Stage managing part 2

So the show is over with now and it was great. And I've been really busy which is why it's taken me so long to get to part 2.
So I left off with the show I did in college. For that show I did costumes: repair, organizing, and quick changes. I enjoy costumes. I love everything about them. The styles and eras, the fabric types and colors, and the great hats, shoes, jewlery, ect to acessorize them with. I enjoy making them. I don't always enjoy repairing them, although I like the challenge. I like designing them, but I don't get the chance too often.
My other great love is lights. I love designing lights. I love when you get the colors just right and it adds to the mood of the scene. They are some of the best special effects as you can get with live theater. I like the challenge of being the follow spot operator during a dance number. I even enjoy (crazy as it sounds) hanging out of the ceiling or balencing at the top of a ladder or cherrypicker to adjust the angle of a light.
But for this show I was just your basic stage hand, translation: I move lots of furniture in the dark. I had a good time, but I decided now that I've lost all those muscles from all my time off and now that I've had a kid- being the furniture hauler is not the job for me. I'll stage manage, I'll do props or costumes or lights. I'll help haul a few things, but I'm not meant to lift chaise lounges over my head any more. I should also stop trying to move large tables or stacks of chairs by myself. And I should spend the extra $10 for the super comfy shoes since I stand the whole show. Any ways bed is calling me so I guess there's going to be a part 3 and that's where I'll put the pictures.

Why tech theater is great mom training

So in honor of Mother's day this is my list of why tech theater is great mom training.



1. After so many years of cuts, bumps, bruises, and scrapes from building set, moving set, and running in the dark, you know your way around a first aid kit and always have one handy.



2. After building set, framing in a basement is no big deal. And you can paint it in your sleep. You can probably even do a little electrical and plumbing work.



3. Costume repair is not too different from regular clothes repair.



4. Because rehersal can go way late you're already used to carrying snacks and water everywhere.



5. There's what you reherse and then there's what really happens, so you already have a lot of practice coming up with plan B, C, D, ect on the spot.



6. Any one who's spent any time navigating backstage, should be able to handle screaming kids during rush hour traffic.



7. All that knot tying and building will come in handy when your sons do Scouts.



8. All that make up and costume knowledge will come in handy with your teenage daughter. Not to mention Halloween.



9. You're very familiar and even comfortable with dirt and grease. And with how to clean them up.



10. And now that your such a pro at moving set, moving your furniture from house to house is old hat.

Stage managing part 1

So this is going to need at least to blogs to cover all this.

So there is this popular local community theater, called the Herigage Community Theater

And Ben has done technical theater there in the past.

Lately John and I have been talking about me getting back into theater. I had quit for awhile because I was settling into a new state, then I was pregnant, then I was nursing, then John got a job and I'm the only person home most of the time. But I was starting to get a bit stir crazy and its hard to make new friends (that are adults) when you're called to work in the nursery. So we had decided I was going to try doing a show this summer.

One day Ben gets a phone call, they need a tech crew for a show at the Heritage. So I talk to John and show up with Ben at rehersal. The show is called the Women and it calls for a cast of like 45 women. Thats not a very reasonable number for community theater, so they've double and triple cast people for the supporting and bit parts, cutting the cast down to about 25. All women. Ben and the director, Ross, are the only guys. Ben totally realizes the opertunity he has here and never goes to rehersal with out applying body spray and hair gel.

I think I should take an aside here and tell you first of all that theater is more than a hobby to me, its a core part of my DNA. I remember auditioning to be in Merry Poppins in about first or second grade before I ever moved to Utah the first time. I got the part but was encouraged to make the right choice after discovering many rehersals and performances would be on Sunday. I dropped the show, but the preformance bug had bitten me.

I continued to do backyard shows with anyone who was willing (these were terrible, but the costumes were usually good). And in 6th grade I did my first auditioned for the part show. I also built set and found costumes. I moved to Utah and auditioned for the fall show and didn't get a part. It was so long ago I'm ok with admitting that I was totally crushed, but not all was lost they needed people for the tech crew. Long story short: I sing, dance, and act but plenty of other people do it better than me (especially singing if it's allergy season). So after being just part of the chorus for a few shows, and having to help move scenery anyway, I found my calling behind the scenes. I still auditioned for the shows I thought would be fun to be in, but I wasn't crushed anymore because tech is my thing. I was in a few shows, and I enjoyed them, but even then I was doing a lot of tech.

And so I learned to do everything I could, and it was a blast all through up to high school graduation. And then for a truely inexplicable reason I traded all that to study biological engineering (science is a big interest to me and I'm good at it, but it doesn't get me excited the way tech does). My motivation was good, I wanted to study genetics and cancer, what with all my family history of it. So I quit theater and fought with engineering for 3 years. I finally came to my senses and dropped engineering for biology because with just a few more credits I'd be able to graduate. And I teched another show and fell in love all over again with the crazyness backstage.

So that seems like enough for this post. Later.

Visiting the cousins (pics)

So this isn't everybody, just everybody I could get a picture of.
1. Steven 2. Aunt Debbie holding Steven and Trevor 3. Alicia
5. Tiffani 6. Ben and Tim 7. Donni


So Little John has never met any of these cousins before, him and Steven are about 2 years apart. They had a lot of fun.
1. Sizing each other up 2. Let me show you around 3. Oh pinecones are fun to throw
4. Just kidding I don't want to be up here after all 5. Why do keep following us Mom?
6. & 7. We found a stick! 8. 9. & 10. Trampolines are fun! 11. Ooh a slide

Deck and mancave (pics)

So now the deck is done!
1. Helping Daddy 2. I hold it and John attaches it 3. I got you some screws Daddy
4. Always wear your seatbelt, he fell out right after this picture 5. Ben giving Little John a ride (Ben doesn't need that wheelchair he got it at a yard sale to play with) 6. They're under the trampoline, and yeah he fell over doing that 7. Enjoying the new deck


So here is the grand tour of the mancave!
1. & 2. You go down the library hallway to get there (we have 5 bookcases in there)
3. The view from the door 4. The shelves we built him for his birthday, anchored to the wall and painted, he's started to put stuff on them 5. This is to give you some perspective, the shelves are taller than me 6. He puts his laptop on the shelf and sits in the banana chair (the arrow shows which shelf in the big picture)


And of course its all decorated!
1. This curtain hides the stuff we'll store back here 2. This is the beautiful marblized finish I gave his floor, it took a month of washing to get all the paint off my feet (it stuck like nail polish, but I was out of remover) 3. This beautiful rug keeps John's toes warm, his Dad brought it back from the first Desert Storm 4. I made him a lampshade 5. It makes neat patterns on the wall when it's on 6. The switch plate is covered in tinfoil and John painted this picture himself 2 years ago

Baby animal days (pics)

So I have so many pictures I like uploading them as collages, if you want to see them bigger just click on them :D

So we went to baby animal days and little John loved it!
1. Him and the easter bunny 2. He loved the pony ride so much he cried when I got him down
3. Looking at sheep 4. Touching a centipede 5. Touching a hissing cockroach (we washed hands right after the bugs) 6. He's laughing 'cuz the cow licked his face 7. More horses! 8. His first twinkie, he loved it 9. Goats


He loved the baby animals so much that Nana and Daddy took him again the next weekend (we got the year pass)
1. They jumped on and off of this a lot 2. He rode the pony twice today 3. Fuzzy baby duck
4. The sheep "baaad" really loud and scared him so bad that not even the baby bunny cheered him up 5. & 6. He spent ages playing with this wheel piece, the stick, and a rock. I love his simple joys!