Closing Time

Today was the last performance of LONY, which marks the end of the insanity that has been the past quarter. I've been working on a show literally since before the semester started, and I'm finally done.

LONY was such a unique experience. Every performance was sold out and we had people waiting on a stand-by list to see if they'd get in. And the cast definitely improved as performances went on. There was even a minor scene thrown in right after opening and our lead, Dan, picked it up and memorized it flawlessly. It was so exciting to work on this show and to get to see it built from the ground up. Our director John described it as a "workshop with a bit of stuff", meaning a workshop with added costumes and props and sets that a workshop might not normally have. Well, we had quite a bit of stuff. It took 45 minutes every night to clear and put away all the props and costumes every night.

It was an interesting experience, working backstage. At times it kind of felt like Alex (the other assistant stage manager) and I were being taken for granted, but then there would be moments when cast members thanked us profusely, and made comments like "the program is lucky to have ASM's like you guys". After the closing show, the cast gave us and the stage manager "I <3 NY" cups with our names on them that they all signed. It was so sweet! We all had to help strike, and afterwards the cast went to Silver Spurs and had dinner, and I was invited as well. It was kind of nice to hang out with them as people, instead of just interacting with them backstage. The drummer was there too and we all got to know him a bit as well.

Overall this has been a really rewarding experience. I'm so glad I signed on to do this. In the beginning I wasn't too thrilled, just because I felt like I wasn't doing much, but once we got into the theater that all changed. I've always been interested in the backstage work and this show gave me a great opportunity to be a stagehand. I earned three of the four crew credits that I need to graduate, but a lot of the seniors are encouraging me to argue for four, because I worked so hard and put in so much time. We'll see about that, I don't mind doing spots for a show next year and getting two points for that. I might ask about working the Senior Showcase in April for one point, so that I can get it all done this year.

Tech Week, Fondly Nicknamed Hell Week

My life the last couple of weeks has been Legend of New York (LNY) and this past week has been no exception. Because it was spring break, we've been having rehearsals from 2-10. Thursday marked our first official day of tech and it was LONG. I'm going to be "backstage" during the show, but in our theater that means I'll be in one of the two voms that lead to the dressing room. Our theater is not like most conventional theaters. The backstage area is actually underneath the audience, as opposed to being actually behind the stage. That means that actors have to use one of two voms to get to the backstage area. The voms are just long hallways that lead underneath the audience, I think the name originated from theater in the olden days, I have a very vague understanding of the name.

Anywho, I'll be on headset for the shows, which is fine except the headsets aren't portable which means I'm basically tethered to the wall for two and a half hours. Our stage manager has a portable one, but it makes sense that if anyone gets it, it's her. It just means that during tech when actors need me to get something or if I need to move something I have to remove the headset and potentially miss something that might be said over headset that I need to hear. It's not that big of an issue in the end, though. During tech I get to catch up on my reading, which is nice. I need to remember to bring a reading light because I don't have much light on my side. I have a nice little stool and I created a makeshift table to put my coffee on. It's quite cozy back there, actually.

We were running behind a little, but today our director said that the tech crew had put in a bit more work and pre-teched some lighting cues so that we could run straight through the rest of the act and hopefully not have to stop much. And we almost got through act one! We just have one more song to stage and a small scene and then that's the first act. Tomorrow and the rest of the week is 6:30-midnight, so hopefully we'll get everything done before we open Friday. We're hoping to do a dress rehearsal tomorrow with the band and then finish teching as much of the show as possible. I think everyone's starting to feel the time crunch which hopefully means that people will come into tech more focused so that we can get a lot of stuff done.

PYT Reunion in NYC And It's Starting to Feel Like Spring

The temperature has been staying above the freezing mark for the last few days--it's starting to feel like spring!!! I brought out my North Face jacket and I've been wearing my high-tops instead of heavy duty winter boots. I even wore my sunglasses today! Unfortunately I've been cooped up in rehearsal for most of the day but I still find some time to enjoy the sunshine. Washington Square Park has been crazy crowded the last few days because the weather's been so nice. There's a guy who usually plays a baby grand in the park and he came back out today because the weather was finally nice enough. The irony with all of this is that this week is supposed to be really nice (Tuesday is going to be 57!!) and then spring break it's going to snow. But at least it'll be warm snow, it'll be in the high 30's, low 40's.

Sage Yort is in town visiting for her spring break, she's staying with Jason Vu for a few days, and so Sage and Annalise and I all got together on Friday to hang out and get coffee (Annalise goes to Pace which is about a twenty minute subway ride from NYU). It was really nice to hang out and catch up, and to rehash old PYT stories. It was so weird that all of us were hanging out again in New York City of all places!! And then on Saturday night I went to Jason's apartment because he was having some people over and Sage and Annalise were there (Annalise lives in the building next to Jason) and that was weird--to have all four of us hanging out in NYC. Someone should have taken a picture!

Saturday night I went with a bunch of program people to the show Chris Murrah was directing up at Columbia--he had directed Once On This Island and a bunch of us wanted to go out and support him. Plus, my voice teacher was in it! I knew he was a grad student at Columbia but I'd never seen him perform before. It was such a cool experience. He had a reeeeally long monologue halfway through act two and when I talked to him after the show, he said it was something like ten minutes long. That's insane! The show itself was really weird, it was some obscure new play that I can't even begin to describe. But Chris did a good job, as always, and it was really cool to see Dan perform.

We move into the theater on Tuesday for the show I'm assistant stage managing, and I'm really excited about that. It'll be cool to see the actual set, as opposed to the taped out squares and platforms on the floor. Alex, the other ASM, and I stayed after rehearsal to put stuff away and rip the tape off the floor and I have a newfound respect for whoever did that at PYT. It was fun at first but we had a lot of small pieces of tape to rip up because we had dotted lines denoting the edges of various platforms, so it was a lot of extra work. My fingers hurt now from ripping up the tape.

Blooooood!!!

So I donated blood today for the first time. That was definitely an interesting experience. I had signed up to do it at 2:15 but when I got there they said there was a 30-45 minute wait. I filled out an information sheet and signed in and sat down, and I kept noticing people getting sent outside to where the blood drive truck was. At one point I noticed a few girls who had definitely gotten there after me going in, so I walked up to the sign up sheet and saw that the lady had skipped my name, and crossed out names before and after mine. So I was like "Hey, that's my name and I'm here, so..." and she said "OH! I'm so sorry! You'll be the next one in."

When I first went into the truck, I walked back into a tiny closet of a room where a guy took my temperature, blood pressure, and he pricked my finger to take a small amount of blood (and that hurt a lot!). He asked a few questions based on the info sheet I filled out, like about how I went to Europe this past April. Then when he was done with me I sat down on a small bench to wait for a free chair to get my blood taken away. The chairs were super comfy, they looked like permanently reclined squishy chairs set into the walls, with armrests on the outside for the arm that they would take the blood from. The guy taking my blood wasn't as nice as the guy who took the tiny sample, and I kind of wished the other guy (I think his name was Jon) would do the procedure because he felt more comforting. It wasn't too bad in the end, though. The guy asked if I wanted to see the needle and I was like "NO!" so I looked away while he stuck me and it HURT!!! And then it just felt weird after that. The tube that ran from the needle to the bag was resting on my arm and it was warm which was the weirdest sensation ever. It only took about 15 minutes, which was less time than I was expecting. When I was done, they took me over to an area of the bus which had apple juice and various snacks, so I took a few apple juices (hehehe).

I walked home and I was fine, but I laid down to watch a bit of TV just to relax and I felt really not well. I texted Carolyn, the stage manager for the show I'm working on, and told her I didn't think I was going to be able to come into rehearsal because I'd donated blood and wasn't feeling well, and she said it was totally okay. I've spent the rest of the night drinking tons of water, sleeping, eating a bit, and watching Gilmore Girls. My 8 am class tomorrow was canceled earlier in the week so I get to sleep in tomorrow too, which is nice. I'm going to get lunch with Elle around noon because we've both been so busy, we haven't had time to hang out much.

From One Show to the Next....

   OOTI closed last weekend, and I'm surprised by how much I miss it. I see these people mostly every day, so it's not like I don't see anyone from the show anymore. But I miss seeing them every day and watching them perform from backstage. I went to an a capella concert last night and saw a lot of my OOTI friends and we were all talking about having a mini reunion at some point soon just to hang out and spend time with each other, which will be really nice.
   The show went very well, it was sold out all four performances to the point where we illegally added seats (shhh) so that people on the waiting list could get in too. Michael had a ticket for Friday night but he didn't get in until after the show, so I let Elle's friend Gavin have his ticket. Michael ended up seeing the Saturday matinee, and then he hung out with me backstage for the rest of the shows.
    Last weekend was one of the best weekends I've had in awhile. Michael came and visited from Georgia, which was absolutely amazing. When he got in on Friday, it was right after the show, and I got a text from him saying he was in the lobby. So I bolted out from backstage and ran into the lobby and jumped into his arms. It was the best feeling. He got to meet a lot of my VP friends, and I took him around the city a bit. We went up to Times Square and took some silly tourist-y pictures, and then we also walked around the NYU campus area. We spent a lot of time just hanging out and talking, which was really nice. After not seeing him for seven months, it was great to just be with him and spend time with him, even though we weren't doing anything super exciting. He would just hang out with me backstage and help me if I needed it, but for the most part he just sat around and played on his phone. I kind of felt bad but he said he didn't mind, he just wanted to be near me. We ate at some yummy restaurants too, which was a nice break from dorm food. We went to the Knickerbocker for Valentine's Day dinner, and that was soooo good. For dessert we had homemade coffee ice cream which was so delicious, I kind of wanted to order another one just for myself. The last dinner we had together was at Five Napkin Burger, which I've walked past a bunch of times and have always wanted to try. It was so good!! I haven't had a good, decent burger in a while. I definitely plan on going back there at some point. Michael had a 6 am flight on Monday so he got a cab at 4 am. We were going to go to the cast party which was that night, but we decided to go back to my room to enjoy our last few hours together before he left. Tears were definitely shed on my part, but he gave me his army PT shirt, a Tanker shirt, and my favorite plaid shirt of his. So I've been sleeping in those for the past week or so.
   This week has definitely not been as enjoyable as the past weekend, I think I was just kind of sad about Michael leaving and about the show ending. I've started rehearsals for Legend of New York, which is the new musical that Steinhardt is doing this semester. I'm ASMing it, along with my friend Alex. She and I are both coming off of OOTI, so we're pulling two shows in a row. This show is a different experience from OOTI, because I think for OOTI the artistic staff was much more relaxed and laidback, and I also felt more a part of the team. With Legend, I'm the ASM so there's more running around making copies or returning carts or taping the floor. It's more busy work, but I think it's also more typical of an ASM's job. OOTI wasn't really a good example of the norm, but then again Legend is a new work so it'll constantly be in flux. We'll see, though. It's been getting better, I don't hate coming to rehearsal anymore, but it's still not the most exciting part of my day.

Crazy busy!!

This week has been absolutely insane. First off, Once On This Island (OOTI) has been taking up all my spare time. At this point, my schedule consists of class, rehearsal, eating, and sleeping. I haven't had much time for anything else. But the show is coming along and it looks absolutely amazing. Originally, OOTI was a show that I was impartial about, maybe even not a favorite of mine, but what our director has done with it... it's unlike any other version of OOTI I've seen or heard about. We had our first rehearsal with the band today (it's just piano, and then we had the drummer and bass player come in), and it sounded so cool!!! I'm such a music geek. We made a joke out of it--you know you're a music major when you fangirl over a sitz-probe. Or, as our Jewish accompanist likes to joke, "If you need to relate to me what Christmas morning is like, you'd probably tell me it's like a sitz-probe".

We had Friday night off to go see the other show that Steinhardt is doing, Carousel. My first comment was that I didn't know we had so many skilled dancers! I kind of figured that because we were all music students, dance abilities came way last. But I was pleasantly surprised by the dance talent in my program. And again, like every time I see a program event, I got super excited and super proud of what people in my program can do. The skill level is simply unbelievable (yes I know, I'm geeking out again).

Classes have been pretty much the same as last semester, except for my Graphic Novel class. Not sure if I wrote about this already, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it. It's so interesting to read comics and discuss them in class and recitations; I never thought there was much to comics, but there's so much  you could talk about. There's aesthetics, style, genre, tone, the list goes on and on. And I'm also reading some classic, Golden Age comics like the early Fantastic Four and The Spirit and such. It's going to be a fun class!

Back to NYC we go!

First week back at school: check! I'd say this week went well, though it was long and stressful.

Started off with my birthday, which was cool. I got sung to a bunch of times in my various theater classes, and I passed out See's candy lollipops to my friends. They were a huuuge hit; people keep asking me if I've got any left. Sunday night I went to Max Brenner's with Elle which was easily one of my top favorite meals I've ever had. They're famous for their chocolate but the food was good too. I got really yummy mac 'n cheese. My birthday itself was pretty low-key, I spent most of the evening in rehearsal but I didn't mind, I usually spend my birthday in rehearsal for something anyway.

The majority of my classes are just the second half of a year long class, so there's really only two new classes this semester. I'm taking Advanced College Essay, and Expressive Cultures: The Graphic Novel. The first class is really just another freshman writing class, which I'm not a fan of, but I have to take it. The second class is easily my favorite class of the semester--we just spend the entire semester reading and analyzing comic books. What's better than that?! And it fulfills a GE requirement so it's not even a useless class. The professor is really cool, it's a lecture-based class but he's open to discussion whenever it arises. My recitation section is okay, the preceptor has a really heavy Indian accent so it's hard to understand her sometimes. But there are two guys who consider themselves very well versed in comic books so that'll be a good resource.

The majority of my week has been spent in rehearsals for Once on This Island, which is coming along really well. I'm so amazed by the talent in the show. And the director, Chris, is basically genius. Even though I'm not in the show, I pay attention to whenever he gives a big, impassioned speech about the show. I feel like I can learn from him even though he's not directing me... directly (hehe). The choreographer, Melissa, is a graduate of the Vocal Performance program so she knows a bunch of the juniors and seniors in the show. It got pretty confusing during the first couple of rehearsals so I told the cast members to call me Goldman. Sometimes they forget, but it usually works. Overall I really like working with this team. They definitely respect me and treat me as an equal which I appreciate. I don't feel like I'm just another student. Right now I don't have much to do but I know that once we get into the theater and start tech, it's going to be crazy.