Dudes. I was just reliving the Ashland Extravaganza. We should roadtrip together again. What are you doing this summer?

you may be a loverbut you ain't no dancer

Just got back from a tap dance rehearsal. Yikes. Seriously? I'm not a dancer. I sort of wish I had taken badminton . . . but at the same time, the difficulty I'm having just makes me determined to do better and try harder. Tap dance is really awesome and I love the sound of it when I do it right. I definitely haven't lost interest; I love it, I'm just not very good. Okay, well, actually not good at all. But, I can feel myself improving, ever so slowly. It's all about focus. You have to really focus on the way your feet are moving and which tap hits the floor and the position of your ankle . . . it's intense.

INTENSE, I tell you!

figaro breakthrough

Well guys, it happened. The design for Figaro is finally solid. I had a freaking long meeting with my TD on Thursday, made some pretty awesome changes that night, met with my director yesterday, and they started building it yesterday. Things are on their way.

I think the show's going to look good. It's not going to be revolutionary, but by Jove it'll be stinking pretty!

Maybe it's just me, but I always experience two major milestones in the course of a design. The first one is when the set comes to a conceptual point that you deem good and you feel, finally, that you can be proud of it. It's not usually because of any big change or because you've been blown away by some new, rad idea . . . it's usually when you make a small change that was greatly needed. I remember the night it happened for Oklahoma!. I was sitting in the draftsman's office working on the design for the house panels and being frustrated. All of the sudden, I added a chimney and my balance and design issues were solved! It was a stroke of awesomeness, but not anything big. The chimney, that tiny part of that huge design, fixed my frustration and I was finally confident that the entire design was good. That's what happened to me this week with Figaro. In this case, it didn't come from a chimney, but from adding two feet of height to the center section of the unit set wall. It made such a difference. It gave the look of the show shape and movement and direction. Made it pretty. After months of struggle, I am confident about the look of my design. Like I said above, the design itself isn't abstract or of particular ingenuity, but I don't hate it anymore, and that is a good thing.

The second landmark is when you just have to let go and stop caring about it for fear of insanity. This happens with every show I paint, too, except usually much sooner with those. Anyway, with Oklahoma! it didn't happen until about halfway through tech week while I was futilely correcting the cast on the specific positions of the panels. I realized I could only do so much by telling them where the panels needed to be and then whatever happened each night would happen and there wasn't a thing I could do about it.

So. Here's to hoping I love Figaro as long as I loved Oklahoma!.

one week down . . . twenty-nine more to go.

Perhaps counting down is not the best way to do things. Yes, I am anxious to get out of Utah, but the BYU Theatre Department has been good to me and I know I'll miss it a little when I'm gone. Also, graduating with a BA sort of means that I'm a grown up and I have to start real life. Am I ready for that? britta asked once when we become grown-ups . . . and I don't know, but I think graduation will make me feel like one. Maybe I'll just stick to the criteria of having frames on your walls. It'll be easy to avoid grown-upedness that way.

So, meanwhile, my first week of classes are over. I didn't get into the English class I was trying for, but it's not too big a deal. I'm taking Modern Architecture instead, and I'll just take English next semester. It's a class I wish I hadn't put off. People always warn you not to put off science or math classes . . . well, no one warned me about English.

I finished most of the drafting for Figaro. My TD said that I'll probably have to cut stuff . . . which is a shame because I have no idea what I can cut and still make it work. I'll find out how much we're over budget this week . . . and I guess I'll just have to adjust. The show's fine. I'm not particularly devoted to it . . . which is a shame. Everything will turn out nicely, I'm sure. I'll be glad to be done with this show by October 29th. I'll get a short break from designing before I pick up with Berlin next semester. Actually, we will probably begin meetings for that show in December some time.

Speaking of December, I think I might have it worked out so that I can come home like, four days early. I'm waiting to hear back from one of my professors, but most of my finals are papers . . . and the only scheduled one seems to be on the first day of finals. Which means, that I might be able to come home on the 17th instead of the 21st. That would be absolutely wonderful.

Lullabye of Broadway

Isn't it funny how a day can go so horribly wrong but then end up so well?

I saw the final dress rehearsal of 42nd Street and enjoyed it thoroughly. Yes, the characters are thin and the plot is campy, but the music and dancing are fabulous. You just have to let yourself be sucked into these sorts of productions; there is rarely value in looking deeper. Somehow, even when the show is superficial, the magic of live performance still comes through. I left the theatre that night singing and my heart pounding. Musicals get to me almost every time.

Well, I'm back and mostly settled into Provo for my last year at BYU. I am glad to be finished with St. George . . . it was insanity. I am happy to report that we finished the sets before they went onstage opening night even though they were still being built that morning. Heidi graciously came down for the last two days to give me a hand finishing the one set that was so far behind and then drove back with me on Sunday.

Meanwhile, I am mostly-desperately trying to finish up the drafting for Marriage of Figaro . . . meaning I realize the urgency but lack the motivation. This is the problem that comes when you're not in love with the show or your design. I meant to work on my drawings while in St. George, but that didn't happen and now I'm behind. Everyone seems pretty understanding and patient about my missing deadlines, but it's getting to the point where no one can move forward until I get things out of my head and onto paper. And so, I am forcing myself to sit down and do it. Not entirely pleasant and it is taking so much longer than it ought to.

Also, classes are going well enough. 14.5 credits this semester. This is the fewest I've ever taken. A novelty. It's good to see friends again, but strange to be back on campus. Every summer, life changes from what it was the school year before and I look at things a little differently.