#thesfest17

Photos by John Nollendorfs.

After a tiring start to our day, as soon as I dropped my belongings off in my room, I excitedly rushed off to my first workshop. Ever since taking drafting my Junior year of high school (and embarrassingly ever since binge watching How I Met Your Mother), I have been extremely interested in architecture. Needless to say, when I saw that there was an architecture workshop offered at Thes Fest this year, I was ecstatic! The first workshop I attended was named “Challenging your inner Gehry”, where we were taught about elements (the building blocks of design; line, direction, and shape to name a few) and how they work together with principles (how elements are utilized to create a cohesive-or not so cohesive- feel of a room; such as randomization, balance, and patterns). Frank Gehry, the architect the class was based on, is renowned for designing museums that are more beautiful for the art inside of them. The teacher shared with us the beginning of a documentary based off of his work, and it was so interesting to see how he worked m, and the insight he had to share about design. In regards to his work style, him and his assistant sit in an office for hours upon hours building models out of nothing more than poster paper and scotch tape. He looks at the model, hates it and begins to work to alter the design. The funniest part of the movie was as he was altering the model, he finally got it to a point in which he was happy with the building and says, “it looks so stupid… but I love it. That’s how you know you have a good design. It looks stupid”. He went on to talk about the creative process and how getting started is the hardest part in any designers job. Halfway into the workshop, our teacher put out skills to the test by pairing us up and having us design abstract models of emotions. My partner and I, a girl I had met from Washington, choose the idea of loyalty and betrayal and how they intertwine, the frailty of the concepts and how they work together in devastating ways. All in all, I walked away from this workshop pretty inspired and very happy. Next, I met up with Peter, Varun, and Lauren to attend a “Paper Palaces” which, despite the name was all about using cardboard as an alternative to wood when you are building sets. Although most of the first half was just the teacher bragging about how amazing his designs were, we did get some insight on how to utilize the cardboard in different ways. For example, cardboard can be used as facing, but to prevent warping when you are painting the surface, you put a thin coat of shellac and use paper packing tape when creating 3D shapes. He then went on to show us how to create brick walls out of cardboard, and taught us the importance of working fast and creating your own shortcuts when working in theatre. After a quick dinner, most of our troupe went to see “[title of show]”, a show in which the characters are writing a show to submit to the International Thes Fest, which soon turns into an off Broadway show, and eventually hits Broadway. One of the writers, Hunter Bell, actually taught a writing workshop I had taken at this festival a year or two back. I had loved him as a teacher, and I was so excited I was able to see his writing in action. The show overall was very good! The acting as well as the singing was spectacular. The story started off very high energy and funny, but hit a strange turn about 3/5ths through the show, in which the idea of them performing the musical they are putting on as the are in the process of writing it, but replicating it (I cannot explain it very well) became a bit drawn out and lost a tad bit of the humor. In addition, the humor disappeared almost completely and was very intense as the playwrights began to fight about their musical as it came to Broadway. Though this was to provide insight on the previous question the characters brought up, are they writing for art or for a pay check, and though they don’t want fame, is a paycheck not a form, or an outcome rather, of fame? It explored the sad reality of commercialized theatre and art that loses all of the soul once contained in it, which is a very important concept, but it felt a bit forced within the frame of the show. Overall though, I am very happy to have seen the show and I laughed very hard multiple times. Last stop of the day was the opening showcase. Nostalgia hit so hard as the very talented students performed songs from Seussical, which I had acted in in middle school. Though I have very harsh opinions of the show in general, the music, when done by such a powerful group, is soooo good. Following Seussical, the group performed songs from “Rag Time”. Though I do not know the show that well or the music even, the performances were spectacular. The emotion these students conveyed with such heavy topics was unparalleled. I had such an amazing day and I cannot wait until an even more amazing day tomorrow!!! - Erin Caltiere (P.S. The count down to “Heathers: The Musical” begins. Though I am still not happy it has been modified, I am still SOOO EXCITED. ITS ON FRIDAY!!! ONLY FOUR ISH DAYS!!!!) (P.P.S. I got three bug bites through my pants today. How does that even happen? I don’t know. RIP my legs)

Photos by Susan Doremus.

Photos by John Nollendorfs.

Photos by John Nollendorfs.

Photos by John Nollendorfs.

Photos by John Nollendorfs.

Photos by Susan Doremus.