below the belt.

This week marked my first 2 rehearsals with the director and cast of "Below the Belt". It's also the first time I've been a stage manager.

I've been an Assistant Stage Manager before, a few years back, but the work between the 2 positions is ridiculous.

I'm the youngest. And the only girl. It's all older men that I'm working with. It's kind of weird. I have yet to meet someone in their 20s at Country Playhouse. It's not a big issue, but it would be nice to talk about school or something with someone who's still in school.

But let me tell you about the job.

I do a lot of shit.

I take notes on blocking (the actor's movements). I take notes on props, set, costumes, as they're given. Eventually I'll be taking notes on lights and sound, and then taking down all the cues. And it a pretty light heavy show. I have to do rehearsal reports daily. This contains the day's planned schedule, what actually happened, the schedule for the next rehearsal, all the notes on props, set, costume, etc. Any miscellaneous information that doesn't fit under any of the aforementioned categories. And other stuff I'm sure, but I haven't gotten that far yet. I have never done any of this before. I'm just sort of pulling my limited past experience and winging it.

I don't even think that the director is aware that I'm pretty much totally inexperienced, but I guess that just means that I'm doing a good job.

I'm lost when it comes to blocking. It's written down in my script, but I need transfer it the floor plan. And I have no clue what to do. Any advice would be appreciated.

And I've never called cues before.

Country Playhouse is a 35-40 minute drive away from my house, down I-10. It's far. I got lost the first time I drove there. It wasn't a big deal, but still, I like to at least pretend to appear professional. Punctuality is apart of that.

Gas is an issue. It's an even bigger issue when you don't have any money.

I have this tackle box now. Yes, like the ones that fishermen have. It's full of supplies, and it still isn't enough.  I just got the important stuff, pencils, pens, sticky notes. Sticky notes are important. A utility knife. I'm not entirely sure why I got one, but when I looked at a list of stuff in a stage manager kit, that was there. And it was $5 at Wal-Mart.

So, now I'm really a stage manager. Everyone is very nice and happy and excited that I took the position. They way they make it seem is that they were worried that they weren't going to get an SM at all.

And then they got me.

new semester.

Textbooks. Why is it that professors always want students to have their textbook by the second week? Don't they understand that we're broke? Don't they understand that financial aid doesn't start coming through until February? And then it takes weeks afterwards before you actually get the check, or what have you, in the mail. So no, 6 teachers of mine, I don't have ANY textbooks. Simply because I'm jobless and depend on financial aid for such things.

My schedule, as seen in my previous post, is shit.

I have breaks that are too long, and one case where there isn't enough time to get form one class to the other. Plus I have 6 class. SIX. 17 hours. I'm still regretting this decision.

Especially now that I'm doing this stage manager gig.

My professors. I used ratemyprofessor.com, and naturally 4 out of 6 of my profs weren't on the site. So, really I just lucked out big time. They all seem fine. I have 3 legit blow off classes. It's harder to fail than it is to pass. Which also makes it incredibly easy to fail if you don't do any of the work, or show up to any of the classes.

Allow me to describe my class and professors.

SOCI 1301. Sociology. The study of people and how they interact with each other and society as a whole. This is the class I signed up for at the last minute. It's the source of my 17 hour regret. He taught at Penn State once. So there's that. He treats it like a college course. Which means not taking role. That's how he treats us like the adults that we are. It's interesting. I figure I'll be good at it because I've been watching people for years.

SPCH 1311. Speech. And that's it. It's kind of like SOCI in that we learn all these things about communication, verbal and non. She's totally clueless as to what the lingo for this generation is like. We told her what "swoll" meant. And we'll do speeches and stuff. I hate public speaking. The class is required for Ass. of Arts.

KINE 1111. Kinesiology. A fancy term for gym. We work out every class. She's real cool, laid back.

GOVT 2301. Government. It's the basics. And I'm taking this class during an election year. So it will simultaneously suck and be awesome. He's kind of quite and a bit awkward, but he actually makes it kind of interesting. And the class likes to talk a lot for an 8:30 am class. Maybe I'll vote.

DRAM 1310. Theatre. It's awesome. He's awesome. I'm kind of biased. All the test are online and not timed. Too easy.

COSC 1401. Computers. The class in 2.5 hours long. That's 1.5 hours too long. It's the basics. The first project was a 3 slide minimum powerpoint. Seriously? He super awkward. Definitely a computer guy. But he mentioned CatDog once, so he's alright.

That's it. Feel free to skip over that part.

first week.

My GOVT class has already been cancelled and it's only the first week of the semester. And that is why I am typing this up now as opposed to my usual time of 2 AM.

But I'm much more tired than I would be at 2 AM.

That's my schedule. Originally I didn't have that 8:00 AM MWF SOCI class. And then, sometime around midnight a couple of days before school started I thought, "I'm not an overachiever, but let me sign up for an extra 3 hours! I've never taken more than 15 hours, so I'll do 17! SO MOTIVATED." 

That motivation lasted until I set my alarm for 7:00 AM. 

And now my sleep schedule is out of whack, I'm exceptionally tired, and I regret all my life choices up until now. 

But I also have good news! 

In my quest to become the single greatest/most in demand stage manager in the universe, I had to take a look at local theatres. Local meaning 30 minutes away, past I-10. 

The Country Playhouse Theatre fit that description perfectly, and I sent an email saying I wanted to volunteer on any production to do pretty much whatever they wanted. Which is generally how it works at every theatre in the world. I expected to get an email back saying, "Yes, we could use your minimal amount of talent because we are always desperate for willing to accept people to run tech." Instead I got a phone call in the middle of class from the volunteer coordinator asking me if I wanted to be the Stage Manager for an upcoming black box production. For those who don't know, this: 

is a black box theatre. Small, black, sometimes a small raised area as a stage. 

I had to wait until after class to hear this message, so until then I thought it was my mom. 

When I finally heard the message, I walked to my car, got in, turned it on, and exploded. Then I realized that I had to run this by my parents. Luckily that realization happened after I drove home singing to every song and danced around the house scaring the dog. So I had my fun. 

And yes, I told my mom and dad, and they were like "Where, what times, school comes first." And I got all of that information and the Volunteer Coordinator even sent me a real schedule that they Director had done up. So I can still totally do it. 

So, by the time you read this post, I will be the Stage Manager for the 3-man black box production of "Below the Belt". 

No, I've never heard of it. That might not even be the show that I'm working on. 

Along with SM, I will probably be doing Light/Sound. So if you want to help out, give me a shout. No experience needed. Seriously. I could have been a hobo off the street and still gotten this gig. They had no idea that I have barely any prior experience. I merely stated that I was interested in Set construction. 

And they all say it's hard to get into the theatre biz. pissssshhhh. Whatever. 

school shopping. and a lazy river.

I am listening to Skrillex's new ep. And I fucking love it. 

It's an unreasonable hour to be typing this post.

Again, this is entirely besides the point of the original topic. But I have to let you know, and also insist that you listen to Bangarang. 

I am in my final full semester at lonestar, so, naturally, I'm obsessing over the only two schools that interest me. actually, only one school interests me, the other just happens a conveniently located good university. 

University of Houston. Boom. Right there. Down the street compared to some other schools. Quite a good football team this season (these things are important). Tier One. Not too sure what tier one is, but it sounds pretty damn impressive. "Yeah, I go to a tier one school. No big deal." It just seems like a no brainer to attend. But I don't think I would really like it all that much. Especially being so close to home. I would HAVE to move out. Which also means having to put aside money for a car and the apartment. Which basically means I would probably never move out and hate my life. 

Texas Tech. Pretty far. 9 hour drive kind of far. That's farther than OSU by one whole hour. In my math, that's something like 100 miles.* The campus is something that I know I will love just from looking at pictures. I have a thing for small town schools. It just seems so college-y. The kind of place I always see myself going. Big XII school last time I checked. I don't have to audition for the theatre program, which is perfect because I don't have anything to show for one. And, based on info from the school's website, there is a lazy river at the Rec Center. A fucking lazy river. 

Like at a water park, except on a college campus. It's really a major selling point for me. Even if I'm too self conscience to wear a swim suit in front of my peers.

 

One thing that both schools have in common, other than both being in Texas, is that I would be automatically accepted. At UH because I would have an Ass. of Arts, and at Texas Tech because I would have more than 24 credit hours with a 2.25 GPA or higher. 

Pretty sweet deal for me either way. I really don't even have to try to get in. I sort of just have to choose. Though none of this debate has taken the cost of attendance into account. 

I'd just rather ignore the debt that will be graduating with me. 

*No math used