WARNING: THIS WILL BE CARL KIND OF RANTING...Yes, I *should* have been updating this blog before now, and not just starting up again with a rant.
BUT....life kind of occurs.
My last update was in February 2016. After I had been to URTA's. BUT *before* I had my confirmation of acceptance in the MFA scenic design program at the University of Florida. *Before* my graduation from UAF, and walking across the stage at the Carlson Center. *Before* two amazing summers worth of work at a summer stock, and an incredible summer with the UF Summer Rep. *Before* the seemingly astounding amount of personal and artistic growth that I have experienced over the past 3+ years. *Before*....
So.
Yeah.
It has been awhile. And I *do* intend to fill in the gaps between then and now at some point over the next while, as well as returning to making entries here a more regular part of my routine.
Anyway. The rant of the moment:
I was online and saw someone posting this image:
to a page regarding lighting and commenting regarding about it being "old" and that it was time to replace it at the school where such was happening. Fair enough. If the school could upgrade, great.
BUT.
There was also quite a condescending, dismissive attitude being tossed around by those on the page about such tech.
Well you know what? Some schools cannot do any better. They have what they have - be it a 40 year old, 12 dimmer two scene preset board and a bunch of Strand Century lekos, or an ETC MicroVision with a handful of Source 4's, or some household triacs and a selection of paint can PAR's - and it's up to those of us who are supposed to be professionals to help show them how to make magic with what they have.
I may have already mentioned this in other posts here on the blog...maybe not....anyway, one of the several reasons that I went back to school after the "27 year sabbatical" was because of seeing what theatre could mean in small, "under-served" communities. Theatre shouldn't *just* be for the elite, upper class students and families who can afford top of the line gear. Peter Brook talks - in The Empty Space - about how theatre should be "rough, immediate, and holy...". Indeed. That is part of why I get so frustrated when people who should know better are dismissive of things that are a bit "worn and older".
Yes, the newest, shiny toys are fun and snazzy. I love to look at them at USITT every year.
But I know that the university that I will - unless things drastically, and unexpectedly fall apart at the last minute - be teaching at doesn't have access to all those things. And the communities that feed into it definitely don't. Part of why I am going there is to help them get some of that, within a certain budget....but it is also to show the students that while there are other methods out there, there are ways of working that can get you where you want to go with what you have at hand.
Okay...I have rambled a bit. Of course, that is part of what a rant is all about I suppose. I need to get to doing things in the physical, as opposed to the online, world.
More later.
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