Classes

It is Wednesday and I am already finished with my first week of classes, which is a nice feeling except for the extraordinary amount of work I already have assigned. My major assignments include practicing my hand drafting skills in my Techniques by Design class taught by Chris Barreca. The class is a mix of design students with a variable degree of talent in hand-drafting. I have had very little experience in hand-drafting, but I know I‘ll pick it up quick. Our assignments consist of copying a plate from a previous show he designed and also hand-drafting out a wall of our class room. This is not due for 3 weeks, thankfully, as Chris will be in Europe teching a show until then. This has made the rest of my workload somewhat manageable.


Lighting design is where most of work for this week is focused on. I have to conceptually designing August Wilson‘s play Jitney from his series of cycle plays. I have been provided an inventory, a few production shots, the ground plot and an elevation of the show in order to create our own plot of the show. I am excited about this assignment the most. I also need to provide a concept statement and paperwork. The plots will be critiqued next week, but are being used more to establish everyone‘s skill level in the class. The plot and section views have to be hand-drafted...starting to notice a hand-drafting theme yet? With Vectorworks 2008 being released tomorrow, I‘m likely to be the last person this year to upgrade my current version. Check out my blog tomorrow for more of my thoughts on the new version. I also have to keep a short lighting journal that captures interesting lighting moments in my life.


In Advanced Light Lab class my group a single scene to create and present next week. Our assignment primarily focuses on how to create realistic candle lighting on stage.


In Play Analysis I have to read Oklahoma and provide a short response to a question. Future weeks will consist of reading multiple plays by the next class, so this week is a piece of cake!


It‘s a lot of work, but overall I am incredibly happy to be fully engulfed in the CalArts experience. I sit in classrooms with other students who are all focused on the same goals and it‘s awesome! I don‘t thing of class and class or homework as homework. It‘s all fun somehow.



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