If you could do anything else….

   ”If you could do anything else… do it, drop out of the arts.”  That was the advice I was given when I was just beginning to study theatre.    I continue the warning:   You don’t have your holidays to yourself, or weekends, or evenings, or anytime any of your friends are free.  That is true for the arts.  And 99% of the time I don’t mind it.  

   This year, however, its bugging me.   My husband also works in the arts (thankfully, our areas are not too closely together, so we are not competing for work).   Between the two of us, we have 2 birthdays and an anniversary in the next few months.   I don’t think we have spent all three of them together in a single calendar year in the six years of marriage (or the even longer amount of time we were dating).  It rarely bothers me.   In fact, I think this is the first year I’m in the dumps about it.   Of the three, we will only get to spend one together.   

   We both knew we were in for this when we started.  (I was late to my wedding rehearsal because I was at strike for a show, and left the day after my wedding, without my spouse  to head out of town for work.)   I tell my students as someone who hopes to work in the arts you get to pick one holiday that you don’t work — and what ever holiday that is, it is the one you are stuck with.   Long ago I choose New Years Eve — consequently I have worked on my birthday, my anniversary, every Thanksgiving weekend for years, even Christmas.  I have missed wedding, baptisms, birthday parties, class reunions, and more (I was late for my bachelor party).  I am the stick-in-the-mud who when being invited out for drinks says, “No, I have an 8 A.M. call in the morning for tech.”

   That is the reality of working in the arts… you spend your life for the art.   Most of the time, I’m so thrilled about the life I have chosen.  I have my art, I have a great husband, I have it all.  I don’t get to spend the “special days” with my husband this summer, but for the first time in years I will get Thanksgiving weekend this year (ALL OF IT!!)  And since we knew going into all of this that the “special days” everyone else celebrates, we probably won’t we try to make every day that we can be together a special day.

The Art Bug

In all honesty, I don’t use this blog as a blog.  I use it as a place mostly to post short articles on what ever topic I want to write on.  Today, I’m really writing about me.

I usually focus on design, not art.  Design is about creating items (in my life scenery or lighting) to support concepts or ideas developed by others (the script/the playwright).  The difference is art is about creating items to share your own ideas.

I have been working on  a project for the last year that I will hopefully be able to fully talk about soon.    A few years ago I did a 365 project.  A 365 project traditionally means creating a work of art everyday for a year.  What I really did was try to create 7 a week.  My work schedule meant that I got a lot of art done in tight blocks and then would go days without doing anything.

It was fun focussing on art projects that I wanted to do, that expressed what I wanted to express, that used techniques that I wanted to explore.   As much as I would like to do that again, I am no longer largely living on my own, my duties have expanded both at home and at work, and another 365 isn’t in the cards for me now.  However, the art bug is back.

I have a handful of small projects I want to do (and I suspect I will have a BIG project connected with the project I can’t talk about yet).  But over the next few weeks, I hope to do an art piece.  An art piece for me.

I have an idea — something I want the piece to be about.  I have a form I want it to be (a variation on a triptych).   I will have some experimentation of media and supplies to get the look I see in my head.  But for a change I working on art for me.

In the end the idea may not be earth shattering, and the methodology may not be as ground breaking as I think — but it will be momentous for me. . .

. . . Because I will be an artist again.

This is something I need in my life now.

There’s an App for That

I was asked to do a short presentation on Apps for theatre.   I surveyed friends and colleagues, then did a bunch of research.  The presentation went well, but I was asked to post the handout which was a summary of the apps I found.  This seemed like a good place, so here is the hand out I, well, handed out!

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There’s an App for That:

IOS and Android Apps for Technical Theatre

The following list contains apps that we may discuss today.   Some apps are free others cost money.   Listing does not imply recommendation.  IOS is the operating system for IPads, IPhones, and IPod Touches — not all IOS apps will run on all IOS devices.  Android is the operating system that many smart phones and the Nook Color run — again, not all apps will run on all devices.

 

Decibel Ultra (IOS )

Turn your device into a decibel meter.

 

Decibel-O-Meter (Android)

Turn your device into a decibel meter

 

eSet (IOS)

Almost every technical theatre vocabulary word you need to know, includes synonyms.

 

MultiTrack (IOS — although similar apps exist for Android)

Quick digital audio workstation for your device.

 

Prospero (IOS)

Stage management tools.  Scene break downs, prop lists.   List things by location or by character or by scene.

 

Scene Partner (IOS)

[NOTE: App is free, but you must by the scripts]   Scripts available  from public domain sources and Dramatists Playservice and Samuel French.  (other publishers may be available).  Allows you to get off book via recording in other actors lines, or using a text to speech ap.

 

ShowTool LD (IOS)

Beam Calculator.  Gel calculator based on fixture (good but in metric). DMX Dip switch calculator. Power consumption calculator

 

ShowTool Swatch (IOS)

Apollo, Gam, Lee, Rosco gels.  Graph, Complementary colors, Can bank gels into collections, favorites lists.  Suggests gels for various types of lights (i.e. Backlight, cyc lights, etc).  Select color from image, suggests gel color.  Lists suppliers by country/region

 

Stage Directions (Android)

Download (for Free) current and past issues of the magazine to read on your mobile device

 

StageHand (Android)

Dip switch settings, Light beam calculations, Color Calculator, Pin outs, Wats to Amps converter.   Pro version also available.

 

Stage Lighting Beam Calculator (Android)

Calculate throw distance, beam diameter, field diameter, and foot candles for various instruments .  Includes frame size, gels cuts per sheet and lamp. 

 

Stage Write (IOS)

There is a free demo of this app (which is good because it is expensive).  Blocking notation on your device.   Full version allows lots of flexibility

 

Stanley Level (IOS — although similar apps exist for Android)

Turn your device into a bubble level.

 

Swatch   (IOS) 

Apollo/Gam/Lee/Rosco gel libraries.  Select a color, see its response curve.  List of similar gels from other manufacturers, complimentary gel color.  Find gel via picture. Compare 2 gel colors.  Put two gels in one light, find the resulting color.

 

Technical Theatre Assistant (Android)

Dimension Calculator, Stair Calculator, Triangle Calculator, Rope Strength Calculator, Material Information.

 

Theater Blocking (Android)

Record blocking, stage diagrams, etc.  (this seems like a cool app, but my android device is my phone, and the screen is just much to small to be useful to me — your milage may vary)

 

 

In addition the apps listed here, there are many apps that are designed to work with specific equipment turning your IOS or Android device into a remote for such device.   Most ETC light boards (especially those that run Net III or Art-Net) can be run via an IOS app.   Yamaha makes an IOS app for most of its digital sound consoles.   

4000 Miles to a Realistic Set

Over the weekend, I saw “4000 Miles” by Amy Herzog, directed by Mark Rucker.   I want to write about the set.  Erik Flatmo designed a very realistic, and very detailed set for the show.  I have written before about my dislike of realistic sets, and this show pointed out why.   I first want to say that I have seen other work by Flatmo and I like his work, so I do not want any part of this discussion to to be taken in anyway to disparage Flatmo or his work.  (In fact, his design for last season’s “Higher” was one of my favorite set designs I have seen at A.C.T.)  Flatmo’s  great work only points out my issues with very realistic sets.

No stage set is completely realistic.  It can’t be.   People on stage need a bit more room to move about.   The show must be clear to the audience, real conversations must be tilted so the audience can see it.   Actors need to be able to move around the stage gracefully.  On stage, the space between furniture is often wider the usual.  There is often a bit more room along the edges.   

“4000 Miles” is set in a rent controlled Greenwich Villiage apartment.  The owner of the apartment has lived there for conservatively 40 years (that assumes the main character is the oldest child of the oldest child, the owner’s husband (the main character’s grandfather) was significantly older than owner (the main character’s step-grandmother), and everyone had kids young).  The apartment had lots of detail about a long life.  Piles of papers stacked around the stage.  Pictures, bookshelves, cheap folding tables next to an upright spinnet, next to a nice period desk — these items tell the story of a long and full life — of an apartment full of kids, and now almost devoid of people.  

So what’s the problem?  Well, there are three (actually there are a few more, but I’m going to highlight three).   First, the furniture had to be spread so far apart to accommodate the blocking, that when one character wanted to set down her tea cup on the coffee table next to her, she had to get out of her seat because the coffee table was so far away she couldn’t reach it.  This yanked me out of the play.

My second issue was that the owner of the apartment was forgetful, loosing her check book, her glasses etc.   I know people like that.  (Heck, when I’m in tech, I am that person.)  My piles of the detritus of life, are constantly being moved, rearranged, gone through — hoping that my missing stuff somehow ended up in there.  The show did not allow time for moving the stuff around between scenes, nor would that have been a good use of time.  But the fact that the stuff didn’t move made the very realistic set feel false.

My last issue comes from the fact that in the play, a new character moves in for several weeks.  His influence on the apartment wasn’t minimal, it was non-existant.   If the apartment owner was one of the women who was so organized and neat that she alphabetized her socks, I could believe that a new flat mate wouldn’t disrupt the order of stuff.   This owner was not that woman.  I would have liked the computer, once set up, to remain on stage, instead it disappeared after its usefulness in the script.  I would have liked to see his stuff creeping into the space here and there — some visual evidence of his presence. 

As a designer, I understand the reasons for all of these decisions.   For the good of the overall show, they were the right decisions to make.  But these three items are examples of the realism of the set hurting the realism of the show.  When a set is theatrical, or suggested audiences accept the non-reality and roll with it.  But the more detailed and realistic it is the more the audience demands of it.  When the set looks like it could almost be a location magically transported to the theatre, and one wall carefully removed so the audience can see in, the audience needs that feeling perpetuated throughout the night.  On the other hand, if designers can force the audience to be a willing accomplice in making the magic they are seeing (by leaving more of the set to their imagination), the audience will fill in the details all on their own.

What to do?  Make the show even choppier than it is by taking long breaks between the scenes to move stuff around?  No, the play could not have handled that.  So the stuff was left where it was.  Make the set the size of a real Greenwich village apartment?   That would come off as claustrophobic.   So its probably better to have that coffee table too far away.

I don’t think there is a good solution, if the production has decided to go with a very realistic set.   So why not go with something less real — something more conceptual — something more abstract?  Well, it really isn’t that kind of show.  A single set play where characters speak the way people speak, and a plot that is plausible enough that you would believe your aunt when she tells you that this really happend to her in-laws’ neighbor.  When confronted with that type of play, realism is the natural answer.

Personally, I’m generally so repulsed by realistic scenery that I would fight against.  But I also imagine I would loose to most directors. (Actually, I don’t need to imagine it — I loose, because the director is ultimately right that realism is the natural answer.) 

So what do you do?  

You make it real, and hope the audience doesn’t notice the artificiality.  

The Dangers of the Imaginary World

Long ago, I used to work in television, and I used to have great fun looking at the various back drops that were available to rent.   The backdrops could be placed outside the window of a set to create a beautiful sky, exotic cityscape, snow topped mountains etc.   In fact, I had a little joke, when seeing a fantastic vista in the real world, I would ask “What backing number are they using today?”

When working in the entertainment industry, I look at everything I see as if it was a design.   Today walking across campus, I was annoyed with the “costume designer”  – whoever it was, was dressing way to many people in the same costume.  THEN it hit me, this was the real world.   No costume designer was to blame.

I like it when the world is as neat and tidy as it is on stage.   Every character is dressed in a harmonious styles and colors, yet everyone looks unique.  I like a beautiful sky.  I like great lighting.   I like great locations.   Great places, that are harmoniously put together.

And in much of the theatrical design I do, I am able to create these harmonious worlds.  But when reality is called for, I need to remember that too many people wear the same costume, furniture isn’t artfully arranged, and the perfect sky, sometimes isn’t so.

Passing a Class in College

No one ever really asks me how to succeed in a college class. They usually want to know how to “get an A,” as opposed how to learn something. Well, I decided to answer the question I wish students asked me: How do I learn as much as possible in college? Here is my answer (at least my answer at the moment.) Part of getting the “A” is doing well with the minutia of class. The following tips will help you succeed in a class. My college defines success as a “C” or better. More importantly, these tips will help you get the most out of your college class. You will learn more and retain more after you leave.

I always tell students they should question the qualifications of the article they are reading. So, here are mine: I’m a college professor, and I’m grading students. I see what students are successful in my class, and I see which ones are not successful. Some students get a C or better with out doing all of these. Students who earn the As and Bs seem to do all of these.

So here they are, my top ten tips for succeeding in college:

1) Go to class! You are in college, no one is making you go. Sure every class has attendance policies, and you should pay attention to them. But going to class is more important than just those policies! Even if teachers just seem like they are reiterating what is in the text book, the lecture is more focused (and more likely to be on the test.) Unlike a text book, if you are confused you can ask the teacher a question – and they will answer. Also regular attendance can make the difference if you are borderline on a grade. Teachers who see the effort are more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt about weather to round up to the “A” or down to the “B”

2) Be on time! Most classrooms are not set up to allow students to sneak into class late. Yes, it happens on occasion: Bad weather, traffic, late bus, etc. But it if happens to you regularly, you need to make some adjustments in your schedule. Professors know who is coming in late. They don’t like it. It will hurt your grade.

3) Participate! Sitting in class like a lump on a log doesn’t help your learning or your grade. Answer questions when the instructor asks. Ask questions when you don’t understand. It isn’t a bad idea to try to force yourself to speak in class at least once each session.

4) Read the syllabus! Most teachers take a lot of time putting important information in the syllabus. Details of assignments, grading systems, lecture topics etc. can usually be found in the syllabus. Take the time to read and understand it. If you don’t understand something, ask! Also, before you ask the teacher a question that might be on the syllabus, check the syllabus. Instructors are annoyed  if you ask a question that could have been found by reading the syllabus.  Oh and if you lost your syllabus, check the class’s web page or blackboard site, it is probably there.   In fact, check to see if your class has a web page, or facebook page or whatever.  There is probably good stuff there.  Take advantage of it!

5) Be prepared! Before you can participate in class, you need to know what is going to be going on. Complete the reading and homework assignments before you come to class. That means more than skimming the chapters five minutes before class. It means reading the material closely, taking notes, and especially discovering what you don’t understand. Write down what confuses you. Things that confuse you make great questions to ask in class (which helps you have something to say when you participate!) On a full length semester class, you are generally expected to put in three hours of work for each unit the class is worth per week! Therefore if you have a three unit class, that meets for three hours a week, you will need to do 6 hours of homework to put in enough time (3 hours in class + 6 hours of homework = 9hours). The school and the teachers expect you are doing that much work. That is what it takes to be prepared. (If the class is offered in a compressed schedule you may be expected to spend even more time out of class)

6) Get a calendar! I love Google calendar because my phone can access it, I can get it on line, and I can print it out if I need a hard copy. You don’t have to use Google. A calendar in your phone, or a free web application, or even an old fashioned paper calendar will help. Write on your calendar every class session you have to attend. Schedule when you are going to do your homework, when study groups are meeting, when you have to work, etc. Write down everything, including (and not unimportantly) when you are going to sleep. You only get a social life around those scheduled events.

7) Find a friend in each class. If you miss class (even for a very good reason), the instructor doesn’t want to repeat everything they said in class in an email to you. Find a good friend who will agree to take notes for you if you aren’t there, and of course you will do the same for them! This is also a great person to study with, and even work on assignments with, and partner up with for that group project every instructor seems to assign.

8) Take advantage of office hours. Most instructors hold 3 to 5 office hours a week. This is when the instructor is sitting in their office waiting for a student to come by and see them. You can get personalized one on one tutoring here. Don’t understand something? Go to the office hour! Want extra help with a concept? Go to the office hour. Showing up to office hours also makes it look like you care, which can give you that extra boost if you are on the cusp. If your class schedule doesn’t work with a professor’s office hours, ask if they can make time for you. They probably will. A quick note: if the professor’s syllabus asks you to make an appointment for the office hour instead of just dropping by, follow the syllabus’ suggestion. Also, check and see if your professor has virtual/on-line office hours, then you don’t have to get yourself to campus.

9) Read the books (even the extra stuff). Instructor’s rarely assign reading that they don’t think you should read. Read it. If you can’t afford the text book, see if it is available used, or as an E-Book, or in the library (many professors put their books on reserve in the library). If all of those fail, talk to the instructor, he or she might let you borrow their copy of the book during office hours. If the instructors list additional, optional, or supplementary texts try to read those as well. While you won’t be tested on it specifically, this material will make the other material easier to understand.

10) Know your instructors. Spend some time trying to find out about your instructor in advance. Ask others who have taken a class with the instructor. What does the instructor expect? How do they run their classroom? Also, do a quick google search. Has the instructor written books or articles about topics that will be covered in class? If so, get your hands on them and read them! Even if the instructor didn’t assign his or her own texts, they will be a valuable resource for the class.

The End of the Semester

Tonight, I’m sitting on my back patio, listening to Christmas music on my phone, my dog laying at my feet, lit by the shimmer of LED stars hanging in my window. What an idyllic view!! I’m contemplating something that I spend time thinking about at the end of every semester: Retention and Success rates — and other measures of educational success.

For those of you not working in higher ed, let me start by defining a bunch of terms.

Capacity: The number of students signed up for the class at census (1/6 of the way into the class) divided by the number of seats allocated to the class.

Retention rates: The percentage of students who were registered for the class when it finished divided by the students at census date (1/6 of the way through the course).

Success Rates: The number of students who earned a C or better in the class divided by the number of students who completed the class

Efficiency: A new (to me) metric involving how many hours students have face to face time with us (for my classes it means 28-35 students for the semester depending on the class)

This semester, my classes were not very efficient. Our department has an issue: the classrooms originally built and assigned to us are not large enough to efficient (my main classroom has 22 seats). The semester still has about a week an half to go, so grades may still change a bit. But my most successful class (by the above metrics) is in the 22 seat room. At census I had 20 students, which was 90% capacity for the class (I had 22 students up until 2 days before census, when 2 students dropped). At the end of the semester I have 17 students on the roll sheet, or 85% retention. Prognosticating, I suspect I will have 13 successful students, or 76% success. Excepting for the efficiency, these are not bad numbers. And honestly is better than the class has done in the past. Some of my other classes are not as good. (one is 68% capacity 66% retention, 80% success).

I consider all of this as I put my syllabi together for the following year. Why was one class more successful than another? Something I had not noticed before until two other instructors pointed it out to me: Tues/Thurs morning classes have better capacity, retention and success. I spent some time looking back through older records, and the pattern does seem to exist. I don’t know why.

My Tuesday Thursday afternoon class has worse stats than it has had in the past (although the class has been dramatically retooled, and the new version is on its first time through).

One of the things I’m frustrated by is the new metrics we are being judged on. I’m not an expert on when to schedule classes so they will be well attended. I’m perfectly willing to teach on whatever schedule the dean wants me to teach on (as long as I’m not booked to teach classes in two different rooms at the same time). I’m willing to attempt to teach “efficient” numbers of students — give me the room and give me some tools to help get students registered.

The big thing I think I can effect is retention. In my 8 years of teaching I have seen a change in the students. The students we have today are less prepared to analyze material then those from 8 years ago. Although I have heard people say that the batch of students we have now are “dumb,” I don’t think they are. They are unprepared. Not only are their analysis skills lacking, they aren’t prepared for college. They don’t know how to budget their time. They also don’t know how to do in depth reading. I think these lack of skills has harmed my retention in my design classes. I have slowly been revising the class each time I teach it, and am making some big changes next semester. Instead of each student doing two different projects, we (as a class) will do one project step by step…. the students’ homework will be to do that same step of the design project on their semester project. I hope this will allow me to do two things: 1) show them how to do more in depth analysis as we look at the group project, 2) force them to budget their time better. I will have much much more homework to grade next semester, but each assignment contributes to their final project which means that it should all be done at the end of the semester when they need to hand in the design project. I will miss the simple and the advanced project that I was able to do when I started teaching, but if I can communicate the analysis and process skills needed, the students should be able to apply them to any design project that gets thrown at them.

I do feel that each semester the syllabus I prepare would be perfect for last group of students. Just when I think I have a course down I have a particularly unsuccessful class and work to adjust to whatever the new reality is.