Ok seeing as I know that my mother has told I'm sure everyone we know and more about this blog..here's an update. Oh and if you could leave a comment by clicking on the "comment" link at the end of this post that would be awesome! It saves you from emailing my mom haha.Ok on to business:
I have come to realize something, those kids have a HUGE piece of my heart. Yes this post is going to be a bit mushier than the last one, but that's how I roll. Now I'm telling you that there is nothing better than dear sweet Jordyn (Jordie) looking at you, smiling ear to ear and laughing because she's happy. Or Jeremy looking at you and saying "you're nice" which he tends to do. It totally makes my day just that much better, when I've got a million things on the go and a blackberry to keep track of it all.
Ok now on to the events of the day, well today I painted glue onto the bird bodies with Aaron and Chris (2 awesome guys). Now we did this to make the cheese cloth that they're made with nice and stiff so they'll be easier to paint them ect. Our first somewhat finished bird is totally awesome by the way! Primarily thanks to John's handy work. Once we were finished, which was fairly soon, I went to clean up the brushes with Aaron's help, and I wish I had a camera. In the corner of the stage craft room (now if you have ever visited the Mount Baker Stage Craft room...it's a rather "creative" place needless to say) Jessica, Lee, Greg, and Jeremy were working away on a project and Jessica was looking through the plastic that was stored back there and carefully putting away what she didn't need. It was truly a kodak moment.
Then for the last 20 minutes of class we decided to mix it up a bit by doing some improv in the drama room. This is because last year Rod had always made a point of mixing it up occasionally, so we've decided to ,of course, carry on with this tradition. Now the way improve works is a few people start by coming up with a skit purely off the top of their heads and then someone from the audience yells "freeze" and the actors freeze in whatever position they are in. Then that audience member tags someone and assumes their position, and changes the skit entirely. Delaney and one of the guys from Dave's drama class started, and then Regan jumped in. Then before we knew it Rob (one of the special needs kids) jumped in and did beautifully! The drama kids helped him along when he got stuck (which is something that I have fallen victim to on more than one occassion. I'm basically a behind the scenes person for a reason). Then someone yelled "freeze" and tagged Rob out. But he was soon back in the game once he had thought of an idea. This happened a few times and you could tell he was having fun, especially when the film the "Dark Knight" came into the picture.
So that's all for today, I hope you enjoyed it. I also hope that this blog helps to let those who are putting together a similar project or simply work/live with someone who has a developmental disability, that you are not alone. We all get frustrated, but those who make us frustrated appreciate us more than we can ever begin to fathum. Also remember that we need them just as much as they need us. Until another day,
Jenn
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
A Man, A Hot Knife, and Exploding Balloons
Ok, so I'm revamping this blog a little bit..in the sense that I'm going to actually have a direction, and keep it up.
The direction being about my day-to-day experiences as production manager of a theatre project, based out of the local high school for young adults with developmental disabilities in my community. The name of our project is Bright Lites, because we are modeled after the Famous People Players. We are now building our second show, Cinderella, and already having a blast. This is my second year as production manager and I've already learned so much from those guys, my homeslices needless to say.
Now before I go into further detail, I would like to warn you in advance that meltdowns are common place and happen A LOT! But, you roll with the punches. Which is something that I knew going in because my older brother is Autistic. But I'm not sure how well my other assistants know this, but I think that I'll let them discover that on their own. Mainly because I could warn them to the high heavens that this one particular girl has been known to have several(4) huge, now when I say huge I mean "it's the end of the world, the sky is falling, the show can't go on if I don't have my white gloves" huge meltdowns in a 20 minute time period. But thanks to the wonderful EAs (Educational Assistants) and John from the Community Living Centre, we are able to roll with it.
Now to explain the title of this particular post, John is rather passionate about this project and the work he does contructing the various props is truly amazing! The way he just dives into formulating an idea on how to go about contructing a bird for example, and his enthusiasum and excitement is inspiring. It reminds me everyday why I continue to do this and want to pursue theatre. Anyway, back to the bird, he had made the most amazing bird head out of styrafoam(sp?) rings that he glued together and rounded off. It looked like he had simply made it all from one piece of styrafoam, rather than several! It was awesome! Anyway, we were brainstorming how we would solve our body and tail problem. This is because the balloons that we were going to use as a paper mache, or in our case ,cheesecloth mache mold would pop as soon as we put the cheese cloth on. The tail was still in the works. I somehow got on the topic of the hot knife that was in the stage craft room and how it could cut through the styrafoam like it was butter. Needless to say, John became rather intriged by this and began to ask more questions about this knife. For example, how it worked ect. I told him all about it, and he immediately began thinking that it would be awesome for shaping these bird heads. The next thing I know he's asking me where it was. Now to he's a very soft spoken gentle man, so these questions naturally came one at a time, and I could see the wheels turning in his head as he thought of the potential. So I pulled it out and he began to work with it. He was also working with it today (the smell is very distinctive because it's melting through the styrafoam).
So that's all for today, I hope you enjoy it. I also hope that this blog helps to let those who are putting together a similar project or simply work/live with someone who has a developmental disability, that you are not alone. We all get frustrated, but those who make us frustrated appreciate us more than we can ever begin to fathum. Also remember that we need them just as much as they need us.
Until tommorrow
Jenn
The direction being about my day-to-day experiences as production manager of a theatre project, based out of the local high school for young adults with developmental disabilities in my community. The name of our project is Bright Lites, because we are modeled after the Famous People Players. We are now building our second show, Cinderella, and already having a blast. This is my second year as production manager and I've already learned so much from those guys, my homeslices needless to say.
Now before I go into further detail, I would like to warn you in advance that meltdowns are common place and happen A LOT! But, you roll with the punches. Which is something that I knew going in because my older brother is Autistic. But I'm not sure how well my other assistants know this, but I think that I'll let them discover that on their own. Mainly because I could warn them to the high heavens that this one particular girl has been known to have several(4) huge, now when I say huge I mean "it's the end of the world, the sky is falling, the show can't go on if I don't have my white gloves" huge meltdowns in a 20 minute time period. But thanks to the wonderful EAs (Educational Assistants) and John from the Community Living Centre, we are able to roll with it.
Now to explain the title of this particular post, John is rather passionate about this project and the work he does contructing the various props is truly amazing! The way he just dives into formulating an idea on how to go about contructing a bird for example, and his enthusiasum and excitement is inspiring. It reminds me everyday why I continue to do this and want to pursue theatre. Anyway, back to the bird, he had made the most amazing bird head out of styrafoam(sp?) rings that he glued together and rounded off. It looked like he had simply made it all from one piece of styrafoam, rather than several! It was awesome! Anyway, we were brainstorming how we would solve our body and tail problem. This is because the balloons that we were going to use as a paper mache, or in our case ,cheesecloth mache mold would pop as soon as we put the cheese cloth on. The tail was still in the works. I somehow got on the topic of the hot knife that was in the stage craft room and how it could cut through the styrafoam like it was butter. Needless to say, John became rather intriged by this and began to ask more questions about this knife. For example, how it worked ect. I told him all about it, and he immediately began thinking that it would be awesome for shaping these bird heads. The next thing I know he's asking me where it was. Now to he's a very soft spoken gentle man, so these questions naturally came one at a time, and I could see the wheels turning in his head as he thought of the potential. So I pulled it out and he began to work with it. He was also working with it today (the smell is very distinctive because it's melting through the styrafoam).
So that's all for today, I hope you enjoy it. I also hope that this blog helps to let those who are putting together a similar project or simply work/live with someone who has a developmental disability, that you are not alone. We all get frustrated, but those who make us frustrated appreciate us more than we can ever begin to fathum. Also remember that we need them just as much as they need us.
Until tommorrow
Jenn
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