BWW Blog: How Did I Survive and Stay Awake and Sane

Hello people of Broadwayworld! Lea here. Sleepy and tired with no coffee (I don't drink coffee which most college students have as a necessity. I don't drink it but I'm in need of a sugar rush). Hope you guys had a great and safe Halloween. I will show you my Halloween costume at the end. Hint: Obviously, its Broadway related.

So, during this time, I registered for the spring, I am not excited because I have to take classes that I have avoided. I gotta do what I gotta do. The worst part is going two days a week for a 9 am class. (WHY?) My hours in the scene shop have been pretty busy because we had to get things done since the first production of the year, She Kills Monsters opens on Halloween (by the time this gets up the show will be done). We had to get the set ready, I had to paint sets, spray paint costume pieces, get messy, lift heavy items like wood, platforms and lighting equipment and climb ladders.

Throughout this semester, I had twice the amount of laundry because of shop and I know I got paint everywhere (two sweaters, jeans and even sneakers) and believe me readers who have never taken shop hours: PAINT DOES NOT COME OFF. A weird place I found paint... I found a dot of grey paint from painting castle doors on the top of my head in my hair. Now I know what it felt like to be Elphaba (finding a different color in my hair). I'm usually the person who wants to keep clean but this kind of work got me so messy. I felt so grossed out when I got home.

Also, since we did that before Halloween, we had to go through the tunnel that connects the scene shop to where the Black Box theater is in Rathus (underground). Rathus is one of the smaller theaters in our college. It's scary. We went down there the day before Halloween and I always get scared going in it. It feels like a scene from a horror movie.

Time to enjoy the free time I have because come mid-November, your girl gets on her first official run crew as assistant stage manager for the Faculty Dance show at the end of November to early December. The last time I had that title was for a community theatre production of Midsummer Night's Dream where I also played a very small role (Shout out to my Theatre Box of Floral Park peeps). I don't know how it will be like for a) a show on my college and b) for a show I'm not in. Don't worry you will know the deets of what goes on and how I will survive. (Cue Destiny's Child "Survivor" chorus and "I Will Survive).

To back things up a bit, I attended my first dance performance outside of school, at The Joyce Theater for Jonah Bokaer Choreography. This was in Chelsea, but in a part of Chelsea that was different from where I had been to previously. I say that because the last time I went to Chelsea, I was in high school and it was for a friend's Sweet 16. She celebrated with a cruise at Chelsea Piers. This dance performance at Joyce was part of a pay what you decide program which was interesting concept. I had to go to an outside dance performance for my jazz dance class and write a paper. The performance was very interesting and enjoyable. The next paper is for the upcoming dance concert at school (Let's see how this works for me being assistant stage manager).

Jazz has been super exhausting. My feeties have been aching a lot from dancing and being on my feet during shop four times a week ladies and gentlemen. That is my workout. That means I want to be home on the weekend and just rest. We are learning the swing so we are learning with partners. We are learning to lift each other. It's a little terrifying but I'm pulling through. This is coming from a girl who is a dancer, small and is afraid of heights (try to imagine crying and screaming trying to roll on a person's back). I need to learn to put my trust in my partner.

Halloween was on a school day so I went to school for the day as an exhausted dancer but went home in the costume that I had: Judy Haynes from the musical White Christmas. I used clothes from my own closet to mimic the dress she wears for "Best Thing Happen When You Are Dancing".

Also, on Halloween, She Kills Monsters opened at Queens College. I went the second day of performances. There were two understudies on for principle roles. I wanted to be there to cheer on the people that I knew. I have to say, (I don't know if this is PG - rated) but the show kicked butt (clean version) and it was amazing. I'm amazed how they did it within a short amount time from auditions in September to performances from end of October to beginning of November. Plus, it is amazing to see all the hard work in our shop hours being put to good use in the finished product. To the cast and crew of She Kills Monsters, Congratulations on an amazing run and I hope you enjoyed it and soaked it up.

While She Kills Monsters was happening, it does not mean we get a break from shop hours. We got another show to prep for. We started prep for the Faculty Dance Show, Dimensions which is to take place at the Goldstein Theater (Where I performed in Middletown last semester. I forgot to mention She Kills Monsters was in our Black Box Theater). We started hanging lights (never hung lights before and its heavy).

That is all from me! Look for the next installment where I will take you through prep of the dance show from the view of an Assistant Stage Manager, and maybe more. I have included pictures from Joyce Theater and She Kills Monsters programs (plus set) and my Halloween costume. Plus, for a fun pic because one of my best friends from high school was in town and we went to Sugar Factory in the Meatpacking district, (delish) I want to show off my s'mores martini (non-alcoholic for me).