Christmas 2016

Merry Christmas one and all!

This has been a very happy Christmas for me.  It is the first Christmas where I have had a job through the season, so expensive iTunes gifts for everybody!  It is also the first Christmas where I am not able to spend a week in Logan.  Money is awesome, so I'd rather go back to work on December 27 than ask my incredibly generous boss for another week off (I had one in November).  November also killed me financially and I'm just now crawling up out of that hole I dug for myself.

But what did I get for Christmas, you ask?  Well...

My amazing coworkers got me this for Christmas.  I love it because I'm a Shakespeare nerd.  It reads, "To quote Hamlet: act 3, scene 3, line 87, 'No'."  I say "no" a lot, so it will come in handy.  it already has multiple times, actually.

This is from my dad.  Little alcohol bottles and a penguin for some reason.  He said the penguin was from his christmas cracker and, "What would you do without a wind-up penguin."  You can see the corner of the box that my bluetooth speaker came in.

Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts!  I was very confused about what to do next, because I love it so much.  I ended up playing multiple games of Clue.  The best part about it is that it has opening and closing doors and secret passages.  I also have clothes and bluetooth headphones.

My brother gave me a backup charger as well, so now I can backup charge my phone.

After this happy Christmas, I get to go back to Archive and witness the pure destruction that is "Christmas Carol."  I also get to have a break from show laundry before "Cash on Delivery."  I am going to a "Harry Potter" symphony on January 3 and HTCO's thank you party on January 11.  I'm going to be having a wonderful time over the next few weeks.

Canadian Stage

Yesterday, I was emailed about the Canadian Stage program at York.  It's an exciting time, because not only is it my first direct contact with a renowned Canadian theatre company where I would love to work, but they have also given me a photograph to analyze/provide commentary on.

I am a creative person, and analysis is not good enough for me.  Sure, I could take a Picasso painting and write 800 words on how it makes me feel, on what techniques were used in it, but that's boring.  I'm a director/actor/writer.  I want to create a story around the photograph, like how I did in college with the Goya project; it was even for a directing class.

I also feel that this will make me stand out.  The average director is simply going to provide a very clear analysis of what the picture is and, probably, how they would stage a photograph to match it.  I don't know that people are going to think about coming up with an entire narrative as well.  It'll be a written live action version of the photograph, which, I think, is pretty cool.

York U

Yesterday, I received a second very exciting email that York has received my application.  York is my preferred school, so I am very happy to know that I am now, officially, in the books for this school.

Guelph and York are the only schools that I have applied to, much like how the only two schools that I applied to for my undergrad were Utah State University and Southern Utah University.  I was accepted into both universities, and I can only hope that this time around is the same.

Step One: Complete

Today, I received a very exciting email.  The University of Guelph has officially received my application, which means that I can now start making myself look good through essays.  Two were senior essays that is just work that I did in the Spring of 2013; I knew I was holding onto them for something.  The third is a statement about research goals that can only be 600 words.

Directing research, what I'm applying for, is a type of research that really can't be put into words, which means that there's A LOT of explanation.  For example, I want to put on "Macbeth" for an audience in a way that will make it real for them.

How?  By using a thrust stage to bring the action to the audience, rather than the other way around.  The thrust is so named because it thrusts out into the audience.  The style of staging is called three-quarter staging, literally playing to three sides of a four side stage, meaning that, at any one time, a person watching the action is also watching another person watching the action and the former person.  If done correctly, this type of staging allows for a complete immersion in the story as the audience is transported to whatever place the story takes them.

The entire story could use this three-quarter style and not lose any of it's emotional intensity, but audiences need help picturing the scene sometimes.  If the budget allows, I would like the thrust to be attached to a proscenium stage.  Proscenium stages are stages where the audience is seated on one side of the stage.  The style of staging, rather than being called one-quarter, is simply called proscenium style staging.  This is, in my opinion, the simplest way to set a scene, since there are not audience members around the stage; simply keeping the actors in front of the scenery provides for a clear view of them.  One can think of it as a television screen.  There is only a two-dimensional space to worry about when critiquing what an audience sees, rather than the three dimensions of the thrust.

Incredibly, that was over 200 words.  Only six of those paragraphs and I'm over the limit.  I haven't even gotten to the part about how I would pull off that ghost scene (hint; there are multiple actors).

I was cornered by Kris one day and asked, "Are you leaving us?" in the tone Kris uses for anger, both real and mocking.

I explained that it was not for sure yet and I needed to wait until they got back to me.

"When are you leaving?"

Again, I tried to explain that it wasn't for sure; that if I wasn't accepted I would stay at Archive.

"When will you know?"

Probably sometime in March.

This is part of the reason that I love my job.  In addition to getting to work in a theatre every day, it is incredibly apparent that my boss and coworkers care about me as a person, not just as a nameless worker (shoutout to Survey Sampling International).

This is what has been added to my plate today in addition to all of the Santa costumes that need TLC.  That and the realization that the cotton shirts are shrinking like mad and I'll have to pull new ones.

December 2016

Well 2016, it's been fun.  My first real-ish year as an adult.  Let me go over what happened:

I hit 3,000 page views this year.  About 1,000 per year.  Of course, it's probably just that 10 people visited 300 times over the course of 4 years, but that's okay, I'll still take it.

I went back to Advantage Solutions.  That was a real "if I have to" moment for me.

I moved to Salt Lake City.  I finally got out of Logan and can actually make a life of my own.

I got an acting job in Skagway, Alaska.  I got laid off 30 days later.

I got a job working as a Costumer for Hale Center Theatre Orem.  It's the best job I've had so far.  I've been there for five months, so go fuck yourself, Karl.

I moved into my first apartment.

Donald Trump got elected.  That says more about America than I ever could.

I'm applying to schools in Canada in order to advance my career.

Will anything else worth mentioning happen?  Probably not, but we still have 25 days in 2016 and one can never tell with these things.

With this post, I have completed my goal of posting every month for a year.  It's the little things...