Accountability--again
I am still fighting the sense of complacency and laissez-faire attitude that ensconces this island. Tomorrow evening we have a meeting for the Tempest scheduled...a final design meeting. Typically, as a professional, final designs means I lay out the last weeks' work in the form of fully rendered images...painted, labeled and presentational.
However, I am behind schedule. One of the unique aspects of this art form is the collaboration and dependence on others to complete the project. It is a group art form, each contributing to the whole. And when one part of the group slacks...the whole suffers.
This is ultimately a high school performance, though these kids are more talented than many I knew in college. Amazing when you consider the mean age of the group is 15. So adaptations to the script would be made...but the general story arc and list of characters would remain largely intact. The frustration comes in the form of cross-gender casting. This a play written with only 4 female parts...a daughter and three goddesses. In a cast of 18, two thirds of them are female. And the director said from the start that there would need for cross gender casting...and that she was opposed to drag. The gender of the actor would reflect the gender of the character. And the adaptation of the script would reflect those changes.
The problem...I did not receive a cast list nor adaptation until Thursday night. In essence I was asked to design a male and female version of most of the show from the start. Alright...that's doable. But not getting the cast until this late did not allow me to sit down with the director to fine tune the costumes. Nor did it give me enough time to move from the phase of sketches to renderings. I may be a quick watercolorist, but I do not appreciate being forced to work under such a time scrunch. I can procrastinate on my own quite well.
But in my procrastination, I'm always thinking about the problems. In this case I'm not granted that luxury.
But as usual, it will get done. And it will be fabulous.
However, I am behind schedule. One of the unique aspects of this art form is the collaboration and dependence on others to complete the project. It is a group art form, each contributing to the whole. And when one part of the group slacks...the whole suffers.
This is ultimately a high school performance, though these kids are more talented than many I knew in college. Amazing when you consider the mean age of the group is 15. So adaptations to the script would be made...but the general story arc and list of characters would remain largely intact. The frustration comes in the form of cross-gender casting. This a play written with only 4 female parts...a daughter and three goddesses. In a cast of 18, two thirds of them are female. And the director said from the start that there would need for cross gender casting...and that she was opposed to drag. The gender of the actor would reflect the gender of the character. And the adaptation of the script would reflect those changes.
The problem...I did not receive a cast list nor adaptation until Thursday night. In essence I was asked to design a male and female version of most of the show from the start. Alright...that's doable. But not getting the cast until this late did not allow me to sit down with the director to fine tune the costumes. Nor did it give me enough time to move from the phase of sketches to renderings. I may be a quick watercolorist, but I do not appreciate being forced to work under such a time scrunch. I can procrastinate on my own quite well.
But in my procrastination, I'm always thinking about the problems. In this case I'm not granted that luxury.
But as usual, it will get done. And it will be fabulous.
Labels: Hawaii Theatre, Tempest
posted by Unknown at
2:04 PM
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