post was the catalyst for what eventually became this essay. On the Weather Factory blog, where the developer typically shares updates to 2018’s Cultist Simulator, Kennedy described an alternate reality game (ARG) called Enigma that he’s built into his work—not just Cultist Simulator but 2015’s Sunless Sea and even 2009’s Fallen London. In the Enigma post, he sums up the appeal this mystery seems to have to fans: “If you’re working through things and looking for meaning in your life, then all the hidden meanings in this project may look like they add up to something more important than they actually do.”

I love Kennedy’s work—if we’re friends, you’ve probably heard me talk about it—and while I’ve never mistaken him for a guru, his games have affected and stayed with me more than anything else I’ve ever played. He’s gifted with language, stuffing his work with plausible and evocative neologisms or uncommon historical terms. But his more powerful gift lies in what he chooses to reveal and how long you must wait for it. I’ve thought often of something my friend Diana said nearly twenty years ago, about traveling with other people and seeing their luggage: “They wonder what I’m taking, but I wonder what they’re leaving behind.” I constantly wonder what Alexis Kennedy is leaving behind.

“Gamers tend to be—to borrow a phrase of Mike Laidlaw's—more like dogs than cats in the way they consume content. If the core loop is even moderately compelling, they'll gorge on content and rush through it,” Kennedy told me via email. “As soon as players are doing that, they'll skim text, and if they're going to skim text, text had better not be your A feature. I constantly skim quest text in games, and I'm a narrative junkie. So pacing is a way of saying: hold on, appreciate this, take your time with it.” In both Fallen London and Sunless Sea, one variable shuffles what day it is, so you receive different flavor text or events even when you’re repeating actions or storylines. “I don't think I ever quite recovered from the initial terror, back in 2009, of seeing players consume Fallen London content literally ten times as fast as I expected,” Kennedy says.

Like Sam Barlow, Kennedy reached for inspiration outside of what’s traditionally in the purview of a video game. I asked how he chooses end goals in games with such wide-open mechanics—Cultist Simulator is even more open than Sunless Sea in some ways. “I come at those stopping points from two directions. One is 'what sort of emotions and experiences are we aiming for?' The other is 'what sort of activities would a character in a novel, not just in a game, do in this setting?' So in Sunless Sea, we want people to be thinking about loneliness and survival and discovery, and we also want people to be aiming for the kind of things they'd aim for in Moby-Dick or Voyage of the Dawn Treader or HMS Surprise.” The only ending I’ve reached in Sunless Sea is the most basic one, where you amass some money and retire. In Cultist Simulator, I’ve managed to live a normal working life and then retire, which is considered a minor victory. And still, the game wonders what I’m taking, while I wonder what it’s leaving behind.

Pure Abstraction

“The study of infinity stretches human abstract thinking to some of its loftiest possibilities,” Dr. Ruma Falk writes. “By definition, it calls for modes of reasoning that transcend concrete representation.” What I’ve found most interesting as I researched this piece and talked with these gifted game designers is how thoughtfully they’d constructed gameplay loops that continue to feel fresh and challenging. The games themselves couldn’t be more different in terms of genre or lack thereof, revenue models, or mechanics, but all feel large and immersive inside to an extent that I instinctively ignored whatever seams I might end up seeing.

I asked each designer to share a game that felt infinite to them as players. Sam Barlow answered the question before I even asked it, though. He described wanting Telling Lies to feel like a huge place to explore. “My only go-to reference, which is somewhat ambitious, is the way I felt when I was playing Zelda: Breath of the Wild and the way that Nintendo made me feel, where I could just go off and explore in any direction and I could let my curiosity guide me and I would always enjoy myself. I would always find something interesting.” He called this kind of freedom a form of magic. “To some extent, Her Story was me trying to get some of the magic and—again, this wasn’t a conscious thing—some of the magic of the old text parser games.”

Pat Kemp also chose Breath of the Wild. “The world feels huge and dense in a kind of unusual way even amongst all the other open-world AAA experiences that are out there. There’s this big mountain and you climb up it, and on the way up you encounter two or three little unique-feeling things, and you make your way down and encounter a bunch of other little things, and they’re all handmade little surprises. It feels like the world is just brimming with delightful little nuggets of story or interesting challenges or encounters. It’s really a remarkable achievement and it’s also one of those things where, as a game developer, I can recognize what a monumental task it must have been to create that world,” Kemp said. “Every inch of it feels handcrafted by someone who cares about that itch, which is just incredibly daunting. It must have been so expensive to do.”

Alexis Kennedy chose Elite: Dangerous, and I enjoyed how his answer mirrored how I feel about his games, where some amount of suggestion makes it easy and fun to project the rest with your imagination. “I put a hundred-plus hours into Elite: Dangerous because I so enjoyed the sense of jumping through galactic-size simulated space. I knew perfectly well that the procgen systems were largely identical in all meaningful ways, I knew the space between star systems isn't simulated and you're just jumping between skyboxed instances, but I've spent 47 years learning how space works IRL and I still carry over those assumptions if the sense of resource cost lets me. I need to feel like I'm working to cross the space and have something that will run out or need balancing.”

Kyle Barrett pointed out that, infamously now, No Man’s Sky sold itself as an infinite game. “The game definitely feels infinite. It also has the effect of what infinity would feel like, which is empty after a while. It teaches people that lesson,” Barrett says. It brought back to mind something he told me before about deciding how much to procedurally generate within Immortal Rogue: “If it’s pure random, I think it normally fails. That’s something designers find pretty quick. So it’s like, what’s the right amount of random and what’s the skeleton that can make the random meaningful?” He mentioned Dwarf Fortress as a game with infinite-feeling possibilities, and Minecraft as something that marries the two. “It feels infinite in scope and the amount of possibility feels infinite, which is why it’s probably one of the best games ever,” he said.

“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom,” Kierkegaard wrote. “Freedom now looks down into its own possibility and then grabs hold of finiteness to support itself.” The games we love might feel infinite, but we only hang around in them long enough to realize this because of the hard work of building structures and feedback loops that make games fun to play. We study infinite math from the security of offices with comfortable temperatures and lighting. As Alexis Kennedy put it, “So it is a design choice, but there's a reason I made that one design choice rather than a million others.”

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#caroline delbert #original #infinity #sunless sea #her story #telling lies #cultist simulator #sam barlow #alexis kennedy #immortal rogue

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fuckyeahrogerandbrianna · 8 years ago

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Check out our interview to learn more about how she wrote about Jamie and Willie’s relationship in “Of Lost Things,” and Claire and Brianna’s relationship in “Freedom & Whiskey.”

SONY: The disconnect between Brianna and Claire progressively resolves itself over the first half of the season, especially in episode 5. As a writer, how did you decide which moments were key in bridging the gap between them? Were there any other ways to bring them together that you explored but didn’t pursue?

TONI GRAPHIA: Essentially all of the Claire and Brianna relationship moments we wanted to explore ultimately ended up on screen. But earlier in the process, the story wasn’t so mother-daughter centric, and at one point there was a Jamie and Brianna storyline we considered but did not pursue … [because] I realized the story was really more between mother and daughter. We had two episodes—4 and 5—to portray the evolution of that relationship, and the moments we emphasized were focused on increasing the transparency between Claire and Brianna.

In order to bridge the gap between them, I thought it was important for Claire to involve Brianna in the search for Jamie so that she wouldn’t feel shut out. It gives them a project to work on together and allows them to bond. We wanted that transparency so Brianna wouldn’t feel like her mother was on a secret mission to find Jamie and keeping her apart from it—instead, the research was used as something to bring them together. And it was likewise important to show that Brianna was excited to be a part of this search and grateful that her mother had finally shared the secret with her. In one earlier version, Roger was the one who gave the article to Brianna and told her that he had found Jamie. But I changed it to have Claire be the one who admits to Brianna that Jamie has been found—not so she could seek her daughter’s blessing, but just in the interest of honesty because she’d kept so many things from her before.

But with that transparency about Claire’s future comes a need for transparency about the past. Taking a look back in their history is shining a light on things that used to be secret. We wanted to craft a moment where Claire and Brianna could have a truthful conversation about how Brianna had always sensed that something was off in her parents’ marriage. So that conversation beneath the arches about Frank and his relationship with another woman was another important part of breaking down the wall between mother and daughter. We had a lot of discussion in the writers’ room about many moments that could have existed between Claire and Brianna, but we kept distilling them down to the moments that we believed would heal the wound between them—and those had to do with Claire being honest regarding both Jamie and Frank.

Another important element we felt we needed to play was Claire struggling with her decision to leave Brianna behind. Even when Brianna gives Claire her blessing and tells her she has to go back to Jamie, I thought it was important that Claire didn’t just take the yes and run with it. It was important to have a second conversation—the one they have later on the sofa—where Claire says she really wants Brianna to think about what this decision would mean and make sure she’s OK with it. She wants to be sure that Brianna understands the magnitude of what Claire is considering and what it would mean for both of them. To that end, I thought it was important to include the line where Claire says to Brianna that, even with Brianna’s blessing, she doesn’t know if she can bring herself to leave and never see her again. It’s a difficult, heartbreaking choice for both of them, which is part of the reason I decided to set the episode at Christmas—so they could have one last family Christmas together before Claire goes to the stones. In the book, Brianna accompanies her there, but I chose to have them say goodbye at home so Claire could say, “If I have to say goodbye to you there, I might never go.”

SONY: Brianna finally finds resolution in her relationship with her mother, and even helps her find Jamie. But she knows that when they succeed, she will lose Claire again. How do you write the payoffs for this relationship, knowing that it is bound to be bittersweet for the characters as well as the audience?

TONI GRAPHIA: Yes, it is indeed bittersweet. She's helping her mother and I don't think that at the beginning she's really thinking about the endgame. She's caught up in the excitement and hasn't really thought through the fact that if this succeeds, she will lose her mother. But it's like that old saying that when one door closes, another opens. Roger has appeared in her life at this moment, and just when she's lost her father who died, and now her mother is leaving—she's got Roger. And there's more than just a romantic spark, but a deep soul bond—after all, their families both date back to the 1700s … he's a MacKenzie! There’s the promise of love to come between them and I think that gives Claire some peace and helps her be able to leave her daughter, knowing she won’t be alone. But the biggest resolution Brianna finds in this heartbreaking situation is realizing Jamie saved her—he made her mother go back so that Brianna and Claire could have a chance. And the worst part of it all, is that Jamie’s had to live out his days not knowing if they even made it. Brianna finally comes to terms with accepting she has to let her mom go. Jamie gave her mom to her, and she has to give her back so she can tell him everything.

SONY: How did you develop Roger as both a fully-fledged character on his own, as well as someone who has huge influence in supporting the relationship between Claire and Brianna?

TONI GRAPHIA: Well, Roger has an interesting background in that both his parents were killed during the war. He was raised by a man who wasn't his birth father, just as Brianna was. He loves history, but knows very little of his own. He knew the Reverend was his adopted father and he knew some of his backstory. He never had the rug pulled out from under him like Brianna did. So he's a little more balanced and grounded. He's had a pretty safe life until now. And it’s fate that on the day he buries his father, he meets the love of his life. In the coming season, Roger's life will be upended because of his love of this girl and that's been interesting for us to explore. He's going to go through some huge, unbelievable challenges which will test everything about him as a person. His physical, mental, and emotional limits—and even his moral code. Without Brianna sparking this life change, he may have had a quiet, comfortable life as a professor. So, she's like a bomb that goes off for him. His relationship with Claire has been interesting too, and I wrote it a bit differently than the book. We really wanted him to come visit them and bring news of finding Jamie. Claire isn't ready to open that door again and initially she's not happy about him having done this research which she never asked for. But he cares about this mother and daughter. He was in the midst of what happened to them in the season finale last year and they are a bit of a trio. I wrote them as sort of three points of a triangle because he's become so enmeshed in their life. They're bound together forever by the bonds they forged through this experience at the end of Season 2. Plus, he sings a good rat satire! Ha ha. How could any girl resist him? Richard Rankin does an amazing job and I can't picture anyone else as Roger. He's perfect and we're all a little in love with him.

SONY: Most unusual for “Outlander,” you wrote two episodes back to back. Can you please talk about this process? Why you chose to write both episodes, what the experience was like, and any stand out scenes that you really loved writing?

TONI GRAPHIA: When reading Voyager, I thought the ship stuff was really cool, but what I connected with most was Jamie's relationship with his son, and Claire's struggle with how to leave her daughter. It started initially as one big episode, but there was just too much to cover. We'd always talked about maybe doing an "all Jamie" episode and an "all Claire" episode, so when this one started getting too big, we decided to split them and try to do just that. But how do you choose between Claire and Jamie?! So I said I wanted to do both. Everyone thought I was crazy to write back-to-back episodes, it's a heck of a lot of work. But I loved doing it and I'm proud of both. They're so different. There's still a little bit of each in the other's story, but it's the closest we came to doing all-Jamie, all-Claire. In episode 4, “Of Lost Things.” I'd say my favorite scenes were where Jamie sees his son in the baby carriage and tells him, "Dinna fash, I'm here." Then Lady Dunsany gives him his freedom and he decides to stay with his son. I also love the "stinking papist" scene, especially when Willie says he doesn't want a wife but Jamie says he'll find one someday, "...or she'll find you." And we know Jamie's thinking of Claire. The song at the end kills me every time; Bob Dylan's "Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" came to me way back when I was reading that chapter and I knew I wanted to use it in the episode. We found the cover version by the band Walk Off the Earth—perfect because it's a male-female duet and represents the Jamie and Claire parallel lives.

In episode 5, “Freedom & Whisky,” I love the scene where Sandy confronts Claire with her love for Frank, and Claire has to own the cost to this husband who stepped up to raise her daughter by another man. I love the scene where Claire asks Brianna if she's sure she can live without her and says, "Because I don't know if I can." And I loved writing Claire's transition back to the past—using the monologue about puddles. This was an episode that created a great deal of discussion in our writers’ room about how to portray a parent's decision to part with their child, even for the man she loves—and a daughter's decision to let her mother go. I couldn't have done either of these episodes without the creativity and enthusiasm of our very talented writing staff, and especially the wonderful Maril Davis who championed this episode and helped make it what I hope is a testament to the complex bond between mothers and daughters.

#outlander #richard rankin #brianna randall #claire fraser #toni graphia #freedom and whisky #3x05 #jamie fraser #tv news

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nonbinary-knight-evolving · 5 years ago

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Update

One of my goals for this year was to keep a sort of journal online. I’ve been postponing uploading it because I want to make sure that I can keep it on somewhat of a normal schedule. This post, under the read more, will have my entries from January 1st to January 19th, minus a couple days that I forgot to write about.

January 1st- Not much happened today. I woke up at 9 in the morning after only a couple hours of sleep to apply for a microgrant that will cover my legal name change. Not 100% sure how it works yet, need to remember to email them about the process. Went back to sleep and, after waking up at a more reasonable time, spent most of the day on Youtube.

January 2nd- Had to go to the dentist today. Managed to get it done with minimal complaining. Only had to get 2 fillings instead of 3. Check up in six months, not excited.

January 3rd- Watched some Scooby Doo today. Had a random craving for Taco Bell and managed to convince my mom that we should have some. Good day but not much going on.

January 4th- Got a tattoo today!! My Expecto Patronum tattoo hurt quite a bit to get and the wait was long but not horrible. Love how the tattoo turned out though, worth every second of the pain.

January 5th and 6th- Not much to say. Didn’t really do anything on either of these days.

January 8th- Forgot to journal on the 7th. Started working on a scarf for my mom using the Loop de Loom that I have. I’m really hoping she likes how it turns out. Had Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated playing in the background while I was working on it.

January 9th- Continued working on my mom’s scarf, continued watching Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated. Great show, not a huge fan of the Velma-Shaggy relationship though. Started a coding program online, really considering going for a Computer Science degree after I graduate. Don’t know if I could get any grants for it though.

January 10th- Spent a bit of time working on my mom’s scarf, making pretty decent progress. Kept Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated on in the background, love my sarcastic Velma. Highly recommend the series. Got Chipotle today, tasted amazing. Spent a bit of time on the coding program as well.

January 11th- Had to go grocery shopping today. Not my favorite thing to do but it’s not the worst thing in the world. Set up a coding terminal to practice on to try and get back into the groove for my Computer Science 2 class this semester- took Computer Science 1 last summer. Need to rework my skills a bit.

January 13th- Forgot to journal for the 12th. Finished the scarf for my mom- want to try something new with it but I don’t know if it’s gonna work. Kept watching Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated. Downloaded Visual Studio and Unreal Engine to mess around with some level designing stuff just to pass the time. Ordered my textbooks for the upcoming semester, can’t wait for school to start again. Was able to change my name for my diploma to my chosen name instead of my deadname. Was also assured that filling out the application meant that I am getting the microgrant to file my legal name change!!! Got two emails today asking for an interview with me. A general interview with a coding school I might want to attend and an interview with a volunteer job I want to do. Need a bit more information before I can schedule the phone calls though.

January 14th- Messed around with Unreal Engine a bit today- don’t fully understand some things yet. Tried to do the new thing with my mom’s scarf and it didn’t work out. Oh well.

January 15th- Gave my mom her scarf today, she loved it. She took it to her job and showed her co-teacher. Finished Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated today. Great show but I have so many feelings about it.

January 16th- Sent my name and pronoun email to most of my professors for this next semester. One professor isn’t listed yet and the other professor I just forgot to email. Two have already responded and neither of them really seem to be an issue. Might look for a tutorial for Unreal Engine to walk me through it so that I can get a better grasp on it. Started feeling bad towards the end of the day. I’m not even sure what triggered it but I just started to feel like I needed to hate myself and I don’t know why. Downloaded Unity to play around with and I found a project guide that I’m hoping to follow.

January 17th- Contacted Canvas support to have my display name changed on my account. Got my hair cut today- really need to find a way to keep my hair shaved I don’t like how it looks when the sides and back start growing out. Spent two hours today transcribing a cassette tape from some murder mystery dinner party game my mom and I found at a thrift store. Two hours and three and a half single-spaced base template typed in paragraphs pages.

January 18th- Went to the Happy Place today with my mom and some other people. It was awesome, going to be posting pictures on my main blog probably some time soon.

January 19th- Today was the first Pokemon GO Community Day of the year and the pokemon was Piplup. Got 12 shinies- including a couple three stars that I evolved. One of my goals for this year is to go to at least six community days. I also spent some time with my mom trying to figure out how to do a special presentation thing for her sub this week. My great grandma called to keep us updated about my great grandpa, not the greatest news but not the worst. My mom mentioned my name to her and apparently she’s going to try and remember it. My mom isn’t using my pronouns and I don’t know if it’s because it’s difficult for her or because we were in public spaces with people who don’t know my pronouns. I sent my name and pronoun email to my Independent Study professor today, she’s the least of my worries on how she’ll react.

#nb-knight-evolves #journal #starting my weeks on monday so i'm hoping to regularly post journal updates on sundays #good start to the year #can't wait for the rest of it #nonbinary-knight-evolving

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13mtm80 · 8 years ago

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For those who requested my transcript of DWSA’s ‘Broadway Backstory’ podcast transcript:

File link is: [X]

Transcript:

[Patrick Hinds (intro)] Hey ‘Broadway Backstory’ listeners, Patrick here, just a quick reminder that if you are loving ‘Broadway Backstory’ there are a couple of easy ways that you can support our show. We would be thrilled if you would take one minute to rate and review us on iTunes. It really, really does help other people find our show.

Also, if you have a favorite episode of the podcast share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr pages and tag us. We’re on Twitter at ‘bwaybackstory’ (@bwaybackstory) and Facebook at ‘BroadwayBackstory’.

And of course, I wanna say a few words about our pals at ‘TodayTix’, the people that make the podcast possible. You guys, you can get last minute theater tickets with ‘TodayTix’. Pay the best prices available whether it’s discount rush tickets, or premium orchestra seats. ‘TodayTix’ is bringing the theater going experience into the 21st century. And we’re now available in more than 10 global cities. Including New York, London, Philadelphia, and Boston. You can discover new musicals, plays, comedies, operas, ballets, and dramas in your city at the best prices.

And of course, this is my favorite part. ‘Broadway Backstory’ listeners can use the code: ‘backstory’, for 15 dollars off your first purchase. So, download ‘TodayTix’ app for free on iOS and Android or visit ‘TodayTix.com’ to see what’s playing this week and treat yourself to a show.

Okay, now to our show.

♫ [Intro music (no lyrics)] ♫

[Patrick] From ‘TodayTix’ and ‘Theater People’ this is ‘Broadway Backstory’. The podcast that finds out how shows develop from an idea to a full Broadway production. I’m your host, Patrick Hinds.

Today we’re getting the backstory of the Deaf West Production of ‘Spring Awakening’. Through conversations with the show's original creators, director, producer, and stars. We’ll find out how this little show that could, developed from a 10-day workshop to a black box production on L.A.’s skid row. To a famed regional theater house in Beverly Hills. And untimely became a critically acclaimed, and Tony-nominated beloved Broadway revival.

[Music: ‘Touch Me’] ♫ Where I go // When I go there // No more memory anymore // Only drifting on some ship ♫

[Patrick] What you’re hearing here is a clip of the Broadway cast of Deaf West’s ‘Spring Awakening’ performing on ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers’. There is no cast album for this production. So, in order to experience the show, you have to search the internet for video clips like this.

But it occurs to me now having just watched the clip that this seems right. That the glory of this production is the way the Deaf and hearing actors communicate with each other and the audience. Through the combination of sign language and song. It’s something you have to see to really get. And I know now after interviewing just about everyone involved with this production, that it’s technical. But it looks magical.

[Music: ‘Touch Me’] ♫ Where I go // When I go there // No more shadows anymore // Only you there in the kiss // Nothing missing as you’re drifting to shore // Where I go // When I go there ♫

[Patrick] Let’s start at the beginning. ‘Spring Awakening’ with music by Duncan Sheik and a book and lyrics by Steven Sater is based on the 1891 play by the same name written by Frank Wedekind.

Plot-wise there’s a lot going on in the show. But in a nutshell, it’s about teenagers grappling with authority and sexuality and trying to understand their place in the world. For the Deaf West production, many of the main roles were played by Deaf actors who communicated with sign language. But also, had a counterpart who would simultaneously speak or sing what the Deaf actor was signing.

We’ll start with the artistic director of Deaf West Theater. A man named David Kurs who goes by DJ. He’ll give us some background on the theater company.

DJ is Deaf so we communicated via email. I emailed a list of questions, he wrote out his responses and emailed them back. With the understanding that we need audio, DJ asked me find somebody that had been involved with the production to voice his responses. So, throughout the episode, DJ’s words will be voiced by actor Alex Wyse, who played Georg in the production.

[DJ Kurs] Deaf West Theater was founded in 1991 by Ed Waterstreet, an actor who had just left the National Theater of the Deaf. He was surprised there wasn’t a local theater for the Deaf community. And along with his N.T.D. counterparts who just moved to L.A., he founded Deaf West Theater.

We’ve been performing in Los Angeles for more than 25 years. Our mission statement is as follows: “Founded in Los Angeles in 1991, Deaf West Theater engages artists and audiences in unparallel theater experiences inspired by Deaf culture and the expressive power of sign language. Committed to innovation, collaboration, and training Deaf West Theater is the artistic bridge between the Deaf and hearing worlds.”

[Patrick] There’s one other piece to the work that Deaf West creates that isn’t spelled out in its mission statement. Actor Andy Mientus, who is intimately involved with this production, articulated that really, well in our interview.

[Andy Mientus] Deaf West’s mission is not to create theater for the Deaf, it’s to create theater for Deaf and hearing audiences together.

[Patrick] Meaning that Deaf West creates shows where Deaf actors are front and center, but the shows are meant to be enjoyed equally by Deaf and hearing audiences.

They have had a lot of success with this model. In addition to producing critically acclaimed productions for the Greater Los Angeles area at their home space in North Hollywood. In 2003 their production of ‘Big River’ transferred to Broadway where it was nominated for two Tony awards. And in 2009 they mounted a critically acclaimed production of ‘Pippin’ at the prestigious ‘Mark Taper Forum’.

One thing that both those productions have in common was the actor Michael Arden in leading roles. Actor Andy Mientus, who I should mention is also Michael Arden’s husband, had toured with ‘Spring Awakening’. And while on tour had seen Deaf West’s production of ‘Pippin’.

And so, a few years later when Deaf West began to think about mounting another big musical and it happened to coincide with Andy and Michael looking for a project to direct. Andy had an idea.

Here’s Andy and then DJ Kurs.

Just to note, I interviewed actors Andy Mientus, Krysta Rodriguez, and Alex Boniello together. So sometimes there’s some overlap.

♫ [Music (no lyrics)] ♫

[Andy] When I was doing ‘Spring Awakening’ I always thought it would be the ideal show for Deaf West. And I feel like the seed of that idea came from when I was doing it at the Ahmanson, they were doing 'Pippin' in the Mark Taper, and our cast went and sat in on rehearsal. And I feel like that's gotta be where it came from. And so, we, you know, just brainstormed on that idea for like a day and a half. And just sort of figured out all the different ways that it could work, and why it would be special, and so we pitched it to DJ Kurs, the Artistic Director of Deaf West at 'Intelligentsia Coffee' on Sunset Boulevard.

[Patrick laughs]

[Krysta Rodriguez] Where all good things happen-

[Andy] Where all good things happen.

♫ [Music (no lyrics)] ♫

[DJ] I had seen the show on Broadway and at the Ahmanson in L.A. When Michael Arden and Andy Mientus brought the idea to me at 'Intelligentsia Coffee' in Silver Lake in 2013, I was skeptical. “Didn’t the tour just close a couple of years ago”. But when they brought up the opening scene where a mother attempts to explain the birds and the bees to her daughter, everything clicked. I thought to myself that’s a classic experience that nearly every Deaf person goes through. I mean, 90 percent of Deaf people are born into hearing families. And there’s a disconnect that begins at birth.

[Andy] DJ committed to a 10-day workshop where we were gonna work on like three different scenes from it, just to see if the idea could stick.

♫ [Music (no lyrics)] ♫

[Patrick] One of the first people to join the creative team for that workshop was Spencer Liff. An actor who’d come from Broadway to Los Angeles and found success as a choreographer on the hit Fox series, ‘So You Think You Can Dance?’.

[Spencer Liff] Michael Arden and I had known each other for years in New York, we had been friends. And I knew how special he was, and how special his mind was. And he moved out to L.A. around the same time that I did. And there’s, you know, not- There’s theater in L.A. but there’s not a ton. You sort of have to make your own theater there. Especially if you want to do something new.

So, he came to me and he had worked with Deaf West, I had not, and he basically said, “Do you want to do something really scary and crazy?” And of course, I was like, “Yes”.

♫ [Music (no lyrics)] ♫

[Patrick] I have asked a lot of what I feel like are silly questions over the course of the interviews that I did for this episode. I wasn’t even sure that that I was supposed to use the word ‘deaf’. Although, I have been assured that is the proper term. So, I was nervous to ask about the process about auditioning Deaf actors for that original workshop, but I was curious and so I figured our listeners would be too. I had to ask.

Here’s Michael Arden, who was very kind. And who was also speaking very softly because we did this interview in a rehearsal studio during his lunch break from a new show he’s directing. Anyway, auditioning Deaf actors.

[Michael Arden] Well, it’s a great question. So, usually, you invite the Deaf actor in. I have an interpreter with me or I sign for myself. But I prefer to have an interpreter just in case I, you know, miss something. And it’s just helpful to have an interpreter on hand.

And then, with the Deaf actors I had another Deaf actor, reader. But I would just watch them act. And you know, acting is acting. It was- It’s a really, exciting process because it’s listening to someone singing or listening to their voice. You’re really seeing how they really connect with another actor. And how they physicalize and how they chose to interpret the dialog. ‘Cause sign language isn’t an exact language. It’s not like there’s an exact translation from English. So, a lot of times you can get insight to an actor from how they chose to try translate the English into the sign language. And so, that often times sort of clues me into how they think.

♫ [Music (no lyrics)] ♫

[Patrick] I was curious to hear about from a Deaf actor’s perspective. So, I reached out to Daniel Durant. Daniel was cast as Moritz, one of the teenagers at the center of ‘Spring Awakening’, for that original workshop. And stayed with the show all the way through the Broadway run.

I interviewed him via Skype and through an interpreter who spoke Daniel’s answers to my questions as signed them. Here’s what the audition process was like from his perspective.

[Daniel Durant] We all kind of sat around with the script. We had lines that we had to memorize, you know, and we would just try to sign those lines in a way that that matched the music. I was a little overwhelmed because it was- It’s a musical and I’m a strongly Deaf person and music has never been a huge part of my life. And so, I didn’t really have any idea how that would work. I was really, nervous, at first.

[Patrick] It sounds incredibly naive to say this now, but it became clear to me just in that moment that, at least at that point, Daniel didn’t really know what music was. And here he was auditioning for a musical. I had to ask him about that.

[Patrick] When people talk about music to you, what is music to you? Or, what was music to you before you started working on this production?

[Daniel] It’s funny you ask that question, because now I can finally answer that. Before I couldn’t even give you an answer as to what music meant. Before ‘Spring Awakening’ I’d really didn’t have a sense of music. Now I enjoy vibrations and feeling bass and music, and I like that. But in terms of what music sounds like and what hearing people get out of music, and all the ways music connects with hearing people. That part I didn’t understand. But going through this experience with ‘Spring Awakening’ I have picked up a more understanding of that.

[Patrick] So then I had to know how do you direct a musical with actors who not only can’t hear the music, but also don’t really know what music is. Here’s Michael Arden, again. And then, choreographer Spencer Liff.

[Michael] You have to think about, “what is music”, and it’s math.

♫ [Music (no lyrics)] ♫

[Michael] You know, “Okay, so you don’t know music is, alright”. “Here’s a piece of music”. So, we look at some, and start explaining theory to them. There’s this many beats, you know, and (tap sound) tap (tap sound) their (tap sound) chest. It stays the same speed, you know, so if you take this many steps you’ll get that far across the stage. And if you take them faster that’s the tempo. And you start to explain music. I mean yeah, it’s- It was slow.

[Michael and Patrick laugh]

[Michael] It was a slow process, but you know, what’s nice is when you have to slow down is that it forces you to re-examine things you don’t- You sort of think you know (laughs). It was a lot of fun.

♫ [Music (no lyrics)] ♫

[Spencer] We thought we were gonna get six songs done, and then all these scenes. And you know, we ended up getting two songs done and barely getting through anything and it was the hardest- It was the hardest experience I’ve ever had in a rehearsal room, and the most I had just no idea how to- How to work in the process of working with the interpreters and it was so new, and- But there was these moments of beauty that were created in those first workshops that made every excited. And made everyone pushing forward.

[Patrick] The next significant step for the production came in the fall of 2014. After the success of the original workshop, Deaf West funded a full production to be mounted in Downtown L.A. in the 99-seat theater at a facility called ‘Inner-City Arts’.

By this point, Andy Mientus, who had co-direct the workshop, had been cast in the Broadway revival of Les Mis (‘Les Misérables’) in the role of Marius. And so, Michael became the sole director. Here’s what Michael said when I asked him about the trajectory of the show at that point.

[Michael] It was just to do a small production, 99-seat production in L.A. And share this story through this lens. And you know, we never had our eyes set on Broadway or anything like that. It was sort of for this thing for our mind. Which is probably why we did such the work we did. That it was really, just about telling this story in the time and place we were in.

[Patrick] As I mentioned, the show centers around a group of adolescent school kids in Germany in the 1890’s. For Michael’s production, many of the school kids would be Deaf and so as rehearsals began Michael began to research what education for Deaf students was like at the time that the show takes place.

What he uncovered was startling. And we’ll get to that in just a second. But to fully understand what Michael learned and how it shaped the show you need to know about something called the Milan Conference that happened in 1880.

So, here’s Deaf West’s artistic director DJ Kurs. And then Michael Arden.

♫ [Music (no lyrics)] ♫

[DJ] I think above all humanity is afraid of the other. Deviations from the norm. And that is why Deaf people suffered during the place and time that ‘Spring Awakening’ takes place in. It takes place during a dark time in Deaf history. That is the aftermath of the Milan Conference from 1880 in which hearing educators of the Deaf got together and decided that Deaf students should be taught orally. And that sign language should be banned. It is the desire to normalize Deaf people that proved destructive to the Deaf individual then and still does today.

♫ [Music (no lyrics)] ♫

[Patrick] And here’s what Michael found.

[Michael] I started to uncover all this information about the Milan Conference and how Deaf students were taught and not taught. And for those who don’t know, oralism was adopted as the only acceptable way of educating Deaf kids at that time. Which meant that no was sign language, so Deaf kids were forced to speak and read lips. And for many Deaf kids, I mean we know this know, in spades that that’s just a completely untangible expectation.

And so, so many kids were deemed “oral failures” and they were sent to asylums. Deaf individuals were sterilized at the time. Mostly women were sterilized. ‘Cause, they want to sort of- It was- Deafness was seen as a sickness that needed to be sort of cured or sort of eradicated. As apposed to, you know, we now know and see it as a culture and a strong beautiful culture. I wanted to somehow tell that story that no one really knows. I mean it’s this incredibly dark chapter in Deaf history and world history and sort of the history of education.

And it’s sort of, I mean, I would like to say it was like from the get go what I had in mind, but it wasn’t really. It sort of came to the process while we were in rehearsals. And made changes based on that. So initially, like in the school room, the teacher, there was a Deaf teacher. And then, I said, “No, this isn’t working. Let’s try this”. And Okay, well what if you aren’t allowed to sign what if this is all about signing in secret. And this other story began to emerge that I think was really, exciting and we haven’t seen before.

[Patrick] I’m sure that Michael is right that most hearing people don’t know the dark history, I certainly didn’t. But I wondered about the Deaf community. Did they know? So, I asked Daniel Durant, the actor you heard from earlier who played Moritz in the show.

[Daniel] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It’s part of our culture. This history is part of who we are. As every Deaf individual knows this of our struggle to be recognized and to have our language recognized. This is something we still struggle for today.

[Patrick] Another thing to emerge in that production in that tiny theater in downtown L.A. was the significance and importance of the choreography, because of the fact that, it needed to incorporate sign language.

Duncan Sheik, who wrote the music for the show, pointed this out to me when I asked him about seeing that first incarnation of the Deaf West production.

[Duncan Sheik] Just from the movement standpoint you had the sign language itself became another kind of layer of choreography. And that just added so much too, because of Bill T. Jones the original choreography was amazing. But, you know what Spencer did plus the signing, it kind of made the show much more about movement than it ever had been before. And that was kind of a revelation. And really a lovely one, in fact.

♫ [Music (no lyrics)] ♫

[Spencer] Sign language was my goal and concern and everything stemmed from that.

[Patrick] This, again, is Spencer Liff, the choreographer. I asked him about the challenges of choreographing for a largely deaf company and if he was intimidated by the mantle of Bill T. Jones’ iconic and Tony-winning choreography for the original production.

[Spencer] So I can honestly say that I never once really thought about what was done originally because it just wasn’t in the realm of where my head needed to be. So, I just sort of did what I wanted to do, what needed to be done for the show. I guess I had in the back of my head that, if anything aligned with what was originally done, and I came to that on my own terms, then that’s what was meant to be, but I don’t know. I just wasn’t scared of it. I had way too much other stuff to think about to worry about what he did and what I did. But everything he did was very gesture based. Obviously, that’s what we had to work with, as well, so, I think that’s where the similarities came from.

[Patrick] Daniel Durant spoke very passionately to me about the power of incorporating sign language into the choreography at that very early stage and the response it seemed to elicit from people.

[Daniel] Though we can’t necessarily hear the music, we can tell a story through music. People were in awe of it. People would say they would want to see more ASL integrated into theater, because it’s a more three-dimensional language. It has emotional impact on people. The emotions stick with people for longer periods of time once they see the emotions in three dimensions. You get emotions from hearing songs, too. But it is only in that one dimension. So, it’s a little bit reduced, I think, the story you can tell. I really like that we’re using this three-dimensional language to express things in a different way.

[Music: ‘The Bitch of Living’] ♫ God, I dreamed there was an Angel // Who could hear me through the wall // As I cried out like in Latin // This is so not life at all ♫

[Patrick] The downtown LA production officially opened in early September, 2014, to rave reviews. The LA Times said, if rippling goosebumps are any indication of emotional involvement, this show delivers. It’s hard to enumerate all the ways in which Deaf West’s ‘Spring Awakening’ is so very, very good. With the reviews came the news that, within months, the show would be transferring to a much larger theater at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. Because that production would be a remount, they were allotted only a two-week rehearsal period. And, as commonly happens, not all of the actors from the downtown production were available for it. Enter Alex Wyse, Andy Mientus, Krysta Rodriguez, and Alex Boniello. Here’s Andy Mientus, who would be taking over the role of Hanschen.

[Andy] So Michael called me in this deep panic, saying, oh my god, who are we going to find somebody that can learn the part, let alone the part and the ASL. I was like, well, if you can’t find anybody else, and if it doesn’t look absolutely, ridiculous that I’m still playing a teenager, then I’ll do it. Because it was only going to be a three-week run, just really, as a victory lap for that production from the 99-seat theater. So, it was very low stakes.

[Patrick] Krysta Rodriguez, who had been an understudy in the original Broadway production of ‘Spring Awakening’, was at that time battling breast cancer when she received a similar call.

[Krysta] In that weird, nebulous time, it was like, if you can’t find anybody else we need whoever we can find. That’s where Alex and I joined on as well, because it was the same. The people that were playing our parts had gotten other jobs, and everybody was obviously going to take an opportunity that was the next step, instead of a lateral move with this show.

[Andy] There was absolutely-

[Krysta] No indication-

[Andy] -No plan for this to come to Broadway at all.

[Krysta] Yes. The Beverly Hills run was literally the six weeks in between my last chemo treatment and my surgery. He was like, “what’s your treatment schedule like”. And I was like “I don’t know, what are the dates”. And he gave them to me. He was like, “do you want to play Ilse”. And I was like, “uh, yeah”.

[Patrick] Alex Boniello’s story of being cast as the Voice of Moritz, the counterpart to the role that Daniel Durant had been playing since the workshop, is especially amazing.

[Alex Boniello] I’ve told it a whole bunch of times in various interviews during the run of the show, but I’ve never done it with Andy here. So, I kind of want-

[Andy] Do you want me to hold your hand?

[Alex] Don’t- Please don’t touch me. I want to hear his perspective. I was sitting in my apartment. I had just finished doing ‘Brooklynite’, which was an Off-Broadway show. I was literally getting dressed to go cater ‘The King and I’ reception for their opening night at Lincoln Center. I was just sitting there getting into my little vest that I had to wear. He followed me on Twitter. When someone who has many followers follows you, you get notified. I was like, “Oh, I guess it’s not that weird. We know a lot of the same people, whatever”. Then five seconds later he sent me a direct message. And he just said, “Hey, number one, Matt Doyle says we should be friends; number two, what are you doing in the next couple weeks”. I was like, “Nothing, what’s up?”

He was sending these quick and- “Deaf West is doing ‘Spring Awakening’, need Voice of Moritz. Also, plays guitar. Are you available? It’s going to be in LA. Could you get to L.A. in-” I was like, “Yes, I would love to do that”. I Skyped with Michael, I think the next day, and just played guitar for him and sang for him. He was like, “Great, thank you so much. Okay, we’ll be in touch soon”. Then the Skype call ends. Fourteen seconds later he texts me. He’s like, “Hey, so, we want you to do it. What’s going on?” I’m like, “You tell me what’s going on”. So, it was like three days later, I was on a plane.

♫ [Music (no lyrics)] ♫

[Patrick] The new actors had a lot of catching up to do and not a lot of time. One of the biggest obstacles, of course, was learning how to communicate with their deaf cast mates. Here are Alex and Daniel.

[Alex] The first day of rehearsal, there was this ASL workshop type thing. I was taking an Uber there with Andy. He was like, just so you know, this is going to be really, interesting for you. Because I’d never met a Deaf person, ever, until this.

[Patrick] Oh, wow.

[Alex] So I was like, what do you mean; and he’s like, you’re going to see. Just walk in. It’s going to be fine. So, I walked in the room. I’ll never forget it as-long-as I live, walking into a room that, theoretically, would be so loud and bustling with communication that I understand.

It was a room full of these kids who were so excited to see each other again. And it was dead silent. They were all fully conversing with each other with hand movements that I didn’t understand a single one of. I walked in there, and I was like, oh my god, this is wild. But Daniel knew that was the case.

[Daniel] The first time we met each other, I was told he would be my voice actor. I remember that he knew no ASL. So, we exchanged phone numbers and got to know each other through texting.

[Alex] The first thing that we did- He gave me a big hug. We sat down. He pulled out his cell phone, and he started typing things and showing things to me. A fascinating thing about Daniel, too, is, there are so many different levels of Deafness. Daniel had never heard- Ever, ever, ever. So, sound does not exist in his world, period. So, he thinks in concepts. He thinks in pictures in a way that we think in words and language. So, when he was typing to me, English is his second language, so that’s pretty clear. That was fascinating for me to learn. Right away, I was like, “Oh, wow”. It’s similar to, if someone’s first language is Spanish, and they’re typing English to you. You’ll notice things like that.

[Daniel] We decided to finally sit together and go through the script, and I would sign it. And we would talk about what we thought the lines meant. That was a way for us to start building some chemistry around the character.

[Alex] Watching him do the signs, trying to approximate what I thought his version of the character was feeling while also putting- It’s impossible for you not to put your own thing to it. But your job is to make sure his is the forefront. But yes, that’s kind of what it was. It was very, very slow. And we had two weeks to do it.

♫ [Music (no lyrics)] ♫

[Patrick] I wondered what the social dynamic was like in the rehearsal room between the groups of hearing and Deaf actors. This was how I posed the question to Andy Mientus.

It sounds like the hearing actors maybe were working around the Deaf- It was their playing field that you guys were coming onto. Was that how it felt?

[Andy] Absolutely, because it’s a rare opportunity for them to be the focus. So, it was staged very deliberately to make sure that the signing was the focus. That the Deaf actor was the focus. Because that’s something that audiences don’t get an opportunity to see a whole lot. It’s something those actors don’t get to do, sadly, a whole lot. So of course, they should be the focus of it. It’s what made it special and different from that original.

[Patrick] Here’s what Daniel Durant had to say.

[Daniel] Well, I think it was a half and half situation. We were learning about music and the rhythm of music, why sounds are made in certain ways to cause emotion. They were learning similar things about sign language. So, you could see it becoming, instead of two groups, becoming one group where there was mutual learning between each group. Both in sign language and in music. I give a lot of credit to Michael Arden, because of the process.

I’ll never forget the first rehearsal back in Los Angeles. And it really was a place where we bonded together, and we got to know each other personally in terms of our backgrounds. We became sort of a family there. He’s really, adept at that, creating that sort of bond. I think Michael Arden really needs to be credited for being one of the top directors around.

[Patrick] Here’s Michael Arden.

[Michael] None of our hearing actors, with the exception of one, who knew a little bit, knew any sign language before we started. It was like, here, meet this person who you’re going to be spending every moment with, and learning how to communicate with. It was so exciting to watch these all these young actors. For some it was their first play. Theater is, ultimately, communication. They were having to relearn that on a basic level. It really stripped everyone of any ego, so it just cleared out all this space for this amazing work and growth to take place.

[Music: ‘Song of Purple Summer’] ♫ And heaven waits // So close it seems // To show her child the wonders // Of a world beyond her dreams // The earth will wave- ♫

[Patrick] The work, of course, paid off. The show opened at the Wallis in May of 2015; again, to rave reviews. This time, Charles McNulty, in the L.A. Times, called the production stunning, enthralling, and a rousing success.

[Music: ‘Song of Purple Summer’] ♫ And mares will neigh // With stallions that they mate // Foals they've borne // And all shall know the wonder // Of purple summer ♫

[Ken Davenport] I’ve had a man crush on Michael Arden forever, and a talent crush.

[Patrick] This is producer Ken Davenport. He would, ultimately, become the show’s lead producer for Broadway.

[Ken] I’ve been a fan of Deaf West for years, and then I heard the were doing ‘Spring Awakening’. I knew some folks that were involved with the production, and I had done a little bit of- I’d given them some advice on things about developing the show, from a business perspective. Then I went to see it on a lark. I had actually read the review from Charles McNulty, who is a very tough critic. And when he went crazy for it, I said, wow, there really must be something going on here. I just happened to be in Los Angeles for a wedding their final weekend. I said, “Meh, I’ll go check it out” and I went and was unbelievable moved. I remember thinking, “I have to get this to Broadway”.

[Patrick] Wow. Was there anything in particular you remember from that performance that made your producer Spidey senses just go off?

[Ken] Yes. It happened within the first 15 seconds. ‘Spring Awakening’ has this beautiful, beautiful beginning. This haunting Duncan Sheik melody. Wendla comes forward and starts to sing “Mama Who Bore Me”. In the Deaf West production, she came forward and then there was this great duality, for those of you who have seen it. The duality of the staging and the guitar. She came forward, and she started to sign it. My heart broke for her.

[Music: ‘Mama Who Bore Me’] ♫ Mama who bore me // Mama who gave me // No way to handle things // Who made me so sad // Mama, the weeping ♫

[Ken] All of a sudden this effort, this desire in the actress- Of course, she was so wonderful the desire to communicate her innermost thoughts and emotions just seemed so much more passionate when told through sign. This effort of, “I so want to talk to someone. I so want someone to talk to me. And I’m just looking for a way for someone to listen and for someone to hear me”. It was just so much more powerful through sign language. I remember thinking, “Oh my gosh, thousands, and thousands, and thousands more people have to see this”.

[Patrick] Here’s how Deaf West artistic director, DJ Kurs, remembers meeting Ken Davenport that day. The Cody he’s talking about is Cody Lassen, another of the show’s producers.

[DJ] During intermission, Ken comes out and starts talking to Cody. I remember him seeming very interested, and my interpreter attempted to eavesdrop their conversation. But they were speaking in low tones. My instinct as a Deaf person tells me to hang low in these situations. And I guess in this case, the work spoke for itself.

[Ken] DJ Kurs came up to me after, and I was just so moved. I was like, this is amazing; this is incredible. I hadn’t really said, I’m going to move it to Broadway yet. DJ said, “We hope you’ll help us figure out a life for it after”. I remember just kind of saying- And what was amazing for me is, it was probably the first ever conversation I’ve had with a Deaf person.

[Patrick] I was going to ask you: How did you communicate with him?

[Ken] We had an interpreter there. I have never had a conversation. I’ve certainly said “hello” or spoken to someone very quickly, a brief greeting. But I’d never had a discussion, especially something as serious as this. The interpreter came over, and of course, this is one of the reasons I wanted to do the show. Everyone’s first experience: “Oh, you’re nervous. What do I say? Who do I look at?” These are things that we don’t know. What I hope and pray is that our production of ‘Spring Awakening’ helped educate people on some of those issues. I remember having this conversation and looking at the interpreter. He said, “I hope you’ll help us get-” and I was like, “Yes. No, no, we’ve got to get this to New York”. I just remember saying that. Once I say something, I’m just a guy that has to figure out how to do it.

♫ [Music (no lyrics)] ♫

[Patrick] So, when you’re sitting in a theater, and you decide, this has to go to Broadway, what do you do then?

[Ken] The next step in this specific case was me calling a theater owner; because I analyzed- Actually, the list is right over there. Those are all the theaters that are on Broadway and the shows that are coming in, and also what I think is coming in on top of them.

[Patrick] Your guess, educated guess?

[Ken] Yes, and you know, my nose to the gossip mills, if you will. That analogy made no sense, but you get it. So, I had a feeling I knew what was coming in, and I thought there might be a slot available at the Brooks (Atkinson). So, I called the Nederlanders and said, I think you may have a window, and I have the show for you. Thankfully the Nederlanders- I couldn’t get half the pitch out of my mouth, of, “It’s the Deaf West production of ‘Spring Awakening’”. They were like, “We’re very interested in the show. Give me five minutes to figure this out. We’ll talk to you some more”. They did. They came back. “Yes, we have a slot. We just need to hear some more about the show”. Very quickly, they said, “We would love to have you in our theater”.

[Patrick] Wow. How did you raise the money? I don’t even know- Did you need to raise money, and how did you do it?

[Ken] Oh, yeah. We had to raise four and a half million dollars in 86 days. So, it was 86 days from the day that I saw it to the first preview. At this point I had given no thought to not only how I would raise it, but also how much it would even cost. What I think should drive all art and all production of anything is, “I must do this. I have to do this”. And then you figure- “Okay, now we have to figure out how we’re going to make it all happen”. I just trusted, also, that anything this powerful- People would raise their hands and say, “I want to support this. I want to be a part of it”. That’s what happened.

[Patrick] I’m always the most excited to find out how actors found out they’d be going to Broadway. For this production, since the show had closed before the decision was officially made, most of the actors found out via email. For Krysta Rodriguez, who at that point was recovering was recovering from a double mastectomy she’d had as part of her cancer treatment, the moment was especially surreal. Here’s Krysta, and then Daniel Durant.

[Krysta] We actually got the call to go to Broadway as I was recovering from the surgery. I was hopped up on drugs. I had to be like, “Is this real? Did this actually happen, or did I fever dream this thing that we’re going to Broadway?”

[Daniel] It was a huge moment for me. I’ll never forget it. We had a gut feeling, but it was really a huge question. There was a big question in the air, and then DJ from Deaf West, the artistic director at Deaf West- We kept kind of waiting for him to let us know. One day I was in my basement watching Netflix, and I get this email from one of the producers, or someone, saying, “We’re offering you this role of Moritz on Broadway”. I was stunned. I looked at that email for several minutes, and then finally I called my mom, and I Skyped with her. And it was very emotional. I was telling her I was going on Broadway. My mom is a big theater nut. So, she was just thrilled. We were all just stunned. It took a few days for it to set in that I was going to be moving to Broadway, moving on and doing this show.

[Patrick] Coming to Broadway, of course, also meant relocating most of the Deaf actors from California to New York. Here’s Ken Davenport.

[Ken] I said, “Oh, they’ll move here”. And then we were like, “Wait, that’s just not as easy for them”. What, again, they proved, was, “Yes, we’ll move here. We’ll figure it out”. What I loved was, it was not this- “Don’t treat us in a certain way. We can figure this out”. And they banded together, and a bunch of them- It was 18 to a room in some- It was crazy. But yes, we had to give everything an extra thought. But I think that all taught us a very valuable lesson.

♫ [Music (no lyrics)] ♫

[Patrick] Something that I haven’t mentioned until just now is the fact that the Deaf West production of ‘Spring Awakening’ was breaking ground in yet another way with actress Ali Stroker. Ali had been with the production since the LA run. But when the show moved to Broadway, Ali, who is paralyzed from the chest down, would be the first actress in a wheelchair to appear on Broadway. The way the cast and creatives talk about Ali, especially with the challenges she faced, just logistically working in a handicapped-inaccessible Broadway theater, is so emblematic of how close this team was. Here’s choreographer Spencer Liff, and then Andy Mientus and Krysta Rodriguez.

[Spencer] Ali is one of the best people you’ll ever meet. She’s constantly pushing boundaries, but she’s much more aware of her capabilities than I was at the beginning. We had a conversation on the very first day. And I said, “Hey, this is totally new for me. I’ve never choreographed for someone in a chair”. She showed me a lot of videos of her dancing. She’s on an actual wheelchair dance team. I watched those, and I was like, “Holy crap- You can do a lot. Okay, there go my judgments of what you can and can’t do”. Then I really focused on what she could bring to the table that someone who wasn’t in a chair couldn’t. I made her the cornerstone of a lot of my formations and was able to use her capabilities and showcase them. Which is the place I came from with her.

She would look at the choreography I did and adapt it herself. Then we would, in our own private sessions, work to- “Okay, you’re going to turn this way at this time. How do you sign and move your chair? Where do we drop the hands?” It was complicated, but she’s unbelievable. It’s funny- It was one of the first things I thought of when we knew we were going into the Brooks. I was like, “Well, where are we going to put Ali”. She has to be on the main floor. And they have to get a ramp, because there are stairs to get in just the door.

The cast would band together. When we first got into the theater, Andy picked up Ali and took her to every floor to make sure she could see the whole theater.

[Patrick] Oh, my god. I’m going to bawl.

[Spencer] That cast held onto each other so tight and loved each other so much.

[Patrick] I was very excited to get to ask Andy about this.

Did you really take her out of her chair and take her all over the theater when you guys first went into the Brooks Atkinson?

[Andy] Yes.

[Krysta] We took her everywhere.

[Andy] We’re always picking her up.

[Krysta] Unfortunately, you have to. There is so little accessibility in so many places. We would have a joke about the rating of accessibility in each place we’d go. “Accessibility zero”. This is not- So, yes. She’s so good at maneuvering that. But yes, we would have birthdays in the basement. Someone would have to take Ali, carry her downstairs and set her there to sit and watch and hang out, because she can’t get down there. Also, the Brooks Atkinson- They renovated a dressing room on the ground level for her to be able to get into and made a bathroom for her to move around. It’s great now. That theater is fully accessible- Well, not fully accessible. But more accessible than a lot of the other ones that have been around a hundred plus years that didn’t have the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) regulations that they have now.

[Patrick] Throughout the Broadway rehearsal process, Ali also held her own in Spencer’s notoriously difficult warmups. Here again, is Spencer and then Krysta.

[Spencer] I would lead this very long, aggressive workout every single morning, where they would have to plank, do pushups, and do cardio. She always was there doing her own version. I would bring an elastic band in, and we would do biceps together. It was very cool.

[Krysta] Truly, at that point, I was held together with sweat and Scotch tape. My brain was gone. I had chemo brain like crazy. I was recovering from surgery when we came to do the production. So, we would do Spencer’s warmups, and I would not do some things. I’d be like, “You know what, I just had surgery. And I don’t need to”. I’d look over, and Ali’s doing triceps pushups on her wheelchair. I’m like, “Okay, I guess we’re doing this now. I guess I don’t have an excuse. There are Deaf people dancing, and Ali’s doing pushups. So I just have to do it”.

[Patrick] All of this is just to say that, as an ensemble, they cared about each other. Loved each other, even. They were connected, and their show lived or died by that connection. Here’s Alex Boniello and then Krysta Rodriguez.

[Alex] “Don’t Do Sadness” was a really, big thing for that, because Daniel had to jump off of a staircase. I would give him this cue, and he would always be late. I’m like, “Why is this happening?” And one of our ASL masters, Elizabeth Green, is the only hearing ASL master. She goes, “Well, it’s because you’re thinking about it like a hearing person. So why do you think?” And I was like, “Because I’m tapping my chest when I want him to jump. But his brain needs to see it and then jump”. So, for someone who’s hearing the music, I would want to be like:

[Alex (sings)] ♫ You just sail away, because you know... ♫ tap.

[Alex] Because that’s when I want him to jump. I would have to go:

[Alex (sings)] ♫ You just sail away because... ♫ tap ♫ ...You know... ♫

[Alex] In the middle of my- It was like tapping your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time and realizing that that’s how it has to go.

Daniel and I would laugh. He’s like, it’s working now? And I’m like, “Yeah, it’s working now”. He’s like, “Why, and then I would try to explain it to him. I don’t even have the vocabulary in your language to explain to you why this works, but trust me forever and ever, and we’re great”. He’s like, “Okay”.

[Music: ‘Don’t Do Sadness’] ♫ Just sail away // 'Cause you know // I don't do sadness // Not even a little bit ♫

[Krysta] Yeah, as far as focus: Man, I’ve never- You do other shows, and you have to pay attention. You can’t just be thinking or whatever. But the whole show relied on us giving the cues at the right times and relied on us- As soon as your hand would move, they would start signing. It had to be on the word. If you spaced out for a second- I mean you can imagine what would happen if a person who can’t hear the music- If something went wrong, and they just keep going, because they don’t know that something’s different. Or they don’t know that the music didn’t start, or that the track didn’t come on, or anything. So, everyone- We were just on edge all the time, totally focused on each other, or else the show could have fallen apart so many times, so many times.

[Alex] Seconds. In-

[Krysta] There were actually a couple times- We had this thing we called the ship during “Touch Me” where we all had to walk together. We would sort of tap on the shoulders. After a while they know the rhythm, but sometimes the tempos of songs are different. That’s what live theater is. So, we’re tapping, and sometimes we’d call it the shipwreck, because it couldn’t get together. Spencer, actually, was like, “you know, sometimes those are the most magical. Because it reminds the audience that these people cannot hear”. That we’re doing all of this without- And not just maybe hear. They cannot hear. They’re dancing on rhythm, on beat, with emotion and with dynamics. Loud and soft and all of that stuff. Those times were actually kind of special, when you’re like, “Oh, this is actually a treat, every night; a treat”.

[Music: ‘Touch Me’] ♫ I’ll tell you how // Where I go // When I go there // Touch me // Just like it // Now that’s it // Oh, that’s heaven, touch // I love your light ♫

[Patrick] The Deaf West production of ‘Spring Awakening’ opened for a limited engagement run on September 27th, 2015, to rave reviews. Charles Isherwood of the New York Times said that the “show was born anew, was thrillingly inventive, and was directed with remarkable finesse by Michael Arden”. The production ran for a previously determined 23 previews and 135 regular performances and went on to be nominated for three Tony Awards, including best lighting design of a musical for Ben Stanton, best direction of a musical for Michael Arden, and best revival of a musical.

[Music: ‘Song of Purple Summer’] ♫ A summers day // A mother sings // A song of purple summer // Through the heart of everything // And heaven waits ♫

[Patrick] One of the great things about making this episode a year after the show closed is that the people who made the work now have some perspective on it, so I want to end by sharing some of the thoughts and takeaways the cast and creatives shared with me. DJ Kurs goes first.

[DJ] Talking about it a year later, we can only view it from the rearview mirror. The achievement of our production feels even more exceptional in the age of Trump. It is magical when Deaf and hearing artists cross cultural and linguistic boundaries to work together in the purpose of creating art, and even more so when hearing and Deaf audience members sit together to enjoy the same show. I’m also very proud of the press that we got. Everything from the first reviews to the celebration of Ali Stroker as the first performer in a wheelchair on Broadway. I’m also just very happy that our production has inspired so many other productions that involve Deaf talent and am very proud of the outsize impact that our little theater company has created.

[Patrick] Here’s Daniel on his feeling about Broadway run and the legacy of the production.

[Daniel] I think part of the legacy is just a little bit of magic that happened in that show. Music and English and American Sign Language and choreography: These were all layer upon layer, upon layer. It was so textured and gave the audience something different. And historic moment for Deaf people, for our culture, and for all of these people who were involved in the production. I just think it was so historic.

[Patrick] Here’s Michael Arden.

[Michael] I hope that our production gave both audiences and theater makers and producers an opportunity to see how exciting performers with different abilities can be. I think there are so many ways to tell stories, and having Deaf actors and hard of hearing actors and actors in wheelchairs- These things just don’t happen. Yet sometimes we can somehow tell the story more clearly and in new ways. So, I hope it served as an enlightening experience. To think, “Hey, why can’t I hire a Deaf actor for this role. Maybe I’ll get something more out of it because of that”. An opportunity for audiences to come and enjoy theater in their own language and to not feel like they had to come to just the one signed performance where they get to look to the side of the stage but miss what’s happening on the stage.

I think that’s important because I think we’re supposed to as theater makers, it is our charge and our duty to reflect the world around us and not just the parts of the world that look just like we do.

[Patrick] We’ll leave you with a story from Spencer Liff about an experience he had at Pearl Studios, a place where a lot of theater auditions are held here in New York City.

[Spencer] A few days ago, there was a long line of girls standing outside an audition room, waiting to sing their 16 bars. And there was a girl in a chair in that line. I was so happy, immediately, thinking, the people in that room are going to be forced to think about nontraditional casting. They’re going to have to go, “Oh, could we put this character that’s not written as someone in a chair-” And then I thought, “Somebody in that room saw ‘Spring Awakening’, and maybe they’ll say they saw Ali Stroker and that it can be done”. This girl and I- This girl in the chair- We locked eyes. She lit up. She came over to me, and she knew who I was. Not only was she in a chair, but she was hard of hearing and wearing a hearing aid.

She was like, “I saw ‘Spring Awakening’, and for obvious reasons, I was incredibly inspired by both of those factors. I’m able to come to these auditions now and put myself in positions that- It doesn’t specify an actress in a chair”. I couldn’t get over that all day- What an impact Ali had made to this girl, and our show in general. How many of those stories there are of people that came to see our kids onstage inspiring them to go after their dreams and goals.

And that- I came home and called Michael Arden and told him that story, and both of us- It reminded us that it was bigger than what we had done in the theater, even. I was so happy I had that moment.

[Music: ‘Song of Purple Summer’] ♫ I will sing the song of a purple summer // All shall know the wonder ♫

[Patrick] Stay tuned after the credits for scenes for our next episode.

[Music: ‘The Bitch of Living’] ♫ God, I dreamed there was an Angel // Who could hear me through the wall // As I cried out like in Latin ♫

[Patrick] If you enjoyed today’s episode we would be super grateful if you take a minute to rate and review us on iTunes. You can also follow us on Twitter, we’re at ‘bwaybackstory’ (@bwaybackstory) and Facebook, where we’re at ‘BroadwayBackstory’.

Huge thanks to the people at ‘TodayTix’ who make this podcast possible. So just a little bit more about them. You guys, ‘TodayTix’ pioneered mobile lotteries and was the first to offer digital Broadway lotteries. With the ‘TodayTix’ app you can enter daily lotteries to win discounted or free tickets to selected Off-Broadway and Broadway shows. Share your entries on social media to double or triple your odds of winning. You can also sign up for alerts to get a reminder the next time a lottery is open for entry.

Download the free ‘TodayTix’ app on iOS and Android for even more exclusive deals and promotions. Including access to exclusive lottery tickets to the hottest shows in your city. And don’t forget, ‘Broadway Backstory’ listeners can use the code ‘backstory’ for 15 dollars off your first purchase.

Huge, huge, huge thanks first and for most to Alex Boniello, who helped arrange so many of the interviews I did for this episode. That kid has hair for days. You can follow him on Twitter at ‘alexboniello’ (@alexboniello).

Also, a huge thanks to Mr. Alex Wyse who stepped in at the last minute to provide the voice for DJ Kurs. That guy is hilarious on Twitter. You can follow him at ‘alexwyse’ (@alexwyse).

Special thanks for the invaluable production help from Steve Tipton, my husband who I really, truly could not make this podcast without.

Also, Mike Jensen, Matt Tamanini, Rickie Condos, Chloe O’Connor, and Chloe Lindt.

[Music: ‘The Bitch of Living’] ♫ God, my whole life's like some test // Then there's Marianna Wheelan ♫

[Music: ‘Legally Blonde the Musical’ “Oh My God Guys”] ♫ Dear Elle, honey, mazel tov // Future's taking off // Bring that ring back // And show it to me // Four carrots, a princess cut // Are you psyched or what? // I just wish I could be there to see // When he gets down on one knee // Oh my god, oh my god, you guys // Looks like Elle’s- ♫

♫ [Music (no lyrics)] ♫

[Laurence O'Keefe] And we got into a conversation about this phenomenon that happens to young women called “dumbing themselves down”. And I was like, “wait you’re kidding? That really happens?”. He said, “Oh, absolutely”. He said, you know, it’s one of the reasons that all girl schools became, you know, popular at some point. Because, they thought if they removed the male element from the equation, these girls could, you know, excel.

And having just seen ‘Legally Blonde’ the film, I got me thinking like, wow, here’s a girl who’s smart enough, if you think about it, to get into Harvard Law. And why does she do it? To chase the jerky guy.

And I thought, now that’s a story we gotta tell. And we immediately said, well there’s only one person who we know that we think is ready to direct and this is Jerry Mitchell.

[Jerry Mitchell] ‘Legally Blonde’ was a massive, massive undertaking and great learning experience. I was ready to tell that story. I knew how to tell ‘Legally Blonde’.

[Laura Bell Bundy] I sent him an email, and I just said, “Hey Jerry, I heard about ‘Legally Blonde’, I am so happy for you. You totally deserve this. You’re going to kill this. And by the way, I know someone who would be really, great for Elle Woods, wink, wink”. He responded back immediately and said, “Why do you think that I came to see you in ‘Wicked’ I wanted to see if you could carry a show”.

[Jerry] And then we opened in New York, and we got a rave from Variety and some other great reviews. But the only review that matter in New York City is the New York Times.

[Patrick] Do you have any thoughts on the reviews?

[Nell Benjamin] My general thinking on them was they were not particularly positive.

[Richard H. Blake] We were passed over for nomination for best musical, which look, at the end of the day, I’ve won Tonys. I’ve not won Tonys. At the end of the day it’s got to be about the work. ‘Legally Blonde’ is one of the things I’m proudest of, but I’m not going to say it didn’t hurt.

[Patrick] Next time on ‘Broadway Backstory’.

♫ [Music (no lyrics)] ♫

If you prefer Broadway Backstory’s transcript, go here: [X]

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scottmapess · 5 years ago

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Bitcoin to $40K, $400K or $1 Million & Bitcoin Funds Popping Up

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Hel lo, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Crypto Viser, where we talk about everything, crypto block chain investing. In other news, the finance space, hopefully everyone is doing well. Don’t forget to subscribe Downbelow. That way you can be notified every single time I upload a new video, which is every single day. I am also in the process this week of doing a Cardno swag giveaway. So make sure that you hit. Subscribe and watch all of my videos this week. I will be giving key words to comment in the dust, the comments section down below on certain videos throughout the week. And if you comment that key word and are subscribe to this channel, you will be entered into a drawing for card. Donald Tanjim cards card Duno ADA. Metal hardware wallets which are limited addition from Crypto Supreme and the Iowa HK teams also have two year anniversary card Donald t shirts and an LP pal wallet. So don’t forget to subscribe and also watch these videos daily. Today’s all about Bitcoin. First up and by the way, Monday, Tuesday, May 11th or twelfths, depending on what time zone where you live in the world, is the Bitcoin having. And this is why we are seeing a run up to above 10000 dollar Bitcoin. As you see different websites is showing different amounts. I am recording this on Friday, May 8th for Saturday, May 9th. So the price may be a little bit different, but we’re going to see a lot of volatility up to and then after the bitcoin having. So all I’m going to say is pay attention. I have this really, really good charts from Rawle, Paul, that we’re gonna go over in just a minute. But I want to go over a few quick articles with you, and then we’re getting into what Rand Paul says about where Bitcoin is going. One of Bitcoin’s earliest miners is dedicating 66 million dollars to a in crypto to a fund of funds. Bicks in one of the earliest Bitcoin miner operators and wallets startups, is dedicating six thousand six hundred Bitcoin worth sixty six million dollars to a new fund of funds. The company announced the fund of funds with its proprietary capital on Friday and said it aims to invest in global quantitative trading funds whose strategies are based on arbitrage. Bitcoin futures contracts and trend analysis. By providing additional liquidity and market making activities to these trading desks amid Bitcoin scheduled having event, Viksten seeks to increase its holding in Bitcoin as part of its unwavering commitment to Bitcoin, the firm said in a statement. Liu Feh, who joined Bicks in from We’ll Be Exchange in late 2018 and who oversees the mining business and the fund. A fund says, quote, We are strong believers in Bitcoin and it’s now what we want to see. The Bitcoin ecosystem in China and elsewhere are in a silo. We hope the fund of funds can contribute to a better global liquidity structure for the Bitcoin ecosystem. So a lot of money is going into this is going into the fund of funds. A lot of funds are starting to pop up now. If you’ve been following my guys, I try to lead you in the same direction that I go. Okay. And if you’re a member of this channel, I started this channel in late 2018, like, really started doing an I bring videos to you every single day. Typically two to three videos a day, but at least one video every single day of the year. And we just passed 10000 subscribers. I try to give you guys a blended view of all these crypto projects, everything from a financial aspect. And I have been telling you guys about great scale Bitcoin trust for at least a year at this point. And the reason that I’ve told you about it is because, in my view, not a lot of people know about it. Not a lot of people are trading it. Not a lot of people are investing. And I’m talking about large scale institutions, are we know that. But still, the amount of money that Greyscale is collecting from these institutions that are investing in Greyscale products is so minuscule compared to the overall markets. Right. So that tells me that this is and this is like an investor and this is what this is all city guys, if you guys want to, like, really be successful. As an investor, right, whether it’s a trading or whether it’s a long term investor, you have to look for things that are not highly valued but will be. I think it was Raul. Paul, if you guys don’t know who Raul Paola’s. He is CEO of Real Vision. He was former Goldman Sachs. I think global trader. He’s a global macro investor, business cycle economists, investment strategist. He has almost two hundred thousand followers. He’s fairly accurate. And if you watch some of his stuff, it’s I mean, Real Vision is a very good Channel two to watch here on YouTube. But, you know, I don’t know how much clearer these things can be. A raw pile had a an interview with what’s his name, Anthony Pump Liano. And they were talking about investing. And it was it gut brought up somehow where he’s like, you know, when I tell people about Bitcoin, they’re like, well, I don’t understand about Bitcoin. Bitcoin isn’t money yet or Bitcoin isn’t big yet. And he’s like, well, that’s not the point of investing. You don’t invest in something when it’s big. Think about Tesla. Think about all of the excitement around Tesla, around Amazon. Right. I want you guys to think about this currently in the current environment that we’re in. People still want to buy Tesla at eight hundred dollars. People still want to buy Amazon’s stock at over two thousand dollars. You already missed the boat. You definitely missed the boat. I mean, how much higher can Amazon go? It’s gonna go to three thousand dollars. Maybe maybe it has a higher likelihood of going down in price than going up. Same thing for Tesla. And when it comes to Bitcoin and specifically greyscale, greyscale is I want you guys to think about this. Grayskull is the first s e c regulated cryptocurrency product ever. Greyscale is the only open market product for crypto currencies in the United States. Greyscale has about one percent of the total supply that will ever be in existence. It’s about one and a half percent. And right now they have about two percent of the circulating supply of Bitcoin. I mean, I don’t know how much more you need from an investor standpoint to see that these type of products you need to get in before your neighbor starts talking about it, before your coworker starts talking about it. Right. And this is why I’m telling you now you’re seeing all of these funds popping up. Why do you think that is? Because there’s more demand for the funds from institutional investors, from hedge funds, et cetera. This is other news that just came out, Bitcoin fund. This was on May 8th. Bitcoin fund completes forty eight million dollar exchange traded offering. Just don’t tell Americans. The Toronto based investment manager, three IQ Corp. has completed a forty eight million dollar offering and its Bitcoin fund trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Just don’t tell Americans. A statement released that day detailing the investment opportunity makes it very clear in bold letters that the top not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United States. In spite of being traded on the Canadian exchange, the value of the investment is denominated in U.S. dollars. I mean. Guys read the writing, right? While not technically the widely anticipated big Bitcoin exchange traded fund or ETF that many institutional investors have been waiting for. This is a closed end fund better described as an exchange traded product. The price of Bitcoin increased five percent. Yada, yada, yada. We know that the investment code led by Canaccord Genuity Corp and Wealth Partners, all included all these is not allowed to be marketed in the U.S. to investors, as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been reluctant to approve similar products for U.S. investors, namely Bitcoin ETF. Last year there were a few that were supposed to be coming to either approval or denial, and they all got tonight a disclosure at the bottom of the statement reads, This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act. Sorry, Americans. So, again, Vitt, these ETF, these large companies, I understand what an exchange traded fund is. I get it. For some reason, the FCC does not want an ETF for Bitcoin, at least not right now. I don’t know if it’s because of price manipulation concerns. I don’t know if it’s because of the global aspect of the Bitcoin. I don’t know. But they will not approve an ETF. And when I look at ETF versus like a greyscale fund, I mean, guys, in my view, maybe an ETF is not what we need in the crypto space. Maybe it is these trust funds that are going to hold the actual hard asset underneath it and custody it and own a lot. I mean, guys. It’s very telling that all of these funds are popping up and that they’re not focused on the United States at all. And they’re making it very, very clear. So. And the other thing that I’d say is the system in the United States, the investing system, the open markets. Right. It’s set up against the everyday American right. Most Americans will have no idea how to transact, how to trade, what is a good investment, what is not a good investment. They will not know a great I’ve talked to so many people that I know about Greyscale. And it just goes right over their head like they understand the concept, but they don’t understand. I can double my money on this. You know, I could potentially get huge gains way over, you know, transacting in stocks or futures or options or whatever. So anyway, Raul Pough posted this on Twitter just the other day. He said Bitcoin. Bitcoin porn and the perfect setup. Chart one is the perfect wedge. If you use classic charting techniques, it gives you a price target of around forty thousand dollars. So this is the Bitcoin chart. It shows you from twenty seventeen highs. And you can see this wedge right here. And we are we’re getting very close to the tip of this wedge. And then really it, it’s either gonna go rock it up or rock it down. But you can see it appears that we I mean, in my view, during the next pump, huge pump or bull run, whatever you call it, we will probably pass this last all time high. So Routt is putting a 10 a 40 K price target on this. He said chart to the perfect little wedge on a log chart. Well, that gives you a price objective for this run. Potentially. Keyword is potentially of one million dollars. Okay, so I’m going to show you the next chart, which explains how you get to the one million dollars. This is another wedge to show you how tight it is. And then chart three is the perfect regression channel. This gives a one standard deviation move to four hundred thousand dollars and a two standard potential to one million dollars potential potential. So these are the standard deviation lines. The gray ones. So if it hits one standard deviation, it’s at 400000. And if it hits two, we are going to be at a million dollars. Again, when you’re looking at a zoomed out version of the charts, you can see how clear this is. And again, these are potential. This is not guaranteed to happen. But these charts are making it look even more and more close to where we’ve been waiting, which is a Bullrun and higher prices. Raul Powell says whatever plays out after a key technical break like today, this was a few days ago, the probability of vastly higher prices has risen dramatically. And this is confirmed by the stock to flow models by 100 trillion USD on Twitter. And the breakout has happened almost exactly at the happening. Add to that the entire world’s central banks are either see their currencies collapse to the almighty dollar or they are printing money like crazy. Huge quantitative easing. Fiat meets the hardest money that automatically quantitatively tightens bitcoin winds. So what the Bitcoin having is it’s a reduction on the new coins that are produced. Right. It’s in reduction on the inflation rate where that is going to be happening in parallel to the United States printing trillions and trillions of dollars. We are almost at 10 trillion dollars in less than a year of new money being printed. And that is going to continue. It’s going to get larger and larger. But these things are happening in parallel. I keep seeing this two guys in parallel crypto potential bull market, quantitative easing with printing money rates going lower. Economies shut down. All of these things are going to at some point be realized. And when I say be realized, I mean, the price is going to move up. The market is going to stop this Fakhoury that we’re seeing. Hard assets are being suppressed, crypto currencies, gold, silver, other metals are being suppressed, significantly suppressed, while the stock market continues to go up. And mind you, I want you guys to keep in mind the stock market index indexes, right. Or indices. Dow Jones, NASDAQ, S&P, these are all blended indices. Right. So if they’re not performing well, they remove the underperformers and put better performing stocks into the index. The other thing to think about is these large cap stocks, Tesla, Amazon, Google, Facebook, they have very high market capitalization so they can push the price of those stocks up by a small percentage. That equates to billions or tens of billions of dollars. And that in itself can rise the index while the majority of the stocks are still in the red. I have seen and I’ve told you guys the stocks that I got trapped in in my portfolio, which are very few. I pretty much dumped all stocks last year, but and traditional investment products. But the ones that I got trapped in negative. Ninety five percent. Negative 90 percent. And we don’t hear mainstream media talking about this. We heard it when Bitcoin went down. Ninety five percent, but not when some of these other stocks have gone down. Ninety five percent. And we’re going to see more of this. We are definitely going to be seeing seeing more of those. I mean, think about just retail. J.C. Penney stock right now is like I think 18 cents just a few years ago was at seventy dollars. Right. Don’t hear about that on CNBC. What do you think Macy’s going? Where do you think Kohl’s is going? All those stocks are dropping. Bed, Bath and Beyond limited brands. All of these brands are going down. Probably a lot of restaurant chains are probably not going to do that well, either. So anyway, this is all happening in parallel to the Bitcoin having quantitative hardening. So we are really going to see what is the winner is a quantitative easing or quantitative hardening. Rand Paul continues saying this is one of the best setups in any asset class I’ve ever witnessed, technical, fundamental flow of funds and plumbing all. Now, again, to be clear, even if it has 90 percent odds, doesn’t mean it’s definitely going to work. I can and will be wrong often and dramatically. Good luck. Expect horrific volatility both up and down. But you can’t make five x 10x or one hundred X returns without large drawdowns. So be careful how much you put in. This is really the best advice. It always feels like you have too little until it doesn’t. And then you wish you didn’t have so much. So, you know, I don’t provide financial advice, but what I can tell you guys is if you want to trade and you want to hold, do them separately, take a certain amount of money and say, I’m going to take this money and I’m just going to trade this amount. If I lose it, that’s it. If I gain on it, I’m going to take the profits and put it in a separate account. So you’re pulling your profits separate from your investment and you haven’t trading money separate from holding money because you have to play this market differently than you’ve played it the last three, four years. You have to. We’re in a different environment. We’re in a different time frame. We have a lot going on simultaneously. So this is about diversifying portfolios and understanding. If you’re holding just Bitcoin, that may do well, but it may not because you may go up in there. We’re going to come right back down. There is going to be extreme volatility. And this is where it could be a good opportunity for some people to start getting their feet wet with trading. But again, you have to do your own research. You have to understand the risks involved. You have to understand that you can lose all your money and never take investment advice from anybody on YouTube. Do your own research. This should be a piece of your research and something to get you to think. But you have to do your own research. I’m not a financial expert. I’m not a financial adviser. And nothing I say should be perceived as financial advice because it is not. These are my thoughts and my opinions. And I happen to agree with Rand Paul. I think that this is all happening in tandem. You know, it’s hard because I want to keep buying. Right. But we’re also in a situation where you have to have capital available in case something else goes wrong. I mean, the economy shut down. Unemployment is out of control, et cetera, et cetera. Pay attention. Invest responsibly. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Don’t forget to subscribe. I have giveaways going on all week. So check out all my videos. See guys in the next video and crypto on.

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/million-bitcoin-funds-popping-up/ source https://cryptosharks1.blogspot.com/2020/05/bitcoin-to-40k-400k-or-1-million.html

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jeffrmayhugh · 5 years ago

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Bitcoin to $40K, $400K or $1 Million & Bitcoin Funds Popping Up

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/million-bitcoin-funds-popping-up/ source https://cryptosharks1.tumblr.com/post/617747681948893184

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heatherrdavis1 · 5 years ago

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Bitcoin to $40K $400K or $1 Million & Bitcoin Funds Popping Up

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Via https://www.cryptosharks.net/million-bitcoin-funds-popping-up/

source https://cryptosharks.weebly.com/blog/bitcoin-to-40k-400k-or-1-million-bitcoin-funds-popping-up

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cryptosharks1 · 5 years ago

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Bitcoin to $40K, $400K or $1 Million & Bitcoin Funds Popping Up

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/million-bitcoin-funds-popping-up/

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residentialelectrician0010-blog · 6 years ago

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Residential Electrician | Asheville Electrician

What is a Residential Electrician?

Residential electrician of the state of the economy or general job market, residential electricians enjoy a unique level of stability in their profession. Add a housing boom like we’ve been seeing in recent years in many major cities and the close suburbs and also the opportunities for more employment, more overtime and higher pay only increases. during the summer construction season, residential electricians may find themselves so busy they're even forced to showdown work. Even once things slow down, residential wiring must be maintained, repaired, and upgraded with the newest, safest electrical systems as housing codes change. Residential electricians enjoy the fraternity of strong organized labor support through their unions and competitive annual salaries that often exceed what's seen in the other trades. Role and Job Duties of Residential ElectriciansBecause electrician licensing rules and electrical code often varies from state to state – and even from jurisdiction to jurisdiction within a state – there's no official, universal description for residential electricians. However, there's a general understanding within the electrical trade of the standard duties and skills associated with residential electrical installation, upgrades, and repair. California is among the states that specifically licenses residential electricians which has established a well defined scope of data and skills for this classification. according to the california Contractors State Licensing Board, a residential electrician’s role includes: Installing, constructing, or maintaining electrical systems in residential settingsInstalling electrical apparatuses and equipment during a residenceWorking with a most of 240 voltsThe generally accepted definition of a residential setting includes: Single family homesMulti family unitsApartments and condosHotels, motels, and vacation homesAnywhere else wherever the first occupancy of the building is considered to be residentialTraining and education for residential electricians typically covers these topics: Residential wiringUnderground passage installationMaintenance and troubleshootingFinishing work and fixturesFire and life safetyReading blueprints and schematicsResidential trained worker tools: multimeters, voltmeters, and ammetersInstalling and wiring transformersLow voltage installations (in some jurisdictions, this falls beneath a separate licensing classification)National Electrical Code (NEC)The specific duties that residential electricians perform usually includes: Installing lighting, outside lighting, and closet lighting according to local codeInstalling power outlets and sockets according to native code, whcih may specify safety features like tamper-resistant receptacles (TRRs)Installing special circuits for appliances like water heaters, stoves, refrigerators, air conditioning units, heating units, and pilot lights for gas appliancesInstalling ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI or GFI) on breakers or outlets where water contact is commonInstalling residential safety features and ground connectionsInstalling low voltage voice, data, and video (VDV) cables and other electronic components to support net connections, land line phone connections, fax machine connections, entertainment system connections, and other VDV systemsLow voltage systems may include security surveillance systems (CCTV), security alarm systems, and fire alarm systems Residential Electricians At Pacific Coast Electricians, we are a 5 Star rated company that puts our clients and employees at the forefront. If you are looking to join a top producing company, work with a good group of guys and a management team that appreciates their technicians, then we'd like to get to know you. Since most of our work is provided by homeowners your day as a electrical technician would be be responsible for promoting our brand by interacting with customers in their homes and providing them with superior customer service. WHY WORK FOR PACIFIC COAST ELECTRICIANS ?4 day work weekwe provide the vanwe provide career advancement programsMedical after 90 dayswaffle WednesdaysTaco ThursdaysBenefit PackageReally Nice group of people to work with Don't get me wrong we work hard but place a high concentration on maintaining a healthy corporate climate. Call today start having fun and get paid well. It's gonna be great!Qualifications and Skills : Men and/or women with minimum 5 to 7 years’ experience... with proven track record for both installation and team leading . -Knowledge of current electrical code -Attention to detail, motivated, and solution driven -Positive attitude and a good sense of humor -Strong work ethic and a willingness to keep learning -Be a team player -Maintain a clean work environment -Provide their own tools An electrical contractor specializes in designing, installing, and maintaining electrical systems in residential, commercial, institutional and industrial structures. According to a recent study, electrical contracting is a $130 billion per year industry in the U.S. There are many electrical contractors throughout the country who offer these services to their clients. These firms may subcontract from general contractors or work directly for owners. A qualified electrical contractor will have a license, be well insured, and will be able to provide performance and payment bonds for a reasonable rate. An electrical contractor can also specialize in other types of work, such as a line contractor who works with high-voltage power lines, an inside contractor who works with structures, and an integrated building systems contractor who will work with lower-voltage systems such as industrial process controls, lighting, fiber optics, security, backup power, wireless networks, climate controls, and telecommunications. Electrical contractors in North Carolina are usually required to annually participate in continuing education, and HAYNES Electric Construction has an in-house apprenticeship program to ensure all our workers are well trained in the latest technologies. At HAYNES Electric, we have a team of skilled electrical contractors and project managers who can solve all of your electrical problems. Call us when you are looking to add to, maintain or change the electrical system in your home or business. Call our service crews if you need to have wiring repaired or replaced; Our service area includes Asheville, North Carolina and surrounding counties. We have been in business since 1921 and hold license number 3-U. No one has more experience with electrical work. We offer 24-hour emergency service for those electrical incidents that just can’t wait until normal business hours. Please contact us today for more information. -Clean driving record -Pass a criminal and drug test - understand the importance of being on time and on budget with every project.Applicant Qualifications – You have requested that Indeed ask candidates the following questions:How many years of Electrician experience do you have?Do you have the following license or certification: Residential Electrician?Are you willing to undergo a background check, in accordance with local law/regulations?CAll and Schedule your interview TODAY! 828-650-9944 or send Resume to [email protected]

#electricians #residential electrician #electrician #electrician asheville #Asheville Electrician

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jamestdoleus · 7 years ago

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Jussi Kiviniemi from Ekahau talks ESS 9.0 updates

The ESS Update 9.0 Has Arrived

In the end of 2017 Ekahau released a much anticipated update to the Site Survey tool. Keith was able to sit down with Senior VP Jussi Kiviniemi to talk about what was new and what can be expected in the future. Below is a summary and highlights of their conversation. You can listen to the original interview HERE.

Keith Parsons: Jussi, how are you doing today?

Jussi Kiviniemi: I’m doing fantastic! Thank you! How are you, Keith?

Keith Parsons: I’m great!

Jussi Kiviniemi: Good to see you, man.

Keith Parsons: I heard you have a new upgrade to your software?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Do we? It’s the stuff Mikko Lauronen does and he doesn’t tell me.

Keith Parsons: How do those requests end up getting into the next version of the software? What’s the process?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Alright. So, two folded questions. Let me get the sales pitch out of the way and then we can talk about the actual stuff, is that fair?

Keith Parsons: Of course, sales pitch away!

Jussi Kiviniemi: All right. So, we released ESS 9.0 Ekahau Site Survey and Planner 9.0 and this is really an upgrade primarily for the planner part of things and traditional one. Let’s say a case study of the industry needs something and then we try to understand the big picture and come out with something that solves the big picture for as many people as possible.

So ESS 9.0 brings advanced capacity planning and it has few things on it. First of all, it has the all-new automatic planner. So the previous Ekahau Site Survey automatic planner, which basically places the access points for you based on your requirements on the map or several maps at the time and then it configures automatically the channels of the APs and stuff like that.

It had a couple of shortcomings. Number one – it overpopulates the amount of APs in high-density scenarios.

Keith Parsons: But salesmen like that.

Jussi Kiviniemi: They do but let’s not go into that. The second thing is the tool did not account for a single project like in high-capacity areas versus low capacity areas. So, if you had a school with classrooms and then you had a few lecture halls that required really high capacity, but the classrooms required less, you could not define that in the tool.

You couldn’t really validate whether it’s gonna work or not. The new ESS 9.0 gives you the ability to easily draw different zones on the floor plans. Like in this lecture hall, I’m gonna need 900 students to be served with their iPads and laptops. Then, In these classrooms, it’s gonna be 30 laptops per classroom or whatever.

It makes it super simple. It used to be a bit cumbersome UX wise in the old version. Now it’s very easy and streamlined.

That’s the new capacity planning nature. Also, the other part is like, “how do I make sure that the capacity is sufficient?” For that, we brought the airtime utilization heat map, which accounts for the amount and distribution of clients, the types of clients and how many spatial streams.

All of those basic things and applications which run on the clients, how often and what kind of isolations are required. But, it also accounts for new things that were missing in the previous version like the number of SSIDs. Do I have legacy data rate enabled or not and which one’s band steering?

Then, the tool completely now supports Dual 5 GHz as well as disabling 2.4 GHz radios, including the auto planner. The auto planner automatically disables 2.4Ghz radios or converts them into Dual 5 GHz. It automatically avoids hallway placement, bathrooms, and elevators. It just knows from the floor plan layout. So it has a ton of new improvements, but it has been like four years in development.

The tool completely now supports Dual 5 GHz as well as disabling 2.4 GHz radios, including the auto planner.

Keith Parsons: So in the past, the capacity planner had features about airtime and how many down to the minute level? How many minutes was Voice over IP going to be used?

But you’ve meant that you can use capacity analysis in the old version based on if you collect data from a post-validation survey? Will this new capacity planner also have that same type of reporting on post-install validations?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Yeah! For example, you can do a site survey of an existing network and then throw simulated capacity at the network and all that works just like it did in the previous version.

Keith Parsons: So you do get the analysis side. You’d mentioned it was basically about planning. But you could use that same feature in a post-analysis?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Absolutely! For fine-tuning the network and dropping those low data rates, seeing its impact of dropping your number of SSID from 63 stuff like that. So it’s a plus and it will be nice for you Keith as an Ekahau Certified Survey Engineer Trainer.

Your team Eddie, Devin, Blake, Sam, and everybody can illustrate very easily how Wi-Fi works and what are the major contributors to airtime utilization, which is the key to Wi-Fi performance. What degrades it the most and what makes better things like that.

Keith Parsons: So you can play a little with it? What if I lowered my data rates? Stopped having low data rates, what’s the effect on capacity?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Absolutely!

Keith Parsons: I’d love having “what ifs”. Spreadsheets are great for learning things and so far Ekahau has been wonderful for learning other things about Co-Channel Interference. One of the issues with the old planner was like you mentioned, too many AP’s having Co-Channel Interference. So Co-Channel Interference is now a requirement of that process?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Not really the requirement of CCI. It’s more like trying to avoid it as much as possible. So the tool now understands that CCI is bad. Do not or stop populating APs. Stop adding APs where it doesn’t really make sense and start converting radios on 2.4.

Either disabling them or turning them to Dual Wi-Fi once you start seeing CCI where you require advanced AP placement.

Keith Parsons: Well, one of the last upgrades added is the ability to do copy and paste. It’s been asked for a long time. A lot of people have asked the #ESS request. How did other #ESS request get into this 9.0 release?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Coming to your original question, I guess it’s about the process of how this works.

Keith Parsons: Is it just magic? You write it down and instantly it’s coded in the next version.

Jussi Kiviniemi: Yeah exactly! That’s a many-folded question. I guess there are lots of things. Let’s start with the #ESS request. Often these are a single feature and somebody asked for them.

Copy paste is a perfect example of something that’s really necessary for the user and clearly, it needs to be done. There’s pretty much one way of doing it right. That’s what we tried to do. So that was pretty simple. Then we’d get an enormous amount of these and by the way thanks to you and the community.

Keith Parsons: Does it help just from the community standpoint? If someone asks for something any #ESS request and 20 people also say it. Does that give a little more weight and priority? How does that priority process work?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Absolutely it helps. So, of course, there are more frequently asked things and what increases the weighing is if people explain the used case scenario for it. Sometimes you just hear at this button or at that button or slider and the context might be missing.

But usually they are brilliant – the requests. But the more context we have on the request, the better we can understand the situation and implement it. So, that it helps not just this particular user, but how it helps the community. How does it help the fifty thousand customers as well as the single user?

…Usually, they are brilliant – the requests. But the more context we have on the request, the better we can understand the situation and implement it. So, that it helps not just this particular user, but how it helps the community.

Keith Parsons: So #ESS request obviously on Twitter’s limited 140 characters is less. How would someone go about giving you that context and writing up perhaps a longer request with an explanation of why?

Jussi Kiviniemi: They can send their request to [email protected]. Mikko is our product director. I think the first starting point is our support team ([email protected]) because they have direct access to our future management system, they initially put in the feature request and they also understand the context and they can explain it a bit more.

It’s not just about reset my license. These guys are actually Wi-Fi experts that have gone through your training and CWNP training and stuff like that. So, that would be a good starting point.

#ESS request is one thing, right? But then there’s also like where the industry is going. That’s a bigger thing that we also need to look at and that’s why we have, for example, guys like Chuck Lukaszewski and the same signal guys really pick on. They’ve come in and talked about the future standards and how they’re gonna influence the Wi-Fi as a whole and the industry.

It’s primarily about the need to educate our customers and give them good content. But it’s also for us to learn and understand and continue those discussions with those guys on where the world is going? How are these standards deployed and designed in the enterprise? When and how should we bring those standards to our products? That’s what we’ve been talking with you.

For example, today we touched on some of the standards and how they’re gonna work like 802.11ax and stuff like that.

Keith Parsons: Sounds so good!

Jussi Kiviniemi: Then there’s the internal innovation which is something that people usually patent. The thing that’s relevant is what we need to combine on our engineering expertise.

With our expertise in understanding the market and the customers and we combine that and try to come up with big significant features that would then help a ton of people. But features that nobody actually directly asked for. And that’s like a big pile of the competitive advantage hopefully comes from something like that.

we…try to come up with big significant features that would then help a ton of people. But features that nobody actually directly asked for.

Keith Parsons: And a lot of our listener’s who think of themselves as Wi-Fi Professionals have a set of tools and experiences and knowledge, but they’re not your only market. You need to make a tool that goes out to a broader audience and thus I can see how some of us will ask for something that might be useful for our little niche but you’ve got to make things that go out for everyone.

Jussi Kiviniemi: Yeah, that’s the difficulty because there are guys like you, Blake, Sam and Jake Snyder and there’s a couple of hundred people that are or let’s say 500 or so, but this made maybe 30 of these really core guys and then 500 really Professional Wi-Fi Designers around them that are very vocal.

Somehow if we need to serve you guys because you’re kind of the original guys and you also have a ton of influence in the industry, but you’re exactly right so then there’s those 50,000 other guys or hundred thousand or million other guys that also should be able to use the product. If we made a product for you and Devin, it would look quite different from what we made it for an IT administrator in your local school.

Keith Parsons: And whatever you can do to help stop bad Wi-Fi, we’ll go for it.

And whatever you can do to help stop bad Wi-Fi, we’ll go for it.

Jussi Kiviniemi: I really appreciate that. That’s the goal, right?

Keith Parsons: Well, ESS 9.0 now available and ready for shipping. If someone is currently an ESS user, what’s their process of getting upgraded and if they are or not underneath the support, how do they get these new features?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Those that are under support the next time they fire up ESS, it will suggest downloading a new version and the installer will run and they will have the latest and greatest features.

Those that don’t have support, I should probably contact our Ekahau representative at [email protected] or just go to our online store if it’s available in your country. Buy from there or contact your local distributor and purchase additional support. It’s a pretty straightforward procedure. Sorry, can I add one more thing?

Keith Parsons: Of course!

Jussi Kiviniemi: I’d really like to give a big shout out and thank you to everybody who has been communicating with us, contributing to the features that are in the product. Without you guys, there would be nothing in the product and I appreciate how active the Wi-Fi community has been around us.

There are also users asking about the Ekahau Certified Survey Engineer (ECSE ) that you, Devin and Blake have trained for a long time. How many people on it?

Keith Parsons: Over 2,000.

Jussi Kiviniemi: Job well done, sir! So this is a very active community of people that help us shape the product and the industry with we’re trying to share with those guys and then there’s the Ekahau Masters, right? Well, what do you think of that and that group’s importance?

Keith Parsons: Well, last year, we had the first Masters and it was a chance for a subset of the community to get together and give feedback directly to Ekahau. I think you did a wonderful job of setting up a scenario where you asked us questions and set scenarios where we would even pretend we’re a product manager for an afternoon and help you build whatever the next product is.

One from being on the Masters on our site, it felt good that you were listening and seeing the results of some of those things we talked about actually show up in a product. That makes you feel like “Oh they’re actually listening” and it turned into a real product. Now, of course, we did some pie-in-the-sky ideas of something you could put on your head and virtual reality survey.

Yeah, you’re not going to get all those, but it allowed us the chance to get together with other people who are in the industry and talk about it. I can see how it’s really good for Ekahau from a feedback standpoint. It’s good for the community to realize that you’re asking us to help you with that feedback process.

Jussi Kiviniemi: And it gives you the opportunity to eat a lamb two times a day, right?

Keith Parsons: At least two. You could eat for breakfast too. That was an inside joke when we’re in Iceland the restaurant.

Thanks for coming on and talking about ESS 9.0. If anyone wants to upgrade next time, you click ESS and it’ll come up and ask for an upgrade and if you’re not currently under support, you should be.

Jussi Kiviniemi: Thanks, Keith for having me on. Again, I really do appreciate that and a big kudos to you on what you’re doing in the community whether it’s training the conference. Isn’t WLAN Pros Conference coming up soon?

Keith Parsons: The conference is in Lisbon this year. Every year we hold the European one in a different location since people move it around. Sometimes we pick weird places like the original but Berlin and Budapest were great and now we’re moving a little south to Lisbon. It’s October 3rd and 4th and we would be glad to have as many people come as possible I’m sure your team is gonna be there.

Jussi Kiviniemi: We certainly will, sir!

Keith Parsons: Thanks for your time!

Jussi Kiviniemi: Thanks a lot, Keith!

Jussi Kiviniemi is an SVP @Ekahau. Advisor at Spark Sustainability and interested in Strategy / Product / Evangelist & influencer marketing. Have more questions or feedback? Connect with Jussi via twitter.

You can listen to the entire interview HERE.

The post Jussi Kiviniemi from Ekahau talks ESS 9.0 updates appeared first on Wireless LAN Professionals.

from James Dole Gadgets News https://www.wlanpros.com/resources/jussi-kiviniemi-from-ekahau-talks-ess-9-0-updates/

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aaronaknightca · 7 years ago

Text

Jussi Kiviniemi from Ekahau talks ESS 9.0 updates

The ESS Update 9.0 Has Arrived

Keith Parsons: Jussi, how are you doing today?

Jussi Kiviniemi: I’m doing fantastic! Thank you! How are you, Keith?

Keith Parsons: I’m great!

Jussi Kiviniemi: Good to see you, man.

Keith Parsons: I heard you have a new upgrade to your software?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Do we? It’s the stuff Mikko Lauronen does and he doesn’t tell me.

Keith Parsons: How do those requests end up getting into the next version of the software? What’s the process?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Alright. So, two folded questions. Let me get the sales pitch out of the way and then we can talk about the actual stuff, is that fair?

Keith Parsons: Of course, sales pitch away!

It had a couple of shortcomings. Number one – it overpopulates the amount of APs in high-density scenarios.

Keith Parsons: But salesmen like that.

It makes it super simple. It used to be a bit cumbersome UX wise in the old version. Now it’s very easy and streamlined.

The tool completely now supports Dual 5 GHz as well as disabling 2.4 GHz radios, including the auto planner.

Keith Parsons: So in the past, the capacity planner had features about airtime and how many down to the minute level? How many minutes was Voice over IP going to be used?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Yeah! For example, you can do a site survey of an existing network and then throw simulated capacity at the network and all that works just like it did in the previous version.

Keith Parsons: So you do get the analysis side. You’d mentioned it was basically about planning. But you could use that same feature in a post-analysis?

Keith Parsons: So you can play a little with it? What if I lowered my data rates? Stopped having low data rates, what’s the effect on capacity?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Absolutely!

Either disabling them or turning them to Dual Wi-Fi once you start seeing CCI where you require advanced AP placement.

Jussi Kiviniemi: Coming to your original question, I guess it’s about the process of how this works.

Keith Parsons: Is it just magic? You write it down and instantly it’s coded in the next version.

Jussi Kiviniemi: Yeah exactly! That’s a many-folded question. I guess there are lots of things. Let’s start with the #ESS request. Often these are a single feature and somebody asked for them.

It’s not just about reset my license. These guys are actually Wi-Fi experts that have gone through your training and CWNP training and stuff like that. So, that would be a good starting point.

For example, today we touched on some of the standards and how they’re gonna work like 802.11ax and stuff like that.

Keith Parsons: Sounds so good!

Jussi Kiviniemi: Then there’s the internal innovation which is something that people usually patent. The thing that’s relevant is what we need to combine on our engineering expertise.

we…try to come up with big significant features that would then help a ton of people. But features that nobody actually directly asked for.

Keith Parsons: And whatever you can do to help stop bad Wi-Fi, we’ll go for it.

And whatever you can do to help stop bad Wi-Fi, we’ll go for it.

Jussi Kiviniemi: I really appreciate that. That’s the goal, right?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Those that are under support the next time they fire up ESS, it will suggest downloading a new version and the installer will run and they will have the latest and greatest features.

Keith Parsons: Of course!

There are also users asking about the Ekahau Certified Survey Engineer (ECSE ) that you, Devin and Blake have trained for a long time. How many people on it?

Keith Parsons: Over 2,000.

Jussi Kiviniemi: And it gives you the opportunity to eat a lamb two times a day, right?

Keith Parsons: At least two. You could eat for breakfast too. That was an inside joke when we’re in Iceland the restaurant.

Jussi Kiviniemi: We certainly will, sir!

Keith Parsons: Thanks for your time!

Jussi Kiviniemi: Thanks a lot, Keith!

You can listen to the entire interview HERE.

The post Jussi Kiviniemi from Ekahau talks ESS 9.0 updates appeared first on Wireless LAN Professionals.

from https://www.wlanpros.com/resources/jussi-kiviniemi-from-ekahau-talks-ess-9-0-updates/

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adamgdooley · 7 years ago

Text

Jussi Kiviniemi from Ekahau talks ESS 9.0 updates

The ESS Update 9.0 Has Arrived

Keith Parsons: Jussi, how are you doing today?

Jussi Kiviniemi: I’m doing fantastic! Thank you! How are you, Keith?

Keith Parsons: I’m great!

Jussi Kiviniemi: Good to see you, man.

Keith Parsons: I heard you have a new upgrade to your software?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Do we? It’s the stuff Mikko Lauronen does and he doesn’t tell me.

Keith Parsons: How do those requests end up getting into the next version of the software? What’s the process?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Alright. So, two folded questions. Let me get the sales pitch out of the way and then we can talk about the actual stuff, is that fair?

Keith Parsons: Of course, sales pitch away!

It had a couple of shortcomings. Number one – it overpopulates the amount of APs in high-density scenarios.

Keith Parsons: But salesmen like that.

It makes it super simple. It used to be a bit cumbersome UX wise in the old version. Now it’s very easy and streamlined.

The tool completely now supports Dual 5 GHz as well as disabling 2.4 GHz radios, including the auto planner.

Keith Parsons: So in the past, the capacity planner had features about airtime and how many down to the minute level? How many minutes was Voice over IP going to be used?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Yeah! For example, you can do a site survey of an existing network and then throw simulated capacity at the network and all that works just like it did in the previous version.

Keith Parsons: So you do get the analysis side. You’d mentioned it was basically about planning. But you could use that same feature in a post-analysis?

Keith Parsons: So you can play a little with it? What if I lowered my data rates? Stopped having low data rates, what’s the effect on capacity?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Absolutely!

Either disabling them or turning them to Dual Wi-Fi once you start seeing CCI where you require advanced AP placement.

Jussi Kiviniemi: Coming to your original question, I guess it’s about the process of how this works.

Keith Parsons: Is it just magic? You write it down and instantly it’s coded in the next version.

Jussi Kiviniemi: Yeah exactly! That’s a many-folded question. I guess there are lots of things. Let’s start with the #ESS request. Often these are a single feature and somebody asked for them.

It’s not just about reset my license. These guys are actually Wi-Fi experts that have gone through your training and CWNP training and stuff like that. So, that would be a good starting point.

For example, today we touched on some of the standards and how they’re gonna work like 802.11ax and stuff like that.

Keith Parsons: Sounds so good!

Jussi Kiviniemi: Then there’s the internal innovation which is something that people usually patent. The thing that’s relevant is what we need to combine on our engineering expertise.

we…try to come up with big significant features that would then help a ton of people. But features that nobody actually directly asked for.

Keith Parsons: And whatever you can do to help stop bad Wi-Fi, we’ll go for it.

And whatever you can do to help stop bad Wi-Fi, we’ll go for it.

Jussi Kiviniemi: I really appreciate that. That’s the goal, right?

Jussi Kiviniemi: Those that are under support the next time they fire up ESS, it will suggest downloading a new version and the installer will run and they will have the latest and greatest features.

Keith Parsons: Of course!

There are also users asking about the Ekahau Certified Survey Engineer (ECSE ) that you, Devin and Blake have trained for a long time. How many people on it?

Keith Parsons: Over 2,000.

Jussi Kiviniemi: And it gives you the opportunity to eat a lamb two times a day, right?

Keith Parsons: At least two. You could eat for breakfast too. That was an inside joke when we’re in Iceland the restaurant.

Jussi Kiviniemi: We certainly will, sir!

Keith Parsons: Thanks for your time!

Jussi Kiviniemi: Thanks a lot, Keith!

You can listen to the entire interview HERE.

The post Jussi Kiviniemi from Ekahau talks ESS 9.0 updates appeared first on Wireless LAN Professionals.

from Computer And Technology https://www.wlanpros.com/resources/jussi-kiviniemi-from-ekahau-talks-ess-9-0-updates/

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