Tick tick tick

Lucia’s final

lucia — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:48:35 +0000

My final project for Ideas and Performance. Also, my last examination of my senior year. This is a bit overwhelming. This video was originally shared on blip.tv by cluci9ef with a No license (All rights reserved) license.

Pictures Tuesday through Thursday

lucia — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:14:43 +0000

NYC Photo Shoot

lucia — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:38:45 +0000

The following are some pictures from the past few days. More pictures are to come.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please take five.

lucia — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:21:00 +0000

What is it about this city? Every where I go, I hear Paul Desmond’s song “Take Five”. First it was just on the side walk played by a man with a saxophone, then in the subway by a man with a trumpet, then again on the subway by another saxophonist, then finally in the hotel lobby. Lastly, while I was humming the catchy tune on the subway I boarded the F train and the first thing I saw when I sat down was a sign that said “TAKE 5″. I find it ironic that in such a busy city, the message to sit down and take five minutes to relax and enjoy the music is everywhere. The following is the youtube video for “Take Five” as performed by the Dave Brubeck Quartet.

Day 2 & 3

lucia — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:51:52 +0000

Due to sheer exhaustion, today’s post about yesterday and today is more of a list of what I have done, and some pictures to illustrate. These are all things that I either did, saw, heard, or learned while traveling about the city.

Saturday, March 1:

- I heard “Knights In White Satin” by the Moody Blues done by Peruvian Pipes in the subway.
- Then Jon, Lindsay, Latera, and I explored the Union Square Greenmarket and was tempted to try all of the different foods. The crockpot in our room may get some use after all.
- I bought my week’s subway pass- best use of $24 so far
- Jon, Latera, Lindsay, and I had lunch at Rocket Wraps near the Classic Stage Company. It was very delicious.
- Our class saw Chekov’s ”The Seagull” at Classic Stage Company. I’m not quite used to watching Chekov. The story was interesting, and most of the acting was very good, but it is not my favorite of the shows that we have seen so far.
- I became separated from Jenn and Sommer on the subway when my week pass would not let me through. After running across the street to buy a single ride pass, we managed to meet up at the L.
-We met with Stephanie Gatton, the SM of Vital Theatre Company’s “Death Bed” at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre . Stephanie was very informative. My two favorite pieces of advice from Stephanie were: there has to be a separation, this should not take over [your] life, and that we should decide if we love doing Stage Management. If not, we should get out.
- I saw “Next to Normal” at Second Stage. The play was too overwhelming for me. I felt like the more they threw at me about Diana’s mental illness and the dead son, the more I wanted to withdraw into myself and shut out the world. The musical numbers were all very catchy, but the subject material hit closer to home. I do not care to explain this.
- After the class discussion, Jon, David, Lindsay, Latera, Reggie, and I joined UMW alumns Jess, Jenna, and Tori at the Gaf Bar to catch up.
- While walking back to our hotel from Gaf, we discovered one of the locations of Papaya Dog. A few of us stopped in to get hot dogs and french fries which were very delicious. Jon ordered a glass of their papaya juice which I stole from him.

Sunday, March 2:
- David, Lindsay and I set out for the Fashion District to explore the stores and possibly pick up hats to protect our freezing heads. Although Lindsay and I did not find the hats we were looking for, we did find shirts at the 3 story H&M.
- The three of us took a chance and bought candied almonds from the Nuts 4 Nuts street vendor. They were scrumptious!!! I highly recommend other people take advantage of these delightful warm treats.
- Next we discovered the joys of street music starting with the subway to Central Park. At every stop there was either someone playing the saxophone, the guitar, the flute, or singing.
- When we reached Central Park, we pet the Blackey the carriage horse at the Plaza, walked along stopping at the Ice rink, carousel, and finally Bethesda terrace and fountain. Along the way we stopped to say hello to the ducks, saw a woman roller skating/dancing, a gigantic great dane, a children’s ice skating competition, and the bridge/tunnel from Godspell and Cloverfield.
- At the Bethesda fountain I stopped and enjoyed a harpsichordist.
- We then hopped onto the 1 train and traveled to Christopher street where we discovered that an episode of Sex and the City was partially filmed at Le Petit Puppy, one of the cutest pet stores I have ever seen. Lindsay, David, and I joined Reggie to play with the puppies and contemplate buying one.
- After words we dined at the Manatus. The food was fairly good and reasonably priced. After filling our tummies we walked to Grove and Bleecker St.s to see the friends building. It was rather anti-climatic, but I did get pictures. Next, Lindsay and I found hats at a cute store called brooklyn industries. Now my head will stay warm!
- Next was “Grace” at the Lucille Lorel Theatre. This show posed a question about religion. What is right and what is wrong? Is is possible to live and have relationships with people of conflicting beliefs? I did not enjoy the show. I found it boring, and did not understand what their true point was. Were they preaching tolerance? If that was the message, I did not get it.
- Jenn, Sommer, and I boarded the 1 back to Times Sq to make our appointment with Seth Sklar, the ASM of “Legally Blonde.” We had a little time to kill before our meeting, so we popped into Toys R Us on Times Sq, and quickly realized that it was not the right store for us, due to the sheer number of people there. The t-rex and leggo displays were very neat. When we arrived at the Palace Theatre, we were buzzed down at the Stage Door and met Seth. Seth’s career path was quite different from Stephanie, whom we had interviewed the previous day. Where Stephanie encouraged us to look into Grad School, Seth said that it was unnecessary. He could not stress enough the importance of not just who you know, but how many people you know. After talking with Seth, he showed us around backstage and downstairs. I liked his calling station. Although it was tight, it had everything he needed right at his finger tips.- After the show, Natalie Joy Johnson (a UMW alumn) and Gaelen Gilliand took our class on a tour of the Palace Theatre. I never realized how small their space is, but their stage is excellent. We saw how their scenic pieces tracked on and off stage. Since they have very limited wing space, most of their pieces fly in and out to keep them out of the way. Gaelen took some time after giving us a tour to answer any questions our group might have had. I took this opportunity to ask questions about her path from college to where she is now. One of her best pieces of advice for aspiring actors was to go to every audition possible. Put yourself out there.
- The day (and this post) concluded with our class discussion on the show. It is always interesting to see each member of the class’s take on the shows that we have seen that day. While someone may have loved the show, another might hate it. Today our class had a good discussion about the themes of “Grace”. Some members of our class are still repeating exactly what other people say, which is quite annoying as it wastes everyone’s time.

Tomorrow will be another exciting day when we meet Terry Alexander, the ASM of “Mary Poppins”, see “Gypsy”, and continue to explore the city. Please see my next post for photographs from yesterday and today’s excursions.

NYC Day 1

lucia — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 14:41:05 +0000

Warning show spoilers may occur below. Read at your own risk.

Wow. That is one of the most descriptive ways to describe our first “day” in NYC. Our Ideas class all boarded a bus for DC from our school, then transfered onto a DC to NY wifi but in Dupont Circle. The bus trip had its ups (sitting with friends, catching up on some much needed sleep, and auto-bingo) and its downs (watching graphic movies and finding out there was a child on the bus and no wifi on a wifi bus), but all of those things were pushed aside when we saw the first bit of NYC’s skyline at night right before we entered the Lincoln Tunnel.

Now we were in the city! After dropping off the other passengers, the bus driver kindly drove closer to our hotel, the Residence Inn, Times Sq. My room is quite large and extremely nice. I certainly was not expecting an almost full service kitchen complete with a crock pot. Why is there a crock pot? In case I feel like making a pot roast? Lindsay and I grabbed the bed and David and Jon graciously took the pull out couch.

However, there was not much time to explore the hotel yet as we all deposited our luggage in our rooms, ran to Gregg’s room, stuffed pizza that he had kindly bought for all of us, and raced off to go see Spring Awakening at the Eugene O’Neill theatre. The show was amazing. As the sexually charged teens in the show discover more about themselves and the world around them through their explorations in puberty, they took me with them on an extreme emotional catharsis. Three of my favorite feeling explosions were during the songs “The Bitch of Living”, “I Don’t Do Sadness” overlapping with “Blue Rain”, and “Those You’ve Known”. I felt that although I could not connect completely with one character, I was able to pick certain aspects from each of the characters that I understood, because I have experienced very similar things. At the end of the show I wanted more. I would have been willing to sit through another two hours to hear more about the lives of the people that I had been allowed to observe. What happens to Melchior after learning of Wendla’s death? Is Ilse able to rebuild her life after running away? Does Martha ever take the chance, and stand up to her father? I am not disappointed that I did not receive these answers. On the contrary, it is nice that they leave you on the brink, able to make up your own mind about what happens in the lives of these characters. Overall the acting was fabulous. Each actor was truly dedicated to their character. The choreography was wonderful. I loved the angular movements of the body’s, and the hand gestures. A beautiful moment in choreography was in “The Word of Your Body”, as Melchior and Wendla discover their chemistry. The two are sitting side by side and the only part of them touching are their hands. Sounds cliche and uninteresting, but the movement of their hands was captivating and beautiful. I could also rave on about how I loved the Lighting and Scene design, but I am sadly running out of time and there is still so much to say. I loved the show and think that everyone should go see it!

That night, after discussing the show, David, Jon, Latera, Lindsay, and I went out to celebrate our being in NYC and Jon’s recent casting in Jerry Springer: The Opera. The five of found a cute pub right around the corner from our hotel called Gabby’s where we made toasts, and then succumbed to our exhaustion and slumped back to the hotel. It was a long, but excellent day.

Interviews and Tours and the City, OH MY!

lucia — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:26:06 +0000

I am very excited about the upcoming NYC trip. Jenn, Sommer, and I have been working quite hard these past few days to finalize appointments, meetings, and tours. It is both intimidating and exhilarating that we leave at 11:00am this Friday. When we first started this semester this research trip felt years away, and then suddenly it is here.

So far our schedule is looking very doable. We arrive in NYC Friday and we’re immediately off to see Spring Awakening. Saturday and Sunday are two more days of shows without any appointments. Then Monday sets off the tone for the rest of the week with the combination of shows and interviews. Here are the people that I am meeting with while up there:

*Terry Alexander, the sub ASM of Mary Poppins
*Richard Costabile, touring SM
*Tom, the PSM of the NYC Opera
*Jill Cordle, PSM of November
*Roy Harris and Denise Yaney, SM team of The Homecoming
*William Lang, SM of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
*Jess Johnston, SM and a UMW alumn
*John Vivian, PSM of Rent

Pictures

lucia — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:51:49 +0000

Just a few pictures from the Far Away process.

What have I been up to?

lucia — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:43:56 +0000

For the past few months, I have been working on our production of Caryl Churchill’s Far Away as the Stage Manager. Although this production has taken up much of my time, I feel that this time has been well spent as a terrific learning experience. At the start of this production I had two productions as Stage Manager under my belt, but I had no idea how little I actually knew. In previews shows I had always felt as if I was flying by the seat of my pants. Never really knowing what paper work should be done at what time, who I should be communicating with to resolve certain issues, and even how cues are really called. Last semester the three other Stage Managers at UMW and I started, with the help of our mentor Brandon Prendergast, a Stage Management round table. I am very grateful to Brandon, Sommer, Jenn, and Donna for their help and support. I hope that the future Stage Managers continue this round table.

lucia — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:28:09 +0000