Changing Plans

Ok, so maybe my schedule will be changing after all. I attended my first class on Thursday and it turned out to be a bit of a flop. Not the actual subject matter, but the class itself. There were over 60 people registered, with discussion groups that would be half that size. No thanks. I don't do well in large classes or discussions, so I'm not taking that course. Instead, it looks like I will be doing a special studies about something related to historical dress or clothing. I have a bunch of options, so I'll need to make a decision and report back.

My biggest news is that I was accepted into the museums concentration!! Yay! I'm even more excited because my advisor is the professor who taught my costume design class and will be my supervisor for my special studies! How cool is that?!?

Now I'm back to getting some work done for my American Lit. class, as well as maybe ordering some new makeup.

Finished?

I finally finished the Kit Kat Boys' costume designs. They look pretty schnazzy if you ask me. I guess I'll make an official post with both photos on here, instead of changing one post to avoid writing a new entry Also, please ignore any strange markings in my coloring (it's eraser residue from my costume design class - I didn't want to waste perfectly good paper). So without further ado, I present the Kit Kat Dancer costume designs (Bobby, Victor, Hans, Rosie, Lulu, Frenchie, Texas, Frenchie, and Helga)!

Costume 1 Final Designs

I passed in my costume final on Monday and took photos of each of my lovely designs for a Retro 50's-70's version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Here they are in all their glory!

 Hermia in a pink spotted circle skirt dress.

So much to do!

I didn't think I'd get around to another blog post before the end of the semester, but I can't focus on work much longer.

I'm relieved to be finished with classes, even if it means I now have to deal with finals (ugh). I'm currently progressing through my only remaining finals: math and costume design. I'm not worried too much about either, but just want to be home. I currently have two problems left on my math final so that should be pretty easy. My costume final is a whole other story: as mentioned last post, I have 8 full on designs for A Midsummer Night's Dream, 10 historical re-drawings, 2 performance reviews and a director's note. I am proud to say I am moving through each fairly decently. I have 6 more re-drawings and 4 design sketches left, as well as both performance reviews and the director's letter. One thing that has really helped me with the drawings is drawing off another person's shape - e.g. I have taken my neighbors, photographed them, drawn them in the poses in the photos, then put my clothing designs on them. It has really helped me with proportions because I have something to look at and I'm not drawing a body from thin air. So if you are reading this blog, who knows, you might be a character in my designs.

On another note, a group of students here has formed a Shakespeare troupe and is performing Romeo and Juliet. Good news: I went to a meeting today and they said I could be a couple of minor parts in it. Bad news: Pirates starts on the 13th of February and R&J will perform late February/early March, meaning I might not be able to do it :( I'm waiting to see if we will get a schedule for Pirates over break so I can decide and tell the director (who is only a first year and seems really on top of things. The exercises we did today were reminiscent of what I did in WHSTE *sigh*). I'm hoping that even if I can't be in it, I can maybe help with costumes.

It's the most wonderful time of the year?

Well it seems to be for most people with holiday shopping and tree decorating, but for college students it means cramming for finals, booking plane and bus tickets, and cramming enough stuff for 3 weeks home into a tiny suitcase. And I am no exception. My last day of classes is in a couple days, then we have "reading period" where we get time to study and finish our finals. I lucked out a bit this semester, with only 2 finals during finals period - a math take-home test and a costume design project. I presented my dance powerpoint about Agnes deMille on Wednesday and I will pass in my Shakespeare paper on Tuesday. So I just have to do 8 full color designs (complete with images and swatches) for characters from A Midsummer Night's Dream, 10 re-drawings of historical clothing, 2 performance reviews of performances I saw this semester and a director's letter about my designs. I guess it could be about 100 times worse, I'm just having trouble motivating my self to work.

Semesterly Stuffs

So there is a lot to report since my last post. Urinetown went very well - we sold out Friday and almost sold out on Saturday. All the people who came to see the production really enjoyed themselves. It was definitely a ton of fun. My manliness (ok boyishness) went well and I liked being almost fully disguised under a hat and boy-shirt for once. My favorite part was that I ended up jumping on Bobby's back during Act 1 Finale which made me very happy (see 2nd photo below). What was really nice about the entire production was that everyone got along very well - we had a cast of 15, so we all became really close which is something I've never felt in a cast before. I'm really pleased and can't wait until my next production with this group!

(Top to bottom: the cast, Act 1 Finale, Mr. Cladwell, and Cop Song)

The end of the semester is right around the corner, meaning my costume design and costume shop classes will end soon. I have truly enjoyed the design class - it has been a lot of work, but very insightful and fun in the meantime. I think grade-wise I am doing just fine, I just need to maintain my standards for my final project (which is 12 designs for 2 separate productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream). I know that I want to set one production in the 1950s with the setting in a diner and drive-in movie...I just need to get to work because the drawings are due the 2nd.

I guess one good thing is that I got all my classes for next semester (no acting or costume classes) but I'm excited because I will be taking an American Studies course on New England Material Culture. Can't wait to work with artifacts!!

This will be a quicky

partly because I have little to say and partly because I have a paper and project due tomorrow and tech rehearsals tonight. I've started to play with changing my header. I created a collage with Picasa and put text over it (aren't I so tech savvy?). Planning to change it around later with better images, but this will do for now. More will come later about Urinetown fiascos.

Long day.....

I just got back from an excursion to UMass to get art supplies for my costume design class. I needed watercolor brushes and paper, a palette, a pencil sharpener, and a portfolio to keep my works of art in and some of my housemates and I have discovered it is much cheaper to purchase art supplies at the UMass campus store than at the (really awesome) art store in town. So a friend and I went to the art store and purchased all that I needed (except the watercolor paper which I thought there might be a better selection in town). After, we walked back to the bus stop and found a massive crowd of people waiting to get on. We figured we wouldn't be able to get on so we walked the the other stop. Big mistake. We ended up waiting nearly an hour and a half before getting on a bus because every passing bus was filled to the gills! So I'm finally home and completely exhausted, but I do have my awesome art supplies :).

Urinetown rehearsals are good - I had one on Thursday night and we read through the script. I noticed all the really funny parts in the show this time and I guess I better understand all the jokes and such this time around. The dynamic is also very different because the whole cast is women with a few playing guys (myself included!), but I like it a lot. We have a dance "audition" tomorrow so that the choreographer can get a sense of how well we dance and what she can do with us.

The girl across the hall from me is really into anime and watches the Hayao Miyazaki movies which is nice because I have had few people in the past who enjoyed these movies. She also loves cute kitties from icanhascheezburger.com and has converted me. They are absolutely amazingly cute!

We're not sorry now! (bah dap bah dap)

I know I haven't posted in a while, but homework bogs everyone down. So my big news is that I made it into the Leading Ladies production of Urinetown! I'm playing Billy Boy Bill/Dr. Billeaux. I'm really excited to do the show again. I think it will be a lot of fun, plus we only have 15 people in the cast! We have our first read through tonight (and luckily the rehearsal is a stones throw away from my house so I don't have to walk too far in the dark and also won't get soaking wet in this awful rain we are having today.

On another note, I had my first costume shop lab on Monday. I thought I would jump right in to something fun and semi complicated, but no, I was giving a piece of muslin and I learned how to sew a basic seam, a fake felled seam, a real felled seam and a French seam. I've done flat felled seams before, but they turned out a bit messy. This time I felt good because all my seams were very neat and I had little trouble (except for the machine which kept jamming on me. Joy.). I have class on Friday as well and I can't wait to see what is in store.

And this is silly, but I wrote this entire post on my iPod touch while waiting for class to start. Oh the wonders of technology.

Courses and College

Yesterday I underwent the all-important class registration with very few mishaps. At 12:45 I went downstairs to the house common room so I could lay out my alternate schedule (in case I couldn't get my first choices) and eventually I was joined by a few other housemates - all getting anxious about registration. To make a long stoy short, we all pressed submit on our computers and rapidly punched in the CRM's for our courses. After 15 minutes (and lots of slow web pages), I had my courses!! I'm officially registered for Elementary German, Contemporary Dance 1, a first year seminar called "Turning Points" (it's taught by a professor from the Study of Women and Gender major), and.....(drumroll please!).......Costume Design 1!! I'm so glad I got into the course that I have been waiting nearly a year to take! My first class is on Tuesday morning with a lab in the afternoon. I just went to the bookstore to purchase my giant stack of books and am flipping through the interesting ones. I can't wait for the class to start!