Jo Broin' It

Just thought I'd point out that while having a super sexy sleepover with Vince and Allison, we found the Jonas Brothers on chatroulette. Yeah...

Taming a Few Shrews

I had a school project where I figured a scene I did last year for drama class would fit perfectly.  I used Act 2 Scene 1 from The Taming of the Shrew.  Last week I stopped by my old high school so I could film the scene with my lovely friend Delaney.  Here is that video:


A shout-out to Stew for taking the time out of his day to film this for us. Thanks!

A Balancing Act

Went into work on Sunday to help Mr. Mirenda figure out some stuff concerning how to get power to some lighting fixtures on the set pieces.  For the past several weeks, Mr. Mirenda has been working on set pieces and entire walls that will be flown up into the rafters of the theater.  Below is one such wall:

This thing weighs something like 1,300 lbs.  It's pretty massive.  The top half isn't finished yet, but when it is, it'll look amazing.  There are two sconce lights on the walls (one of them is lit on stage left).  We decided that we would run cables behind the wall and up to the baton at the top.  From there, the cables will run along the baton and up to the loading gallery located way up high above stage left.  We will be doing the same thing for a couple of lights that will be flown in for the speakeasy scene.  Here is another piece of set Mr. Mirenda and his guys have been busy tinkering away on.

It is a set of "all too necessary" jail cells for the jailhouse scene.  You can kind of see the elevator set on the very left side of the screen.  So far there are just a lot of half finished sets, but they look stellar so far. I will hopefully be going into rehearsal later this week to see a few numbers and scenes so I can make sure I can be ready to hang and focus lights when all our equipment comes in next week.  I have a lot of work ahead of me!

I've been monitoring my behavior

So after wanting one for a while and doing a ton of research, I finally decided to get a monitor for my computer.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my MacBook Pro, but frankly, the 13.3" screen gets a little frustrating to use all of the time when I have so many applications open (Skype, Tweetie, Chrome/Safari, iTunes, etc.).  But now, I can have everything I want to have open, and still have all of the room I need to see everything.  Basically, using my computer at home just got a thousand times more enjoyable!

Marcy Park: Recent Transfer

My good friend Lexie will be staring as Marcy Park in the upcoming production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Children's Musical Theater San Jose (CMTSJ).  This show is hilarious and so much fun to watch!  Everyone needs to come see it because it will be amazing!  Buy tickets now at CMTSJ's website.  "I speak six languages!"

Every Little Step

Went to work on Saturday and got caught up on how things are running tech-wise with Mr. Mirenda, a dad of a student at St. Francis who builds the sets every year.  Him and I sat down and discussed several options and ideas that we both have for set ideas.  Basically we will be having one backdrop of a city skyline that will be flown in on the very back wall that way I can light it using my cyc lights.

We will also be having large window frames flown in for all of the office scenes.  Here is a sketch done by Delaney.  She helps design the set for all the shows.  She's got crazy talent.

She's also come up with a great piece of set for the laundry room scenes that when turned around will double as the set for the lobby of the Hotel Priscilla.

Set for the laundry room scenes.

The lobby set piece.

From there, we will also have another set of windows that will fly in for the party scene at Muzzy's estate.  Again, a gorgeous set idea set forth by the fabulous Delaney.

And lastly, Mr. Mirenda has provided us with two dimmer switches that will be used for those Source Four Follow Spots that I have been craving.  These things are perfect and exactly what I was looking for! All I will need to do is switch out their plugs with stage pins and we are all set.  A shout out to Mr. Mirenda for being such a superstar!

Boulder Baby!

So I just got back from a kick-ass weekend in Boulder, CO visiting my best bud Vince (@timbe2).  Vince showed me around the school, and I have got to say, this is one gorgeous campus! Absolutely stunning.  And the backdrop of the flatirons just makes it all the more dramatic and beautiful.

Probably the best part of the trip was that it snowed almost the whole time!  Last time I saw snow was in Ashland, OR just about a year ago for the Shakespeare Festival.  And the last time I lived in the snow was when I lived in North Carolina 9 years ago.  It was great to see some real snow again!

That's the view from Vince's dorm room.  We spent all of our time either in his dorm or out and about in the lovely city of Boulder, CO.  I also got to meet a bunch of Vince's friends, who rock! Some of the coolest people I've met.  

While Vince was showing me around campus, we made a stop at the bookstore and he got me this sick water bottle. Thanks dude!

Overall, it was some of the most fun I've had all year. Thanks again man for letting me come visit my best bud!

In unrelated news, my multi-tool/keychain came in from ThinkGeek.com.  I think it's pretty snazzy!