Bram Stoker's "Dracula" adapted by Smyth and Meads @ CUAA

So it's Sunday September 30, 2012 about 9:15 pm and I'm about to head into a very exciting and scary week. I'm currently the Assistant Director for my University's production of "Dracula" adapted from the Bram Stoker novel by Robert Smyth and Kerry Meads and premiered at the Lamb's Player's theatre in 1987. The play is very true to the novel with only a few modifications that are necessary to keep it short and feasible for theatre. It has a narrative like quality with journal entries very similar to the layout of the book. It casts a different light on the book and vampire theory. Count Dracula actually has less stage time than most of the characters, though his presence in the course events is very evident. The Count and Lucy are the only vampires seen and they tend to represent evil rather than sexuality and gore. The play focuses on good verses evil, love over hate and unity over greed.

 I have been very blessed to be apart of this and I know the cast has put a lot of hard work and we have overcome many obstacles, just like the character of the play. This next week we start to prepare for tech week and we should finally be completely off book very soon. At this point things can start to go very smooth or they could get rocky as patience is tested and stresses build. If we get to where the director and I want to be the whole cast will be experimenting with different aspects of their characters and perspectives of the events, rather than settling down and losing their energy and enthusiasm. We want them to be comfortable with the process and be willing to try different things rather than pinnacling too soon.

This is my first experience as a director and it's very exciting though I wonder if I'm acting like a director. I'm the assistant so my director does a lot, I just feel like the second voice and another brain with ideas for making a scene work. I also feel like another actor giving the less experienced actors guidance and tips. Which I guess is part of being a director/assistant. I'm not all unsatisfied but I just wonder if I'm doing enough. Though I suppose that this is a learning experience and hopefully I'll be able to learn from my director's example.

Anyway, with my own insecurities aside I'm looking forward to this week with apprehension but also knowing that I need to move forward and face those fears to help the actors and the whole crew get ready for what's going to lay ahead.

This production is certainly going to be a very exciting step for the Department and  the University. If any of you are in the Ann Arbor area I encourage you to come to Concordia University on October 11,12, and/or 13 at 8pm for "Dracula", I'll post a link about ticket information below and hopefully keep you updated on progress and if and when online tickets are available.

http://www.cuaa.edu/KnowConcordia/arts/drama.html

"Dracula" by Bram Stoker

Adapted for the stage by Kerry Meads and Robert Smyth

When: October 11, 12, 13 at 8:00 p.m.
Where: Kreft Center Black Box Theater
Tickets: $10 ($5 students and seniors)

This version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula premiered at Lamb’s Players Theater in San Diego. It invites us to witness a more presentational, unapologetically melodramatic form foreign to the postmodern eye and ear. But be patient, watch and listen, for despite its de-emphasis of blood and gore, the strength of its story ushers us in to a redemptive dis-ease. The evil embodied by Count Dracula is spiritual more than physical, and the play casts a light on our own moral shortcomings and on the monsters that lurk within each of us.

My Guild Wars 2 Story: Beginings

So I dropped the ball again but instead of writing about how I want to do better I'm just going to write a new post and move on.

Guild Wars 2. It is awesome. I've never invested in an MMO before but I have always held an interest in Guild Wars and I made the decision that I wanted to join in the fun last year. As I was looking at what to buy I saw that they were coming out with GW2. So I saw the previews and it took a lot of will power to hold back and wait for Guild Wars 2 to be released. I was disheartened to find that there wasn't a release date yet. I really hate waiting for something when I don't know it is going to get here. It's at least mildly tolerable when I can see the deadline, but not having anything but the promise that it will come out is very hard on me. Eventually I got to the point where I wasn't checking the website every day.

Then the release date was finally set and to my dismay it was going to come out over the summer, when I would be at home and not have and amazingly fast internet connection, but rather have a satellite connection that was barely an upgrade from dial-up. The sorrows of a college kid that live in the boonies. The months leading up to the release were miserable, I would receive endless emails about pre-release events and beta projects... Then it hit me what if my computer can't run GW2? My best friend and I realized we needed to find this out as we both had computers that were most likely not up to par for most graphically intense programs. They were laptops that were used for taking notes in class, writing papers, and browser based games that we used to waste time between projects or to rest our brains. We looked up the requirements and as far we could tell we might have had a chance but no way to guarantee that we would be able to run the final product.

Then something happened that was devastating and yet a small miracle. My computer started to freeze randomly and upon further reflection I realized that I might have been damaged in a lightning storm that occurred while I was at work at my summer job. I always leave it plugged in and usually unplug when I see a storm coming since I don't have a surge protector in the room that I use my computer the most. When I'm at home I spend a lot of time in a room that is in the garage because I like to be away from the house sometimes. The point is I now had a reason to upgrade. I was blessed to receive an additional scholarship and I managed to have enough money saved from my summer job that I was in a financially stable position to responsibly buy a higher end laptop that would be able to support my multimedia endeavors and run games and most importantly Guild Wars 2.

So that is how I am now able to play my first MMO that I paid money for. I've played on free MMOs but they always lacked certain things. Obviously MMOs arn't free to run so they make the more appealing features and items cost. I've also never like the idea of subscribing to play a game. I want to buy it once and then play as much as I want. That's why the Guild Wars franchise appeals the most. It's a game that you can play solo and also play with friends or neighbors of the GWs community. I'm going to cut off here and I'll probably talk more about GW in the next post.