The theatre major: switching it on and off?

Some days, I feel like being a theatre major. I feel like singing at the top of my lungs and not caring what anyone thinks of me and dressing weird and being crazy and doing random things and talking in accents.

And some days, I really, really don't.

Maybe it's a switch inside of me that I've learned to turn on and off because I have so many other interests outside of theatre (another major and a minor, even), but there are times when I don't feel like being the outrageous person that theatre majors typically are.

Yesterday when we were striking the lights for The Time of Your Life on the Mainstage, everyone was singing songs from the recent workshop production of Songs for A New World and I just wasn't into it. I don't know why, I just didn't feel like it.

It makes me feel like I have some sort of personality disorder. And it also makes me feel like a crappy theatre person. But I guess it's better than I'm honest with myself, eh?

--DQ

Calling all theatre people or bloggers, or both!

Overheard on Twitter:

The Baltimore Theatre Alliance is accepting applications for bloggers, either to write reviews of BTA productions or to blog about personal Baltimore theatre experiences. Granted, the applications are due tomorrow, so I apologize for not posting it here sooner, but I just discovered this yesterday.

I followed the link from @balttheatre to the blog. Although the Baltimore Theatre Alliance is a prominent promoter of theatre in the region, the blog is a new endeavor for them. Upon viewing the ad, I contemplated sending in an application, but then decided against it, knowing that soon after graduation (just 41 days now!) I'm moving to Central Florida and will therefore a) not have time to blog much anymore due to the hours I'm going to be working and b) will no longer be living in Baltimore and therefore will not be seeing much of its theatre.

I do regret not having this opportunity sooner, especially with the recent development of All the World's A Stage. But if you or anyone you know is interested, they are still accepting applications until April 12th. It's a great way to promote yourself in online media and to break your way into the Baltimore theatre community.

I remain your Drama Queen.

Senior theatre thesis: been there, done that

Facebook, one of my many online social networks, is my number one friend-stalking tool. I constantly refresh my page when I don't have anything better to do to see who updated their statuses, simply because I want to know about the cool things going on in their lives, or lack thereof lately, as most of us find ourselves up to our ears in mid-semester schoolwork, projects and papers.

Sifting through statuses the other day, I had to laugh at what I saw.

Several theatre majors I know had things posted like "is in the library from now until the end of time" or "has 10 pages down, 10 more to go" or "needs some distraction from Stephen Sondheim for a while." Ohhh, yes, I thought, smiling to myself superiorly. It's THAT time of their college careers as theatre majors.

The dreaded senior theatre thesis. I can hear the dated horror movie screams now.

I'm not sure why Towson requires its theatre majors to write a 20-page thesis before they can earn their degree. I speculate about it all the time, wondering if the university administration thinks that as mischief-making, obnoxious theatre kids (come to a cast party and you'll see what I mean), we don't take ourselves seriously, or whether they believe because we have a number of courses that stray from the typical lecture-exam class structure that we're not retaining information as well as other students in other majors do.

Regardless, it's unavoidable. I mocked my research-laden friends, especially the ones who are preparing to graduate in 46 days like me (oh yes, the countdown began a while ago), and gave myself a pat on the back for deciding to write my thesis the semester before my last semester.

I thought I didn't have motivation then? Ha! I certainly don't have any motivation now, definitely not enough to even begin to think about writing a worthwhile thesis.

Well done, Dana. You made a good decision last semester, even though there were nights you felt like tearing your hair out as you labored over the computer screen writing about French translation in theatre.

Best of luck to my comrades, but I don't envy you.

--DQ

There's one more star in the sky

Film and Broadway actress Natasha Richardson, 45, passed away tonight from head injuries after a skiing accident.

Ms. Richardson's impressive career consisted of numerous Hollywood roles including a remake of The Parent Trap and Maid in Manhattan. She was most well known for being a gifted stage actress, having performed in Hamlet, A Streetcar Named Desire, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. In 1998, she earned a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of struggling singer Sally Bowles in Cabaret.

The theatre world grows a little quieter for you today, Ms. Richardson.

There's a moment when fear and dream must collide

It was a cruel realization when I signed up for the required theatre course, Lighting Crew, this semester: I'd have to face the one thing that theatre majors of all people should get over REAL fast.

My fear of heights.

In a field which incorporates hanging lights, pulling curtains, dropping in microphones, acrobatics, and the like, a fear of heights can seriously hold a theatre person like myself back from experiencing the finer elements of the technical work that goes on behind the scenes.

It was never a big deal for me riding roller coasters in theme parks or even climbing the 990-foot-tall Eiffel Tower. But get me on a lighting catwalk and my legs turn to jelly as I gaze down into the expanse of the theatre house below me, which wouldn't be such a comfy landing.

Alas, the day came when my fears came around to face me. On the first day of Lighting Crew, we were set to hang lights for August Strindberg's Miss Julie. I entered the Studio Theatre in Towson University's Center for the Arts with my head held high, even though deep down I was ashamed that someone involved in an art where anything is possible could possess such a fear.

As it turned out, I wasn't the only one. Some of the other crew members requested other tasks that didn't involve being so far above the stage. I opted to face my fear and do what I came there to do: hang lights. The cool thing about the Studio Theatre is that the entire lighting area functions on a giant steel grid directly over the performance area, so if the lights (or a person) should fall, they would be caught by the steel grid. The springy grid was actually quite fun to walk on, and after a while, I started having conversations with some fellow theatre majors on the stage below who were painting the set, and I forgot all about my apprehensions from earlier that day.

My light circuiting handiwork, which took several hours but was fun all the same, can be seen in Miss Julie, which runs until Thursday at TU. Tomorrow I'm seeing the show; see you after right here.

I remain your fear-conquering Drama Queen.

Wilkommen, bienvenue, welcome...

My name is Dana, and I'm a double major at Towson University in Theatre Studies and Journalism & New Media. What a perfect way to fuse my two passions here on a blog about all things theatrical.

As the title of this blog (and the subject line from 'Cabaret') suggests, this is theatre people central! By that, I mean not people who are simply interested in theatre or who attend plays frequently or have been to Broadway, although you are certainly welcome. But the term 'theatre people' implies a community with a more significant connection to the art, one where members are are actively involved in the discipline, whether it's performing, designing sets, hanging lights, sewing costumes, directing, casting, running a theatre, teaching drama, whatever. We're all theatre people because this passion has taken a forefront in our lives to the point that we've become immersed in this world somehow. And often our passion for this art allows us to share that experience with the rest of the world in the form of a production or the first reading of a new translation of a play or young playwriting festivals.

Much work and detail goes into this art, and this is a space to experience all of it, comment on it, and perfect it through respectful sharing of opinion. Several theatre enthusiasts, like Blogway Baby, are already out there blogging about the Great White Way and beyond. But this is the theatre world from my eyes, created for people in theatre about theatre and without limitations, and I hope it's useful and entertaining to all who decide to become a part of it.

Until next time, I remain your faithful Drama Queen.