Hey all,
As the headline says, fall semester is half over. But being half over, I'm currently in my week long fall break (UP does a week break mid-semester both semesters, which is nice). September is a bit of a blur, but I'll try to remember what happened and catch you all up.
First week of school and classes start as well as auditions. We did auditions for all the fall plays Wed, Thu, and Fri; met on Saturday morning to cast all 4 plays; and I started rehearsals on Sunday night. Bang and we're off. Blithe Spirit went well. Things were looking tough about as we were getting towards the end of rehearsals and we couldn't get through the show in 3 and a half hours, but we got past that (show ran two hours, plus intermissions, once we opened). The play is about a man and wife who host a seance (so he can collect material for his new book) and the ghost of his first wife appears (only to him, but she's there and can move stuff). Hilarity ensues. It's a 1940 comedy, British, very much clever wit and fast thinking. Once the actors caught on to the style they did really well.
The show was also written to end scenes with the curtain dropping with characters on stage, and we don't have a curtain. So I decided to give myself the extra challenge of avoiding having actors and props come and go in view of the audience without it being part of the action. Mostly this just involved adding bits of business to the beginning and ends of scenes (including a fun minute long bit where the ghost messes with the maid...while one of the other actors is off stage making a quick costume change). But the third act scene break was a problem: the same 4 actors on stage at the end of scene one and beginning of scene two, with props coming on and a few hours of time elapsed. So for that I created a fast-forward montage sequence that I worried would seem really out of place in the show, but the audience, and the gentlemen who came to respond/critique the show for ACTF (American College Theater Festival), enjoyed it, so no worries. The ACTF respondents also liked the fact that I made the medium, Madame Arcati (40s-60s in the script), a 30ish year old woman (all the actors were 18-22). I'm glad they appreciated that decision, she's the most genuine character in the play even if she is a bit crazy.
After Blithe Spirit closed one of my second year grad students had his 2nd year show (and I mean right after, we struck the Blithe Spirit set Sunday and I was back in the theater Monday for his tech rehearsal...he opened Wednesday). That show also went well.
Then my theater company had a fundraiser this past weekend (basically this is all happening over the last 2 weeks). On Friday we presented 6 short plays/scenes by local playwrights, rehearsed by local directors and actors--including me, to the audience. At intermission we brought on about 10 props and asked the audience to choose 3. After the 6 plays we brought each playwright to the stage one at a time to be auctioned off. The winning bidders instantly "commissioned" the playwrights to write a new play/scene using the 3 props the audience chose (an oversized ladle, a stuffed/fake black bird, and a gas mask). The winning bidder also gave their playwright the first and last lines of dialog for the scene. Then we met with the 6 playwrights and gave them the number of actors they needed to use and they had until 6:30 a.m. to write. The directors met at 9 a.m. and were handed the scripts the playwrights had written, we cast actors at 9:30 and started rehearsing. At 6:30 we met back at the theater and the 6 plays went up at 7:30. Pretty much all of our Friday night audience came back (and brought folks) anxious to see how things worked out. The plays were funny and serious, with some biting satire. All in all everyone had a blast, though many of us lost some sleep, and we raised over $1000 for the company.
That's pretty much been the fall. Classes are going well, I feel like everything's well in hand. It's still a pretty busy job, but this year there are much fewer surprises (so far no "wait...that's my job?" moments, unlike last year). I also got a tentative promotion. I was hired as a visiting assistant professor (due to budgetary constraints) with the promise of promotion after 2 or 3 years. They've approved my promotion to regular assistant professor for next year, if they can fund the position which they won't know until the budget is approved late winter/early spring. So I may be promoted. We'll see. Even so, it's a nice gesture on their part to show that they want to keep me around.
Looking ahead, I've got a thesis student doing Much Ado about Nothing (set in Hawaii a little before the bombing of Pearl Harbor) and a 2nd year grad doing Eleemosynary, so I'll still be sitting in rehearsals, just not mine and not so often. This week I basically took Sunday and yesterday off (watched television!) and now I'm working through my to do list, grading, and catch-up projects.
Tonight I'm off to Portland Center Stage to see R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Mystery) OF THE UNIVERSE. So it's not all work and no play.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Sigh. Back to School
Summertime...and the living is easy...
I have enjoyed my summer. Though I've been off from school since May it has been busy (multiple theatre projects, trips to Minnesota including my sister's wedding), still...many days I've been able to work whenever and wherever I've wanted. I've spent many an afternoon in, or outside of, a coffeehouse doing this and that (which is where I am at the moment). And while I've had plenty to keep me busy, I've not had a great deal of deadlines.
That ends 7 days hence. School is all about deadlines: finishing & copying syllabi, planning lessons, grading, preparing for rehearsals and meetings, advising, and so on and so forth. I'm happy to go back to teaching and such, it's a job I enjoy, but I will miss being a man of leisure (mostly).
Should be a good semester. I'm directing Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward as the first show of the year (as well as supervising a second year grad project at the same time), so I'll be hitting the ground running. Blithe Spirit is a fun play, well written, and should be fairly straight forward with a few fun challenges (such as getting objects to move by themselves). Teaching-wise it's shaping up to be a busy semester, though a bit easier than last fall. Generally speaking I'll always be teaching the same classes in the Fall (at least as things are currently laid out): the intro to Arts class (FA207) that I've been teaching for years now (so it's pretty well solid); the first year grad directing course, which this year has 1 student since we only have one incoming grad; and the Shakespeare class which focuses on Shakespeare acting with the undergrads (it's their advanced acting course) and additionally addresses some directing issues with the 2nd year grad students who also take it. The latter class is where I've been, and will be, doing the most work since last year was the first year I taught it (so I have some things I won't do again), and I'll have the grad directors in there for the first time, so I'm figuring out how to integrate them. Also, this year, a junior honors student needs to do a project within the class as well-so it's officially 3 classes rolled into one. And in addition, I'm doing a directed study on preparing to teach with a couple of grad students (it's extra work, but with 1 student in the grad directing class I can handle the "extra" load).
In the second half I'm not directing, just supervising a second year grad project and a thesis project.
I'm pretty well prepared, although I still have a lot of i-dotting and t-crossing to do on syllabi and such. And some stuff I really wanted to be done before school started, so I'm working hard this week in an attempt to not start the school year already behind. Wish me luck.
In other news, spent Saturday at the Adult Soapbox Derby. Held on the winding road coming down Mount Tabor park (a park on top of an extinct volcano), it's a great Portland experience. Racers fall into 2 general categories: fun/creative and fast. The fast racers are impressive, but the creative are more fun. One of my favorites this year was a picnic table (2 picnickers sitting and picnicking while the driver was somewhat hidden under the table). We hung out at the bottom of the course near the finish (our party was heavily bechildrened, so we didn't want to walk too far). It was HOT that day (I think we hit 100 again that day), but we had shade, beer, and entertainment, so what more could we ask for.
I have enjoyed my summer. Though I've been off from school since May it has been busy (multiple theatre projects, trips to Minnesota including my sister's wedding), still...many days I've been able to work whenever and wherever I've wanted. I've spent many an afternoon in, or outside of, a coffeehouse doing this and that (which is where I am at the moment). And while I've had plenty to keep me busy, I've not had a great deal of deadlines.
That ends 7 days hence. School is all about deadlines: finishing & copying syllabi, planning lessons, grading, preparing for rehearsals and meetings, advising, and so on and so forth. I'm happy to go back to teaching and such, it's a job I enjoy, but I will miss being a man of leisure (mostly).
Should be a good semester. I'm directing Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward as the first show of the year (as well as supervising a second year grad project at the same time), so I'll be hitting the ground running. Blithe Spirit is a fun play, well written, and should be fairly straight forward with a few fun challenges (such as getting objects to move by themselves). Teaching-wise it's shaping up to be a busy semester, though a bit easier than last fall. Generally speaking I'll always be teaching the same classes in the Fall (at least as things are currently laid out): the intro to Arts class (FA207) that I've been teaching for years now (so it's pretty well solid); the first year grad directing course, which this year has 1 student since we only have one incoming grad; and the Shakespeare class which focuses on Shakespeare acting with the undergrads (it's their advanced acting course) and additionally addresses some directing issues with the 2nd year grad students who also take it. The latter class is where I've been, and will be, doing the most work since last year was the first year I taught it (so I have some things I won't do again), and I'll have the grad directors in there for the first time, so I'm figuring out how to integrate them. Also, this year, a junior honors student needs to do a project within the class as well-so it's officially 3 classes rolled into one. And in addition, I'm doing a directed study on preparing to teach with a couple of grad students (it's extra work, but with 1 student in the grad directing class I can handle the "extra" load).
In the second half I'm not directing, just supervising a second year grad project and a thesis project.
I'm pretty well prepared, although I still have a lot of i-dotting and t-crossing to do on syllabi and such. And some stuff I really wanted to be done before school started, so I'm working hard this week in an attempt to not start the school year already behind. Wish me luck.
In other news, spent Saturday at the Adult Soapbox Derby. Held on the winding road coming down Mount Tabor park (a park on top of an extinct volcano), it's a great Portland experience. Racers fall into 2 general categories: fun/creative and fast. The fast racers are impressive, but the creative are more fun. One of my favorites this year was a picnic table (2 picnickers sitting and picnicking while the driver was somewhat hidden under the table). We hung out at the bottom of the course near the finish (our party was heavily bechildrened, so we didn't want to walk too far). It was HOT that day (I think we hit 100 again that day), but we had shade, beer, and entertainment, so what more could we ask for.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
A Job
The other big thing that's happened in the last year is I got myself a bona fide teaching job. Which is good, since I spent 3 years in grad school in order to make myself qualified for such a thing.
Spring of 2007. I'm living in Portland, temping at Freightliner, and adjunct teaching (meaning part time, not paid well) at the University of Portland. One of the professors at UP has decided to go into phased retirement and they do a national search to replace him. Many times when a school does a national search they are reluctant to hire from inside (otherwise why do a national search, which is expensive). I figured I had a chance, but it wasn't too great (since I'd not had a full time teaching position, though I had years of part-time going back to grad school), so I was happy with each step I continued to survive through the process. Once I was named one of the 3 finalists, I figured my chances had improved (I was in the "devil you know" category). The interview lasted 21 hours over 2 days (this is moderate for academic interviews, I've heard of longer). It was intense (and then I had to wait a week while they interviewed the other 2 finalists), but in the end they offered me the job. I was quite happy, since it meant staying in Portland (which I wanted to do, but I wasn't going to temp & adjunct forever). Also, in addition to teaching undergrad drama classes, the job entails running the graduate directing program (one of 40-50 in the country). The grad program makes the job more interesting (and harder too). And now I have health insurance again, which is nice (I had health insurance, but it had a $10K deductible and everything up to the deductible was out of pocket, so it wasn't useful unless I got hit by a truck).
The first year was like any first year of a job: more work than one expects. I knew it was going to be a lot of work (teaching a few classes for the first time, and the first time you teach a class is the most work you're going to put into it...the second time you're fixing and, for me at least, by the third time the structure is there and sound, so the prep work starts to drop off considerably). I was also directing 2 shows, and supervising the director on 4 more. So I was busy with all this expected stuff. But then comes the unexpected stuff, the little things that are part of the job but were either completely unexpected (coordinating publicity for all the shows) or take more time than you plan on (meetings).
So I didn't have much of a life off campus, but I knew that was going to happen to an extent. The shows both went well, and the classes too (for the most part). The main thing is I survived and didn't make any huge mistakes.
Now I start thinking about next year. In the fall I'm teaching FA207 (the intro the arts class I started teaching as an adjunct, so it's pretty well set as a class), the 1st year grad directing class (with 1 student this year, so I'll have to see what kind of adjustments I'd like to make because of that), and the Shakespeare Acting class (which I taught last fall, and I've got a pretty decent list of changes to make; plus the grad directors take it this year--so I've got to figure out what they're going to do--and I've got an honors student in it so I need to add additional components for her). I'm also directing Blithe Spirit to start the year. In some ways it will be easier (since I'm mostly treading previously explored territory) and in some ways harder (since it's the second time around for most of this, the bar is a little higher than "getting through it"). And I need to carve out a social life too (try get get a bit of a work/life balance). So there are goals.
So that pretty much catches you all up on the highlights of the last year or so, and pretty much brings you all up to date. I still need to cover June (Reunion!) and July (JAW!), and then we'll be all caught up to now.
Spring of 2007. I'm living in Portland, temping at Freightliner, and adjunct teaching (meaning part time, not paid well) at the University of Portland. One of the professors at UP has decided to go into phased retirement and they do a national search to replace him. Many times when a school does a national search they are reluctant to hire from inside (otherwise why do a national search, which is expensive). I figured I had a chance, but it wasn't too great (since I'd not had a full time teaching position, though I had years of part-time going back to grad school), so I was happy with each step I continued to survive through the process. Once I was named one of the 3 finalists, I figured my chances had improved (I was in the "devil you know" category). The interview lasted 21 hours over 2 days (this is moderate for academic interviews, I've heard of longer). It was intense (and then I had to wait a week while they interviewed the other 2 finalists), but in the end they offered me the job. I was quite happy, since it meant staying in Portland (which I wanted to do, but I wasn't going to temp & adjunct forever). Also, in addition to teaching undergrad drama classes, the job entails running the graduate directing program (one of 40-50 in the country). The grad program makes the job more interesting (and harder too). And now I have health insurance again, which is nice (I had health insurance, but it had a $10K deductible and everything up to the deductible was out of pocket, so it wasn't useful unless I got hit by a truck).
The first year was like any first year of a job: more work than one expects. I knew it was going to be a lot of work (teaching a few classes for the first time, and the first time you teach a class is the most work you're going to put into it...the second time you're fixing and, for me at least, by the third time the structure is there and sound, so the prep work starts to drop off considerably). I was also directing 2 shows, and supervising the director on 4 more. So I was busy with all this expected stuff. But then comes the unexpected stuff, the little things that are part of the job but were either completely unexpected (coordinating publicity for all the shows) or take more time than you plan on (meetings).
So I didn't have much of a life off campus, but I knew that was going to happen to an extent. The shows both went well, and the classes too (for the most part). The main thing is I survived and didn't make any huge mistakes.
Now I start thinking about next year. In the fall I'm teaching FA207 (the intro the arts class I started teaching as an adjunct, so it's pretty well set as a class), the 1st year grad directing class (with 1 student this year, so I'll have to see what kind of adjustments I'd like to make because of that), and the Shakespeare Acting class (which I taught last fall, and I've got a pretty decent list of changes to make; plus the grad directors take it this year--so I've got to figure out what they're going to do--and I've got an honors student in it so I need to add additional components for her). I'm also directing Blithe Spirit to start the year. In some ways it will be easier (since I'm mostly treading previously explored territory) and in some ways harder (since it's the second time around for most of this, the bar is a little higher than "getting through it"). And I need to carve out a social life too (try get get a bit of a work/life balance). So there are goals.
So that pretty much catches you all up on the highlights of the last year or so, and pretty much brings you all up to date. I still need to cover June (Reunion!) and July (JAW!), and then we'll be all caught up to now.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
A Homeowner?
Yes, I did that. Last March I joined the ranks of the "ownership society". I was highly dubious (and ambivalent) about the whole thing, but eventually I found something too good to pass up. Prior to my full time employment at UP (more on that in a future post) I was living in SE Portland and working variously around town. The commute from my apartment (which was in a great neighborhood not far from anything with bars/restaurants/coffeeshops all around) to UP was a pain at times (being mostly Interstate). Many of my graduate level classes run 4-5:30, and getting home/eating/and getting back to campus for evening rehearsals wasn't worth the effort (leading to eating 2 meals a day in my office at times).
So, the hunt began. I've never bought into the whole "renting is throwing away money" BS (because it takes fairly complicated and complex math to make an apples to apples comparison of renting and investing in other things v. owning property), so I wasn't (unlike many) determined to own a home. In fact, renting is lovely in many ways (no lawn care, no major expenses, no long term geographical commitments). But, there are owning advantages too, so I started looking.
Luckily, I had a great agent, Leonie North (wonderful, wonderful human being...blessed with great patience). I looked at places that were not near anything at all (and I am a huge proponent of living withing walking/biking distance of things) and places in good locations that were the same size as my apartment but would cost me 2x (or more) in a mortgage payment per month (Portland was in the midst of a condo-conversion boom at the time). Leonie took my reactions in stride.
Then the place I'm in came up. 1200 sq feet (more than twice my apartment), little less than 2 miles from campus (bikable even when the weather sucks), 2 BR (so I can put my "office" in a separate space from occupying my living room and kitchen as previous). All in all a nice place (porch in front, deck, cement pad for car, and big shed--nice for the bike--in back). And the price was ok. It'd been on the market for almost a year, and I was still ambivalent about it (the location isn't tremendous...not much walkable from the place), so we decided to put in a lowball bid and see what they countered with. And then they accepted the bid (turns out they were very motivated to sell quickly). Next thing I knew I owned a damn house.
All in all it was a good decision. I got a really good price on it, and a good mortgage. My commute to campus is easy (and with gas over $4 a gallon, biking is almost lucrative). A couple of days ago I did a big loop on my bike: campus to take care of some paperwork, then to the coffeeshop I like in the neighborhood to the south for a while, then to the grocery store I like, and back home. So while I can't walk to stuff like I'd like to, I can certainly get all I need by bike. I do have to take the car (at least until I get a better bike) when going to downtown or SE Portland. It's nice having the space too. On the other hand, I know have a yard (albeit small) that I need to care for. Not doing a great job of that. And some things I need to fix (or pay to have fixed).
So, I own a home. Who'd've thunk it?
So, the hunt began. I've never bought into the whole "renting is throwing away money" BS (because it takes fairly complicated and complex math to make an apples to apples comparison of renting and investing in other things v. owning property), so I wasn't (unlike many) determined to own a home. In fact, renting is lovely in many ways (no lawn care, no major expenses, no long term geographical commitments). But, there are owning advantages too, so I started looking.
Luckily, I had a great agent, Leonie North (wonderful, wonderful human being...blessed with great patience). I looked at places that were not near anything at all (and I am a huge proponent of living withing walking/biking distance of things) and places in good locations that were the same size as my apartment but would cost me 2x (or more) in a mortgage payment per month (Portland was in the midst of a condo-conversion boom at the time). Leonie took my reactions in stride.
Then the place I'm in came up. 1200 sq feet (more than twice my apartment), little less than 2 miles from campus (bikable even when the weather sucks), 2 BR (so I can put my "office" in a separate space from occupying my living room and kitchen as previous). All in all a nice place (porch in front, deck, cement pad for car, and big shed--nice for the bike--in back). And the price was ok. It'd been on the market for almost a year, and I was still ambivalent about it (the location isn't tremendous...not much walkable from the place), so we decided to put in a lowball bid and see what they countered with. And then they accepted the bid (turns out they were very motivated to sell quickly). Next thing I knew I owned a damn house.
All in all it was a good decision. I got a really good price on it, and a good mortgage. My commute to campus is easy (and with gas over $4 a gallon, biking is almost lucrative). A couple of days ago I did a big loop on my bike: campus to take care of some paperwork, then to the coffeeshop I like in the neighborhood to the south for a while, then to the grocery store I like, and back home. So while I can't walk to stuff like I'd like to, I can certainly get all I need by bike. I do have to take the car (at least until I get a better bike) when going to downtown or SE Portland. It's nice having the space too. On the other hand, I know have a yard (albeit small) that I need to care for. Not doing a great job of that. And some things I need to fix (or pay to have fixed).
So, I own a home. Who'd've thunk it?
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
What am I doing now?
Instead of getting all organized and recapping the last year, I'm start with what I'm up to now and work backwards to catch folks up.
This week is the beginning of Portland Center Stage's JAW Festival. It's for new plays, with a couple of different reading series and other events. The big weekend is next weekend (18th-20th), but it starts this week with the Made in Oregon series (new plays by Oregon playwrights) and I'm directing one that goes up tomorrow night.
It's a fun, weird play involving 4 high school friends (now in their 30s and half living at their parents) who get together to play D&D and a mysterious couple fairly newly arrived to town (he's much older than her). The playwright, Hunt Holman, is a guy who's work I like a lot for it's unabashed absurdity.
We cast the show with actors I/we knew while I was in Minnesota (Dad was present for my celebration of a voicemail with the last actor we needed committing). We met and rehearsed last weekend and will rehearse a bit tomorrow.
I'm also involved in the big weekend, as well as going to all the stuff. My company will once again have a table at the Theatre Fair, and I'll curate the Portland Playwrights' Slam for the third time.
And next school year looms, but I'm pretending it's still far, far away...at least until after JAW.
Otherwise I'm still putting the new house in order (a post on that forthcoming). Today I did a couple hours of work in the yard (which heretofore has resembled a small urban wildlife preserve). But then it got hot and I had revisions to review.
This week is the beginning of Portland Center Stage's JAW Festival. It's for new plays, with a couple of different reading series and other events. The big weekend is next weekend (18th-20th), but it starts this week with the Made in Oregon series (new plays by Oregon playwrights) and I'm directing one that goes up tomorrow night.
It's a fun, weird play involving 4 high school friends (now in their 30s and half living at their parents) who get together to play D&D and a mysterious couple fairly newly arrived to town (he's much older than her). The playwright, Hunt Holman, is a guy who's work I like a lot for it's unabashed absurdity.
We cast the show with actors I/we knew while I was in Minnesota (Dad was present for my celebration of a voicemail with the last actor we needed committing). We met and rehearsed last weekend and will rehearse a bit tomorrow.
I'm also involved in the big weekend, as well as going to all the stuff. My company will once again have a table at the Theatre Fair, and I'll curate the Portland Playwrights' Slam for the third time.
And next school year looms, but I'm pretending it's still far, far away...at least until after JAW.
Otherwise I'm still putting the new house in order (a post on that forthcoming). Today I did a couple hours of work in the yard (which heretofore has resembled a small urban wildlife preserve). But then it got hot and I had revisions to review.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Yes, a blog
Yes, that's right, I've started a blog. Everyone seems to be doing it, so why not me?
Or, a better question, why me?
I've not been great at keeping people up to date on what's going on with me, so I figured here's a "write once, read by a lot" kind of thing I can at least try. What I'll be doing here is periodically posting (hopefully) brief tidbits about what is up with me. Shortly I'll post various "highlights of the past year" to catch up some folks, but over all I'll try to keep posts short, sweet, and post often enough for that to happen.
So read, enjoy. Subscribe via RSS or Atom so you'll be told when I post. Let me know if you want this by email (apparently I have that technology), and I'll oblige. Or just stop by here every now and again and see what I'm up to.
Oh, and I'll still try to keep in touch with folks via email and visits.
Or, a better question, why me?
I've not been great at keeping people up to date on what's going on with me, so I figured here's a "write once, read by a lot" kind of thing I can at least try. What I'll be doing here is periodically posting (hopefully) brief tidbits about what is up with me. Shortly I'll post various "highlights of the past year" to catch up some folks, but over all I'll try to keep posts short, sweet, and post often enough for that to happen.
So read, enjoy. Subscribe via RSS or Atom so you'll be told when I post. Let me know if you want this by email (apparently I have that technology), and I'll oblige. Or just stop by here every now and again and see what I'm up to.
Oh, and I'll still try to keep in touch with folks via email and visits.
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