Whats New?

Hello Everyone out there in internet land!! I hope things are well with you!!

Things are good in the land of me. Here is what is new. Right now, I have a few things going on.

1) I (FINALLY) starting working on the adaptation of Marlowe’s Faust that I have wanted to start for over a year now. I am working with a good friend on it (Matthew Keenan). So far, I have managed to get a page or so done. Its more of a challenge than I thought it was going to be. Mostly, because I want to keep the “feel” of Marlowe’s Faust but I really want to make the scenario and moral more contemporary.

2) My semester at Sam Houston is finally done (grades submitted and everything). That was a fun experience. I learned quite a bit more (than I knew) about myself and how I function in academic environments.

3) Still looking for work but I am optimistic about the future. There are some contract things on the horizon but keep your fingers crossed and the prayers coming about the long-term work. I enjoy the artistic projects that I have been offered and I am going to be greedy and say that I still have my eye on the long-term prize!!

4) Starting to catch up on other side projects. I finished the Indiegogo Campaign for a friend of mine. He is the artistic director of Sebastopol Shakes and needed some help with some grant writing and other fundraising ventures. I have a Twitter page and a Facebook page up and running for him too. Please think about contributing to this artistic group and/or following on FB and Twitter.

Here is the relevant information for that…

Website: http://mainstagewest.com/sebshakes/

Indiegogo: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/99267

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/SebastShakes

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sebastopol-Shakespeare-Festival/303677016381025

On a personal note, things have become quite busy and interesting. I have a good friend that recently told me he has cancer. Coming off the heels of losing a friend late last year to cancer – I am determined to make sure that he stays happy and on the road to health. Please pray for my friend.  His doctors are optimistic and now I just need to keep him in a fighting spirit (which he already has in abundance).

He is blogging about his experiences at: http://theoptimisticcancerpatient.blogspot.com/

Check it out.

Well, that is about it for now. Will write more soon…..

 

Past is Prologue

Hello everyone

So we are a little more than halfway through the process for Tempest here in Houston and we are in the “slowly but surely” getting there category. Unfortunately, I have had issues with my health this week so I am super lucky that my Asst. Dramturg, Jake, has been been right there to fill in for me when I was too sick to be in rehearsal. We are due for a run tonight after we finish some tweaks on the last act of the show. It’s been a fun ride, we open on the 12th so we have some good but important time between now and then to define and refine.

I love working on Shakespeare. I think Shakespeare’s text are some of the most interesting pieces of drama in terms of character and action. Tempest is especially interesting to me since it seems as though it was Shakespeare’s experiment to see how much exposition one person can pack into a play and not confuse the mess out of your audience. Think about it, the events that start the story of this play were set in motion over a decade ago and only coming to fruition with the chance encounter of the ship carrying these important players in Prospero’s revenge setting on the high seas together.

Anyway, as passionate as I am about Tempest, the funny thing is that there are other Shakespeare plays that are far more interesting to me, like Titus Andronicus. But I digress…

Take a look at our set. This mountain of trash is very symbolic in our production. One of the things our director was interested in playing with is the idea of how selfishness and disregard for others causes quite a bit of conflict in Tempest and in our current day and age. I think our quest for bigger and better leads to the mountain of trash found in places like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

When you take a look at our set, it is not hard to realize this. It did not take long to collect all the recyclable materials on the set. The worst part was just getting it to the space, as opposed to finding this material. Anyway, something to think about.

On another note, I am working on getting myself together to write an article, a play, and some adaptations. I think once the hurdle of this show is over, it will be a little easier to get some time in to do this writing. I had grandiose dreams of getting this done this morning but I’ve been too sick . Getting up after noon put a kink in those plans. Oh well, as long as one doesn’t die, there is always tomorrow! I know, morbid thought, but the truth nonetheless.

Enjoys the photo of our rehearsal!!

Lions, Tigers and Dramaturgy..Oh my!

Hello Everyone-

It is that time again for me to start doing a more regular check in since I am in the process of working on two shows at the moment.

It’s been an awesome week. I was the guest tweeter for LMDA this week (Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of Americas). That was a fun project that made me discover a love of Twitter- especially since I only played around with it a little beforehand. I also started rehearsals for two projects: 1) A Stubborn Woman by Diana Weeks for Stages Rep 2) The Tempest for Classical Theatre Company

That has been fun and there are are some great pictures I took along the way that I will share as a part of this blog post. Other than that, it has been the same old same old. I am still looking for permanent and sustaining employment but that seems to be the issue for most people I know these days. I am still adjuncting for Sam Houston and I am super excited that I was asked to teach a summer class. That will help us out quite a bit financially over the summer. I am just praying that something full time comes along before August rolls around. We shall see what is in store for us. Pray for us!

I will leave you with two photos- one from from each show. Be well and I will check in with you all soon!

It’s been a crazy few weeks

Hello Everyone-

So much has gone on the past month and some changes since Uncle Vanya ended. Here is the long and short of it all…

1) Uncle Vanya went very well. We had wonderful reviews and it was a super great experience. It took a lot out of all of us to get it up and running but it was well worth it.

2) I have traveled quite a bit, a trip to Tallahassee and a trip to Chicago. I had a great time in both places. Since I was there for work related purposes, I did not get to see much of the cities. However, they were both lovely trips.

3) I am gearing up to start rehearsals for two projects next week. One is a staged reading of Diana Weeks’ play “A Stubborn Woman” and the other is a production of “The Tempest” by Shakespeare. The first project is for Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston and the other is for Classical Theatre Company in Houston. Wish me luck, next week is going to be a busy one.

4) I am still on the hunt for permanent, full-time employment. Wish me luck on that. This job market is no joke.

5) My adjunct work is going well, I think. I am really enjoying teaching. I just wish I could find some stable employment doing it. We shall see what the universe has in store for me.

6) BTW- if you follow LMDA on Twitter. I will be their guest tweeter starting Sunday night. Be on the lookout!

The plate is riddled with food

Hello Everyone out there in theatre land (and other lands)!

So much is going on with the house of Rogers these days. Too much to go into massive amounts of detail- but here are the highlights. I went to VA with Shane last week and had a lovely time with my friends and family. Much needed break! I miss my friends and family already!

I am still teaching and enjoying every second of it. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks since the semester started though. Life is so funny in that when you “finish eating” one thing on your plate, someone is always there with another spoonful of something for you to try and shove into your stomach! Trust me, I am not complaining! I love being busy. More, I am just enjoying the irony that I left the department store in order to have “more time” to get things done yet somehow I have ended up busier than I was before leaving the store.

On that note, I am directing a staged reading for CTC that has its one and only performance on Monday. That should be fun! Also, I have a project coming up at Stages Rep Theatre right after that reading for CTC is done. I’m excited about that. New company to work with and new faces to work with is always fun! So, ha, just now as I was writing this, I received a call from the communications director at CTC. I am going to do an interview for the reading Monday morning! Told ya- the fun never stops in the land of me!

Ok. Well, I should work on getting ready for class. Check you all later!

It’s starting to look like school!

Hello Everyone-

I hope things are going well in the land of you! I had quite a few things on my plate last week so I apologize for just writing now. I know, most of you are probably thinking, “when does this woman NOT have a million things on her plate?”

Well, we shall start with the fact that I am taking one of those million things off. I decided to leave my job with Clinique. I have mixed feeling about that for numerous reasons, but I realize it is for the best. I need the time that Clinique is taking up to focus on making sure that I am prepared and ready for class. I am going to trust in the universe that financially that choice will not put too much strain on my family’s finances.

You are probably wondering if anything else helped make that decision for me. The answer is “kinda.” I am ready to make the transition back into being a practitioner/ academic and I realize that i need to focus on that to make that happen! Also, I am starting to find that when stretched too much- I cannot seem to get anything done to the degree that I would like. I would rather do a few things really well than too much horribly.

On another note, I am excited that some new projects are coming down the pipeline. Tempest with Classical Theatre Company, a staged reading with Stages Rep, a workshop on Dramaturgy during the summer, etc. My side gigs are keeping me plenty busy.

Well. I hope things are well in the land of you. ‘Till next time….

Taking care of business

Hey there out there in theatre land. Here is the scoop on me. CTC’s Uncle Vanya is open and running and getting great reviews. Here is one, if you are interested.

I started pretty late today. I didn’t get out of the bed until 10:30 am, which is super late for me. I think some of what kept me in the bed was the weather. It was raining and the winds were pretty crazy here in Houston today and so I was not in a rush to get into all of that.

I went into the office and finished up a grant proposal. After that, I spent some of the day with my husband since it is rare that we have a day when we are both home. After that, I worked for a very long time on my syllabi for my classes at Sam Houston that start in about a week. I am still not finished with that….le sigh… but I am hoping to be done by the end of the week.
That pretty much sucked up the rest of my day/night. I forgot how difficult it is to construct a class from scratch. I am enjoying it but I probably should have started on this last week .

I am pretty sure I am going to offically start working on my part-time business consulting playwrights and and writing grants soon. I realized I was doing that anyway, I just need to make it official. Spead the word!!

Tomorrow is going to be a long day. I am still working part-time at the Clinique Counter and we start our gift with purchase tomorrow. I have to go in early and ring pre-sales. So, I will probably cut this short but I wanted to say hi, let you know what is going on, and just all around check in!!!

Be well!!!

Do You Know Why We Are Such Good Friends, Vanya?

Hey Everyone-
This is your neighborhood friendly dramaturg reporting back on the front lines of CTC’s production of Uncle Vanya. Short plug- if you are in the Houston area, come see the show. You can find information here

One- I have to say our interns are rock stars! I just saw the most amazing set change ever!!! They made a very complicated set change look easy and like a piece of art. Also, my Dramaturgical intern, who is also on the production crew, it doing a great job juggling both jobs. He’s a rock star and if you ever need a budding dramaturg, let me know…he would be an awesome addition to your production!

Two, it’s been fun watching this production come together. It’s so rewarding to see the actors really embrace the characters they have created. I think they are really starting to find their voices and that makes me fell like a proud mama as the story unfolds!

On another note, my hubby and I traveled out to Sam Houston State University to visit since I will be working there next semester. I had a brilliant time with Tom Prior, the associate chair. He gave us a tour and answered the numerous questions I had. I am looking forward to teaching. I need to finish up my syllabus – which is the plan for Friday, once Vanya ‘s preview is over.

I am hoping that I enjoy my return to teaching as much as I think I will. I realized that beyond some of the lectures I did at Oregon Shakes, I haven’t taught anything in a while. Maybe besides the knitting and juggling lessons during rehearsals for Uncle Vanya. 😉 This job market has been tough and I am slowly making a way for myself in the theatre in my new surroundings. I am hoping that this year brings permanent employment for me and for any of you out there in the same position. 😊

I also got some good work done on my friend Tom’s play tonight before the dress rehearsal. I am really enjoying working on the play. I love how little things remind me why I love my job as a dramaturg so much. I think Tom has a very poetic way of constructing dialogue and it’s been fun parsing out ways to strengthen his language and how his characters use that language.

So, on that note, I need to get back to being a dramaturg at a Final Dress – but today I will leave you with a Hipstamatic picture from the production.

Dress Rehearsal for a little show called Vanya….

So..sitting in the dress rehearsal for Uncle Vanya. It is going slow. We are working out some kinks that did not get ironed out during the tech rehearsal but we are getting there. Slowly but surely.

The Professor and Helena’s relationship intrigues me to no end. I love the fact that they seem to love torturing each other. The funny thing is that you see relationships like this all the time in the “real world”. I wonder what makes people do that to one another. In this production, it is both funny and sad that they do that to each other. But then again, this play is all about people torturing one another. That is both funny and sad in the play and makes us keep watching the train wreck these people create for themselves.

Just a random thought…..

Also, it’s interesting to me how most of the guys drown their sorrows away in alcohol.

Another random thought……

Sometime I think that if you boil most relationships down to their essentials – you get the stuff we see in Uncle Vanya – adoration, unrequited love, frustration, idealization, etc. not to say that there are not more positive things to be found in day to day relationships but at least some of the more crappy things and emotions are found in the pressure cooker that these characters find themselves in.

Another random thought…

Astrov says that he is only fascinated by beauty. I wonder if we are all only fascinated by beauty. Any thoughts or takers on this one??

That’s enough of the random thoughts for me. I will leave you with Sonya (played by Eva LaPorte) giving her “ugly” monologue

If you don’t know that monologue. You should look it up. It’s a really interesting Moment of self discovery and revelation.

Tech

So, in tech for Classical Theatre Company’s production of Uncle Vanya.Per my usual, I am just here for moral support. The tech process is always interesting and slightly tedious for me. Mostly because there is not much for me to do at it besides just be there to help keep people in light spirits. Although it is fun to start to see the elements of the theatre come together. I always appreciate that.

Today was a good day although I feel like I did not accomplish much. I went into the CTC office today and helped write some acknowledgement letters to people who donated to us over the past few months. After that, I did some personal errands (whew it feels good to be able to do that again – you never know how much you miss that until you are no longer the master of your own schedule) and then read a paper for my friend Lezlie. It was nice to read an academic paper. It’s been a while since I had to and I think it was a nice and slow entry into something I will be doing quite a bit of over the next few months since I will be teaching again.

It helped me remember what I love about the academic world plus it made me start thinking about what I want to write about and how I want to structure it.

I did not get to reading Tom’s play yet. Le sigh, but there are still some hours left in the day and there is always tomorrow too!!!! I did spent some time getting ready to do some work for him. I find that I am going to have to carry my butt to the library on Wednesday for that but I am excited about the documentary he wants me to watch. I will keep you posted on my adventures for Tom.

Ok everyone out there in theatre land. I have some work to do but you guys have major amounts of fun and I will find you all tomorrow.