RockU Solid but Driven D-Xirably Insane! Part 2

Here's part 2 since my week continues to be crazy busy!

Tuesday,
I ran into Tel (Chantel M.) and Modesty at the computer lab. I run into Tel a lot this year, we always manage to bump into each other at the library. I see Modesty a lot too which I really enjoy! She's so nice and sweet! I just adore her!

Me and beautiful Modesty!

Since Directing class with Susan was cancelled because she's out of town, I figured I would get to enjoy a break before my Shakespeare class. No, I didn't. I did a brief interview with my sorority mom, Lauren H. for her Journalism class. It was an interview on Quentin S. He's a transfer student at RU and he's a new theater student. It didn't take long at all. What took up my time was trying to sew up my bag strap, it broke... One thing I've learned during my process of being a director, is that active theater students love Mabee Theater. Theater students are always there, even in between our classes. Sometimes, they nap there or study there. It's nice actually.

I went to Shakespeare class. It's the same ol' same ol, all about Shakespeare! LOL!

After class, I had singing auditions from 4-6pm. Now, that was fun. It's always fun to watch singing auditions. Just watch American Idol or X Factor and imagine that you are actually there. And in my case, put yourself into one of the judges' seats. I will admit, some of the new people that auditioned surprised me. Others, well they are active in theater so I already knew what they could do. Tom thought that it would be fun for me to sing though. I don't know why, he's already heard me trying to sing. I auditioned for the ThreePenny Opera a while back ago. Let's just say that I was really nervous and I learned that I wasn't the best singer. So, I was incredibly surprised when he asked me to sing. At first I said no, singing in front of people just isn't my thing. That's why I am the assistant director and not attempting to be one of the singers in this show. But I eventually caved in and did it. Grace Chang and I played around with A Whole New World from Aladdin. Again, I was super nervous and it wasn't the best song to play around with. I didn't know the words like I thought I did and the notes didn't come out right. After that, I decided that I've embarrassed myself more than enough this week. :)

After rehearsals, I went to the hospital with my mom to see a loved one and didn't get home until 9pm. When I got home, I sent Susan an email with the notes that Tom, Grace C., and I had about the singing auditions.

Wednesday,
What's important is that Susan's finally back! I'm so happy about that too! Now, she will be here for call backs. I had rehearsals right after my class. They did good and I was starting to feel the lack of sleep that I ended rehearsals early. By the way, I live in that building and in the library computer lab, so if you ever need me find me there! While I was working on my paper, Roberto came in and showed me my boxcar for the play. It's awesome! He did an incredible job on it! I love it, it's amazing! I can't wait for everyone to see it! He definitely impressed me with it!

Also, Ericka C. asked me for some advice, director to director. That was cool. It's my first time being a director and I'm already being asked for my opinion as a director. I like it. She asked me how much of the stage directions should she read. I told her to only read what was important to the plot and to the story line if the actors' aren't acting them out.

At 11am, I went to our production meeting. It's hard for me to get down the steps because my ankle is killing me. I have no idea why it's hurting me though. Sarah B. quickly noticed it when she saw me. She hurt her wrist on Wednesday and so she's like what's going on with our production team. It's crazy!

I learned that my play takes place in Afghanistan during our first invasion in that country under the first Bush. That was nice to know! Especially since there was the notion that it took place during the Vietnam War. I never got that feeling when I read it though. It seemed like it didn't take place too long ago, so I was happy to know that I was right and to know exactly when and where my play took place.

At 12pm, I had rehearsals. The guys have their lines pretty much memorized which I really enjoy and appreciate! I love watching and working with the guys! Roberto Perez came to rehearsals again which was awesome! I appreciated it! He helps me with the military stuff since he was a Marine. (In case, I didn't tell you that earlier)

Danny G. and I after a Booby Trap rehearsal

After rehearsals, Brian T. interviewed me about Roberto P. It's for his journalism class. Actually, Lauren and him both have that class together.

I went to call backs. My little PIC (Partner In Crime) Grace C. comes in late. I needed her there to talk to while call backs were going on. Plus, I really miss the audition part and being an actor in the play... Being a director and now assistant director behind the scenes doesn't allow me to be out in front anymore... I just miss becoming a character. Now, I'm just me helping the actors' become their characters. It's just different. At 5, call backs are practically over. I leave during the process of choosing the cast. I felt like I did my part with the notes and that it was time for me to go home.

At 6:32pm, I somehow manage to find myself back at the hospital with my mom. By the way, I'm visiting a loved one at the hospital when I say this just to clarify. We stayed at the hospital until 8pm.

I finally get home at 8:40pm. I can finally eat and go to sleep.

Thursday,

I woke up at 8am. I sent out FB invites for people to come and see A Night of One Acts (the plays that Lauren H. and I are directing) on Oct. 6-7 at 8pm and Oct. 8-9 at 2pm. That's the first time I ever sent out invites via FB. I really don't like to do it because I hate it when I am sent tons of invites. It's annoying sometimes. After that I got dressed and headed to school.

I went to the computer lab in Sedgwick. (I kind of live in Sedgwick! All of my classes are in Sedgwick and I do tons of theater stuff in Mabee Theater, which is located in Sedgwick.) I ran into Modesty. We talked for a little while as we both worked on the computer.

11am I went to my Theology class. We got our papers back. I did okay on it but I need to do better on it next time. I have to get an A in this class in order to get into TAK (Theta Alpha Kappa - The Religious Studies honor society).

I ran into beautiful Paulina C. right before class. I told her that we need to have lunch together and she agreed. I will be working on that!

I had rehearsals right after class. I had a no show which surprised me. So, I ended up talking with the person that did show for and while and then canceled rehearsals to look at the "toys" that we got for my show. When I say "toys", I mean prop guns. They look awesome by the way! I have two pistols for my show and two rifles! It's so cool! I even had to play around with them for a while. By the way, they don't work that's why they are called prop guns. We also got the jungle green digi (digital) camouflage uniforms and they look incredible as well! I'm now getting really excited for my play! It's starting to look and feel authentic!

After I played with the "toys" and looked at the uniforms, I went to the bank with my mom. I had to cash my refund check and to pay some bills off. When I say bills, I mean credit card bills. LOL! I'm a girl that likes to shop so of course I have a credit card! Two, actually! :)

I got home around 7pm and crashed.

Well, that's my week so far. The weekend (Friday-Sunday) deserves a post of it's own since it's the weekend of the homecoming dance and full run-thru rehearsals! :)

D-Xirably,

LaTasha B. aka "The girl that always wear high heels"

RockU Solid but Driven D-Xirably Insane! Part 1

So, a lot has happened over this past week,

Sunday,
I had my first full run-thru for my show. It was interesting, that's the best way to put it. I am eternally grateful to my cast for showing up and participating though. Most of them are off book and have their lines memorized which I really love! Three members of the cast were excused for work reasons and I had one no show... Given the fact that I had four necessary characters gone, it wasn't too bad of a run thru. I had a couple of people late though but that's okay. I still need to work on my show though. I have to put some things together and work with my actors a little more. Alan Nichols came to the full run thru and he gave me some great advice. I will be working on incorporating his advice into my rehearsals. Hopefully, things will look at lot better for my next full run-thru! Not to mention, hopefully I will have my entire cast there! Other than that, I tend to be a perfectionist. So, I am freaking out a little bit. We have two weeks until the show opens and it's making me nervous!

Devon W., Kayla F., and Brian T. after Booby Trap full run-thru

Kily N. and I after Booby Trap full run-thru

After rehearsals, I had chapter. It was the shortest chapter yet which I really appreciated! The D-Xirables Carma R., Lauren H., Sarah D., and I worked on our (DXP's) homecoming golf cart. (Did I mention that homecoming week is coming up? Well, it is! I am excited for that as well!) Our golf cart represents Florida! Carma's mom had an amazing idea for our cart and it turned out amazing! I am so proud of our decorations for it! I adore the flip flops and the Minnie Mouse ears, bow, and hands! It looks really nice! We have oranges hanging from the sides of it which is cool too. I'm really proud of our cart this year!

Sarah D. by DXP's "Florida" golf cart

Carma R. working hard on DXP's "Florida" golf cart

Me and my sorority mother, Lauren H. by DXP's "Florida" golf cart

It's DXP's beautiful "Florida" golf cart! Look at the Minnie Mouse bow, ears, and gloves!
Plus the flip flops and oranges!

Monday,
After class, I had to teach Susan's Introduction to Theater Arts class. Only at RockU, with the permission of an amazing teacher who had to be out of town, can you be a student and get the opportunity to teach a class. I was really scared though! I've never taught a class of this magnitude. I was worrying about it all night! After all that worrying though, it didn't go too bad. My job was to teach them about blocking and to talk to them about my job as a director. Sarah B. took role for me since my job wasn't to learn their names when she already knew who everyone was. She is Susan's TA.

We started off with a warm-up courtesy of Sarah B. We did sound and motion. Not only did it get the class to participate but it got me to warm up to the class as well, which calmed my nerves a lot! We then had them break up into 4 groups.

Following Susan's instructions, I had the class do an exercise. I had one member of each of the groups be the leader or "director", and this person was responsible for creating shapes with their "actors". One director had their actors put their hands into two hearts, one director had the group do the YMCA letters, one director had his group in the shape of a triangle, and the other director had his group do a little "r" for Rockhurst. It seems I'm not the only one that loves RU! :) They were creative about it.

Then, I taught them the different levels of/in blocking. Again, following Susan's instruction, I had several students step in as my actors to show the different blocking levels and asked the class where the focus was or who caught their attention. They did this exercise really well and understood that levels play a huge role in blocking. Whoever is elevated on the couch, has the focus, and if they are on the same level, whoever the characters' are looking at has the focus. They also learned that if someone is standing closer downstage they will have the focus over someone upstage.

Also, I showed them how to play with space and sets in blocking. This is after I had a student use the space and set pieces (couch and table) first to block a group of their classmates or "actors". I then showed them that there is more than one way to block a scene with just a couch and table.

I talked with them about my job as a director. My D-Xirable mother, Lauren, stepped in and talked about her job as a director as well. We discussed our set ideas, costume ideas, the casting process, and any problems that has come up along the way. I was really happy when my D-Xirable mother stepped in because I was running out of things to say!  Sarah B. talked about her job as a lighting designer as well, which was amazing!

Lastly, Sarah B. had them improv a scene. She had them break up into groups and one student in each group had to "direct" scenes without their "actors" talking. They had to to do this in a way that the audience understood what was going on. They had 5 mins to prepare each scene and then they had to do them. Sarah B. and I was really impressed with the scenes that they came up with. All of them did a great job on it! The first group was super funny because he had an actor kill his entire group and get away with it. It was too awesome! Another group had musical chairs which was also entertaining to watch. It was fun to watch who won! One group presented a girl fight that ended with them hugging in the end. The last group had an actor assault a woman and then get arrested. Like I said, they were creative with their improv scenes!

The teachers for the day: Sarah B. and I!

The class was over after those scenes (It ended at 10:45am). All my nerves were finally gone! Hopefully they had some fun and learned something new. While I taught Susan's class, Brian and Sam did their rehearsal on their own and without me which I loved.

I had my rehearsals for Booby Trap at 12:15pm until 2:30pm. They went well. I was happy when Roberto showed up and finally got to work with Erica a little bit. He didn't change much though, he liked the scenes the way they were.

Finally, I had to watch the dance auditions for the musical from 3-5:45pm. The dance looked fun so I tried to learn it with those that were auditioning while Grace C. took down names for me and wrote some notes. She also took pics which was wonderful! Love her for that! The dance was super hard though (for the girl's part). I couldn't keep up, Chris (the choreographer) was moving way too fast for me! I felt bad for those that were auditioning! I only did it for fun and it was tough! I watched those that auditioned though and reviewed Grace's notes to see if we agreed on them. I will be the assistant director for the musical and since Susan couldn't be there I sent some notes that Grace and I had about the dancing auditions to her. I also went to the Players meeting. It was short which was really cool. I didn't get home until 8pm.

Chris with Danny G. during dance auditions

Another photo taken during dance auditions

D-Xirably,

LaTasha B. aka "The girl that always wear high heels"