Bit of the ordinary, Design Stuff

USITT ’06

Just got back from the USITT convention. The United States Institute for Theatre Technology is the main convention for what I do. It’s an odd mix of people. You see a lot of black t-shirts and jeans, balding men with ponytails, and costumes designers wearing capes and other weird things.

I caught up with my technical Director from high school, RJ “Mike” Nielsen, we called him Boss. He seemed to know all the bigwigs at the conference.

The panels and presentations are a mix of professionals and educators, a line that is blurring year by year. More and more theatre artists are finding jobs at colleges and universities in order to pay the bills and have some security. I am hoping to present something next year.

Bit of the ordinary

Working on my list

Well, my little list of self improvement has seen some action. I’vebeen keeping up with Flossing as i wanted to, and didn’t buy snacks at school for two weeks. That goes out the window this weeks when we go into tech rehearsals.

Oh and I still had a cavity that had to get drilled too.

Bit of the ordinary

1 down, more on the way

So I have learned CPR.

I took a class at the Fairfield Rescue Squad. I’ll be receiving my card in the mail soon.

I wanted to do this ever since the accident. But I’m not sure I’m prepared. After watching a video and breezing thru a demo just doesn’t seem enough. I think I need to study the manual more.

Design Stuff

Pirates of Penzance

So in the Spring I will be doing the Pirates of Penzance. As a result we are beginning to design the play now. Of course I am right in the middle of being the Technical director and Lighting Designer forThe House of Bernarda Alba. It goes into technical rehearsals this weekend. Also, we just finished doing a dance concert and tomorrow I have a design meeting for our festival of Student-Directed One Acts. For which I am doing the sets and supervising the lights.

I have started to gather research for Pirates. I started with some basic images on the locations mentioned in the play. Using Google Maps I found out that Penzance was in the Cornwall area of England, and guided my search accordingly.

After talking with the director I’ve found some more images. They are starting to reflect the feel of what our production will be. He is seeing the show as a Victorian style Keystone Cops. Playing up what might be seen by some as datedness(is that a word?) as a contrived artifice. So we are looking at Turn of the last century posters and illustrations.

Soon I’ll have some more sketches posted to show you what I mean.

Bit of the ordinary

Only in Lexington

So on thursday, Ann was at Wal-mart using the self checkout lane. She was getting some cash back, but then forgot it in the machine when she was leaving. She only realized this when she got home and didn’t have the money. She called Customer service, not really knowing what to expect. But it turns out the person behind her in line found it and brought it to customer service. Later she brought her receipt and talked to customer service and got her money back.

Isn’t that amazing? I’m glad I’m living here.

Family biz, Photo Library

Arden turns 2

Well, we just had Arden’s birthday party this past weekend. Her real birthday is January 6th, the Epiphany. The day after her birthday we went to a children’s museum in Lynchburg. We had a great time. It was in a converted warehouse structure and had 4 floors filled with a variety of activities. There were a lot of things to do, a farm play area, slides, the obligatory water table. Some of the stuff I can really get into, like the water table for instance. It was a fiberglass table contoured like miniature rivers and canals, with real working locks that raised and lowered the boats.

I’ve posted some pictures of the trip here.

Then We had to get ready for Arden’s party. Ann made a cake and cut it out in the shape of Winni the Pooh.
Overall the party was pretty successful. Pix can be seen Here The only damper on it was McKelvey and Arden being a little sick. In fact, Arden threw up that night. Poor little miss.

So now we are relaxing at home hoping they recuperate, they enjoy the fact that they get to watch more TV.

Geekiness

Falling for plastic

I’m falling in love with my iPod again. Now when I first got it in August, I immediately put it in a protective case. Some rubber thingy I got from Radio Shack. I got quite used to it. It’s been the only way I remember the iPod. But I took of the rubber sleeve on a whim a week ago and it’s a whole new ballgame. The feel of it is very different. with the sleeve gone the size is smaller in all directions and fits into the had really well. The tactile sensation of the smooth plastic is so much better than before.

So if you iPod is locked up in a case, let it roam free for a little while. You will both be happier.

the Blog of Owen Collins