Since the last time I wrote I have opened and closed my musical for the year - Annie Get Your Gun. We decided to do the old original Irving Berlin version of the show instead of the newer revival version. The kids had a great time and our orchestra sounded AMAZING!! I will post pictures as soon as we get them from the photographer.
The next show that I am doing in February will be The Diary of Anne Frank. I am way excited! I love the show and I have some great (well, I think they are great) ideas for the design of the show. Most of the students seem like they are interested in the show. I am hoping I can get enough people so that I can have the option of double-casting the show. I already have a student that has composed a piano/cello piece that we will be using in the show. I think my season of shows for this year has the potential to turn out really great.
This is not the big news though, WE ARE HAVING A BABY BOY!!! Candace is due on March 11th. I am so excited to have a little boy! I think it will be great to have one of each! The adventure now will be to find a name for the little guy. There are no names so far that both of us like, so it will be interesting to see what we decide on. If anyone has any GOOD ideas - drop me a line!!
When I decided to write a review on this book I was a little skeptical – I am in no way a Vectorworks power user. I am a high school theatre teacher. Up to this point I have used Vectorworks for very basic functions like simple light plots, drafting set plans, etc. I really never thought that I would use the program for its more advanced features. However, when I sat down with 3D Modeling in Vectorworks 2009 by Jonathan Pickup I was pleasantly surprised to experience a user friendly, effective experience – if you follow Jonathan’s instructions in the first few pages.
At first, I thought I was going to be way over my head; but from the first exercise (a very nice introduction to 3D extrusion) I found myself able to accomplish each of the tasks quite easily. This set up a nice precedence for the rest of the book. By the time I reached the middle and end of the book I noticed that each of the things that I had learned in the activities before, I was using without hesitation in the more complex projects. This scaffolding of basic concepts to achieve a proficiency in the end was very useful and it gave me a sense of accomplishing things that, in the beginning, I was skeptical about finishing. By the end of the text I was able to finish what I felt were some very advanced 3D models.
The only way that I was able to understand each of the activities, however, was to read AND watch the videos that Jonathan provides in the manual and the CD that accompanies it. I found that the times that I thought to myself “Oh, I can do THAT…” were the times that I found myself scratching my head in the end and having to restart the exercise from the beginning. Once I read the instructions and then watched the videos (done step-by-step to follow the instructions in the manual by Jonathan, who rewords and, in some cases shows some useful shortcuts) I went from scratching my head to having an “Ah hah!” moment when the images and objects turned out the way they were meant to.
As I now look at all the things that I will be doing with Vectorworks I find that the things that I have learned in 3D Modeling in Vectorworks 2009 will change my basic workflow and everyday use of the program. I look forward to giving the skills I have acquired a try to create my next set design elevations. I would recommend this manual to anyone who has an acute need/interest in the power of the Vectorworks 2009 rendering platform. It is an excellent way to delve into the program that otherwise has a rather steep learning curve. I would also recommend it to those basic users, like myself, for an excellent way to expand your skill set, proficiency and speed in using the program for your creative needs. Either way, 3D Modeling in Vectorworks 2009 by Jonathan Pickup is an excellent tool for anyone who uses this power and effective modeling and drafting program.
3D Modeling in Vectorworks 2009 by Jonathan Pickup is available for purchase from Nemetschek North America, the makers of Vecotrworks 2009 at http://www.nemetschek.net/training/guides.php
More information on Jonathan Pickup and his other Vectorworks related materials can be found at his website: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/ . You can also follow Jonathan on Twitter – his handle is @archoncad or you can find him at www.twitter.com/archoncad
Nick Hutchinson is the theatre and film teacher at Skyline High School in Salt Lake City, UT. You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/nthutch , his handle is @nthutch.
I found this video online and was instantly drawn to it. I love his outlook - it aligns very nicely with Aristotle's view of the "whole man." We need to teach students to be a whole person instead of a college professor focused on nothing but the cerebral.
I am, once again, preparing for another fun filled summer of grad school work. 5 weeks of intense classwork and play! I am very excited for many of the classes - Shakespeare, Advanced Lighting, Voice & Dialects. However, there is one class that is looming over my head as the one that may end up kick my butt - Analysis and Criticism (all the students end up calling it Anal Crit by the end of the class...). I am especially excited to see some of my good buddies from last summer and to have a blast with some new people! I am going to end up reading a lot over the next few days - YAY for the mind turning to mush from reading heady books.....
Everything that I am doing lately seems to have a relatively short time in which to get it finished. The end of the year for school is coming next week and there is a LOT of cleaning that needs done before I leave for the summer. Grad school is coming up in the middle of June and there is a lot of reading and prep that I am going to have to do in order to get ready for it.
This week we have been having auditions for Annie Get Your Gun, so it has been pretty intense and stressful. However, the whole audition process has gone pretty well! Casting this show has been the easiest to cast of all the shows that I have done yet. I think that we are going to have a really solid cast and a lot of really great talent to work with. We had a relatively small casting pool, but the people that came out really did an excellent job! Thus far, there has been no "drama" with the whole process (knock on wood...). Have to wait and see if it will be that way after we post the list tomorrow.
I am really glad that my department has created a new website for all our events and just stuff in general. I will be able to post our cast list online and not have to deal with the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth that happens so often after casting a show. If you want to see how it turns out take a look here.
It has been a real pleasure to start this process with my colleagues in our department. I am really excited to do a show with them! I have worked with Adam, the orchestra director, before - and it was great. Jay, the choir director, had some health issues this year that made it impossible for him to work on the show. I am cannot wait to work with everyone in-house for this new year to give another killer show!!
I am sitting in the audience at my theatre having a final dress rehearsal for "Fools" thinking that these kids really need an audience. They need real reactions and real bodies to take the show to the next level. They are all so used to hearing MY reactions and my obligitory laughter. They need the change in order to find the humor in the story again. We run April 1st - 4th at 7pm in the Skyline High Auditorium. "Fools" is a comic fable by Neil Simon. It is a really fun show with endearing characters and a wonderful moral! Come see the silly antics of these loveable characters!
I find myself sitting at the. DMV in a line that will have me sitting here for at least an hour ... The transmission in the old Pathfinder gave up the ghost (won't go in reverse...) just as we are ready to pay it off. Now we have found a 2000 Subaru Outback that is on really nice shape! We found it for a steal as well. I just feel really lucky and blessed that we were able to find something so quickly in the price range that we wanted to pay in the condition that it is in. We have talked about how nice it would be to have one for a long time, but I really did not think we would get into one anytime soon since they are so popular. Now I am way excited to drive it! Yay for 4 wheel drive!
I am a theatre teacher, actor, & technician. I am teaching theatre at Skyline HS in SLC - and loving it! My little family has all kinds of fun together. Baby Shiloh keeps us on our toes ALL the time! Every day it seems like she finds some new way of getting into trouble. Not only that, but she seems to find a new word or phrase that she learns daily - which makes for great laughs and some pretty shocking times too!
