Saint Plays: Directing vs. Acting

The production that I was working on recently finished just in time for me to come home for half of my spring break! I was the Assistant Director and Set Designer, which means I helped the Director analyze the script so the actors could understand it, and helped her add movement to the words to make the story make sense. I also helped think of ideas of what environment would be best to tell the story in, by being Assistant Set Designer.

Here's the set with the actors and director below:

The bathtub was a huge part of the play, it was used as a bathtub, a car, and a jail cell!

I really love being on the artistic team of a play, much more than I ever loved acting. (Tutu this is for you! :) I am able to participate in making a piece of living art, instead of following directions and trying to do my best on my performance. I love reading a script and thinking of ideas of how it can be expressed on stage and with what materials, resources, colors, images. It has become my entry way into the theatre world since I changed my major/life path. I may still pursue some acting in the future, but this has been so artistically rewarding and fulfilling, I'm going to keep with this for a while!

I'm famous!

I seem to be on the front page of the new Theatre Department's website, in a picture from the production of Tartuffe by Moliere I was in last year. I'm in the frumpy maid costume...

Check it out!

Oh and on the right, the THESIS FESTIVAL II will feature my 20 minute Solo Performance that is my thesis, or the project that is the culmination of my time at Barnard. (I hope.)

Boots win, Snow fail

Obsession has hit with my latest purchase. I hope hope hope they come tomorrow, since its supposed to snow again all night and day. Finally my feet won't be wet and freezing.

Internships

Soooo after an almost 3 month search/battle, I scored 2 internships.

One entails me being an assistant director for an after school program called "Shakespeare Remix" that gives the kids the opportunity to rewrite and reach Shakespeare through their own perspectives. Its going to be awesome and was recommended by my lovely theatre teacher from high school! The program won an award that was presented by the also lovely Mrs. Michelle Obama. Check out the website here!

The second internship is being an artistic intern (whatever that means) at a theatre company that does classical plays (its always good to learn the classics first...right?) It seems like a much more professional setting and will be a great contact builder! Check out the website here: Pearl Theatre!

I feel honored and blessed to have found something that makes me feel so happy and fulfilled. I only hope that I can keep doing it forever. Oh and I've been in NY for 5 days and already seen 3 plays.

The Last Push

After an incredibly indulgent Thanksgiving weekend at home in California, I am now getting ready to go back to the daily grind: class, final projects, stage managing, and hours of rehearsal a day!

I'm so overwhelmed about what is to come in the next and last 3 weeks of the semester, the next 6 months, let alone the next year. Below is the poster for the play that I'm stage managing, I hope everything goes well...the organization and efficiency of everyone on the team is my job!

So here's to taking life one day at a time, or maybe better yet, one hour at a time, getting through with this semester, and moving on with life, no matter what comes!

My latest project...

For the past couple of weeks, I've been assisting the director of the production The Physicists being produced by Barnard's theatre department. It was a last minute opportunity offered to me by the director (who also is my directing teacher) just to take notes for her in rehearsals. It somewhat escalated into a larger commitment when I offered more of my time and she continued to use it.

It was a great decision, I learned a lot and just absolutely love being around the creation of theatre. Here's the description of the play:

Einstein. Newton. Möbius. Three men in an insane asylum believe themselves to be three of history's most brilliant scientists. Or is their madness merely a ruse, a means of hiding (or pursuing) a scientific discovery that could lead to inconceivably destructive forces being unleashed upon the world? "Drama," Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt observed, "can dupe the spectator into exposing himself to reality, but [it] cannot compel him to withstand... or even to master it" — a fitting motto for the Barnard College Department of Theatre's 2010-11 season, which aims to "expose" audiences to the intersection of history and politics through the provisional reality of the stage. Dürrenmatt's scalding and farcical parable about the moral dilemma of the modern scientist is an excellent place to begin this yearlong project. Alice Reagan, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice, directs.

I feel honored to have been apart of this production, and I can't wait to continue to learn from Alice in my directing class. Check her out on her website here: alicereagan.com!

This semester has been one of my busiest, with visitors, rehearsals, homework, and friends. My parents are coming next weekend and Monday I start my official Stage Managing position. I will post pictures of Amanda's visit soon and of my parent's visit/Halloween after next weekend! I get scared when I think about how much I love theatre, and this semester has really seemed surreal being able to learn and experience so much related to the field I love. I feel so lucky!

Lovely weekend in NY

Niall came to visit this weekend! We had a great time exploring the city. Saturday morning we had a brunch with all my friends! It was lovely.

Reunion with Argentina friends, Niall and Kara!

See my kitchenette below!!!

I have so much homework, I'm so sleep deprived that this is gonna stay short! Rehearsal starts next week...so I guess this means that I'm gonna have to be come close friends with caffeine.