USITT Day 2 and 3

The remaining two days of the conference turned into a lot of time manning the Rutgers booth between myself another student and one faculty member. It is unfortunate that of a group of seven from Rutgers, the bulk of the recruiting was done by three. Of course one was there as the Fulbright scholar, not fully associated with the university, one was with United Scenic Artists, and the other two were showcased in the young designers forum....

Friday offered a few more interesting panels and workshops, though the first proved to be uninformative...more of a sales pitch for a product that the exhibitor didn't even use to its fullest advantage. The session was on thermal plastic masks....a material used in excess at APT due to the sturdiness, ease of use, cost and weatherproofness--at least compared to buckrum. The exhibitor had a lot of beautiful work...masks, headdresses and crowns, etc. However she used it much like buckrum. While many of the properties are the same between these two materials, wonderflex...a cheesecloth embedded in a thermal plastic...is much more malleable, more sturdy, more rigid and easily manipulated by heat. So much fine detail can be achieved as the plastic can be reheated and remolded without having to reshape the entire thing....heat guns, quilting irons and the like allow you to work small areas at a time. The presenter seemed more limited in the use of additional materials to finish the masks...relying heavily on Elmers glue as a finish. I certainly hope she took advantage of the expo at USITT to peruse the non-toxic finishes, silicone, and varnishes Smooth-on and Sculptural Arts have to offer.

The workshops later in the day proved to be much more informative...a panel on costume design in film and television and another panel on wardrobe work on Broadway. The design panel consisted of
Deborah Nadoolman, Juliet Polsca
and a third who designed mostly commercials. The discussion mostly revolved around how each of them found themselves in their respective focus, what a typical day or series of days may be depending on the project and challenges. It's always fascinating to listen to another's experiences.

The third panel discussion was pathetically under attended and one of the most informative of all I saw today. The three speakers talked fairly in depth on the different positions of wardrobe including wardrobe supervisor, dressers, star dressers, and day workers (which are further broken down into laundry, stitchers, shoe repair, etc depending on the size and scope of the show). A secondary topic of the panel was I.A.T.S.E. Local 746...the union that covers wardrobe. Well worth looking into.

I ran into a few more familiar faces on Friday, including quite a few from APT.

Saturday no sessions or workshops caught my interest and everything was scheduled to shut down by 3pm. After my four hours of service to Rutgers at the booth in the morning, I managed to pursue the Cover the Walls Exhibit (and was sorely disappointed by the quality of the costume design students work represented..I briefly regretted not submitting my own work and then remember it would have been another layer to add to my luggage and already strained schedule) and the Young Designers Forum.

By 3pm I was by the pool, finishing a book and waiting for the dinner hour to arrive. Of course after dinner I was poolside again until Tony called me to head out for a few drinks. Three very long days, not including the two for travel (as I type I hear our 9am flight out of Phoenix has just been delayed to 11am). Aside from two sour travel companions who seem ready to form ridiculous and unfounded opinions of what and with whom I spend my free time, it has been a phenomenal trip.

USITT Day One

I can hear the dull roar of the opening night reception from my room as I type this and as much as I’d love to continue to mingle, I am already about to drop from sheer exhaustion. Today has been an incredibly good day, albeit long. I’ve been up for almost 23 hours.

USITT started today. Ellen, Ben and I boarded a train at 4 am in hopes of making our 6:30 flight to Phoenix, which we did without any complications (but including the usual travel stress). We have a surprising amount of down time at the conference and between the 5 of us the Rutgers booth should be well manned without any one person taking on more of the burden than the rest. As an added bonus, we discovered that a portion of our food may be covered by the school as well.

After arriving, checking into a hotel and eating breakfast as if a famine were about to fall, we poked our heads into the conference center. For some reason or another, I was the one chosen as the exhibitor for the school…the others were registered as students. The added bonus to being an exhibitor is that I can stick my head into the expo at will during the set up…an all access backstage pass if you will.

The size of our theatre world continues to amaze me. While the number of new faces is overwhelming I have managed to run into Tony, a fellow UWSP alumni, and Joanna from APT. The halls are crowded with hesitant or cocky undergrads, reminiscent faculty and a handful of grad students. In a way I feel slightly out of place and it is a bit disconcerting that the focus of the conference seems mostly academic, but a few worthwhile seminars are on the schedule. Plus the Expo, new products, networking and people watching is always worth it.

This afternoon I attended a workshop by makeup artist Michael Meyer about gelatin prosthetics. He is incredibly well spoken and the workshop was more encompassing than I originally thought it would be. My previous experience with gelatin in makeup design had been limited to FX blood, blisters and other assorted small applications. Michael demonstrated the creation of an entire mold from sculpting through application of the gelatin prosthetic in addition to covering all of the benefits and quirks of gelatin. The obvious reason being cost and ease of use over latex. However, it is extremely malleable under heat which he demonstrated in his finale…as a prototype for an independent film; Michael covered a silicone and foam arm aperture with a gelatin skin sleeve. Fitted in the aperture were a few tubes…like veins…that skimmed below the gelatin sleeve. When boiling gelatin blood was injected through the tube, the heat caused the sleeve to melt as if it was dissolving from the inside. The effect was incredibly gruesome and very very effective. The timing of this seminar couldn’t be better with my gore fx lecture approaching after break. The demo was right up my alley.

Add to the day the beauty of Phoenix itself and the gorgeous weather and I have absolutely nothing to complain about.

I hear it's warm in Phoenix

I will be heading to Phoenix Arizona in March to represent Rutgers at USITT. Now the question is whether or not to submit anything for the Young Designers Forum, or the Cover the Walls exhibit. The faculty is also still debating about who to send to the SETC. Originally they wanted myself and a third year lighting designer to go, he submitting House of Bernarda Alba, and myself submitting Country Wife into the competition. Nothing boosts my faith more than the faculty registering me for these events without my knowledge. As an added bonus--I am now an USITT member. I wonder if the Sherwins will be in attendance.