Those Wise Fools

Officially back on Yale campus, though sophomore year doesn't start for another two weeks. Already busy. Typical.

Don't know how much I'll keep up with you, my fine little blog, but we'll see. We had a good thing going for a while.

Ta-Ta for now!

The Miserables

This past weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to run the light board for Casa Manana's production of Les Miserables, and I have to say I had a blast. Before this weekend, the only experience I'd had with lighting is hanging, focusing, and discussing leopard gobos with Zoe. I worked with a couple of days with a professional lighting designer, watching him program his board, and light a show. Even though my stage manager and I never really got a break during the shows (around 250 cues in a 130 minute show means approximately one cue every 30 seconds), I got to watch all 4 performances and the dress rehearsal for free, which was nice considering Casa doesn't have the cheapest tickets in town.

The cast was terrific. I thought I only knew three or so people in the cast before I signed on to work the show, but it turned out I had a lot more familiar faces than I expected, which was nice. I also got to talk with Tammy, the costume designer at Casa, and she still remembers me from two summers ago, which was really nice. In fact, one of the guys in Les Mis wore the exact same coveralls that I wore for Footloose; they still had my name in the tag. And I also got to go into my old dressing room and see that my name was still sharpy-ed on the wall. It's so nice just being in a familiar theater. I also got to see a bunch of nooks and crannies at Casa that I hadn't seen before, including the booth, and all the way around the perimeter of the dome.

I'm really glad that I'm getting to experience different aspects of technical theater. When I was in highschool, even though I got the chance to direct my senior year, I really was oblivious to the kinds of things that go into a show to make it technically sound. I feel like I have a much greater appreciation for what it takes to make a show, and that I can view theatrical productions more wholistically, and with an eye for all the aspects.

As much as I want to continue learning about tech theater--I've really enjoyed doing sets work; I love building things; and I really want to learn more about lighting--I ultimately don't think thats where I want to be. I haven't been in a musical since Footloose, and that was two summers ago. I miss doing musical theater. It's ridiculous, and passionate, and stirs the soul, and it's just plain fun to go on stage and act and sing and dance. I love doing straight plays, don't get me wrong, probably more than musicals, because I, personally, fare better with them, but I'd love to do the occasional musical.

There's just so much I want to do theatrically, I want to keep trying more things to see what I really like. Writing, acting, teching, directing, who knows maybe even producing. I can't seem to keep myself away. Many of the people in the cast of Les Mis and at Casa asked me what I'm doing in college, and if I'm majoring in theater. I'm not majoring in theater; I don't know what my major will be, but I can say with almost certainty that it won't be theater. And yet, I can hardly keep myself away.

A friend of mine, Andy Baldwin, directed a production of Once Upon a Mattress, which I saw last weekend. I went with him, and some of the cast to an after-show dinner/party, and I started talking with the show's pianist. He said that he recognized me from somewhere, and we got to talking about theater in the Fort Worth area, and then I talked a little about the theater I've done at Yale, and he too asked me if I wanted to continue doing theater, perhaps as a potential career path. I told him I didn't know, and he told me that it seemed like that's where my heart is. I'd talked with this stranger for no more than 15 minutes and he recognized the home theater has in my heart.

I once asked my mother what our family was going to do when I became an actor, my sister became an artist, and my brother became a philosopher. She said we'd all be broke and starving, but we'd all be happy. Who knows what tomorrow brings?

The Summer Jobs I Could Have Had

When there is a wildfire, one of the techniques used to fight the fire is to squeeze the fire--attack it from both sides. A smokejumper parachutes onto the other side of the wildfire, the side that's already been burned, and fights the fire from the backside. Bet you weren't expecting that Mr. Raging Inferno. A smokejumper has to parachute into the blaze with all of his essentials, food, water, camping gear, on top of all his firefighting gear, because smokejumpers live days, sometimes even more than a week, in the charred wilderness, spending every minute they aren't fighting the fire trying to survive. That sounds like my kind of a job.

I'd like to work on a boat. I could do a coastal sailing boat or a fishing trawler. Sleeping under the deck, or above, on nice nights, listening to the slapping of the water on the side of the boat. I lived on a sailboat for a week once, as part of a marine biology program that I did summer after my sophomore year of high school. I absolutely loved it. When we got the sails full, and really started cruising using no kind of ancillary fuel, that felt great. We could even tack into oncoming wind. So, yeah, I could live and work on a boat like that. But I think I would also like to work on one of those big industrial ships that make journeys across the ocean. Planes go too fast, I want to enjoy my trip across the ocean, and see every last, identical drop of water. There's just something exhilirating when you find yourself out on the open water, and you look around, and you can't see anything but water all the way around you.

Me driving a boat.

I wanted to be a window washer for a while. It sounds like a great gig actually. Most high-rise window washers are self-employed, and make decent amounts of dough. Because for some reason it's a job that not many people want. I don't understand that. I mean the actual job, the washing the window part, is really easy. I've been an amateur window washer for my mother for years now, and I think I could go pro. Especially if I got fancy window washing equipment. And you get to see cities in a way that not many people get to. Who cares if the UK thinks window washing is one of the most dangerous jobs out there? They drive on the wrong side of the road, what do they know?

I hear construction in Alaska is a pretty booming industry. Especially in the summer, when it isn't too cold to snow. I could put up with Seward's Folly for a nice view, and decent pay.

Next summer I might be working at Schloß-Wartin, a mere 15 Km from Poland, helping the professor there run his house. He's in the process of historically renovating his 450 year old house, and his mansion also has an attached "garden." I say "garden," because that's the closest word that describes the orchard/field/flower, vegetable, and other plant filled couple dozen acres behind the house. Maybe by the time I get back there he'll have a spatula, and Bryan, Nimit, and I won't have to grill our wurst with sticks:

I've had a hankering to go back to Philmont and work as a ranger, if I could. I really enjoyed the 12 days I spent backpacking there, and the idea of getting paid to backpack through the wilderness sounds almost unfair to my would-be employers. I wouldn't mind being stationed in the back country and living in a rustic cabin, maybe teaching people to shoot black powder rifles, or lead them through abandoned coal mines. And I'd finally have an excuse to learn how to play the fiddle. Well, maybe just the harmonica.