Well, That was... Exciting?

 Let's just hope the crazy gets toned down once the presidents switch out, huh?

Meanwhile: a cool architecture project, "super adobe" domes in Hormuz by ZAV Architects  HERE.

What have I been up to?  Starting (finally! because I find armed insurrection distracting, don't you?) to revise the 3D model for an in-the-future show I'm working on.  Since the design has changed, I think it's okay to publish the old version here.

Other than this, there's no theater on my board... except a sketch for reorganizing a theater's closet.  Seriously.  But I am deep into Masterclass videos, currently watching David Mamet and most recently finishing writers Malcom Gladwell, Margaret Atwood, and David Sedaris as well as artist Jeff Koons.  I am learning A LOT.  

A little reading too: I'm half way through Michelle Obama's Becoming which is as interesting as I kept hearing people say.  And I finished Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel, who wrote the great Station Eleven.  Love that book!  The new one is very good... but doesn't, somehow, resonate with me as much as her earlier dystopian pandemic novel.  I'm also going, day by day, through Lin-Manuel Miranda's book (illustrated by Jonny Sun) of tweets, Gmorning, Gnight.  Which, as I hoped and planned, are helping raise my mood.

Mood.  

That's my biggest challenge lately.  The cumulative effect of the past year has rather dampened my usual cheery optimism and (sporadically) bustling work ethic.  A little cabin-fevered.  Kinda depressed.  Actually.  

But Spring cometh.

Meanwhile, I'm building a mood-protecto buttress of good books and films (and bi-weekly virtual/distanced Movie Night hurrah!) and, you know, making myself take walks and wash dishes and Do Work and stuff.  I hope you all are being careful and cheerful-as-possible too.

Movie Night films so far?  Desperately Seeking Susan, Office Space, Big Trouble in Little China, Kung Fu Hustle, and up-coming, Love and Death.

Arts and Healthcare

One of the hazards of relatively bad pay (and artists mostly earn low pay!) is that it comes - if it comes at all - it comes with relatively bad healthcare too.

Whatever your politics, you need healthcare.

This is the week to talk to your U.S. Senator to remind them how important your health is.

A very young Statue of Liberty

(Well... a very young protester merged with that goddess for online anonymity)

I messed with her charming face and the background... but couldn't improve her sign.

Speak up!

I'm not kidding about the importance of good health - and the healthcare that helps preserve that blessing.  A good friend, a theater designer, died prematurely because he couldn't afford insurance and so went to the doctor much too late.

So.

Take care of yourself.  Find insurance you can afford (through a spouse's employer maybe? or the ACA while it lasts).  Eat well.  Sleep.  And don't fall off that ladder while you're "exercising"!

Women in Theatre

I've been invited to sit on a panel discussion of The Designers! :

Monday, February 6 at 7pm at WaterTower Theater.

Tickets can be purchased online HERE or you can buy at the door.  To quote:

"The objective of the Women in Theatre panel series is to explore challenges, issues, and opportunities women working in the theatre face. This year's panel features Leann Burns, Clare Floyd DeVries, Sylvia Fuhrken Marrs, Frida Espinosa Muller, and will be moderated by arts journalist Lauren Smart. Each of the designers will bring personal insights, from a uniquely female perspective, about their experiences navigating the often challenging world of theatre."

Come on by!  Lighting designer Leann Burns and I recently completed WaterTower's production of Silent Sky, which turned out well.  (We're probably going to sit on its stage.)  A great chance to hear about Design Life - with whatever special viewpoint female designers may bring to it.

I'm curious myself to find out.

Good Advice

I just stumbled across this post "11 Things to Know Before Starting Architecture School" - full of great advice!

My personal favorite is the admonition to actually get sleep.  Very important, sleep.  It made all the difference in my own college career - my grades rose amazingly as soon as I swore off pulling all-nighters.  One of my prof.s used to say, "A project designed at 2:00 a.m. should only be critiqued at 2:00 a.m."... and then he refused to show up at that hour.  Seriously, what looks like a good idea when you're all sleep-deprived is usually not a good idea.  The companion advice is: Don't Draw Drunk.

Friends Don't Let Friends Draw Drunk - and wouldn't that make a great bumper sticker?

The applications of this architectural wisdom to theater is pretty obvious.

The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli (public domain pic).  What the painter MEANT to call this work, 

obviously, was The 2:00 a.m. Design Idea.  Equally obviously, the swooning character is the sleepy designer.

So get your sleep.

Yes, the deadline is unforgiving, but you'll be so much more efficient and make so many fewer bone-headed mistakes (especially with dangerous tools) that any hours "lost" to sleep will repay themselves many-fold.  I promise.

Compare and Contrast

Here is an interesting comparison between the same show - Phantom of the Opera - produced at a mega-high budget and at a pittance of that (though still quite high for a High School musical). Photos on the Stage Design by Joseph blog.