A busy day, and I need a break. I have three lightplots I am working on today. One is for a Nutcracker, one is a full evening dance piece I am lighting up at Williams College and the other is an opera plot. Both of the dance shows use repertory light plots, so getting the paperwork in order is a matter of adapting the existing plots to what I need, rather than conceiving the whole thing myself.
I have done the Nutcracker before, so it is fairly easy. The venue has made a few changes to their repertory plot so I have some adjustments to make, but all in all it is quite simple. The other dance plot is very extensive, designed by my friend Matthew Adelson, and will be quite simple to adapt despite the complexity of this multi-scene, multi-set full length work.
The opera plot is just a matter of prep work today. I have to the end of the week to finish it. It is a remount of a previously produced work, so while more than a simple “cut and paste” it is only translating the plot to a new venue. Not a big deal. I have done quite a lot of this kind of thing, translating a plot from one space to another. It is generally easy going work as this one looks to be. Some architectural oddities might change things a bit, but I don’t foresee any big problems.
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I am finding myself dissatisfied with the writing style on this blog. I do not wish to change blogs and screen names as I have in the past. I think it is more useful to me to transform this identity. Some of my issue is that I feel the writing takes on a self centered and pretentious tone that I am uninterested in. It is something that is largely a function of the written word, so I my well be scaling back on the volume of my writing.
Another and perhaps more fundamental issue is that I feel the need personally to focus more on intake rather than output. Or, to be more precise, I wish to focus my output more directly and completely on my artistic work, leaving this space as perhaps more of a catalogue. We shall see where it leads, but a change is much in need.
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I had two very pleasant theatre experiences this past weekend. On Saturday I saw Rumania Kiss me!. The costumes were done by my good friend Oana Botez-Ban. A truly fantastic costume designer. We have worked together quite a few times and it is always a pleasure. She brings a wonderful wit to her costuming. Her work can be highly abstract yet deeply grounded in the dramaturgical needs of the text. Truly one of my favorite designers to work with.
The other show was Temptation directed by Ian Hill. Lia and I went to go see it Sunday and had a wonderful time. The play was wonderfully conceived. The actors were fantastic and the scenery intersected with the text in a way that it felt almost out of place until the final moment of revelation when it all came together. Fantastic work, I must say.
