(3 rehearsals x 2 hours x 2 scenes) + 7 classes(3 periods)^monologues
open scenes^(stage combat review) + blog x facebook + food^3(7)
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WHAT THE FUCK!?
It's a bit more stressful that my first semester here, but I can manage it pretty well. I have some really cool cast mates that really work hard and know how to get shit done so that I'm not tempted to shoot myself in the eye with a potato gun.
Today, I am going to talk about a very dear friend of mine. His name is Nathan. He is a phenomenal person who is currently still in high school, but he has the imagination of a freaking old guy. I was attempting to make it sound like he has a matured creative process, but it just sounds like he is handicapped and shits his adult diapers. He does not do such activities. He is an extremely talented set designer! Seriously. This kid is holy fuck talented. I have never seen a set so beautifully done. He even outdoes my college! Not saying my college is bad, but Nathan can pretty much put anything to shame.
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| Much Ado About Nothing William Shakespeare |
The first set that I ever saw was for William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. This was Nathan's first production and he built a very well done stage. It was definitely something that I would have really enjoyed to act on, but our teacher wasn't very Shakespearean inclined. It was really well designed. It had several entrances, a beautiful backdrop, and pillars and trees laced with ivy. It was a real step into a courtyard and the entire walls of the theater were painted as a countryside. The surrounding atmosphere really pulled you into the production. Actually, the acting was really terrible, but the set was definitely worth seeing!
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| Wit Margaret Edson |
The next set that he designed was for Wit. It was a very abstract-ish set that was completely painted black, leaving only the bed, medical equipment, and a wheelchair as the main focal points. There were two dimly lit entrances and a window that was used to foreshadow a person's entrance. Sadly, some of the techies and actors sat on the frame of the window, so when the production dates came up, the window was all crooked. Fucking idiot high school students... However, the set was still amazing. The darkness with the set really gave you the feeling that this person was dying. Oh, if anyone didn't know that this was a play about a college professor suffering from cancer and dying, yeah, you know now. The atmosphere was so well done that you lost yourself completely. The actress who played the lead was incredible the cast was very well put together.
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| As You Like It William Shakespeare |
Now for the big daddies!! With the production of As You Like It, Nathan built a working waterfall ONSTAGE! It was beautiful! It was built with a series of different materials (which I can't list, since you could try to steal his ideas!!) and it was even able to house an entrance that was hidden behind the waterfall!! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this set! There are a lot of very entertaining stories that came with this set, mainly running out of adhesives and money and having to resort to using chewing gum to hold some of the "showy" materials together. Don't worry, he didn't use gum to build the structure. That would have been extremely dangerous and Nathan isn't the kind of person to put actors in danger. If you aren't aware, I am using sarcasm and he has told me that he would be more than willing to have an actor die for the sake of the set! And he isn't ashamed to say so! And, all jokes aside, he did not build the structure with salivated gum...
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| The Importance of Being Ernest Oscar Wilde (window, left; audience view, right) |
This is one of my favorite sets that he has designed. I wasn't able to see this production since my high school was performing our play while this one was running, but I do understand that it was a modernized version of The Importance of Being Ernest. The set had the most amazing lighting design for the window, as you can see from the above left photo, and two spiral staircases coming down onto the set. Nathan told me that he made his techies go through dozens of different colors of purple until he came to one that he liked. Hey, Nathan is pretty picky on his sets and it really shows for it! I feel kind of bad for the techies though. I hear they really hate the color violet now...
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| The Diary of Anne Frank Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett |
The high school drama department wasn't capable of performing this piece because the director's father was undergoing some very intensive medical issues, but this is the design sketch for The Diary of Anne Frank. I was able to see the set in it's very "bare-bone" stage and saw the wooden framing for the roof angling in the image to the right. It was a very interesting concept and the shape of the theater really accommodated to the annex-y feel that the Franks and Van Daans had to experience. Actually, when I went to see the set, it was completely covered in fake blood. Apparently, all the techies had a zombie-serial killer montage that led to the entire stage being showered in mint-flavored goo and several articles of clothing ruined. This was also the place where my fingernail fell off after crushing it in You Can't Take It With You. It made a really gross crunching noise when it finally came off. Also, to clarify, the fingernails on both my fingers came off.
Nathan also designed the set for Two and Two Make Sex by Richard Harris and Leslie Darbon. I don't have any sketches or photos available to show you, but the set calls for two completely different households to be present onstage at the same time. It sounds incredibly difficult, but Nathan was able to convert a very small stage into two different houses using techniques such as raised platforms, divided flats, etc. Actually, I do have a photo that you can kind of see the set behind us...
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| The set is behind us somewhere... |
Don't ask... This was a photo taken of the graduating drama seniors this last year. I don't know about you, but I think this looks a lot like an ad for a TV series similar to Glee, but without all the bad acting. Kidding! I have never even seen Glee, so I'm not capable to pass judgment on any such matter. But you can kind of see what the set looks like behind the group of us!!
AND NOW. THE MOST AMAZING SET YOU WILL EVER SEE IN YOUR WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE!!! DUH DUH DUH DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHH!!!!!
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| The Tempest William Shakespeare |
This is an actual photo of the set! Can you believe this thing!? Their production of The Tempest was set in a post-apocalyptic world and Nathan only spent $500 on the entire thing! And this isn't even the whole set! He added a bunch of lighting designs as well as a bad ass sound system to make a crazy vibration sort of atmosphere while you were watching the show. And, during the shipwreck scene, he actually had gigantic sails torn apart and destroyed before the audience's eyes!! ISN'T THAT FREAKING INCREDIBLE!?! I wasn't able to see the show because I am off to college and not back in my home state, but I will be able to watch the show in a private seating when I get home! He made DVDs. He also made a complete soundtrack to the production and was in charge of... well, pretty much everything. He was the set designer, costume designer, hair stylist, EVERYTHING. He's the shit.
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| Oh! Found a photo of the shipwreck set! It wasn't completed yet, but it's still awesome! |
Well, that is the brilliance of Nathan! He is such a cool dude and has an amazing talent for technical theatre. He is planning on majoring in it when he goes to college and I think he has a great future in a very promising career path! And just to put a name to a face, this is what Nathan looks like:
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| Nathan on an adventure! |
I'd say I'd post a normal picture of him, but this one fits his personality pretty well. Also, this is a normal picture for him! But he can be sexy too!
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| He also took this photo himself. |
Yup! That's Nathan. He has a way with photography too.
Bury me in Satin,
- David Stolworthy
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