How I Beat Insomnia

Once upon a time, from age 8 to age 18, I suffered from insomnia. Night after night I laid awake, afraid because everyone else in my house was asleep and I wasn't. Later, as I grew older, I started wondering why I couldn't sleep. I counted sheep and read boring books and listened to soothing music. I was tired by day. I didn't care about much during high school. When I started college and found I needed the natural energy that sleep provides, I was incredibly frustrated. I took sleeping pills which didn't help me, and was afraid to take more. I tried herbal muscle relaxants. I panicked sometimes, knowing it would affect my classes and my life more than ever.

The summer after my freshman year of college was my first summer stock experience, spent as a stage management/rotating shop intern at Saint Michael's Playhouse. And it was there I discovered I could work myself into such exhaustion daily that I would sleep, at last. Maybe that is some of the reason I love summer stock so much, and why I love days in general that leave me wiped out. This week, my first week working at a scene shop in Boston, has left me silly-tired every day, and I absolutely love it. The work, the people, and the sleep I get at night. Don't get me wrong, I love my job for many other and more important reasons...but somehow sleep is the final factor that tells me I'm doing things right!

My sleeping problems are far from over. I started having vivid dreams around the time I started college, dreams that stress me out, that make me feel like I haven't slept at all when I wake up, dreams that disorient and frighten me. I'm never in control, I'm not a lucid dreamer or able in any way to wake up or realize I'm dreaming. I've woken up sick, shaking, crying, or startled. Sometimes I do wake up contented, which I'm thankful for; occasionally, it seems, a dream will come and resolve a problem or an issue in my subconscious. I guess whatever my brain is working on at night, it's important. I'd rather have it do its job than be that teenager who couldn't sleep and walked around in a hazy dream all day. 

Post-College Life (so far)

Life after graduating is definitely a shiny new experience so far. For something like 16 years in the beginning of our lives we go to school and it plays a large role in dictating our friendships, our free time, our activities, and what we do with the rest of our lives. After graduation, a lot of that simply stops.

Immediately after graduating, I worked at a summer stock theater for 3+ months, where I did the work I love and was paid (albeit slightly) and provided with housing for that time. Maybe those benefits are part of the reason I'm a big fan of summer stock; in any case, it meant I had a few more months to figure out my year following the summer.

I didn't waste my time this summer while I was enjoying myself. I started applying for "real" jobs in June and July, searching sites like backstagejobs.com and stagejobspro and artsearch and more. I looked at websites and made phone calls. I asked for references and advice from my many wonderful mentors in this business. I applied for about 15 different jobs in various areas of expertise, since I have a wide range of skills to offer and am interested in many parts of the process.

Despite all of that, I am writing to you now from my parent's house in Vermont. Which is fine for now; I'm not ashamed and they're not bothered, and I can certainly earn my keep helping out here. There isn't enough work in Vermont to support myself with, however, and it's almost time to break into the theater scene elsewhere. I'm working on it, with a lot of help from friends and contacts and again, mentors. It's been a roller coaster month out of summer: I wanted to move right away, but didn't have the money so I decided saving up at home and joining the local stagehand's union, the I.A.T.S.E. Local 919, would be a good idea for my future. September went well: I worked with the local, with VSC, and in Boston a little, feeling it out.

Then October hit, and I realized that work is scarce enough I'm not really saving money. It's time to make the leap and make a bigger effort elsewhere; to spend the money now to move and search for apartments and jobs and hopefully make it up once I'm settled somewhere. Every day brings something different and big. I thought I was working hard throughout college, and I was, but not like this. I work hard every day to stay focused on what I want, to write and talk and think about where I want to be. It sounds simple, but it isn't. I know now I want to move to Boston and work there for this year, at least until the summer season comes around again. I work hard to not become a bum in my parents' basement, to suck it up and ask for help, to make use of the contacts and friends I made in the last 22 years.

Sometimes I feel really stupid about all of this. It seems so simple. But I've learned a lot already. Some of the problem with all those applications I sent out was my over-willingness to relocate. I applied to places all over the country, so long as it wasn't in Vermont. I didn't choose a place and focus on the many opportunities within it-- and each city does have its own type of opportunities. I hoped for a contract right out of college, which in this field doesn't always happen. I've learned just how much other people can and are willing to help, if you cultivate good relationships and ask for it. And I know that someday, I will be one of those people helping the next generation find their way.

Thank you for reading about my life lessons today! More updates to come.

BOOM!

The Vermont Stage Company started its 2012-2013 season with a boom...quite literally! Written by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, Boom tells the tale of a nerdy biologist who predicted the end of the world...and in preparation, stocked up his underground bomb-shelter-turned-lab and put an ad out for a date. Little does Jo, the punk chick who responds know that Jules' real intention is to preserve the human race.

Genevra MacPhail and Alex Koch as Jo and Jules. Photo Source: http://www.vtstage.org

 Directed by Cristina Alicea, the Artistic Director of VSC, this production is a quirky glimpse into the future and appropriately liberal for Burlington, Vermont. Working in the Flynnspace is always a welcome challenge to VSC's directors and designers: it is a small black box space with support columns and a low ceiling to work with. The stage is set as a three-quarter thrust for Boom; the staging carries the actors all over the space, often in unusual and interesting ways. Alex Koch turns a sweet geek into an impressively motivated character when it comes to surviving; when his limits are finally pushed by the often offensive Jo, we see Jules as he had never been seen before in probably all of his tragic life. Genevra MacPhail plays a captivating Jo whose vulnerability changes in very interesting ways throughout the show. I liked her immediately. Carol Spradling plays Barbara, the character who provides a mind-blowing plot twist with increasingly opinionated interjections.

Working on this show has been fun. I met Jim Dougherty, the technical director, back in January at the American College Theater Festival, where I was a technical intern and he was our supervisor. Working with him again to load in the set and flooring was a blast.

Load-in for Boom

Jenny Fulton's scenic design certainly captures the scientific-turned-home-turned-stockpile setting, complete with cold metallic architecture, homely Star Wars bedding and mismatched rugs. Sue Wade's props and dressings complete the space: filing cabinets and crates of important survival things (right down to the baby knits and diapers, tampons, and red Solo cups). I worked later with John Forbes and Sarah Simmons on hanging and focusing lights to create wonderfully diverse effects and a shadowy atmosphere that only furthers the feeling of being underground.

All in all, this is certainly a show worth seeing in the Champlain Valley area. Whether you are interested in the sleeping habits of fish foreshadowing the end of the world; side-splitting laughter and entertainment at the simple facts of life; or the astounding possibilities of human existence and perseverance, Boom is not a play you want to miss. For information on tickets, calendar, and more, please visit the VSC website. 

Thank you for reading!

The Fall

There is something fascinating about the end months of the year. We aren't quite into what I like to think of as the dead months-- after the leaves are gone and everything is brown and grey and black, just waiting for the covering of snow-- but it's coming. After the crisp, sunny days of September and October, when the colors burst against the sky and summer says its last good-bye, dreary November will haunt the blackened forests, the leaves soggy and cold underfoot. A shallow wind creaks through the trees and the rain never really stops coming down.

This is the worst time of year to watch scary movies, to live in rural Vermont, to be alone. I used to be afraid a lot during this time of year. Somehow I am taking solace in its depressing discomfort this time around, and I suspect it has to do with my unhappiness at where I am right now.

After the summer, I wanted to start my post-grad life right away somewhere other than Vermont. I've been here for my whole life and worked with a lot of local companies. I want to experience new places. I love and miss my family, especially my extended family, who I don't see often. They are always there for me though, a short email or a quick phone call away: my parents, my grandma... and with my brothers settling down I don't feel the need to stay here.

So it's time.

But I don't have the money to move to the city yet, and the couple of places that made offers would probably have made me more miserable and bored than ever, so I'm staying at home, saving money, and getting my union card. It's reasonable. Logical. I'm just not patient enough, I guess. I want my independent life to begin now.

At least I'm not afraid anymore.

The End of Summer

It's been a busy month or so since I last wrote... the summer season at the Hangar theater ended with Trip To Bountiful, the story of a woman in Texas trying to get home. We had a lot of very detailed projects for this show, which was interesting and often challenging for the scene shop. With interns and apprentices leaving for school, our numbers were reduced, but many of the projects we worked on were portfolio projects for each of us to display our work, and so the fewer people in the shop, the easier it was for us all to work around one another.

Ticket booth

I worked on a beautiful ticket booth with our Master Carpenter, making a finished old-fashion booth that lifted and wheeled around with a handle mechanism. I also made a window piece and frame, which was great practice for some intricate fitting of pieces. I made a little roof piece and worked on huge, rough-hewn posts. During the load-in, I was a carpenter for the changeover and worked on a lot of the pieces that flew in and out: the roof, the window, the apartment wall. This show was a great way to the end the season because of the practice we all put in on detailed work.

Finishing touches on the ticket booth: routed edges, molding, all sanded and plastered or puttied

The window pane and frame I made! Becca made the bottom frame, which we put in later.

I made this day bed at the last minute for props, and am very proud of how it came out.

We were working right up til opening night on this show finishing things and especially working on these bench platforms that were controlled with casters on a pressurized air system to raise & wheel or lower & brake. It was quite a process. But the show opened successfully, and we all celebrated and then packed our bags and headed our separate ways, minus a skeleton crew to run the show and strike later in the month. 

I really enjoyed my time at the Hangar theater this summer. I learned a lot, grew in confidence about my skills, met a lot of contacts and friends, and solidified the fact that I love summer stock theater. Despite some rough patches-- as any theater, any job in the world, will have-- we produced an awesome season. Each show, we learned new things: we had Lend Me A Tenor, which was a hotel interior with big walls and basic scenery practices; Titanic the Musical, which we worked almost exclusively with metal; Full Gallop, which had a small set; Next to Normal, which combined wood and metal working; and Trip to Bountiful, which had finished pieces and furniture that really challenged our skills. Not to mention the kids' shows and the experimental line...it was a busy summer!

Thanks for reading!

Next to Normal

Our current production, Next to Normal, is by far my favorite of the season! A fairly recent musical, N2N tells the story of a family who works their way through mental problems displayed by one family member, and how that issue affects the entire family. It does an incredible job of addressing what modern medical and therapy practices can do and also explores the fears that many people have about loss, grief, middle-class living, familial relationships, and traumatic events. Andrea Burns stars in this moving production directed by Tracy Brigden.

The Hangar's N2N is slightly different than the original, with a fascinating new scenic design by Anne Mundell that fits the height constraints of our space nicely.

Lighting Design: Matt Richards

I really enjoyed building and watching this show. Check out my previous post for more information about the build process and load-in for Next to Normal. Ticket information, calendar, and more can be found at the Hangar website.

Photo Credit: Rachel Philipson, Hangar website

 

Photo Credit: Rachel Philipson, Hangar website

Building Next to Normal

The past few weeks have been busy at the Hangar Theater! We opened Full Gallop, a one-woman show about Diana Vreeland (founder of Vogue magazine) on August 3rd and it ran for just over a week. Dee Hoty kept audiences riveted with Vreeland's funny and interesting revelations.

The set for Full Gallop was relatively simple for us. The entire show took place in an upscale apartment, which the designer Michael Krass chose to represent with a giant swoop of red set paper instead of walls, as well as with furniture and elaborate dressings and rugs. The real challenge was for stage management, who had to strike the set for the children's show every week.

While Full Gallop was performing, we started building for Next to Normal. This was another large production with a workload similar to Lend Me A Tenor or Titanic, but it combined woodworking and steel. We have all been excited about this show since it is very new and also the initial design drawings looked amazing. Anne Mundell designed the world of Next to Normal with a series of platforms and stairs flanked by three houses of various sizes, hanging upside down. The entire set is encased in drops and flats of clouds.

Parts of the set during load-in

We had a lot to build in a shorter time than usual (since Full Gallop had a shorter run of performances than the other mainstage productions). We started with the houses, since they are unusually shaped flats and paints needed plenty of time to work on them. I cut out all of the lauan facing one afternoon, which was a fun project. Framing the pieces with 1x3 was less fun, since the houses are such strange shapes and need to be supported unusually for how they are hung, but we got it done.

Other projects included steel platforms and supports, steel staircases and finished lids for each stair (I worked on those for a long time), hanging the cloud drop and masking flats. During this changeover, I got moved to electrics, so I worked on a set of double-decker trunions for the ground row of lights in preparation.A carp-elecs swing position is my ideal anyway, so this change wasn't unhappy for me.

Stair lids: 3/4"plywood with masonite facing

Trunions-- the black pieces on either side supporting the long strip of lights

This was a different changeover than usual for me. Having worked primarily in electrics and stage management before, I was ready for the challenge of switching departments and found I could make myself very useful to our young ME and electrics crew. It was a pleasure working with Matt Richards, the lighting designer, and Felicia Hall, the lighting design fellowship and Matt's assistant on Next to Normal. The changeover/tech week presented plenty of challenges, however, and I learned a lot about management and preparation, and infectious attitudes.

Some load-in photos: 

Nia & Cecilia installing the stair lids

Boom pipe and masking flats off SL...this pipe was later repositioned elsewhere.

Hanging the first house!

Focusing lights

I will post more photos and my review of the show soon! Thank you for reading!