The Next Big Adventure!

I am very excited right now. Excited to the point that, even though it's four in the morning, I can't force myself to fall asleep until I actually write all this down. I have just finished planning out my travel plans for Winter Break - and oh, what plans they are! In a total time of only three weeks, I will drive more than 4,000 miles, travel through 11 states, spend time in more than a dozen cities and towns, and visit at least half a dozen great friends!

Throughout all of this, I will not stay in a single hotel, motel, or other "high-class" establishment. My goal with this trip, apart from seeing friends and traveling to distant cities, is to live as frugally as I possibly can. In about half of the cities I sleep in, I will be crashing with a friend, but for the other half, I will just figure out somewhere to sleep when the time comes. In a number of cities, Hostels provide a safe yet affordable way to spend a night, often costing only 20 or 30 dollars a night.

Don't know what a Hostel is? I didn't either. Picture a hotel room, except with anywhere from 2 to 12 complete strangers of either gender sharing it with you. Certainly not the ideal living quarters, but when you consider that I can have a warm, safe place to sleep in New York City for $26 per night (as opposed to the $100+ per night you'd be charged for a hotel), the benefits are obvious. When that fails, I will live even simpler - using a sleeping bag, pillow, and blanket, and curling up in the back seat of my car for the night, sleeping in the parking lot of a 24-hour Walmart, or at a rest stop just off the highway, or even down a lightly traveled road in the middle of a city.

Sounds stupid? Maybe. But, for some reason I can't really explain, this is just something I really want to do. Whenever I travel, and I travel quite often, I try as hard as I can to not see the destination only from the tourist's point of view. Rather than seeing the glamour and history of a city from the safe, upscale window of my 14th floor hotel room, I'd much rather wander the back streets late at night, the areas not included in the guide books, and see people actually interacting with people in the most genuine way.

To be honest, another huge appeal of this trip is the pure spontaneity of it all. While I do have a loose schedule for what I want to do, the schedule stops with days and weeks instead of hours and minutes. All I know for sure is that at some point during those three weeks, I will visit a few specific destinations, but other than that, I will simply drive wherever I feel like going. If I see a destination that looks intriguing while driving west on I-71, then I'm gonna take it and never look back! Rather than focusing on the destination, I'm really excited to be able to look at the journey as a destination of its own. I'm sure I'll end up in some very unexpected places, but I'll undoubtedly return with lots of new experiences, new photographs, and new ideas.

It's gonna be a great winter!

R

Photo Friday! – [Untitled Commission]

Okay, so for this week, I need your help! This photo is going to be framed and hung, and along with it, as usual, will be included the photographer (Me!) and the title of the work – but I can’t come up with a fitting title! I welcome any and all suggestions, as I want this work to look complete! Also, I apologize (if anyone actually reads these) for the lateness of this - I was in New York all weekend and only now got internet access to post this.



And so, without further ado, on to the actual photo! As I implied, this photo was a commission by a group that will remain unnamed, which I just delivered as a final product this week. The requirements were a vertical composition, 8” x 12” image area, and it had to match the largely monotone theme of a preexisting room. A lot of thought went into this photograph – I waited until the evening sun was shining onto the subject at a low angle and with a warm, orange glow, and I positioned the bottle and myself in such a way as to capture the light as side/diagonal back light. I also placed the glass ever so slightly nearer to the camera than the bottle so as to allow light passing through the bottle to hit the glass at a nice side angle. I actually LOVE how this photo turned out in color, as the deep warm colors of sunset are clearly evident, as is the deep red color of the wine as the light passes through the bottle. It really is a beautiful composition of light and color.

I shot this photograph, like all my photos, in Camera RAW mode. This is a mode of saving photographs that records every piece of data about a photo, rather than just what it sees. This allows for much greater post-processing capabilities without degrading the image, and also allowed me to see the images in black and white in the camera, while still recording the color information in the image file. The down side is that this uses upward of 4 times as much memory as a non-RAW mode photograph, but I personally feel that the sacrifice in quantity of photos is more than worth the gained post-processing capabilities. When I post-processed this image, I actually started with the color image and desaturated it very methodically so as to bring out the hues I wanted and mute the ones I didn’t. Strictly speaking, this photo is not perfectly black and white, but the very slight hues still present were chosen to emphasize important elements in the photo and to match the room in which it is going to be hung.

Overall, I had a great time with this photo, and matching the requirements was actually very fun to do, and gave a sense of direction on where I wanted to go with the photo. Have a great week!

R

Photo Friday! - Sunrise Over Ithaca

(Yes, I'm aware that I'm publishing a Photo Friday blog on Saturday morning. Ah well)



So here we go! This is a very recent photo that I took last Saturday morning. I woke up really early to walk around the Ithaca College campus, and I tried to capture some photos of the sunrise. Regrettably, Ithaca is not a town that lends itself well to watching sunrises, as there are two enormous hills that lie to the east of wherever you happen to be. The sunrises are, however, magnificent beyond description. Possibly I will try for a sunset photograph next week. But meanwhile, this photo was my best attempt at capturing the sunrise in Ithaca. The building in the foreground is the Business building at IC, and the entire front is covered in a facade of clear glass. It really is quite pretty, especially when the light hits it just so.

So that's basically all I have to say about this one. Have a great day!

R

My Hero

I have met so many people in my life who are the epitome of good; the epitome of honesty; the epitome of love and of happiness and of courtesy. However, of these people, there are very, very few who I can call my Hero. One of those individuals is Claire Morgan Murray.

Claire was a very dear friend of mine growing up. We met for the first time as performers in the theatre, something we both had an endless love for, and we never really grew apart. Claire was a year older than I, but she was, and remains still today, one of the kindest, most caring people I have ever met. Claire would go out of her way just to try to make your life a bit brighter, and she didn't even expect or want any thanks in return. She always had a smile on her face and a kind word on her tongue, and she would always lend an ear to listen to your meaningless complaints and sorrows. Sadly, Claire passed away on September 13, 2005 at the young age of 13, the result of a fatal and incurable disease. Despite her young age, Claire's passing was mourned by thousands of people from within the local area and beyond. Every person she touched shed tears upon hearing the news, and even unknown strangers were said to have recognized her picture as "the girl with the infectious good mood."

But despite her charm, none of these is the reason why I consider Claire to be one of my heroes. During the last months of her life, Claire was fully aware of the effects of the disease, and that she would likely not live to see her 14th birthday. And yet, despite this knowledge, her personality remained as loving and caring as ever. Claire would still lend an ear to listen to your petty problems and comfort you, all the while knowing that her very life hung in balance. Rather than feeling sorry for herself and making others feel sorry for her, Claire lived her life to the absolute fullest, taking advantage of every moment she had to do what she loved to do. I hope that someday, whether long in the future or quite soon, I can find even half of the strength and charm that Claire embraced in her final moments of life.

Just Before the Sunrise

I have a distinct and vivid memory of waking unusually early on the morning of September 11, 2001. I was ten years old at the time, and like most ten year olds, I woke up without too much difficulty. But this morning was different. I had no idea why, but for some reason I found myself awake very early in the morning, before the sun had even risen. I remember getting out of bed and laying outside on the grass in my front yard, just waiting for the sun to rise. The rays of the sun quickly overtook the darkness of night, and as the sky began to be filled with daylight, I uneventfully went inside and started getting ready for school like any other ordinary day. Needless to say, that day would prove to be more out of the ordinary than anyone could have imagined.

Ever since 2002, I have risen each morning on the 11th of September to simply sit and watch the sun rise, and this morning was no exception. As I grew older and began to resent waking up more and more, I still managed to find the ability to wake up on this one day of the year and venture outside to watch nature's beauty unfolding before my eyes. I truly cannot explain why I do this. I would like to say that it is a tribute to the lives lost on that day, or that it holds some strong symbolism within me, but neither is true. Quite simply, as I sit each morning and watch a new day burst into being, I am forcibly reminded that, for thousands of people from all different walks of life, this was the last sunrise they would ever see. I think about that day when I innocently sat outside and watched the sunrise before school, and I think about the thousands of people who kissed their loved ones goodbye, who made lasting promises, and who left to pursue new journeys under that sunrise. But most of all, I am forced to acknowledge how lucky and privileged I am to be enjoying each and every sunrise, each and every day, and each and every moment. Because for thousands of individuals, this was the last sunrise they would ever see.

R

Photo Friday! - Lonely Bicycle

So this is an idea I got from a friend who also writes a blog. I've been meaning to do this for a long time, but never got a chance to do it until now. So here's how it works - every Friday, I will post a photo that I have taken and write a short writeup about that photo. Some will be old photos that you may have already seen, some will be brand new photos that I just took that week, and some will be from anywhere in between. So without further ado - here we go!


"Lonely Bicycle"

I took this photo back in April of this year while walking around my hometown taking photos. Unlike many days, I actually went out with a plan of what I wanted to photograph and what themes I wanted to stick with. I started the day with the idea of capturing some older buildings, specifically the lesser-seen unpainted brick that makes up the backs of most of the buildings. I was really happy with my take for the day - the golden hour light was really working well for me, and some of the textures on the bricks were really popping out beautifully.

As I walked across the river to where I had parked my car, I happened to glance to my right and saw, far in the distance, a bicycle leaning against a lamppost. I immediately had this vision for this photo, and ran over to start setting up. The streetlights had not yet come on, and I was desperately hoping that the light would actually turn on tonight so I could get some great toplight on the bike. Eventually they did come on, but the ambient light was still too bright to blend effectively. I kept watching and waiting for the perfect moment when the street light would be just strong enough to light the bike the way I wanted it to.

Overall, I spent about 30 minutes, from conception to final capture, getting this photograph, but I was really happy with the way it came out. I did very little post-processing work - just a little bit of color correction and noise reduction, and the addition of a very subtle vignette to draw focus to the bike. At the end of the day, I was happiest with this photo more than any of the others that I took that day.

R

And So... Goodbye

I've never been very good at saying goodbye. Which is why I'm sitting here wishing that tomorrow would never come. Tomorrow, I will say goodbye to so many incredible individuals and incredible friends, but more importantly, I will say goodbye to everything that I've known for the last three months. Though the events of this summer were far from perfect, I have loved every second I've been privileged enough to be here, and if I could go back and do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. Mere words can never describe the plethora of emotions which I am feeling right now, and which I will be feeling even stronger tomorrow. As I leave the Hangar Theatre for one last time tomorrow night, I will do so as a different person than I was three months ago, ready to march forward into the setting sun and begin on life's next journey.

Here's to the nights that turned into mornings,
the strangers that turned into friends,
and the friends that turned into family.

R

The Beginning of the End

Working at a summerstock theatre is an experience unlike any other. For three months out of the year, you pack up everything that defines you as a individual and move off to a brand new city, far from everything you've ever known. On your first day, you don't know a single person there, and yet you are immediately thrown headfirst into a high-intensity environment where you have no choice but to put forth 110% every minute just to keep your head above water. You spend between 8 and 16 hours every day at work with people you've never met, and the remaining time is spent in whatever living quarters you've been assigned with the same people. Spending nearly every waking moment with the same people for three months, you quickly develop very close bonds with people around you. And then, just as quickly as it began, the countdown to the end of the summer comes to an abrupt end, and you are whisked home to your separate schools and cities, back to whatever life you lived before summerstock.

We said goodbye to a very dear friend yesterday. The event was largely understated and unceremonious. The time was 3:30am, four hours into the final changeover of summerstock. As we took our ten minute break, she said last goodbyes, gave out last hugs, and walked out the theatre doors for the last time. I must confess that, even as we promised to cross paths sometime in our futures, I was secretly wondering if this might be the last time we ever saw eachother. For that is the hidden curse that is summerstock - even as we bond together, we fear that the bridges we build, the friendships we gain, and the memories we create can exist only within summerstock.

Over the course of the next three weeks, one by one, more and more friends will depart summerstock and return back to their own separate lives, taking with them only the memories created at summerstock. Some memories will be forgotten, others will be shared, and still others will be kept locked away from the outside world. As I say goodbye to each departing friend, I know not whether we will ever see eachother again in this life. But however our individual paths through life progress, our summerstock friendships and our summerstock memories will stay with us as we return to our pre-summerstock lives.

"Have you ever wished for an endless night?
Lassoed the moon and the stars and pulled that rope tight?
Have you ever held your breath and asked yourself,
Will it ever get better than tonight?"

R

Moving On and Looking Back

So at the request of Miss Allers, and because it's been such a long time since I've really written here, I've decided to write a new blog. I do apologize because it's once again about La Mancha, but as that show has essentially been the sole purpose of my existence here for the last two or so weeks, I think it's an appropriate topic for a few blogs.

On Saturday night, we had our 19th and final performance of Man of La Mancha at the Hangar. But there was no time to be sentimental - the moment the last audience member walked out of the theatre, a horde of technicians, armed with drills and saws and C-wrenches, descended upon the stage to whisk away any sign that there had ever been a show there. Costumes were washed and put back on racks, props were returned to storage, platforms were disconnected and carried away, lighting instruments were struck, and the process of changeover had begun.

As a professional theatre, the Hangar loses money every day that it can't sell seats to a performance. Therefore, it is in everyone's best interests to keep the number of days between closing and the next opening to an absolute minimum. By 1:30am, the entire set of La Mancha had been struck, leaving no sign that it had ever been there, and Electrics could really get to work. Because our jobs are considerably easier to do before scenery is placed, Electrics and Sound are always the first departments to start installing equipment for the next show. We spent the whole night striking the plot from the previous show, then hanging, circuiting, coloring, and patching the plot for the next show. By 6am we had accomplished most of what we set out to do, and we watched the sun rise as we drove home, ending a long 18 hour work day. We came back to work at 2pm that afternoon, and by 6pm the entire plot of 200-some lighting instruments was ready to be focused. It really is an incredible turnaround time - a little over 18 hours to go from one enormous show to a completely different, yet equally enormous show. It's amazing what a small, talented group of people can do in such a short amount of time when there's no room for failure.

So now that I've described the daunting process that is changeover, allow me to return to the moments just before we began to erase any trace of the show from our theatre. While 19+ performances of the same show in just over two weeks is a LOT, I enjoyed every second I spent working on this production. No matter how many times we ran the show, no two performances were ever the same. Some nights an actor was sick, some nights a lead spontaneously changed his lines, and some nights a costume piece just decided to be difficult. But without exception, I was moved every night when Richard Todd Adams performed "The Impossible Dream". And no matter how many times I heard him deliver his touching monologue in Act II, I was able to find new meaning in what he was saying every time.

Working on this show has been an honor and a privilege, and I'm happy to say that it has reaffirmed my choice of what I want to do with the rest of my life. I can't realistically expect to love every production as much as I've loved this one, but if future shows are even half as rewarding as this show has been, then I can't wait to see what the future has in store.


R

Advice to Aspiring Lighting Designers

So I apologize profusely for not updating this in forever! There's SO MUCH that's been happening, but none of it is really interesting enough to write about. So in lieu of an original post, I instead defer to the writing mastery of Lucas Krech, a successful professional lighting designer, and a skilled writer as well.

This particular article has always been a personal favorite of mine, as he takes us back to the very foundations of lighting design, without worrying about instruments and cables and dimmers and gels and lighting consoles. I encourage you to browse through the rest of his blog if so inclined.

Light Cue 23: Enjoy the Sunlight

More to come soon!

R

Words to Live By

"Call nothing thy own except thy soul.
Love not what thou art, but only what thou may become.
Do not pursue pleasure, for thou may have the misfortune to overtake it.
Look always forward; in last year's nest there are no birds this year.
Be just to all men. Be courteous to all women.
Live in the vision of that one for whom great deeds are done ..."


Ironically, by choosing to pursue a career in the theatre, I am actually sacrificing the main factor that made me love it in the first place. I have always been awed and inspired by the magic of theatre - that, on severely limited schedules and budgets, so many diverse people can bring together their incredible talents to produce an emotionally moving stage production that gets recreated eight times a week. Sadly, by working theatre at a high level, the "emotionally moving"-ness of the production for those of us running the shows often tends to be lost.

This was not the case this evening.

Tonight was our third of nineteen performances of Man of La Mancha at the Hangar Theatre, and I, as a frontlight follow spot operator, have a priceless view of the stage. Even though we've now spent over 50 hours with the actors on stage rehearsing and teching this show, tonight was the first time I really stopped to listen to what was going on. Now that my cues are all memorized and I have a feel for the show, I can finally stop to appreciate the incredible beauty that's happening 20 feet beneath my spotlight. And just before the finale of the first act, some of Don Quixote's lines started to really hit me.

As Don Quixote (played by Richard Todd Adams) held his vigil and considered how life should be lived, we at first hear some of the timeless advice which we've all heard since our youth. But what makes this truly powerful is the context. Don Quixote is holding vigil outside of a bar which he believes to be a mighty castle, preparing to be knighted by the owner of the bar whom he believes to be a great king. We are almost tempted to laugh at his expense, but as he delivers wise words of wisdom, we are left in a state of awe. Quixote may be a crazed lunatic who lives only in delusions, but the ideals and morals to which he clings are inspiring and pure. Even as everyone around him succumbs to the reality of life as it is, Quixote still holds fiercely onto his dream, all the while knowing that it is an impossibility.

Don Quixote's message is a universal one which we can all learn from. We have all, at one time or another, chosen what is easy over what is right, and we have all let go of something precious for fear of failure. Through the timeless words of Don Quixote, we are reminded that our lives are not defined by the places we go, but by the journeys we take to get there.


"To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star."


R

It's Been A While!

So I realized upon getting home a few minutes ago a few very important things. Firstly, that I hadn't updated this blog in too damn long! After 39 Steps opened, we basically settled into a dull routine where there wasn't much worth writing about, and since we've been in tech all week for Man of La Mancha, I quite frankly just haven't had time to write here. Secondly, I realized for the first time how much I absolutely love this place, and all the people that make it as amazing as it is. Opening night went very well, but the real fun started after the show, when we all just kinda let looses and unwound from a very long, but very successful, week of tech. It really is a whole different world from what I'm used to - everyone just wants to have a great time, and that's it. To my college-bound friends - you are going to have the time of your life when September finally rolls around. You can't even imagine what you're in for.

That's all for now. Time for me to crash - I still hafta run two shows tomorrow!

R

Hurry Up and Wait

That basically describes how the last two days have been going. Us electricians were called in at 8:30 both yesterday and today, mainly so we could get as much done before the carpenters came in and took away our working area. So we work really hard and fast until about 11:30, when all the actors and designers showed up and started tech. And at that point, we all basically adjourned to the green room and took what has turned into a 4 hour long lunch break. Since they're in tech, we can't be anywhere on stage at all, and since the only work we have left to do is on stage, that doesn't leave us with many options.

So as I write this, the entire electrics department (those of us who aren't running the show) as well as half of sound are sitting in the green room taking naps. But personally, I'm too lazy to try to take a nap (weird, I know). So how are things with you? Anything interesting going on wherever you are?

On another note, we have a very large red warning light in our green room, and it has been a source of frequent speculation and curiosity by the cast and crew. And today, we finally found out what it was. Apparently, the sewage system has a nasty habit of backing up, and to prevent the entire tank from blowing up, they installed a "sewage ejector" - no I'm not kidding. When the sewer backs up, it literally grabs sewage from deep within the ground and forcibly ejects it with a considerable amount of force. Unfortunately, the construction workers wisely chose to locate the sewage ejection port directly outside of the green room, under the covered tent. So, as it was explained to me, if the red warning light ever goes off, you should probably run very quickly in the opposite direction, because there is a fairly strong chance that a large wad of sewage may be forcibly projected in your general direction.

Have a great day!

R

First Days of Work

Wow! What a couple days it's been. If I had the time, I would write on and on about everything I've been doing, but I don't - and I'm quite certain that no one would actually read all of that. But, nonetheless, I'll do my best to summarize everything as much as possible.

So yesterday was my first official day of work. I came in at 9am with Breanna, another Electrician, and we started wiring lamp sockets. The main set piece of this show is a giant four-sided marquee that hangs 15 feet above the stage. It's about 20 feet long on each side and 5 feet high. And all together there's about 400 (!) lightbulbs on the structure, split into 7 different circuits. For every one of those lightbulbs, we have to install a socket for them to screw into, and we have to wire a hot and a neutral wire to every socket. So Brianna and I spent most of the morning finishing that, which they've been working on for a few days now. (See the photos below).

After lunch, the other three electricians arrived for the day. The carpenters had to steal the marquee set pieces away from us so they could get them in the air, so we started troubleshooting the actual light plot and getting everything ready for the focus that night. At 6pm, the designer arrived and we started the focus. There are 5 electricians on staff, and to make focus go quickly, everyone was focusing. While we focused overstage, we had four of us in various elevation devices and one person on the ground moving us around. Then when we finished overstage, we all went to the catwalks and focused different positions while the designer just switched between us. It was very intense, but very fun, and we managed to focus the entire ~150 unit plot in about an hour - that's roughly one unit every 25 seconds! After focusing and working out some problems, we went home at 11pm. I was out as soon as I hit the pillow.

Today, my call was for 8:30am - a half hour later than normal because we had worked so much on Sunday. We spent the morning continuing to wire up the sockets, except with one tiny change - we were now trying to do it at 20 feet in the air. Wiring hundreds of sockets, lamping them, and screwing them into a light box is hard as it is, but trying to do it while straddling a ladder with people working underneath you is even harder! One thing that we don't replicate in high school theatre is the concept of departments. In any professional or large community theatre, people and equipment are strictly divided into departments - Electrics, Carpentry, Paint, Wardrobe, Audio, and so on. In general, Carpentry (scenery) work has priority ,with electrics right behind them, and then paint and audio. What that means is that we were constantly having to work around the carps as they finished their own work on the marquee - we're both behind schedule, so it was difficult to try to stay out of eachother's way. We basically spent the whole day continuing to wire the sockets in the marquee, as well as troubleshooting some problems in the light plot and hanging some new units that didn't get hung the previous day. Around 5, the designer came back and we focused some of the new units, and I made some small changes to the units we had focused the day before. Then at 6, the show officially went into tech and I was done. Breanna and Tyler are still there because they're running the first show, but my first show assignment isn't until next week. I start tomorrow morning at 8am, and we'll likely be continuing to work on the marquee - hopefully we'll get it fully working tomorrow!

So I know this is a pretty boring post - sorry. I'm really tired and it's hard to explain a lot of what we're doing unless you really know the theatre. So to make up for it, enjoy these photos!: (click on each one for a larger, more detailed view)


Some of the sockets just after wiring.


The Downstage Letter Box


Another view of the Downstage Letter Box


Red Fred - We have two Freds at the Hangar. FRED stands for "F**king Retarded Elevation Device". They are incredibly old and don't look too good, but they're surprisingly sturdy. They move up and down by cranking a very loud and squeaky hand crank.


Blue Fred


NFG Pile - This is our NFG pile, which currently lives off stage right. If you've never heard the term, NFG stands for "No F**king Good".


Terrace 11 - The dorm building where we're all living for the moment - we'll hopefully be moving soon....


Enjoy!

R

And So It Begins

Well, I'm here. Two months after sending in the applications and finishing the interviews and signing the contracts, I'm finally here in beautiful Ithaca, NY, ready to start my internship at the Hangar Theatre. For those of you just joining us (or for those of you who don't really care), I am a freshly minted Electrics Intern at the Hangar Theatre, a professional theatre in Ithaca. The stage and house is relatively small, but the production value of these shows is incredible, and the people are some of the best in the world at what they do. I drove up to Ithaca this afternoon and stopped by the theatre to say hello to people and get familiar with the layout of the place. I got my keys and my welcome packet, and drove to my dorm on the Ithaca College campus to unpack. I grabbed some dinner at Subway in the commons, and now I'm just sitting in my room waiting to start work tomorrow morning.

The Electrics department of which I am a part is made up of only five interns and the department head, (called the Master Electrician in the professional theatre world). Note that it's not the LIGHTING department, and there's a good reason for that. Electrics is generally responsible for anything that gets or uses electrical power, such as motors, onstage lamps, signs, and yes, lighting instruments too. A perfect example: most of today (and probably most of tomorrow - uggh), Elecs has been/will be working on a giant sign that's going to light up and flash and change colors during the show. It's gonna look AMAZING. Months ago, the scenic designer drew up very detailed plans for exactly how he wanted the sign to look and be built. He then sent those plans to the lighting designer, who worked with the scenic designer to place the electrical components and make everything work together. And finally, all those plans were sent to the scenic and elecs shops, where they are currently being built and wired.

So anyway - I was sitting here and I suddenly had the idea to start this bloggy thingy. For one, it's a great way for me to record what I'm doing so I can look back and see how things have been going. And maybe more importantly, it's a way for my friends back at home to see what I'm doing, if anyone's interested in reading the boring ramblings of an underpaid electrics intern. :) I can't promise how often I'll update this thing, but I do promise to do it as often as I can. If you have any questions for me, or if you like reading what I write, then please COMMENT because it will make me smile and it will encourage me to write more often!

That's all for now. Stay in touch! :)

R

Turning a New Chapter

Well... this evening started out in a great way!!! As I was driving home during the heart of the golden hour, I noticed the incredible sunset and simply had to stop to take some photos. I drove to a location near my home that I've been dying to shoot for ages, pulled out the nifty fifty, and started shooting. I've been neglecting my camera lately because of being so busy with the show, and it felt really good to finally be making some photographs again. The light was simply spectacular - I was getting shot after shot after shot and loving every one! I was having the time of my life! And just as I was about 150 images into the fresh memory card - *POOF*. Out of nowhere, a card formatting error reared its ugly head, dragging my photo-taking escapade to a grinding halt. I tried in vain to recover some of the images, but without any success. After finally accepting the loss of the images, I reformatted the card, but by the time I was ready to start shooting again, the sun had set and the incredible light which had lit up my photos was gone. I begrudgingly got back in my car and drove home, resolving to return at the next beautiful sunset with multiple backup cards in my bag. And so, instead of a conglomeration of beautiful sunset images, I give you this poorly-written and disorganized journal entry. Voila!

Hmm.. what else.

Okay, so despite the devastating loss of my images, I'm still very excited. Why, you ask? Wait, what's that? You didn't ask? You don't really care? Ah well, I'll tell you anyways. Like every good technical theatre major, I diligently sent out my applications for summer internships to regional theatres all across the country. And, after multiple rounds of resume-sending and a phone interview, I have finally accepted a position as an Electrics Apprentice for the Hangar Theatre's summer season!! WOOT!!! For those of you not heavily involved in theatre, this probably doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but for me this is HUGE! I will be spending the summer working harder than I've ever worked, literally rubbing shoulders with professional actors, directors, designers, and technicians. And, as of about 45 minutes ago, all the contracts were signed, all the tax forms were filled out, all the housing information was recorded, and my paperwork packet is on its way to making me an official employee at the Hangar! I also got a first look at the schedule for the summer, and oh boy is it scary!! The theatre puts on 14 (yes, thats FOURTEEN) fully produced productions in a two-month time period all on the mainstage - plus another 9 on a smaller, secondary stage. Because of that, it's literally a 24-hour operation. Looking at the calendar, there's hardly a single hour in the entire summer where some department is not working. Painters work every day from 10pm to 8am, Electricians do changeover from 11pm to 4:30am, and many of the tech rehearsals start at hours such as 6pm or 11pm, totally throwing off whatever sleep schedule you might be on.

As I reflect on my freshly-signed contracts, sealed in their envelope waiting patiently to be mailed off to Ithaca, I wonder if I really made the right choice. This summer will very possibly be my last summer ever to enjoy and just spend time with my friends. Hell, it may very well be the last time I ever see some of my friends, although I sincerely hope that that's not the case. Yes, work and education are always good things, but is there such a thing as too much? Am I digging my own grave by sacrificing my only school-free months to the demanding and rigorous time commitments of a professional summer stock theatre? I really don't have an answer for that one. I suppose only time can tell how everything will work out in the end. And until that time comes, I'll make the most of every moment I have, before they've all run out.