*thud*

[jazzfish]

Three weeks since school started. So far I have been behind in all of my classes (though I'm mostly caught up), running on an insufficient amount of sleep each and every night, and been generally worried about it all. Sleep deficit finally smacked me around yesterday, so I slept for eight hours (a "full") night) last night and will probably sleep for ten or twelve tonight.

Classes, for the morbidly curious:

Design lab. Divided into scene design, costume design, and lighting design. Lighting looks alright if a bit lecture-happy, and I haven't had scene yet. Costume is rather horrid. At ten in the morning I'm expected to be able to draw. My artistic talent is roughly equal to that of a squashed turnip, and I must copy costume "sketches" off the blackboard. Ow pain hurting. Yay for starting three days a week with Stuff Tucker Can't Do. The rest of the class is kind of random: some days it's more drawing fun, some days it's listening to lectures. I don't think I've been this unimpressed by a class in a very long time. And I'll have it all year.

Directing. I slightly fear this class, mostly because I'll have to recruit actors in the very near future. Well, actresses. It's decently fun, and I get along okay with the professor. [I think. He's not actively disliking me, at least.]

Playwriting. Another Ed Falco creative writing class. First play due Wednesday, which means there's only one more week of technique and then we get into the workshopping, which is the real meat of the class. Good stuff.

Costume shop. Mornings that don't start with Tucker Can't Draw are Tucker Can't Sew instead. That's gotten a little better after last Thursday, but before then I was about a class period behind the other people learning basic skills. Also, sergers are really, really cool.

History of Drama and Theatre ["HoDaT"], first half. Greeks, mystery plays, and Elizabethans. I am now dead certain that I dislike Greek drama [perhaps comedy will be better], in much the same way as I dislike mystery plays. On the other hand, I wrote my first paper on Heiner Müller's Artaud-inspired Medeaplay, so maybe it'll be okay. More work than last year, since there's a new professor assisting David.

Contemporary Cultures, with Bob Siegle. This class rawks. So far we've studied some abstruse theory [Roland Barthes's "From Work to Text," arguing that art is, in fact, in the eye of the beholder, and a piece on the inanity of the cult of originality have been some of the better bits] and some contemporary art. Siegle is great fun.

And now, perhaps I'll update a little more often. Like tomorrow, when I should be writing my play instead.

Comments

Mmm....geekitude.

[scathach.livejournal.com]

So... let's see if I can get all of this in.

Design Lab: Can I come visit and openly mock the professors NOW?

Directing: The good thing about these classes is that EVERYONE is recruiting actors, so you can go into it with a group mentality. Are you holding auditions?

Greek Stuff: Lysistrata's not too bad. I got an answer right on "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" a couple of weeks ago referencing sexual favors you could have solicited at the original Olympic Games. Um. I actually like Medea, and the ideas of some of the Oresteia. The Romans only get worse, but Commedia Del'Arte is really cool.
Also: see if your professor knows about the origins of Opera, or about early puppet theatre. These might make the class less mind-numbing, and you always get points for curiosity and initiative. (Perhaps this is a bad moment to mention that I spent most of "History of Western Theatre 1&2" trying to gouge my own eyes out with a sharpened dining-hall spoon.)

Costume Shop: Sergers ARE cool. Watch out for the industrial sewing machines, though. They'll sew through denim, leather, bone... Those with dust allergies should watch out for fake fur. And don't let anyone talk you into lots and lots of pleats unless you really want to spend a hot, tedious afternoon slouched over a measuring stick and a really hot iron.

Culture stuff: Remind me and I'll let you borrow my copy of Barthes' Camera Lucida, too. And if you like that, I've got a bunch of other stuff I could offer you.

Aww....my little Tucker's going to turn out just like me. Pretty soon, you, too, will be coming home from work at 12:45 on a Friday night to an empty apartment and slightly watery Lean Cuisine. Such is the glamorous life of the Theatre Professional.

Re: Mmm....geekitude.

[jazzfish]

Design Lab: Can I come visit and openly mock the professors NOW?

Hm. You aren't allowed to mock John Ambrosone, the lighting prof, yet: it's his first semester teaching, and he seems fairly cool. Just having trouble finding his feet. And I probably shouldn't let you mock Randy, the scenic design prof, since I haven't had him yet.

But yeah, you're more than welcome to come mock Lisa Liebtrau as she "teaches" "costume design."

Directing: there are auditions, of a sort, and I've got one or two people lined up who might be willing, or might run screaming when they see what I'm directing. [A short play by Erik Ehn, dealing with St. Rose of Lima and the massacres in El Salvador in the eighties. Not exactly lighthearted stuff.]

Greek stuff: Lysistrata is bloody hilarious, and would be fun to do in a class other than Mrs Petersen's 10th-grade English. This is probably why we're skipping it. [Maybe in favor of something else by Aristophanes, or maybe just for more frickin' tragedy.] The Oresteia's not bad, but after that we get into the non-Oedipal Sophocles and some Euripides.
In fact there probably /will/ be some time spent on Commedia; David is a big fan. So that won't be so bad.

No industrial strength machines in our puny shop . . . just the sergers and 8-10 normal sewing machines. And I really have no idea what I'll be doing, though I don't think pleats will enter into it this semester.

While the misc. books would be quite cool, I'm a bit swamped at the moment. :) At some point, though, definitely.

Such is the glamorous life of the Theatre Professional.

Doesn't sound so bad. Except for the slightly watery bit. :) I'll stick with my fake-cheeze Hot Pockets.

Re: Mmm....geekitude.

[jsciv.livejournal.com]

I just found "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" a few weeks ago. I like it so far. That and, umm... there's another one whose name I'm blanking on that's also a quiz show (it involves a lot of quizzing and bluffing word definitions). Crud. Anyway, I was tired of Garrison Keillor and Whaddya Know, so I've been happy with NPR again lately.

[jsciv.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize that's what you were studying. Huh. Cool!