just who are those jonas brothers anyway ?

Hi. I'm Ava.

As five-week conservatory has sadly just come to an end, two-week conservatory is gearing up for a exciting beginning (and Hannah and I have just had our final YWCA Hip-hop class), I feel it's time to stop and reflect for a moment on the summer thus far. My five-week group were the 8th, 9th, and 10th graders, appropriately named the Dashing Danes (please note the alliteration). Last Friday, along with the rest of the highly talented camp, they performed our post-apocalyptic interpretation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The show, as with the four others performed that day, was a huge success and I commend all the students on their high level of dedication and creativity. In one of our final circle-ups as a group we reflected on the great deal I had learned from them (most notably, who the Jonas Brothers are and just why we hate Miley Cyrus) and the pearls of wisdom they took away from me ("how to flirt with boys!" and more seriously: how to be collaborative owls). To be honest, the positive experience of it all has left me a little bit nervous moving into two-week conservatory. Hannah and I will be working together with the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, and that's a whole new challenge. Will I be entertaining/patient/helpful enough for the younger students? Will a 30-minute version of Pericles even make sense? Who's going to explain what a brothel is??

Time will tell. And, regardless of my doubts, I'm having a blast trying to figure it all out.

Peace,

Ava Jackson

I am Hannah Fazio and I grew up in Minnesota. For those of you who haven't been there, it's usually pretty cold and always very flat with cows and lakes and all that. In the summer it's humid and pretty hot.

It's not really the ideal place for outdoor theater. That's probably why my parents were so impressed when they came to visit me from Minnesota this past weekend.

We went to see An Ideal Husband on the Cal Shakes Main Stage. My brother packed a little picnic and, though all the tables were taken by the time we got there (an hour and a half before the show), we found a little stump and had a nice time. While watching the show, my dad commented that the hill behind the stage was probably bigger than any peak in Minnesota, which is probably true. Both my parents loved the show and the entire experience in general, and the packed picnic tables are proof that people appreciate the beautiful setting and wonderful theater as much as we did.

8 AM Magic at the Cal Shakes Conservatory.

Hey all, Kristin here. Home at a decent hour from Cal Shakes' Five-Week Conservatory in Lafayette. Tomorrow we are putting on five Shakespeare shows, so the interns have been "all-hands-on-deck" for the past week. I have been staying late to help with lighting (and by helping, I mean handing over my crescent wrench and standing on ladders). I have slept scarce hours in the past week and it's starting to show. So needless to say, waking up is hard.

Today was a once, twice, three times a-wakey day. Three alarms, three snooze buttons and three valiant attempts to rouse myself. I hopped on the BART at the ungodly hour of 8 AM, ready to pass out and wondering how I was going to make it through the long day ahead.

I caught the shuttle to the Bentley school from the BART station. When I walked onto that bus and sleepily said hello to Richard, I was greeted with a flood of salutations.

"Hi, Kristin!"
"Good morning, Kristin!"
"Ahhh, Kristin!!!"

I whipped around to find half of my kids sitting on the shuttle! They greeted me with bright eyes, smiling faces and waving hands. And even though I fell asleep on the way to Bentley, it totally made my day. Joyful greetings are way better than coffee. OK, maybe not better. But still pretty fantastic.

For the past four weeks, I've been stage managing Romeo and Juliet with the oldest group of actors. My kids are in high school and completely amazing. I feel so blessed to be able to pop over to Lafayette for a couple hours every day and get to watch 16 kids take remarkable strides as performers and as people. The talent, energy and commitment they dish out every day is unbelievable.

Tomorrow is our big show day. I am so proud of them and so excited to see what they give to that audience. It's a little odd for me, because though it is the last day, I'll be seeing most of them next week.

SHAMELESS PLUG! Cal Shakes will be represented at the San Francisco Theater Festival with our conservatory's production of Romeo and Juliet! It ain't over 'til it's over, baby!

So, moral of this blog entry: I love my kids. Tomorrow's going to be epic. Lack of sleep results in disjointed blog entries.


XoXo - Kristin Loughry, SM Intern.

Tools

Hey there ... Hannah Fazio here. Anyone who knows me would probably be very amused and a little afraid to know I'm working with power tools this summer. It's not really something I do. That's why I was skeptical when one of the production interns asked me to help him build sets--I haven't built anything since Tech Ed in eighth grade. My experience in theater has so far solely been in acting and assistant directing because, honestly, I tend to overlook other aspects. I always thought they didn't concern me because I was planning on being an actress or a writer, but now that I have discovered the wonders of power tools, I think I might reconsider my life plan so that it can include more staple guns.

When I arrived to help Ben, the scene intern, after two week camp on Tuesday I was unsure of exactly what he wanted me to do. "Wait, wait ... you want me to touch that saw? Can I just glue stuff?" I asked. He assured me that it would be fine, and I put the goggles on and started sawing the wood pieces. After that I think it's safe to say that I was a flat-building machine. Every time I touched the staple gun my heart raced. I felt like such a rebel. It was awesome. When we were done with the whole process of cutting the wood, stapling the flats, covering them with cloth, and then finally to painting them, I felt so accomplished. I actually built flats that would help serve as a setting for the plays in the conservatory productions of Twelfth Night, Pericles, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet. It was awesome.  

A (Tues)day in the Life of Pericles . . .

Hello all! I suppose introductions are in order before we depart on this epic blogging journey.

My name is Kristin Loughry. I am going into my junior year at Ithaca College in upstate New York. I'm originally from the Boston area. I enjoy pina coladas and getting caught in the rain, though I hate Jimmy Buffett. (Good thing that song is by Rupert Holmes, then, says your older-than-dirt editor.) I have never lived in California before. I came out here because a) they offered and b) I thought it would be fun. And boy, how right I was! I am one of four stage management interns here at Cal Shakes this summer. I was assigned to work on Pericles. Now that Pericles has closed and my summer is far from over, I've had some time to reflect on my experience thusfar and take advantage of new opportunities Cal Shakes is putting before me.

In future entries, I shall regale you with tales of tech, conservatory camp and the infamous intern apartment. But for now, while it is fresh in my mind, I'll take you on a super condensed version of my life during the run in Pericles.

Oh, and I also promise the future entries won't be this long. They probably will include stories from Pericles, however. But only because I love Pericles. A lot. Maybe a little bit too much.

7:30 AM - Wake up! Wonder why you are awake so early. Remember you have a SMAT (student matinee) at 11 AM. Make scrambled eggs with oregano because it's the only spice you have.

8:30 AM - Attempt to leave the apartment. Realize you forgot something. Repeat three times.

9:30 AM - Arrive at the Bruns! Conquer the hill.

9:35 AM - Apply sunscreen. Liberally.

9:40 AM - Sweep the carpets on stage. Curse carpet for being difficult to sweep. Whistle (or hum, as the case may be) while you work.

9:45 AM - Crawl around on the carpets checking for staples. Remove staples with a screw driver and replace with screws.

10:10 AM - Watch as the knights make funny faces during dance call and certain actors do fight call without pants.

10:20 AM - Fold the oceans. Again. And again. And again.

10:25 AM - Move Ellie the elephant. Curse Ellie for being huge and made of steel.

10:30 AM - House open and Actor's half hour break. Make yourself a bagel.

10:45 AM - Get dressed for show. Find Petey the Parrot (as pictured above) and complete your ensemble. Put on more sunscreen because you're already burning.

11 AM - Places for the SMAT! Make sure the actors put shoes on so that they don't get third -degree burns on the bottoms of their feet.

11:05 AM - Kill a bee for Pericles.

11:20 AM - Be serenaded by our melodious bovine neighbors. Curse the cows for being cranky. Swear to cook some beef when you get home.

11:30 AM - Escape the heat in the air-conditioned dressing rooms for all of Pentapolis.

12:20 PM - Intermission!

12:35 PM - Start Act II. Cue the actors with an otter pop in hand.

12:36 PM - Hold otter pops for people that are onstage.

12:52 PM - Find out that there is something sharp onstage that the actors have been stepping on. Find out its been there since Act I. Warn everyone as to where it is and keep Band-aids handy.

1:30 PM - Curtain call! Begin resetting for the top of the show.

1:35 PM - Go watch the Q & A session with the kids. Note all adorable questions.

1:50 PM - Retire to the green room. Pass out on the couch.

5 PM - Wake up! Continue to be in a nap coma.

5:15 PM - Vacuum the runners. And the escape stairs. And the trap room. Empty the shop vac twice during all this vacuuming because there's so much sand everywhere.

6:15 PM - Check the area of stage where there was a sharp thing. After an exhaustive search, find nothing. Determine that someone is on crack. Re-sweep the carpets. Continue checking for and removing staples.

6:45 PM - Stomp about stage like a possessed woman with a screw gun, re-securing pieces of floor.

6:55 PM - Move Ellie again. Wonder why she's so freakin' huge.

7:00 PM - House open! Run up to catering and grab the "Chris Kelly Burrito."

7:15 PM - Witness the debauchery of the 80s dance party in the women's dressing room. Sing along to Laura Branigan's "Gloria."

7:30 PM - Places! Listen to the House Speech from backstage. Chant PEET'S COFFEE AND TEA with the patrons. Watch Sarah Nealis kiss part of the set.

7:34 PM - Do the Antioch Dance.

7:40 PM - Continue to curse the cows as they get louder when the sun goes down. Watch farmers chase them across the hills.

8:00 PM - Re-tie Cindy-Lou-Who, the dead hooker used in the brothel.

8:50 PM - Intermission. Call your best friend. Tell them that even though you were supposed to call them today, you will have to call them tomorrow because by the time the show is done it'll be 1 AM on the east coast and they have to work in the morning. Become frustrated with time differences.

9:05 PM - Places for Act II!

9:10 PM - Sneak up to the booth to watch the Leonine/Marina scene. Snag some hot chocolate. Sneak back down to spot some pirates.

9:15 PM - Catch Cindy-Lou-Who as she comes flying off the deck.

9:25 PM - Stargaze as Lysimachus is swayed by Marina's virtue.

9:45 PM - Play hide-and-seek with Gower as you try to cue him for an entrance.

9:50 PM - Hand off lanterns to temple-goers. Nearly kill yourself getting the lantern into the hand of a Pericles, who is traveling 90 MPH after a quick change.

10:01 PM - Do the "catching lanterns" dance. Try not to get made fun of.

10:05 PM - Put everything away, tarp up the boxes, big props and green room couches.

10:10 PM - Hang out and unwind with the cast. Shoot the shit, play some poker, and have impromptu dance parties long after the patrons go home.

11:42 PM - Arrive home. Start eating Nutella with a spoon straight out of the jar. Avoid judgmental gazes from your roommates.

11:45 PM - Make t-shirts for the entire cast and crew. This project takes several days. Be woeful that "Kristin's Craft Corner" has taken over the apartment.

11:55 PM - Watch too many episodes of Heroes with your roommate. Wake everyone up when you both vocalize every plot twist.

2:00 AM - Pack up the craft corner, hit the shower and pass out. Think about going to work again tomorrow and smile as you go to sleep. Smile extra wide when you remember that you don't have a SMAT and can therefore sleep in.

Congrats! You've made it to the end of our journey. Next week, we can all look forward to more stories and short blog entries.

XoXo - Kristin Loughry, SM intern.

A day in the life

In many ways the Cal Shakes office is like any other office. Coffee is a great priority, desks are decorated with pictures of happy children, not-so-happy children, and travel destinations. Personal items are displayed so that everyone can remember the great memory surrounding some joke that no one remembers. The interns get their closet (a very warm, attractive closet) and everyone is happy.

And then there is the copy machine.

The copy machine is both your best friend and your worst enemy. It is like a child that gleefully runs ahead only to collapse, exhausted a few moments later. You can coax it, offer it new toner and miles of paper, but if it wants to stay jammed it will stay jammed. Everyone in the office circles around it with an air of reverence and frustration. "Will it be nice to me? Will it print my 50 manuals? Or my 100 forms?" Like a child, eventually its stubbornness wears off and its gears become eager to be fed pages. So have patience, read a book, stare at the actors' head shots and all will be well.

One must also develop--how should I put it?--a certain telephone style. "Hello this is ____ calling from Cal Shakes. Your son is enrolled in our summer camp.... No nothing happened... No he didn't eat... no he didn't put... Yes, everything's fine...I'm only calling about a form...Yes a form...It's missing. You gave it to him? Well it's not here. I don't know what he could have done to it. Could I send you another?" Et cetera.

It's nice when one can disappear into a research project, put all those random internet browsing skills to use. Find community organizations involved in farm outreach (for our NW/NC Steinbeck Project), or professors who specialize is qualitative educational research, or brainstorm educational themes for teacher manuals.

Then there are the rehearsals. On breaks or when the office has a slow day you can walk down to the rehearsal hall and watch proceedings that anyone outside of theater would consider the behavior of lunatics. The director pops out of his chair to whisper secret little suggestions to a pensive actor. Actors circle, mumbling lines. Some lounge on the side. Some sit muttering how they would direct it. Some joke easily. Some joke awkwardly. Sometimes a bit is done a million times. Sometimes the scenes flow beautifully. Then there are those times when one forgets that it's a rehearsal hall, and just falls into the tale. But a break must come or the time must end and the story is never finished. One leaves wanting to hear more, to see more of these characters' lives.

But the characters become people who walk around and say hello to you and ask you where you're from. Then the day goes on.

--Kate Jopson (artistic learning)

Finale

Hey guys!
It's been a while! I've been way busy with finals, studying and scholastic things. Oh and the fact that THE SEASON IS HERE!
If you all have a chance, go see Pericles. It's fantastic.
I really like italics.
I'm going to write in them.
Anyways: This is my last post 0n the Cal Shakes intern blog because I am no longer an intern. It's sad and wonderful all at the same time. Kind of like this fantastic movie.
These italics are starting to bug me.
Sorry.
Again, anyways: I'm really excited for this summer. I started my big-person job on Monday as the Artistic Learning 2 Week Camp Coordinator which has been really really fun. There have been moments where I'm working and feeling like I shouldn't be doing what I'm doing on the clock because it's so fun and I end up having to remind myself that I'm doing my job.

I even got my own Cal Shakes email! dsmith@calshakes.org . Want to see my signature? OKAY:

Derek Smith
Artistic Learning Camp Coordinator
California Shakespeare Theatre
701 Heinz Ave. Berkeley, CA
"Pitch-perfect!" - SF Chronicle
"Breathtaking, completely engaging, and joyously theatrical!" - Contra Costa Times
Shakespeare's PERICLES
adapted & directed by Joel Sass
now - June 22
Call 510.548.9666 or click www.calshakes.org.

Sorry. Next Order of business.

IN THE HEIGHTS is my new favorite musical.

Let's go to...

VIDEOoftheWEEK

This is Brian Nash, a musician that I saw perform at The Duplex in Manhattan a year or so ago. He's way funny and does a lot of piano-bar type of shows. Anyways, this is him performing all characters in ONE DAY MORE from Les Mis. Sooooo fantastic.

Make sure to catch me on the main cal shakes blog where I'll be posting about my job in Artistic Learning and then all the usual musical theatre references that I sneak on in!!!

Peace and Love,

Derek