DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum I'm back from my crazy week

Hey everyone, I finally got back home from my crazy week that landed me in Chicago, back to Orlando for a day, and then in Georgia. I started by going to Chicago last weekend.

The Chicago trip was to talk to a bunch of grad schools. What happens is that you set up your portfolio, a display board, copies of transcripts (they accept copies thank god cuz it would have cost me $5 a piece for all originals), 3 letters of rec., and my resume and then walk away. We get to then do our own thing and return at 3pm to see which schools would like to interview you. During our break, we went to get some breakfast, got a full tour of the Goodman Theatre, went to Millennium Park, and then blew through the Art Institute since it was free this weekend. I then had to return back to the location to see what happened. I ended up with 15 interviews which meant I was one of the last people to leave. I was tied up from 3:30 to 7:30 packed tight with interviews without a break. I ended up getting interviewed by: Purdue, Cal State/Long Beach, U. of Florida, Indiana U., U. of Illinois-Urbana, U. of Cincinnati/Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, U. off Missouri at KC, U. of Texas at Austin, Cal State/Fullerton, Ohio U., U. of Minnesota, Florida State U., U. of Nevada/Las Vegas, U. of Montana, U. of Washington. Now it is just the waiting game. The first day that offers can be made is February 19th. These schools are members of URTA which basically means in the simplest terms that they must meet certain quality standards. Other schools usually show up at the hotel to try and recruit as well. The following day, I was able to secure interviews with NYU and the University of Houston.

I then got to come back home for a day....kinda, sorta. We were busy prepping for Georgia. We basically fully remounted our show from scratch, ran the show, and struck it just like we would do at Georgia. The next day, I had to drive to Georgia. Well, we had to go to Americus. The town had its little perks but to be honest, it was in the middle of nowhere. The first few days, I didn't even have any cell phone reception. I then started picking up signal from Cingular and used that. It was definitely weird being in a town without any big restaurants. They had all the fast food options and then they had little mom and pop restaurants (which was my favorite part). So we ended up having some good home cooked meal type dinners. We finally got to Thursday which was my crazy day. In the early morning, I had to talk to the respondents about my design on my display board. Then at 4, our load in began for an 8 o'clock go. The show had a few minor glitches but we ended up getting a long standing o for the show. Then I found out my design made it to the finals so I only got a few hours of sleep. Well, I didn't end up winning which is fine. But anyways, I made it back and can finally sleep in my own bed again

Good to hear you are safe. After those storms hit down there I was wondering where u were.

Yeah, I heard one of the tornados but they never came over to my place.

That's great, but I'm curious: what the hell are you trying to accomplish?

Are you trying to gain admission, or get a job? What's this "show" you speak of?

I bet those lights are hung low off the girders.

Rowdy is the sound guy!

Sorry, I forgot to finish:

For Chicago, it was to gain admission into grad schools and have them completely pay for it . If I don't get full tuition plus a stipend, I'm not interested in the school because for me, they usually pay. So those 15 schools are the ones that looked at my stuff and expressed interest in me. Now it's a small email/waiting game as I wait until the 19th which is the first day they are allowed to make offers.

For Georgia, we were chosen to perform our production of Anna in the Tropics. It is a part of the KCACTF Festival (Kennedy Center American Collegiate Theatre Festival). This was the regional stage before the actual Kennedy Center Festival. Our region consists of 11 states and only 7 shows are chosen to perform at the regional stage. From there, it is possible to be asked to perform at the Kennedy Center in DC in April. On the production, I was the lighting designer....which is what I do and would be going to grad school for. As for the festival, now it's the waiting game there as well. We probably won't find out for awhile if we are going or not.

LOL.....Americus is the Middle of nowhere.....it is the main attraction in those parts.

Lots's of peanut and cotton fields....pecans are big there too.

You should have see the place before Jimmy Carter was President since Plains is just down the road.

Be thankful you went there in February and didn't somehow get sent there in August. That is a hot part of the country. Lot's of summer haze(my theory is it is the steam rising) with little wind movement. Hell couldn't be much worse.

Well lets see, there is Georgia Southwestern University.....and uh.....Georgia Southwestern University....and uh.....a tiny town which has an amazing old theatre which was renovated and reopened in 1999. We had our show at the Rylander Theatre. It was originally built in the 20s and sat vacant for years until they renovated it. And yeah, like you said, Jimmy Carter stuff is everywhere. He put a lot of money into that tiny town.

I will miss the sweet tea though . It's funny but true, Florida is the only place where you have to travel north to get to the south.

Cool good luck with it. Good light shows are awesome, especially at rock concerts although maybe that's not your realm if you're into theatre heavily.
My fave rock band - Triumph - always had awesome spectacles with their lighting/pyro, on par with any band in the world in the 1980s. On one of their DVDs there's a special feature where they had techies explain some of the intricaties... might interest you.

I haven't been to Americus in decades. I saw a program on GPTV about the renovations at that theater. Looks like a special place.

As to the tea....different places might do it a bit differently....most brew a batch extra strong...say a half gallon of water with enough tea for 1 gallon, then steep for a good long while, and dissolve the sugar in that while warm, then cut it with cool water that has a little dissolved baking soda...maybe a tablespoon or two..the soda cuts the acid of the tea just a bit and tends to keep it clear.

I like orange slices in mine.