"Plastic little spastic!"

That's just one of my favorite lines from the show that happens to be a cue for me when I work on stage right.

Yesterday was supposed to be nice out, but since it looked rather cloudy I decided to go instead to the the Design Museum, a museum that has exhibits based on all different interpretations of the word design. (Genius, right?!)  So I take my Dublin book with me, (I had planned to go sit out and read if it was sunny), and found my way (Yes dad, I used a map, believe it!!!!) to the Design Museum which happened to be on the River Thames with a beautiful (and close) view of the London Bridge!  So of course I end up sitting and soaking up the soothing-ness (is that a word?) of the water along with the sun that was beginning to shine before going into the museum, which by the way was SO cool.  A little small, I would have liked more, but SO cool anyway.  There was an exhibit by an architect, a Vogue photographer, a Hong Kong invention/creation exhibit, and a practical technology inventions exhibit.  It was all genius and I loved it!  Plus I'm always proud of myself for doing educational things on my own will and enjoying them.  :)

After that, I shopped in the gift shop (have I said, gift shops are my favorite part of being a tourist?  seriously.)  and got some food from the cafe because I was starving.  Then it was even more beautiful so I went and read my whole little Dublin book in the beautful sun overlooking the river and bridge.  Probably the most gorgeous day yet, I so enjoyed it.

Then I had work which was great as always!  I get to actually do more and more of the cues each night when I'm learning a new plot, so that day I was excited that I got to reel in the rats on the part in Good Morning Baltimore when she sings "the rats on the street, they'll dance round my feet" and little rats come crawling out.  I like doing 'important' jobs like that so that was fun.  

Today I woke up pretty late on accident (I don't mean to waste the day), but then I made my way over to Charing Cross, which is near the theatre that Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is playing at.  I was not about to leave this city before seeing that show done as a West End production because I had only seen it done in one venue of community theatre before, and I just wanted to see it since Thespians are doing it in the spring.  After I got my very well priced, fourth row centre stalls seat, I went across the street to Top Shop, one of the best and well known places to shop for girls my age-ish over here.  And I ran into Sarah who I work with!  It was so funny to see her of all people in London!  She said, "it figures you would be shopping!"  haha.  She's still around this week, just not working, before she leaves for Egypt so it was fun to run into her!

As far as the show goes, let me tell you after seeing Joseph, I was just rushed with joy, because although I had criticisms (as always), in general I had a great time at the show, and the way it was done gave me more than full confidence that Thespians will do it justice in the Spring (not that I doubted it before, since I proposed it...).  For some reason the simplicity of it, of course with some technical spectacles added, and just the overall way the show went, I couldn't stop smiling and thinking about how successful and fun it will be in the spring.  

The show tonight was great fun again!  Two donuts and a dodgeball went flying into the pit!  One of my favorite parts of working stage right is during the dodgeball scene, they throw the four square balls off stage and I catch them!  All the way from the other side of the stage!  Everyone was impressed with my catching skills because apparently they don't usually straight away catch them, and I told them my dad had three girls so he darn well made sure they were athletic!  :)  Also tonight was funny because at one point I totally didn't understand what Ros was telling me, between the music and trying to decipher her accent, so I actually told her that I couldn't understand because of that and that sometimes when I ask her to repeat stuff that's why, and she laughed and felt so bad!  It was funny, and she said, "that explains your blank face sometimes" and I said, "yes that would be it."  We laughed about it and I felt kind of bad because Tom and Sarah I rarely if ever have trouble understanding and I felt bad telling her but I was glad I did so she didn't think I was just dumb for asking her to repeat things so much, because once I understand what she says, I can do it fine.  Haha so that was a funny story of the night.  I guess people say there isn't a language barrier, but when you're working backstage over a loud show, or just in general, there kind of is!  And occasionally I'll have to ask what a word or figure of speech means (mainly so I can add it to the list haha).

Tomorrow night 7 of the stage management crew are going out to take me for Fish and Chips, we even are getting a reservation, that's on our dinner break tomorrow between shows, then it's the lady who plays Velma's birthday, so that's somewhere over in covent garden after the second show.  All should be fun.  More later!  Cheers!

~Sam~

The London Eyeball and other adventures

I never know how to start these blog entries.  Someday I'll come up with something creative.  As you can see my list of British words and phrases is becoming quite lengthy because now I've told many of the people at work that I have a blog where I write phrases I learn, so they try to use and teach me new ones.  It's funny and then at the end of the night when we are all (by 'all' i mean no more than 4 other people at once haha) changing it's like a little review session, they say "Ok so new words for today were...."  It's so cute.  

Anyway yesterday (sunday) was my day off and everybody else's as well!  So there were 10 (!) of us, some of my friends who live in Thoresby house with me and we all decided to go to the London Dungeons and the London Eye.  That's a giant giant ferris wheel for those of you who don't know.  You can see all of london from it!  First were the London Dungeons, which is basically a haunted house that tells all the stories and myths about the "scary" bits of London and it's all...you know, haunted house like.  But I don't know, I wasn't that fond of it.  I mean, it was fun to do with all those friends and everything so I'm glad I went, but it wasn't really my thing.  And when things are live (movies and tv are different, scarier) I'm very critical of the technical aspects and don't really get too scared.  The makeup was unimpressive...just huge clumps of cheap red makeup and sometimes some white.  Obviously they do their own and are not trained on how, which is disappointing, for the fact that it was the price of going to a west end show (about 20 pounds, but we got a deal by getting the London Eye ticket at the same time, so I don't really know).  And of course as soon as I walk into the room with the chairs I see the speakers on the backs and stuff so I know that when it goes dark there's really no one in the room speaking, it's a recording.  And the acting wasn't the greatest of all, although I won't say it was ALL completely terrible...I'd just say that their auditions probably aren't very picky and the scripts were kind of lame, at points I was rolling my eyes.  Hope you enjoyed that little review of the London Dungeons.  

The London Eye review is much more optimistic!!!  Even though I didn't get to see it at sunset like I tried, because we had so many people, everyone was getting tired of waiting so we finally just got on.  It was a GORGEOUS day though so I got some great pictures!  Don't worry, they are soon to be published here.  We went out for dinner at a place called Giraffe and I had great Chicken Schnitzel Kiev and mash and cleaned my plate!!!  (aren't you proud, mom?!  ...It's quite unusual for me)  I haven't really been out to sit down places much at all, so it was a nice change and not terribly expensive.  Then we got some Ice Cream, although at first I thought it was Gelato, based on flavor and look, but it turns out it's texture was more like ice cream.  I forgot how much I missed Stracciatella flavor though!  We came home completely exhausted from our 9 hour tourist day!  It was great fun though!

Today I did some random little errands, flying solo as usual at daytimes since everyone works.  I went back to Samuel French to get a script for my project.  I'm going to do a design for They're Playing Our Song (late 60s setting) and compare it to Hairspray.  What's really ironic is that when I checked it out on the broadway online database it said it first played at the Shaftesbury in London where I work!  And I also went to a bookstore near Tottenham Court Road called Waterstone's and got a little book called the Dublin Encounter, by Lonely Planet because I love my London one and because this weekend (drrrummmroollll)  I'm going to Dublin!!!!  I'm very excited to do some traveling but sad that it means I'll miss working three shows this week  (Friday and Saturday).  It's funny, I just want to work anytime I can.  I kind of wish that we could pick when a class time would work for us because it kind of defeats the purpose that I miss work to go to class, when work is what the class is based on.  Like I almost went to Dublin only on Saturday so that I could work Friday night!  But I'm going with Jamie and Matt, who wanted to leave Friday since they don't work then, so I agreed.  We have our flight and high rated hostel in the centre of the city already booked and I'm excited to see Ireland!  It will be great fun.  I won't have internet though, because I don't want to take my computer, but expect a long post (maybe several) when I return.  I'm also excited to go to Dublin because the show I am Asst. Set Designing at Penn State in the Fall, "A Man of No Importance," takes place in Dublin!  So I'm hoping I can maybe be of help in the research area.  :)  Lots and lots of photos!

And also today I went grocery shopping and felt like I bought a lot, but turns out not really once it's all in the fridge.  Work was great as usual.  Sarah is off now on holiday, but Ros, (short for Rosalind) another DSM is back from holiday in France now and so I met her tonight and she's great.  I am shadowing her on Stage Right this week, which is fun but weird because just as I just about had Stage Left cues and tasks memorized, I switch and learn a whole new plot.  The stage right is must less hectic though so there is actually some downtime and some time (and space) for dancing in the wings.  During the last number, "You Can't Stop the Beat," which of course everyone knows the choreography to, and I pretty much even know it by now, they do the first chorus (dancing in the wings) regular and then the second chorus they pick a theme out of a hat and have to dance the theme.  Today was "stiff joints" so we did the dance pretending like our joints were stiff.  It was hilarious.  The cast must think we're crazy when/if they can see us from onstage.  It was so beautiful outside today but inside the theatre, although I think the audience has air, it was sweltering hot, and my friend Terrell who played Seaweed all last week, had to come off stage during the finale because he was so hot and dehydrated.  Everyone was sweating, including me and I wasn't even doing as much labour as I was used to on Stage Left.  

I'm excited because Ros invited me to come see a show that one of their mates who used to work on Hairspray has a show that's going up and I think I'm gonna go see it for very cheap with them next week which will be fun and also Ros wants to take me shopping in Camden when she found out I don't have company during the day so that was nice of her especially on the first day I met her!  And she takes the tube home and so does one of the dressers, so now I have people to walk to Holborn (the tube stop I take) with, even though we split off there and take different trains.

Time for bed now, I need to start waking up a little earlier than 10:00!!!  I can't get used to this luxury of more than 4 hours a night or I will be dead meat when school starts again!  More later, maybe pictures soon!  

~Sam~

The opposite of 'dodgy'

So I've just been having a blast.  What else is new, right?! haha.   I had my first two show day and I am still working on Stage Left, and getting the hang of things so that there are some things I can do before being told now...I'm trying to learn fast so that I can impress the people 'in charge' of me...since the connections I am making may be the most key thing I am doing, although I am learning a lot and the people I work with are quickly becoming my friends.  Most of them are mid-late 20s and up so it's a lot of fun, I feel like I get on better (did you see that british phrase i just used?!) with people older than me ever since I was younger anyway.  I think it's an oldest child thing but I don't know.  I enjoy having the daytimes off too!  Although I wouldn't even mind it if I worked two shows a day everyday...I just can't wait until I have everything memorized that I have to do!  (the tasks of the ASMs)...or moreso the order and cues over headset--that's the hardest part.  On Wednesday I had the whole day off because I have class at night that I'm not allowed to miss :/   I wish I could just work though, it's kind of dumb because even the advisors say we don't miss much in the class.  On Wednesday I got out of most of the main part of the class (it's 18:30-20:30) because my academic project advisor talked to me and the other 6-ish students with 'weird' internships...aka. film, theater, fashion, etc.  Turns out that the project is due July 5.  I'm not sure yet, but I want to take a play or musical also set in the 1960s and do some designs for it (more likely 2D renderings, since materials for model building and time for measurements, etc are not very accessible/realistic) and then write a paper to back up my concepts, maybe design a couple costumes, and compare it to the set and style of Hairspray, also set in the 60s.  I may even compare my 1960s research to what I see on the Hairspray set/costumes.  I figure that will be a good portfolio piece, as well as be a good project, and realistic to complete in 3 weeks or whatever it is, especially since I have daytimes to work on it daily.  On Wednesday, I went to the Samuel French bookstore, something I had found and written down in my little black book of things to see in London.  It was great!  I got some free papers about events in theater in the upcoming weeks, and read a book about the making of the Lord of the Rings musical, which was cool since I've seen it.  I think I'll probably go back there for some of my research, at least to pick up a script.  Then I went to Piccadilly Circus and kind of just took myself window shopping and (shock!)  didn't even buy anything!  Oh!  Except...I did find a little dessert shop that had Moevenpick Ice Cream!!!  It's the best ice cream, based in Switzerland, and you can only find it there and in countries surrounding.  So that was delicious and I ate it on the steps of the statue in the center of Piccadilly before getting back on the train.  Then I had class that night which would be dry to write to you about.  When we got back, I went with my friend Seth grocery shopping up on Angel to Salisbury's, which was great...a large choice finally!  Seth has this awesome film/fashion internship with some celebs so we both love our jobs and I enjoy hanging out and talking with him so it's become my ritual that once I come home from work (usually about 10:30pm) and change I go upstairs (he lives on the third floor) and take some snack food with me (work usually makes me hungry since I eat at weird times) so that's fun.

Thursday was the double matinee day.  Found out that people who work/act at the Shaftesbury get a discount at the Bagel Nash, my favorite (coincident) place!  So that's cool and I went there and got food (on discount-!) to take away on my lunch break, before coming back to the DSM lounge and watching a British comedy with Sara and Tom, the DSMs.  Running the second show was good, and after a long day I was glad to come home and sleep, although I had lots of fun.I dont think I've ever mentioned how many stairs there are in my theater!  If you see the pic of it on the slideshows, you can see its a huge building, but there are tiny little staircases going up and the dressing rooms and other random rooms are on every floor and it's quite a climb!  Especially on a 2-show day!  On the West End, different shows have one weekday that they do a matinee on, usually at 3pm, and then have night shows at 7:30pm every night but Sunday is totally dark throughout West End theatre.  And then most shows also do a Saturday matinee, but it varies/is random which weekday they do.  Ours (obvi) is Thursday and Saturday.

Today I stayed in the morning to do some random stuff, then Seth called me when he was out of a meeting, and I met him at Piccadilly Circus, and went shopping with him...there were a few things he was looking for, and then of course sometimes I ditched the boring men's sections to look at stuff....found an adorable little gray blazer on sale at H & M which I just had to get because I convinced myself that since sales 'tax' is included in the price here, it's cheaper or just as good at getting it at the H & M in NYC, which is where I would usually go...8% sales tax...yuk.  Plus it matches the chic hat I got at the street market.  :)  Enough boring you with my wardrobe shopping and fashion sense....

Then we came back to the house, me low on blood sugar, and Seth tired, and I did laundry (you can go ahead and gasp if you want here)  and then at 5 I left again for work.  I went to Aveda and got an Iced Mocha, before work because I was kind of tired, and ran into Harry, the cute little stagedoor guy, if you recall.  So that was good.  At work today, the DSMs switched around a bit so Sara was on my side (I dunno if it's with or without an -h so I'm switching it up), which was fun although Tom is great too.  I'm sad Sara is leaving on holiday to Egypt for two weeks soon so I won't see her the whole time I'm here, but same is with most of the other 4 DSMs...they rotate on holidays.  After the show she took me for a drink which was nice of her and I enjoyed talking with her for a little while, and so then I got home around 11.30.  That's about the end of my saga for today...thanks for reading!  Oh and by the way, it's about 60 degrees here, maybe going to 70s soon, but just thought you should know what the weather is like since it's probably getting hot?  More later!

~Sam~

More adventures in London!

Art Is Not A Crime

London at first sight

Hardee Hars (in the Stage Left) Hut

Today I had the day on my own because everyone else works during the day, and I work at night.  This is kind of unfortunate because I won't really get to do much with my friends anymore, but I'm so excited about my internship that I think it won't be too bad.  And I don't really mind spending quality time by myself...only one person to make decisions (although I'm bad at that) and you don't have to care when you get lost...plus I like to try to pull off the whole "I live here (until you hear I have an American accent)" thing...which doesn't so much go with the being lost part but whatever.  It is fun to hang out with friends though so I'm sad I won't see them as much anymore.  Anyway I started my day off by going to Palace Court, where the Center for Study Abroad is.  After I got lost about a hundred times, (most frustrating because I was lost but I knew I was seriously steps away from it...and I was) I found it and signed up to go to the Royal Ascot and Brighton Beach...since I had not been able to sign up for trips until I knew my internship schedule.  After that i wandered Kensington Gardens, got a tomato and brie sandwich which was not as good as I'd hoped for considering I am in love with Brie, and tomatoes for that matter.  After not knowing where I was (again) for awhile I finally found a tube stop and got on to Woman in Black to see if I could get tickets.  (Random, I know, but i figured I should see some straight plays and it was crappy weather out).  So for 20 pounds I got tickets but had an hour to spare.  I went to Leichester Square, which is essentially the Chinatown stop, one tube stop away from where the theater was.  So I walked around there and then went back to the theatre and by now it was raining a lot.

The Woman in Black was very good!  The sets were functional and appropriately and wellaesthetically (I just made that word) designed and there were only two speaking characters in the show.  It was a horror show, (not the kind of Rocky though) and a bunch of English highschoolers were there and were shreaking left and right...haha but I did not think it was bad.  I got chills one time though and was startled a few times.  It was good...I like mysteries...just not in movie form...in book or play, but I like to avoid the gore and stuff that will traumatize me haha but Woman In Black was excellent.

Anyway.  After the show, (west end matinees are mostly at 3pm and are on one varying weekday plus Saturday for most shows), it was off to work.  So I went to the Bagel Nash (mya favorite little place, mostly because of the name) for dinner and after getting the most stupidly lost I ever have (I later realized that the Shaftesbury theater was literally in view from where I was), I made it there early.  I go to work at 6pm, or 18.00.  :)  When I got there, straightaway Chris told me some very exciting news that some of you might find ironic.  :)  ...

He told me that the same company that produced Hairspray and Dirty Dancing (his last show) on the West End and some others, are producing High School Musical through Disney, new to Broadway or West End in the fall and that the American design team was coming over for a few weeks to work on it while it's in rehearsals in late June.  He then offered me to assist the designer(s) on the team in addition to working on Hairspray!  This was very exciting to me and I am incredibly thrilled to (hopefully) end up with two West End credits on my resume, one as run crew and one an assistantship in Design!  And since Disney seems to be taking over the world including the theatre world, working on one of their productions could definitely benefit me in the future.  Although I don't know all the details on the second, it sounded like it was worked out enough that I will do it even though the whole thing is not all worked out yet.

I shadowed Stage Left with a guy named Tom tonight and it was crazy but a lot of fun!  I got a cue sheet and he showed me the ropes and what he does at what time.  It works like clockwork and is seriously a whole machine in itself.  It is crazy and the space is...about slightly bigger than the backstage area of the downtown theater and more even on both sides for those of you who can imagine that....tight at the least.  It's like playing tetris and I find it amazing how everyone knows exactly what to move where, what clips and pins to attach where, and when and on what angle and when to "page" the curtain for the actors (sightlines are similar to Schwab, but better, still not great) or collect props from actors, or watch for loose dodgeballs...all this by memory and more.  Most of the stuff gets shuffled around and flown in and out for storage.  Plus most of the finale we spend resetting the show (and/or dancing) for the next night and are able to leave immediately after the show.  It was a lot to learn and it blows my mind that I may eventually know it all too.  The longest show I ever run was 3 and a half week run, and even then I still used a sheet to check back on when I was ASM, which is basically what Tom is, just called a DSM.  He even knew and was able in advance to tell me exactly where I should stand so that I would not be in the way.  I have never been more impressed with the inner AND outer workings of a show.  And they all do it with such ease and low stress and are so friendly and fun.  Basically it's my ideal future work environment there and I'm so grateful for the opportunity.  The cute little stagedoor man (sometimes a lady) even grins and shouts out "Hello Sah-m!!" whenever he sees me come in or out.  And the cast does the same and there does not seem to be a division between cast and crew or any divas around.  Anything that would be considered something a "diva" would want, is done for them anyway, no problem.  For example, one of the things Tom gave me to do today was to page the curtain and hold my hand over the corner of a set piece that Velma had hit her knee on once while she is wheeled on a laundry cart, then hold out my hand to help her down.  Nice treatment, right?!  I was impressed that they do that for her every night, especially when I saw that how she hit her knee was basically just the driver of the laundry cart just veering off too much.  I met Micheal Ball tonight (he was off last night) and he is great and very friendly as well!!!  For those of you who don't know, he's the big name actor on the West End in the show that all the fans are after.  As soon as he saw I was a new face at warmups he introduced himself and talked with me.  The girl who plays Lil Inez (Natalie) is also very sweet and the guy standing in for Link (Neil) while he is on holiday is also great.  There is one other American involved in the whole production, who when I met her said, "Hey we don't need any more Americans around here!"  Her name is Johnnie and she plays Motormouth Mabel.  She was born in Pennsylvania, and when I made a face that I didn't know the town she was born in, she said "And you call yourself a Pennsylvanian?!  psh!"  haha, it was near Pittsburgh though.  She's funny.   Overall, I love it how everyone seems to get along so well and have so much fun and do their jobs so well there. 

That's about all for today... tomorrow I've got the day and night off because I have class from 6:30-8:30 which is disappointing because I want to work, but I suppose I should get more than an empty bank account and some great experiences for my parents money (aka....college credit.)  Maybe I will spend some of my daytime in solitude (haha) tomorrow posting some pictures.  Just haven't had time to post pictures AND write.  Oh and the Har dee Har Hut is a piece of scenery/the toy shop in Hairspray in case the title had you boggled.  There is a really cool machine domino effect on it that I helped set up tonight.  Learned more about automation and the use of air tanks....and the similarities between it and steaming milk at Starbucks.  What can I say?!  I make good connections.  :)

Goodnight!

~Sam~ 

Welcome to the 60's!!!

Where can I even start?!  Before I go on about my internship, I should tell what I've been doing since my last post.  Yesterday morning, Jamie and I went to the Petticoat Market, over by Liverpool Street--a very large market...every time we thought we were nearing the end, it started to look like only the beginning!!!  I bought a very cute olive green canvas bag with leather trim and buckles (better than that sounds, haha...it matches my rain coat) that fits a lot of stuff into it since my other larger bag's zipper is starting to break and I needed a bag that closes.  I also got a hat (surprise!)  that will win any future hat contests in Props class...yet it is still a messenger hat and matches several outfits.  I got a shirt that is silk and black that will be very useful too and it's cute...i couldn't resist.  All together it only came to 14 pounds...don't worry mom, I'm a good shopper!  We spent several hours there, ate street cheeseburgers (a cheap, and surprisingly good lunch!)  and came back home.  I of course do not want to sit at home, so Matt and I decided to go to the Theatre Museum!  Sounds great, right?  Well.  When we FINALLY found the place, slightly over an hour before it was to close according to Matt's guidebook...we basically went round and round with signs pointing to the "theater museum," which looked like apartments and lacked signage!  Finally, after Matt told me his guide book was two years old....we found the demolition sign!  But the cloud had a silver lining...we found a street show to watch and enjoyed the time outside while it was chilly, but not raining.  Weather here is spastic.  Like State College.  Not that I'm homesick at all...I'm not quite the homesick type (sorry mom), but if I was, at least I would have the weather.  After that we came home, made pasta dinner and played cards, watched an episode of the TV show "Weeds" and chilled out for the night.

Today, we got up early and went to the Tower of London!  Jamie, Kat and I enjoyed the tour by the Beefeater and the various reinactments which happened throughout the place every so often.  We saw the crown jewels and the Tower Bridge as well.  I have never seen so much gold in one room in my life.  And of course my favorite part was the gift shops, as always with these historical sites.  :)  

Then I came home, talked with my friend Seth who's got a really cool internship working for people like Amy Winehouse and some other famous people whose names I cannot spell and we all know I don't write in what I can't spell...most of the time.  I made pasta (leftovers in the microwave) and left for work at 5...trust me traveling TO work in Rush hour is not the greatest, but I made good time...I needed to be there around 6 and I took the bus, got there around 5:40 by the time I walked to the bus stop a few blocks away and all.

When I got there, I did the same thing that I did the first time, told the stage door guard that I was here to see Chris Hensky (short for Hesketh), the stage manager, who just got off of stage managing Dirty Dancing on the West End that opened at the Aldwych not too long ago!  When he came to meet me, I put my stuff in the office he told me I could "treat like home," and he took me around to meet literally everyone involved in the production.  Not only did I meet most of the cast and crew individually, but after warmups was introduced to the entire cast and crew onstage!  It was exciting and they were all so friendly and welcoming.  Hensky (that's what he is called for short) had to do some other tasks so he handed me off to a girl named Sarah, who is a "deputy stage manager"*  and she showed me the props and what she does.  She was very nice to me and explained so much to me.  Apparently, it is a law that you put down/test the safety curtain while the audience is in the house in the UK.  This is something that Kat and I had wondered after seeing all 3 shows put down the safety curtain in the interval.**  

Then Chris took me out to the box office where I got my row F stalls*** comp. ticket for the show.  I went back up backstage and hung out with/followed Sarah until 7 minutes-ish till curtain.  The show is called from one of the show boxes that used to have seating!  And strictly by use of monitors too!  The theater has tight backstage storage space...something I am very used to.  

I saw the show.  It was energetic and fabulous.  Of course I've seen the production before, but watching it knowing that I was about to become PART of it made it all the better.  I met Sarah back at the stage door, where it felt pretty cool to bypass the fans (there weren't too many standing there since Michael Ball had the night off), and buzz in the stage door with my pass.  I got my stuff and found out that I had the daytime off tomorrow again and would be called at 6pm again.  Found out my dresscode and that I can leave my blacks there and change if I need to (I will only need to be in blacks to do certain jobs).  I know that at first I will be shadowing people in all departments, and when I learn stage management (my main one), I will be given jobs backstage on the floor with props to do.  But I will also spend time in sound, makeup, costumes, and maybe other things, although those were the ones they mentioned.  The only thing I'm not allowed to do is shadow the people who run all the automation (all the scenery is automated, which means it moves onstage my machinery, not stagehands) because I would have to climb a ladder the size of the one at the Playhouse to get there, which is not bendable by equity laws and liability, but I am lucky to be doing what I am so I am okay with it.  Maybe somebody can just explain it to me from the floor for the interest of ....a follow up THEA 280 (tech direction) class!?  :)  Anyway I had a fantastic night and they told me the most important things to know were the key codes to backstage which I already know, and the location of the pub across the street.  I get out of the show at like 10:15pm, no clean up or anything so that is nice.  Okay enough of a novel I am off in search of what to do tomorrow on my day off...not many other people have daytimes off any day but Friday. 

 Oh and fact of the day....need a good comeback for somebody?  just tell them they have "acne of the soul!"...a quote from hairspray.  :)

~Sam

Chicken, Pesto, and a Ring in the Hood

I am so enthralled by London and I have no doubt that every day for the next two months that I am here, I will see and learn something new about this amazing city.   Our Fleet Street adventure that I mentioned was surprisingly very successful!!!  We were able to acquire meat pies (sans the crawlers, for those who have seen Sweeney Todd) and I got a chicken one with potatoes and veggies in it.  Actually quite good!  We got some good photos and had some good times!  We even came across an old church with a museum downstairs which we enjoyed exploring.  When I say we, I mean Jamie (my roommate), me, and my other new friend Madeleine, who lives across the hall and is taking classes through Arcadia instead of the internship program.  The three of us, plus our other friend Matt who lives next to Madeleine, tend to stick together most of the time and I enjoy hanging out with them.  We had to then go to class at 14:00 (My goal is to be able to automatically translate military time by the end of this trip), which was a guest speaker, part of orientation and it was incredibly long and dry.  It was about British political history, but for 2 and a half hours, it was not so great.  I made some great art on my notebook paper while the guy was talking though!  (Annnddd this, ladies and gents, is why I am a theatre major and do not sit through many lectures.)  After the lecture, Jamie wanted to go back to the house for awhile, so I went with my friend from School of Theater at PSU, Kat, and her new friends.  We went to Platform 9 and 3/4 (Yes!  Be jealous!  it exists!)  even though I'm not really all about the Harry Potter, it was still kind of cool to take pictures with the half of a luggage cart in the wall.  We went to dinner at a Thai food restaurant (my favorite!).  

Basically as soon as I returned to the house (Kat and her friends live on the other side of London, kind of)  Madeleine and Jamie and Matt were planning to go see an old tube stop which....(drummmrollll) was filled with graffiti art!!!!!  This.  Is basically my dream.  Because if you don't know, I'm kind of really into graffiti art and I take pictures of it everywhere and get books about it, and I think it's beautiful.  So I was basically in heaven and we took probably a hundred pictures with this incredible deserted tube stop (think the size of a whole subway station stop).  It was beautiful and I loved every moment.  Basically it was like standing inside one of my favorite graffiti books.  And maybe even the highlight so far.  Best of all....free!  After that we went back to the pub called Offside, tried to meet up with some other friends, but it didn't work out.  We came home and watched the TV show Weeds on the computer (no British cable unfortunately in our house) and I fell asleep during it because as you can tell I had had a very busy day.  And I didn't even throw in the mileage I probably walked.  :)

Today was also quite eventful.  It started out with going to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, which turned into coincidentally a dress rehearsal for the Queen's birthday!!!  This meant the palace band, and a lot more people and excitement!!!  I got great video and still footage which I will post soon.  My new 15x zoom camera came in very handy.  And I learned that you can play instruments on a horse while wearing big furry hats and very high boots that I would be surprised if I saw someone able to walk in them.  I think the Blue Band should change their uniform.  :)   After that, we ate lunch at a cute little place one of us found in the tourist book ( I was with Jamie, Mad. and Matt ).  I had a chicken and pesto mayo sandwich/panini thing and it was delicious.  Then Kat and I had planned to go try to get tickets for Dirty Dancing because Christopher Henskth (Hensky for short), who I will be working under, supposedly worked on the show and I wanted to be able to compliment his work when I meet him on Monday.  So I left my little crew and took the tube to meet Kat at Covent Garden, the nearest tube stop to the theatre.  However, when we got to the theatre, it was sold out for both afternoon (there are 3pm and 7:30 shows here, with dark Sundays only) and evening.  And I couldn't find Christopher's name in the program I looked at.  More research I suppose is needed there on my part.  Still wanted to see it though!  We were bummed, but decided to wander around the corner anyway to see if any theatres popped up.  Unlike New York, not all Broadway (West End, in this case) theatres are close to each other and many of them are across town, and the theatres are scattered across London, which is best explained as a horizontal city, while New York is a vertical city, if you can see what I mean.  Anyway, what did we come upon but the theatre for the new musical "Into the Hoods," a hip hop version of Sondheim's Into the Woods, except featuring DJed music of today's hip hop artists.  As we both miraculously agreed that we wanted to see it, we walked up to the box office and got third row center student tickets for 22 pounds!  We had an hour or so to spare, so we walked outside and saw the Lord of the Rings theater.  Although both of us had plans to go out to pubs, etc. with our respective groups of friends at night, we agreed to forgo our plans and try to get evening tickets, but knew it was shot in the dark.  Don't get me wrong--I am not a Lord of the Rings fan by any means, but it is supposed to be an absolute spectacle of scenery, so I was intrigued.  Again, we walked up to the box office and got tickets for the center orchestra level (halfway back) for 25 pounds for the 7:30 show!!!  This was just like one of our regular New York trips that we take with some other PSU friends....except in another city!!!  And let me tell you this city revolves around theatre, even in comparison to New York.  Every restaurant I have seen gives special pre-theatre going prices and quick menus.  And there are so much more shows to see here, and more new experimental theatre that is actually On [Broadway/West End], vs. New York where most new theatre is small and off-broadway.

First of all, Into the Hoods was the best thing I have seen in a very, very long time.  Basically a hip hop ballet of sorts, I have very little to critique about it.  And if you know me, you know that is rare.  This show was the most innovative and genius production.  It was family friendly.  3 Kids were in the show, and danced almost as well as the other older dancers!  They could break dance and do the hip hop routines and had great facial expressions, as did the rest of the cast.  Since it was a ballet basically (with hip hop dancing and music), there was little talking except for a narrator through the speakers.  The projections were amazing...for example you would see the animation/movie of an actor walking down a staircase and at the right spot and time the same actor would walk through the screen down the "stairs!"  I can't imagine how much work this show was on the part of the production team and on the endurance of the dancers, who were constantly dancing and moving with little time offstage.  The plot was creative and followed an urban version of Into the Woods.  A movie sequence with the actors in it preceded and ended the show.  The dancing was not short of breathtaking, and energy did not seem to lower at any moment.  All I can do is hope this show will move to New York and that when it does that you will go see it when and if given the opportunity.  And I know it would do well there.

We ate dinner at a cute little cafe, and I had chicken and pesto pasta...not realizing I had a sandwich with the same ingredients earlier!  :)    

Lord of the Rings was a great experience and I am so glad I went to see it.  Although the plotline went completely over my head, as I am not an avid fan or follower as I said before, it didn't seem to matter because most of the time my mouth was dropped watching the spectacular technical aspects.  These included full cyc firework and realistic thunderstorm projections, and branches in a circle that spun and moved up and down and in and out like a giant claw hair clip...best way to explain it.  Also (not Kat's favorite part, but I thought it was still cool) a giant spider with several legs and "venum" that shot out at the audience.  There was also a storm with dry ice fog filling the auditorium, wind and "leaves!"  The best way I can describe it is Wicked and Cirque de Solei mixed together... on crack.  Trapeze artists and all included.  Lighting alone must have been millions of dollars, if not billions....and after taking lighting design class this year, I know that for sure.  It is a feast for any lighting designer's eyes.  Also the stage was on a turn table which spun and probably 10 platforms rose to different levels, could move separately, and/or spin at the same time.  In my opinion, this should be installed at Penn State.  :)  Also what we later discovered was soft foam, the entire procenium and surrounding ceiling and boxes was covered in overlapping branching.  I can't even imagine how much of this they made because the theatre was incredibly large and the branches were also used in great amount on stage as well in some scenes.

The tube ride home now was crazy because it is the last night that you are allowed to drink alcohol on it (I was originally going to go to a gigantic party happening on one of the lines, but saw the show instead) and many lines were inconveniently closed or delayed and it was crowded and people were crazy and many of them drunk.  But, I made it!  And my day of theater and chicken and pesto is done.  It was an incredible day and as you can probably tell, I love it here.  Photos/footage to come soon!  Thanks for checking up!

~Sam~

Bliss in the City

So I have not written in a few days but I have been having a fabulous time.  There is a lot to share about my internship and just about my placements.  First, I guess I should start with my first full day in London on Wednesday.  We had some orientation speakers and then I had a meeting one on one with David, who is the one who got me the placement.  He told me I had an interview at 2:00 with Pete Goodman and that I was to go to the stage door of the Shaftesbury Theater and ask for him.  I did so, turns out like David said, he was a little surprised to see me after David had set up the interview a month or so ago.  However, he still met with me.  I had to wait awhile in a crammed little foyer like thing behind the stage door and watched all the actors walk past me as they were running different numbers onstage, I gathered.  I think even Micheal Ball walked by and smiled.  :)  When I met with Pete and Dan, another staff member, they explained to me that since there were certain equity laws, etc. that I would not be able to do certain things or be in certain areas of the theater, so they asked me to make sure David did not have a placement lined up for me that was closer to my areas of study.  Although they told me they could "see my little face drop,"  I tried not to and totally understood what they were saying.  I was a bit worried, but they told me they would not leave me high and dry.  Just this morning, I spoke with David, who said that they were impressed by me and really wanted to do everything in their power to help me out.  I am going to be working under a man who has won Olivier awards for Dirty Dancing and for Hairspray (not sure how to spell his name so I will save it for later) and according to David, I will be "going where no intern has ever gone before in the theater, so I really hit the jackpot with this one."  That kind of made me glow a little.  So on Monday at 6pm, I am to report to the stage door to see Christopher, and my first assignment will be to watch the show, free of charge to see how it all works.  After the show I will meet with Chris and find out what exactly I will be doing and when.  My hours may be intense, but I am so thrilled with the opportunity...much more than I ever expected.

In the meantime, I have been enjoying my time in London.... getting to my interview (by myself of course) was also my first experience ever with the London transportation system.  I was given instructions by my Graduate Resident Jose, but not on how to get back to the house from there.  After taking the bus there, and walking around and somehow getting lost after my interview, I decided that since i was not on a time schedule, to just go with it.  I ended up in Trafalgar Square, and finding several awesome stores and beautiful places.  Eventually I found a tube stop (underground) and found my way (somehow) back to the Euston station, where I had to transfer trains to get back to my stop, Angel, which is about 6 or 7 blocks from my house.  I was proud that I made it and happy to have gotten lost...no one in the whole town could tell me which bus to get on to go back to Angel, a commonly known section of Islington in London.

Later on, we went to a pub to watch the big 'football' game between England and America.  Not too exciting of a game--England won 2-0, neither team was impressive.  But we had fun in this pub really close to our house called the offside.  It's totally green on the outside.  We met some interesting people there...including a British guy named Jack, who, when asked what he does, says he "sells stuff, ...pies."  Obviously not, but we were amused by his jokes...but not naive, so we stayed safe and I thought he was rather annoying and obnoxious, as did several other people, so we kind of stayed out of it anyway.  I had a good time with my new friends there and so many Americans ended up going to this pub that the ratio was actually much more Americans than British, which was funny, especially considering the game.  

Yesterday I saw the Sex and the City movie!!!!  Still before the states :) and it was FABULOUS.  I was a little confused to still be in London when I came out of it though.  I got these chocolates called Minstrels in a little bucket, and they became my dinner since Jamie and I had to basically run to the theater since the movie was over at 7 and we were seeing 39 steps over in Piccadilly Circus at 8!  We made it though and the show was great.  Not a visual spectacle, per say, and a very small stage, but the acting was fantastic...four people playing a farce and playing many different roles with a simple set stage and entertaining and fast paced plot.  It was a great night of English Theatre.  Now I am going to go grocery shopping and to Fleet Street...we watched Sweeney Todd last night after the show so we want to go test out the meat pies there!  More later....thanks for reading!

~Sam~

Hello London!

As I expected, today was extremely long but SO exciting.  I can't believe I am sitting here in a different country across the ocean from where I was only earlier today.  It was wonderful spending the weekend with my parents and my grandparents in New Jersey.  We took the bus from Princeton into the city and then got off at Port Authority (what a beautiful day in New York it was, today, by the way!) and hopped on a bus to JFK airport where I waited several hours and boarded my plane on time, waited a little on the runway, and actually arrived a few minutes early to Heathrow in London!  Don't ask me how that is possible but it was great!  I met up with two other girls from PSU who were on my flight and are doing the same program as me (in different areas of interest for their internships) and found the sign for Arcadia after getting all our luggage when we landed in London.  The day seemed to work like clockwork...amazing.  Even the bus driver who seemed to fit through posts and cars just by inches got us safely to our house, where I am with about 30 others in my program.  I'm not sure if this is because of my level of driving skill (...) but it is not as odd as I expected to see cars driving on the "wrong" side of the road.  The craziest part is when you see a car coming with no one sitting in the "driver's seat!"  

I've grown to like where I'm living.  There are two other residential areas for people taking classes or doing the internship program through Arcadia.  At first I was disappointed that our housing seems to be in a quiet area, and that my first floor room looks straight out onto a Texaco station and a McDonald's, but after walking with my roommate Jamie from Maryland, we found that our area has a lot of character and it only takes a couple blocks to find the hustle and bustle of London...and we are the only housing group who can walk to our class at City University.  My roommate is an engineering major and it's great-- we both share a love of shopping and singing and the TV show "Greek," which we watched online while we set up our new electronics.  We were able to explore the area, called Angel (the name of the tube stop), buy cell phones, sheets, internet cables, and we even found some free hairdryers and straighteners in a tub in the hallway of our building to use!  And it turns out that the Texaco station has the most fabulous Lite Strawberry yogurt...and I'm not usually a yogurt person.  

After an orientation meeting with pizza and soda in the basement lounge of our house and some more errands on a walk guided by our "RA" Jose, me and five of my new friends decided to go to a nearby pub called the Eagle later on.  It was very chill inside and not too crowded.  We thought it was a good sign that it seemed to be all locals there.  The ironic and rather funny thing was that techno music occasionally played, despite the casual and quiet atmosphere.  Did I mention that what I love about London pubs is that they are all non-smoking?!  Anyway, we shared appetizers and I had the most fabulous Americano.  The bartender was surprised to hear someone ordering coffee at 9:30 at night, though!  It was a great way to spend my first night and I'm so glad I've made some great new fast friends.  It's funny how people are already splitting off into smaller groups even though we have barely been here a day!  The weather here is not gorgeous yet, but not bad...just kind of cloudy and in the fifties.  I'm a little tired, but I slept well on the plane after watching "27 Dresses," but I don't feel too jet-lagged.  I can't wait for orientation this week...I dont start my internship until next week, but have a meeting with whoever will be in charge of me at the Shaftesbury this week!  And we will be having introductory lectures and meetings, going to see a show called "39 steps" (supposed to be very good!) paid for by the program, and tomorrow we have a free night, so me and a couple of my new girlfriends including my roommate are going to try to go see Sex and the City the movie...hopefully at the Orion where it premiered!  I'm excited to see what the week has in store as I learn more and more about my newest city home!  More later!

~Sam~

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Welcome to my blog!  It's my first one ever so I hope you enjoy it.  I wanted to try a post before I leave the states!  

So on Monday I will leave for London.  Tomorrow morning I'm waking up early to drive with my parents to New Jersey, where we will spend the day and stay overnight with my grandparents in Princeton.  Monday mid-morning we will drive to JFK airport, where my flight leaves that evening.  Everything is still so surreal to me...I can't even begin to imagine what experiences I will have, people I will meet, and changes I will encounter.  Most of all I'm looking forward to that feeling of getting off the plane and out of the airport only to realize that I am in a completely new and beautiful place.  I am looking forward to calling London "home" for a couple months, and although State College can be wonderful, I have never left it for more than 3 and a half weeks straight in my life, so I am extremely excited to embark on this journey, let alone the fact that living and working in a city ...one that revolves around the theatre world nonetheless... will pretty much be heaven for me.  I would say bon voyage but I don't think that's what you say when you're the one leaving ....so Cheerio, mates!  (Ohhh gosh they're going to love that over there!...)

~Sam~