"Servant of Two Masters"

Hello again…I hope coming back to reality from spring break hasn’t been as hard on everyone! At the theatre we all took a break as well, but now that we came back we are in a rush to get everything done for our next show. The next play is called “Servant of Two Masters” and it opens in three weeks. We had already started on everything and the cast has started rehearsals before spring break, but now that we’re back we realized how much we are missing and so we need to speed things up. The cast rehearses everyday, as always, but I haven’t heard much of what the play is about. The only thing I know is that it takes place in Venice, and that is because we are drawing and painting Venice in a huge drop for the scenery. There are three huge drops with different sceneries that we scenic painters have had to grid, draw and go over in permanent maker. This took us about two weeks, but now we have to experiment with the fabric paint and see how we can paint the drops without the dripping, bleeding or mixing because that can’t be fixed. We are all a little clueless and nervous, even our boss, Steve Gilliam, because he has not done this before either. However, yesterday I started painting and it is turning out well, so we all can take a breath. We still have to figure out how to paint in the little details of each of the three drops, and that may be another difficulty, but we’ll take it one step at a time. Hopefully it turns out well and we finish the drops in time!


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If you attended one of the many times “Blood Wedding” played, you will probably agree with me when I say that it was absolutely amazing. It was a tragedy that took place in Spain, about a forbidden love between a married man and a recently wedded woman. They had loved each other in the past, and when he appears at her wedding, their need of each other became so strong that they ran away during her reception. The newlywed’s husband had to seek revenge and kill the man who took his wife, and so everyone at the wedding went on a search for them. The lovers were found, and in a fight for honor, both the husband and the wife’s lover were killed. What made this play so memorable however, was all the choreography, singing, music, scenery and lighting. There wasn’t that much scenery, but the arches looked so realistic on stage, and the lighting that changed day and night was excellent. I loved the flamenco that was danced, and the singing, which was mostly in Spanish, contributed so much to the Spaniard ambient in which the play took place. The cast and the theatre workers did a great job in this play and the outcome was brilliant. Right now we just started working on the next play that is coming up. I don’t know much about this play other than the great amount of scenery it will include. We will have to experiment with the scenery of this upcoming play, so hopefully it turns out well!

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Opening Night !

The opening day of “Blood Wedding” is coming up soon! We scenic painters, workshop workers, props students and costume makers will be able to see the show for free on Thursday – job perks! However, “Blood Wedding” opens on Friday, February 19, 2010 and it will be playing on Saturday, Sunday and the next weekend as well. I really recommend you to go to at least one of the many times it will be playing. I have only been told good things about the show and have heard many of the cast randomly burst out singing at the theatre. The cast has been rehearsing every single day from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.! So there is no doubt they will give a great performance. The props are all ready and set to start putting them on stage. The costumes are nearly done, and I cannot wait to see how all the dresses and men’s clothes will turn out since the setting and theme is in old Spain. The arches, the cross and the moon are already hung so that they can fly in easily, however some of the arches are still missing some final painting touches. Last week I was a little skeptical that we could finish them in time, but we managed to speed it up! The arch I’m working in took a long time since we had to carve out styrofoam in the shape of rocks, cover them with cloth and then paint each and every one of them to give the impression that it is an arch made of stones. I am pretty confident we will have it done by tomorrow though. I’m looking forward to see how it all turns out on Thursday! Start buying tickets, I can assure you won’t regret it!

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"Blood Wedding"

Hello again to all! I’m excited to inform you that Stieren Theatre has been quite busy these past few weeks. No wonder, since “Blood Wedding” is the next big show, and it is coming up soon! Auditions took place on January 13^th and callbacks on January15^th, and our talented and hardworking cast has been rehearsing ever since. It shall be a very interesting show, since dancing and choreography make a big part of it. I can’t wait to see how it turns out, especially because I know many of the people in the cast and I can’t picture them dancing! There is not much scenery in every scene, which will give quite a break to the students working in the workshop, however they will have to build several big arches. The scenic painters have it a little tougher, since we have to mold and paint each of those arches into looking like real life bricks, stones and twigs. I know in the end we will get it done, but I’m still a little nervous because it is quite a load of work to finish in about a week and a half. I’m really looking forward to how it all turns out and I will definitely be one of the first people to go watch the show! You should go watch it as well!

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Before attending Trinity, I’d never really shown any interest in theatres and had probably only attended one to see a play or two. Little did I know, that as I got a job as a scenic painter at Trinity’s Stieren Theatre, I would begin to spend a lot of my time in there and grow to love the place. It was kind of humorous at the beginning though, because everything was new to me and I had no idea what was going on, unlike the other upperclassmen workers who seemed to do everything out of habit. Due to the unfortunate fact that I had never been behind the curtains, instructions would need to be repeated to me pretty often. However, as I got the hang of it I began to learn a lot from my job. I was really surprised to find out all the hard work and time that needed to be invested in shows. The two shows that were put up last semester, “The Real Inspector Hound” and “Urinetown” the musical, turned out to be pretty spectacular, and it was all due to everyone who worked in it. The students from the workshop, who are amongst the first ones to clock in and the last ones to clock out, amazed me by how they built towers, platforms, walls, floors, etc. in so little time! The students who work in Props took care of every little detail there is, from rugs, lamps and candles, to fake money, couches and so much more. The workers from the costume shop did a great job creating wardrobes that perfectly fit the style of the play; I was personally impressed by the police costumes of “Urinetown”. We, the scenic painters, were very successful at creating illusions in the audience. For these plays we had to paint brick walls, which the audience easily confused with the real brick walls; we grained towers, painted a very rusty scenery for “Urinetown”, rusted up some props, sewers and countless other things! Last but not least, the excellent actors and actresses that performed in both plays! They would rehearse restlessly up until midnight sometimes! Everything paid off, however, because both plays turned out GREAT. I am looking forward to putting up other shows this semester, and don’t worry, I will keep you updated!

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