theater, life, theater-life

life is a funny word. type it over and over again, and then look at it for a while and then all of a sudden it takes on a new meaning. sometimes this happens to me when i type or look at the same word for a long while. wow--absolutely nothing on topic for my blog.

i enjoy theater. i enjoy all the aspects from the live audience even down to the costume designs. i guess that's why i involve myself in such an artform. but i would like to poll my readers (all two of you haha) on a question that i find myself asking with every production i involve myself with.

is it possible to involve yourself in drama without there being extra drama involved? it never seems to fail that as successful as the shows i've be a part of have been, there is ALWAYS unneccessary drama.

here are a few examples:

music man @ afhs -- two weeks before we open, neal decided he was done and that if our show was "spit* on a shingle" (* edited for michelle) it was our own dang* fault. the show was fun, but pretty much went down in history as a joke. we made seven dollars. granted we bought like 6000 worth of supplies and a new spotlight...so we probably made more than 7 dollars, but that's what neal tells us.

secret garden @ the scera -- first of all the drama with the warby's making an exit (the reason i did the show ultimately because there was a role to fill) one of our leads who we called "the chad" ALWAYS being late. lucky for me i was just acting and wasn't responsible for him :) and my favorite little girl.... SLAGOWSKI!

scarlet pimpernel @ the scera -- this show it was me, sadly, who was part of the drama. this was the nasty time when krystyna and i really started to part ways and she was in the show with me and was my dance partner for most numbers. an effort to save our relationship, nasty ending. mel also reminded me of the awful head butting between neal and mindy for who knows what reason.

macbeth @ the castle -- the whole delemma with strike. not even going to really get into this one. the wounds between me and the people it affected have been fixed and i'll leave it at that.

my fair lady @ the scera -- i don't remember a whole lot of drama happening with the show actually. i think the hardest part was having neal direct his wife and watch how they would sometimes fight. not the best of scenarios i think, but ultimately this show was fairly drama free. and as i remember a lot of fun too!

west side story @ usu -- riff came down with laryngitis. this was kind of fun drama, to be honest. i got to sing his songs into a microphone back stage while watching a monitor showing me the director from the pit. i couldn't see what he was doing on stage. we probably weren't together, but the sound coming from the speakers was GREAT! :) i made some good frineds from this show.

julius caesar @ the castle -- our production stage manager is falling apart as a person, leaving me to pick up the slack. something i ultimately don't mind doing because i want the show to be a success, but this person is also in the show and its affecting her acting and just her as a person. no one really wants to be around her because we're not sure if she's going to snap or laugh or whatever.

seagull @ byu -- haven't had much drama.... so far :) the only drama i see is that this show overlaps with caesar by a week or so. but that really isn't avoidable drama so i'm okay with it.

the rest of the unneccessary drama needs to go.... or does it? is it that drama that us theater geeks thrive on? i think part of me has to say yes. most of the time (when it doesn't directly involve you) it's entertaining to be a bystander. so as much as i really want this unneccessary drama to go away, it probably won't and i think i'm okay with that.

on a side note, film has a very similar unneccessary drama i'll save that for another post.

so two things i want to know from you: 1. is this "unneccessary drama" something that happens all the time?
2. i want examples. it doesn't have to be from a show. it can be any kind of performance. but i know it exists everywhere!

wednesdays

wednesdays are fun days for me to drive to work. from the moment i exit the freeway, there will be cars that will basically be following me to work. this, of course, is because many of these cars are going to the mtc to drop off missionaries. i try to observe the different cars and the emotions that the passengers are showing. some are happy, others are obviously crying, and then there are those cars that look like no one is saying anything. they're all just deep in thought. the best part of this drive on wednesdays is that I turn left into my work's parking lot before reaching 900 east. that's as far as i have to go. :)

audience participation necessary

So i'm in need of some new material to read on a daily basis. Now that I have learned how to utilize google reader properly, i would like some input on websites that you all (the 3 people that read my blog) visit on a daily basis be it for news, technology, music, etc.

help a brotha out.

a few thoughts that have been in my head

couple of thoughts for the day.

another successful 24th of july fireworks show. no cops. and! griff and i jimmy rigged what i bought to set off 8 of the big fireworks (some single some multi shot) to all go off at once. it was a great finale!

aside from that i've been thinking about my friendship ring and how it seems to go through waves of changes depending on what i'm doing with school or work, etc., and also just in general as I get older and grow up. granted i still have my core set of friends like griff, stacey, jules, mel, and ben who i can go days, weeks, or sometimes months (years in the case of griff) without seeing or hanging out with and we just pick up where we left off. i like those kinds of friends. i sometimes get frustrated with people when they say "why are you never around anymore?" "are you ditching us?" blah blah blah. jr. high crap like that. the fact of the matter is right now with a new job, two shows to prepare for, and a new semester of 18 credits to look forward to in the fall, my "me" time is precious because there's not much of it.

i'm really starting to realize who my real friends are. i like that. i'm finding out more and more that as much as i have the characteristics of an extrovert, i'm really an introvert in disguise who would much rather have five or six close friends rather than 20 "friends."

ok and now to the point of the friend thing. i see one of my friends as a huge extrovert, and this person has many different friendship circles, but i see people who are trying to be their friend getting upset because the friendship is more of a "when it is convenient for them" kind of thing. i sometimes wonder if in the past i've done this to my own friends, and i'm 100% sure the answer is yes. it sure is a mean thing to do. and i'm going to work on it, just as i hope my friend works on it as well. wow, those last few paragraphs would be great for a drinking game. a shot for every time the word "friend" is used.

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i'm really excited for this job to begin. tomorrow i'm going to go and fill out the official paperwork to be an employee. i'm also being "briefed" to be brought up to speed on the way the office works, what's expected of me, and then i'll just take off from there. yes, the actual show i will be helping to produce is quite cheesy. google: byu broadcasting living essentials. that will be my project for the next few months as we are preparing to shoot the next 12 episodes. (i'm in charge of 6.) i will do my best to take as much cheese out of the programs as possible, but also as I have learned from doing byu speeches, the crowd for day time kbyu programming is the demographic of older people with nothing better to do. so some of the cheese is a necessary part of the programming.

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i went boating with jules and her family down at utah lake today. every time i get in the water i never want to leave. there's nothing better than cruising around in the boat, during the hot summer months, having tube wars. california would definitely be a great place for me to live someday. hopefully i'll have a nice job so i can buy a nice house with enough rooms for all my family to come and stay and visit. depends on what life has in store for me after i graduate in a few years.

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i was talking to jon about this the other day. i think it's a decent discussion to have just to see what others' responses are. okay...the question is:

do you think there is a difference between an r rated book and an r rated movie?

i don't feel like i can accurately answer this question because i don't read for pleasure. haha. i don't read books at all actually. i try. that's a post for another day. so i'd like other's opinion on the question as stated above.

triple threat

well i got the student producer job. i'm really excited! now i'll have experience in theatre, film, and television. word.

some good news

some good news to post:

1. i heard back from byu broadcasting. i am interviewing tomorrow. (well today)

2. no rehearsal for the rest of the week!

3. my 1/2 tuition scholarship renewed itself. so only 960 in tuition each semester!



definitely some good news....

so i have an interview tomorrow for a manager's position. it would be off campus and probably make life school really difficult. if they offer it to me, i'll think about taking it. but then i found this (which i would take before i take the manager's job.)

Student Producer Job ID: 7908
BYU Broadcasting is looking for qualified and capable students with an interest in documentary/informational television production. Students would work as producers for new programs being created for KBYU and BYU TV. This position can provide great mentoring experience working closely with a supervising producer. Responsibilities would include research, contacting content experts, organizing film shoots, budgeting, and script writing. This is an exciting opportunity for any student wishing to gain experience in TV production.
Qualifications:
Qualified applicants will be organized, capable self-starters who can work effectively with a supervising producer, other students, and outside individuals. Applicants must have good communication skills, a desire to learn, and a willingness to work hard. Students must be reliable and available 20 hours/week during fall and winter semester, with the possibility of more hours spring/summer.

so we'll see where life takes me. all i know is that i can only do speeches for so much longer.

amen.

i was an extremely cute child

ain't gonna lie. i was a cute kid--the end. i am putting together a timeline of photos from the early years to the point i'm at now. my awkward years were definitely in the range of 11-21. i told michelle last night, that i think i'm getting better with age. haha. 22 this year and i'm really pleased with how healthy i've been able to be and more importantly maintain since january.

life continues to stay busy. sometimes for me it's restless busyness if that makes sense... basically i'll define that as being busy, but still feeling like you're forgetting something or someone. so yes, i'm busy--but not necessarily the type of busy i normally like to be.

more photos of my childhood to come! yay! :)

4th of July --- Part Two

after my breakthrough this morning...very early in the morning, the production stage manager started giving me more responsibilities and cues for the show (while doing the correct thing, and switching responsibilities so that the idiots were the ones sunning themselves and i was the one doing what they should have been doing without having to bug shari (the prod sm) ). sadly, i could only spend an hour today in the sun doing nothing unlike tuesday where i spent all day in the sun. tuesday was a terrible terrible day. wednesday, the fourth, was a surprising 180 degree turn (after i finally had tasks and a challenging yet doable set of cues!) the show was a success in the eyes of the directors and the main clients who make stadium of fire work.

if they called me again next year, would i say yes? well let's get through this year first. at the end of the night, we all went over to the hotel restaurant and had a great time together as stage managers. shari and tom (the two prod stage managers) told me as they hugged me goodbye to keep them as contacts if i ever need a great resume reference. it just took the stupid breakthrough this morning, and i went from hating it to having a great experience. i think i would do it again if they called me for next year, if only to keep the reference fresh seeing how in the world of entertainment it's all about who you know.

4th of July

Well I have a little time this morning...sort of the calm before the storm, so I thought I'd open up my laptop and write a little about life.

This experience working stadium of fire has been...challening. but not in the usual sense of hard or stressful. it's been a challenge because I'm frustrated. when I was called last week, the lady told me they were in "dire need" of stage managers to help. she also told me that they were three stage managers short. in my own personal opinion, we are three stage managers too many. on monday, i had to leave a few hours early to make it to a dentist appointment previously scheduled weeks ago that i wasn't going to reschedule. (no new cavities! that was enough to make my week!)

and that's where my frustrations begin...

because i had to leave early, i was automatically stamped at the "flaky, incompetent, and unreliable stage manager" and therefore I have basically the least amount of things to do the whole evening. some may think this to be a relief. it just flat out bugs me. i gave up two normal work days, and my own vacation day to be here to help, and i spent most of the afternoon yesterday sitting out sunning myself (i will be doing that again here soon...). i feel like i need to print out a resume to and show these production stage managers to prove myself and say "LOOK! i have experience! what you have given the three idiots who you think do a better job than me responsibility wise (who have missed several cues and are idiots on the radio) i could do by myself without you having to worry or babysit."

i'm trying to swallow my pride. i'm trying to not say anything rude. i did make a small breakthrough this morning. shari, the head production stage manager was making comments to all of us this morning. here's a story.

"you're all doing a great job. if i may make one comment and observation. we haven't had any missed cues and 99% smooth runs from everyone coming from the North West tunnel. if you could all run your tunnels like sage that would be great."

"um what? i'm not in the northwest tunnel."

"yes you are."

"no, i'm not."

"well than who is?"

"nick stone."

"oh. oh. i've missed judged you. you haven't said much during the last few days"

"yes. that's been on purpose. i try to keep my questions to a minimum unless it's crucial as to not bug you and give you one less thing to worry about. but i will get the job done quickly and quietly"

"and for that i thank you. if the rest of you could learn from this example, especially today with it being show day, that I will be extremely busy working out last minute details, and unless it's crucial, don't bug me on headset unless i call for you. thanks nick."

WOW! breakthrough. my responsibilites are over after the first hour or so of the show (hence why i can spend so much of the daytime sitting out getting some sun. so i think since i have this fancy pass that lets me go anywhere, i'm going to snag an empty seat on the grass and listen to brooks and dunn. :)