Don Giovanni

Soon I will be leaving this beautiful view...

...tonight is the opening of or final show of the summer, Don Giovanni. This set was A LOT of fun. (Although also a lot more work.) It's a series of columns in forced perspective! and then also a big stair balcony piece all shoved on The Wheelers tiny stage.

We're getting shop cleaned up now, and after we finish strike on Monday I'm heading back to Iowa. It's been a long and busy summer, and I will miss these mountains UNBELIEVABLY SO!!

BUT I look forward to a change of pace... See you all SOON!!

The Rape of Lucretia

Hey Everybody! I can't believe it's August 1st already! It won't be long until we're all back at school.

So... our second show, The Rape of Lucretia, opened this Thursday. It's an... interesting show, but I really enjoyed the set. We built this giant sculptural crucified woman. I really enjoyed it. :) The process was unlike anything I had ever done before.

Now we have three weeks to prepare the final show Don Giovanni, and then it's back to Iowa! I hope everyone else summer is going great.

Opening The Season With La Boheme

I'm not great about this whole blogging thing, but I just wanted to drop a note that tonight we finally open our first show!  After this things should move pretty quickly.  The day after we load out Boheme, we load in Lucretia, which opens two weeks later and then basically the same for the final show, which is Don Giavoni. 

Oh! If anyone cares to fly in for tonight's show I'm sure you can hop on a private jet, fly into the Aspen Airport and still get tickets.  They're only $1,000 so I'm sure there's still seats left....

(...think about it.) :)

In the Beginning....

So the work has begun.

The first couple of days were basically getting everything out of storage at the Music School, and moving it to the Aspen Middle and Elementary schools. The Three operas we are doing are: La Boheme, The Rape of Lucretia, and Don Giovanni. Unfortunately I know just about nothing about opera... But I'm learning. And since we work in town or at the wheeler I'm pretty secluded from anyone else involved with the productions. I've been assisting the master carpenter a lot this week as well as painting. The costume shop is in the middle school rec-like room,(which I didn't realize until the staff introductions that AJ works there.) and after this week we move to a room down the hall where there is a weight room and storage. Strange setup but there's no room for that sort of stuff at the Wheeler..

So painting wise we have the floor painted for La Boheme, but because the designer for the 1st show, yes the first show, had not yet sent us the model or elevations we ran out of things to paint so in the mean time we installed the rake and the floor 

we painted at the Wheeler Opera House, where the operas are performed. The Wheeler is a very beautiful theatre that has burned down twice, but they keep rebuilding it because it is so historic to this town and maybe even the oldest building if I remember right.  But they just got done restoring it... again. It's also the tallest building in town which is nice because it makes it easy to find. Not the greatest picture but it gives you an idea of its ornate beauty.

I don't really know what else to say for now. Brian Beacom is the scenic artist and very interesting man. Between him and Brian Swanson work is pretty entertaining. In a strange way they make me think of Juelsgaard and Veenstra. :)

I hope everyone else's summer is going great! 

Pinch Me...

I've been in Colorado for a week now, spending my first two days in Denver visiting friends before heading up here.  IT IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!  I have a few more days of exploring (and white water rafting) before I start work next Wednesday.  Until then....

You can't complain with a view like this!!