Week 7: A Week of Passion and Paranoia (literally)

After all the preparation and stress that built up to this weekend, I must say, I am happy, yet sad it's all over. My One Acts went up this weekend, titled as "A Night of Passion and Paranoia." I couldn't think of a better name to call this blog than that. 

First off, let me say that this whole process was very eye opening. I have a new found understanding for what it means to be a designer. The amount of prep work and organization is incredibly daunting, yet amazing. And the process we are given to develop our concepts really helped me through this whole process. As I began my script treatments and slowly moved up to system magic sheets, it was really surreal to see my ideas go from just that to something completely tangible. When I finally finished my final plot and had only one night between me and load in, I was freaking out a bit. But I have to say load in went quite smoothly ( I DO NOT KNOW WHAT I WOULD'VE DONE WITHOUT BRADY). It went so well I actually got to have a cue to cue for each show. And this, my friends, is where the stress started to bubble a little. 

As the week progressed, I found myself struggling with color choices I made, this lavender too warm or this amber too amber. I switched out my AW R fresnels at least 2 times and Pipe end R's at least 3 times. The whole process seemed like I could go on forever changing colors here and there. Probably the thing I noticed I was missing most was back light. I knew my actors were not punching out as much as they could be. Sure, their faces were lit and I could see them, but at times they were falling flat. I blame the amount of dimmers in the Nixon... :P But no, I really do understand that I could've switched my down light. But as Lonnie, Brady, Travis, and the Prospective student (hope I didn't scare him away!) all know, I was really stuck on this down red system. I needed to have those gestures. They made me happy when I saw them on stage. 

After my MAJOR meltdown and our invited dress, I made my last few adjustments and went into the next day ready to see my show without a laptop staring at me with a million notes. I must say, I was happy with my finished product. There were many things I still wanted to fix here and there, but I know thats just my highly critical nature. I can't ever be too happy about my work. Not sure why. But that's how I am. In the image to the left, you can see the warmer cue for when people entered the space. I really liked my room cues. My window was especially awesome. I also love and stand by my tango cue. And love cues- that back PAR was amazing. It just made me super happy. I can't really explain why. I like big gestures, I guess, and since I was given the opportunity to in these shows, I was VERY excited.

Speaking of big gestures, the whole second play in my night of one acts was filled with huge gestures. The play was absurd, and therefore MY kind of show. I got to use intense, weird, and non realistic colors throughout, and still got to practice my outdoor lighting. I was very happy with many of the choices I made. I stand by my moments where each character developed their own theory as to what was in the box. They were crazy and silly theories, and therefore needed to be highlighted. The hard part was bringing the audience in with me. I knew the first cue was a little hard to pull off, and, unfortunately, after the show was up and running, I had an idea that I think would have brought the audience in to my concept sooner. But thats okay. That just means my brain kept working on a finished product, which I like. Some of my favorite cues were the anthrax cue and the attention everyone cue. This were fun. From the moment I read the script, I knew I wanted to bring up lights in the house at that part. I didn't know how I was going to do it, but when I finally decided on Source 4 PAR's, I was SO happy with the outcome. And I was happy to see that the director was totally up for the whole idea of it.

Ah. Okay. Working with new directors being a new designer myself... what a challenge. I do think that part of my meltdown on thursday was also related to some of the people I had to work with. I WIL NOT name people, but I did get some attitude from various members of the project, and that was hard to deal with. Especially when I am such a "YES" person and all I want is for people to be happy with what I am doing. After my meltdown, though, everyone was much nicer to me. It just sucks that my stress eruption is what it took for people to realize that I wasn't pressing for more tech time because I was a B****, but only because I cared and wanted them all to look good.  

Now as I sit here and reflect on all this, I can honestly say that I am very proud of my work. Yes there are many things I would have liked to fix or make better, some within my control, others out of my control, but regardless, I was still happy with the outcome. This experience was very necessary for me. And the gallons of tears and the really bad headache I got on Thursday was all worth it to see my brainchild on stage working with the actors.