Update: Four weeks before the semester starts .....

I can't believe how fast this summer has passed. Next week I'll be heading to Reedsburg with the UW-W Arts Management instructor to consult with a presenting group about their community and organization. UWW Marketing and Media caught wind of this and have an article on the home page of UWW. http://www.uww.edu/marketingandmedia/news_releases/2007_08_cal_center.html

I haven't done a lot with my senior project or dramaturg prac, figuring I have lots of time left. Crap! Now it's only four weeks ... UGH!!!

Work has been kept to a minimum - between 30-35 hours a week. I'm enjoying the "relaxing" pace, but I can tell financially. (ka-ching)

Today I received an invitation to the 2nd Annual Nicolet Players Summer Bash!!! Last year I had such a great time I'll definitely work out somehow of getting north to see everyone. It is such a great idea .... one that I'll steal when I have my own theatre.
See you on the 27th Jim!!

I made the Rhinelander Daily News Campus Notes Section

"University of Wisconsin-Whitewater senior Deb Helgeson of Rhinelander is the recipient of the Fero Theatre Management Award in the amount of $175, the Raymond Light Scholarship in the amount of $1,000 and the Matthew Schliesman Scholarship for Artistic and Academic Accomplishment in the amount of $500.The Fero Theatre Management Award is given to theatre major/minors involved in the theatre management and stage management programs. The Raymond Light Scholarship supports outstanding students in art, music and theatre/dance.The Matthew Schliesman Scholarship for Artistic and Academic Accomplishment is given to students who have ongoing significant and valued artistic accomplishments in the areas of performance, directing, technology and design, or theatre management." YAY!!!!

The spring semester has been over for a month and I'm enjoying the much slower pace. While my grades didn't meet my 4.0 standard, I did manage a 3.5 and made the Dean's List. My cummulative GPA at this point is 3.82, just .03 shy of graduating with highest honors (summa cum laude) so I need to pick up the pace next year. Also key will not be working so many hours. That really was my downfall this past semester.

This summer I have a few projects in the works: completing the audience analysis from the surveys from last semester for the first step of my senior project, stepping up the research for my dramaturg practicum for the play Terra Nova, and partnering with an Arts Peer from the Wisconsin Assembly for Local Arts’ ArtsPeers Advisory Network to assist with a community assessment for a new presenting organization. No rest for the wicked....

I like this one....

Your life is like a book. If you don't write it, someone else will.
- Author Unknown

Quick update

* Only three more classes of Accounting - YAY! That one really tries my patience. The professor is a very slow speaker, which is good for those who take lots of notes. But she has the powerpoint slides online and available for us to download before class, so I just print them off and only make a very small amount of notes. Also, out of a class of 25, there are only about 2-3 of us that typically participate in the question/answer part of the class. UGH! Actually I guess it would be worse to ask questions to a room full of students who just stare blankly at you ... lol

* Received a $1000 scholarship for next year from the College. Woo-hoo! Now just waiting to hear back from the Theatre/Dance Department.

* I'm speaking to the College Advisory Board tomorrow about my experience at UW-W.

* Only three weeks of classes/exams left -- yippee!

* Continuing to work at the College part-time (2o hours/week) for the summer

Spring Break!!!!

YAY!!! Today is the first official day of our spring break and my plans include housework, homework and work - the three works. Even though I haven't made any extravagant plans to join my fellow college students in a trek to sun and fun, I am looking forward to a week of no classes and having time to get caught up on my never-ending to-do lists. I probably could have taken the week off from working at the college, but my advisor is in crisis mode. The season brochure for next the school year is due in three weeks. The student who was slated to complete the brochure for her senior project has not followed through; so, as a result the project was pulled and it is back in the advisor's lap and I've been called upon to help. On my agenda for the beginning of this week will be reading plays and writing "creative" descriptions for the brochure. UGH!! I am not a "creative" writer, I am a technical writer -- give me a policy or a manual to write any day. In fact, during my earlier advising sessions my advisor threatened me with actually making it a requirement that I take A CREATIVE WRITING CLASS!!!! I managed to worm a "Mass Media Writing" class out of her.... whew! Well, the scripts are calling so I had better get reading.

Rain make snow go bye-bye

The rain yesterday sure make the day dreary until I thought of the above line. That coupled with high-40 to mid-50 degree weather that's predicted for the next several days should be a sure indicator of spring..... right? I realize I live in Wisconsin and know that anything is possible (like snow the first weekend in May), but I'm clinging to the hope that the trees will soon be budding. I'm done with winter.

This weekend is the DanceScapes concert at the college and I'm working the costume running crew. Of course with all the dance pieces there are lots of costume changes, but I have to say the dancers are fairly self-sufficient. I would say the largest part of our job, besides doing the laundry, is helping during the quick changes and being around to hand them a safety pin, bobby pin, or a hair tie when it's needed to solve "a crisis." This afternoon is the last rehearsal and then there are three performances. After this, I'll have all my practicums finished, except for Dramaturg. I'll be starting that late this semester and it'll continue until the performance which will be in October (I think). To be honest, I wasn't quite sure what a dramaturg did. I'm told "research." After just completing a quick 'google,' I came across this definition: Dramaturg - One who studies a play to interpret it for a company of actors, answering questions about the text, the language, the period, the manners and mores of the characters, the clothing, and the customs. It actually sounds like an interesting job....

Finally Friday!

It's been a long week. Really don't know why - just has been. Lots and lots of homework this week, perhaps that's the reason. I finished up my scene shop hours last week, so that's out of the way -- yay me!

Also, I got the great news that my Senior Project proposal was approved. I'll be "developing, implementing, and coordinating the publicity/marketing" of the Spring '08 production of the musical Peter Pan. It will be produced in Young Auditorium (the university's presenting theatre) which has a capacity of 1300, instead of Barnett Theatre, which we usually use for musicals, that has a capacity of 412. It's exciting that we'll be in the large theatre because of the rigging for the flying of Peter Pan. YEAH! Both the students and staff are excited about this opportunity. The UW-W Theatre/Dance Department hasn't done a show there for many years.

Here's the objective statement from my proposal:

The location of this production poses a special challenge; a larger capacity house requires a different approach to the publicity and marketing plan. It is my desire to tackle this project as it will give me an opportunity to strengthen the skills I have already obtained through participating in the publicity efforts of events in Barnett and Hicklin Studio Theatres and apply them to a larger capacity house. This project also supports my ultimate goal of owning a theatre and will give me a healthy insight into what it takes to promote events on a larger scale.

Even though the show won't take the stage until late February of 2008, I'm already starting the project. There hasn't been an audience survey completed in many years, and as a way to understand the audience, I'll be conducting a survey this semester at all three events: two plays and a dance concert.

Need to get working on homework ... class in an hour and a half ...

BRRRRRR!!!

It is 1:45p and -4 outside …. I know it’s winter, but I’ve gotten a little spoiled. heehee The good thing is there is only six or so weeks left of it.

So far - so good with school. I’m now two weeks into the semester and things are going as planned. At 5:00p yesterday I completed 27 of my 40 hours that I need to work in the scene shop and will be finished by the end of the day Thursday…. Yeah! It’s been a completely different experience this year. I'm liking it. Perhaps, I’ve proven that I can read a blueprint or know how to use the different tools, but I’ve actually had “projects” like building stairs and making/covering/priming flats (walls) this semester and haven’t been a “grunt” that does all the crappy jobs. But then again, there are new people in the theatre program for that. ; ^ )

As far as work goes, I finally put my notice in at the bowling alley – last day is Wednesday. It’s just been too many hours to keep up with the homework and keep my sanity. There were some horrific spots last semester and I don’t want that to happen again. The belt might need to be tightened financially, but my car should be paid off in the next month or two so that will help.

Okay.... break time is over … time to get back to Shakespeare and The Tempest. Thank heavens for Cliff Notes! It's like reading it twice, but at least I'm understanding the details. : ^ D

Positive Thoughts!

Well, it's two days into the semester and I'm still hopeful..... LOL My classes this semester include:

Theatre History - 1550 to 1875: I have to say I really like the theatre history classes. There is so much to learn. After this class is finished, I'll have satisfied my four required classes, but there is one more and I still might take that class next Spring. I'll have to see how I'm feeling about my workload. This semester we will be covering a wide variety of periods, from the Italian Renaissance to English Restoration to the 18th Century. There is one large group project, as usual, but this time the Professor is adding some "smaller" group projects. Bad news is that I'm in a group with someone that DRIVES ME CRAZY! She doesn't ever pull her weight and when she does it's a half-ass effort. This will be the 4th time I've had her in a group (She's been in many of my classes). UGH! The good news is that I believe this is the only class that I'll have a group project in this semester. Whew!

Introduction to Financial Accounting: I think this class is going to be a piece of cake. I've had a couple of semesters of Accounting "back in the day" when working on computer programming degree. Granted that was over 20 years ago. heehee I think it also helps that I've been involved in budgets and finances in my "previous life." The interesting part of this class will be the use of a clicker. I have to buy a clicker ($45 new) to use during class. It is about the size of a credit card and it has numbers and letters on it. At certain times when the professor asks a question, the whole class needs to respond using their clicker. A graph of some sort will appear on the computer screen, which is projected on the wall, and it will show the number of students that answered A, B, C, etc. It kind of reminds of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? when the contestant polls the audience for one of their lifelines. Each clicker is registered to an individual student, so the professor will be able to see which students are answering correctly and which ones needs more work. I'm not sure how I feel about using it. My first step is to purchase one. ;^) I have until next week to get it.

Principles of Public Relations: This my online class. While it's online and I can work on it when it's convenient, it is not self-paced. There are deadlines for homework, essays, quizzes, and exams. This will definitely prevent me from waiting until the end of the semester as I've done in the past. LOL

Issues in Arts Management: This is the last of my "arts management" classes. It only meets one a week and will have speakers from the Wisconsin arts management arena and we will have discussions on the different issues. I've been assured by the instructor that there will be no group projects in this class. We meet for the first time tomorrow afternoon, so I'll find out for sure then and perhaps find out more specifically what issues we'll be discussing.

Lastly I have two practicums to finish up this semesters - one is 40 hours in the scene shop and the other is costume running crew for the dance concert. I've gotten a jump on the scene shop hours and have them scheduled for the first two and a half weeks of the semester so I'll be finished on February 7th. Yeah!

Well, enough about my classes. It's time for me to start the homework......

Hello??? Is anyone out there?

Wow … It’s been three months since I last wrote in this blog! Hard to believe – the time had gone by so quickly. I managed to finish the semester even though at times it was pretty hairy and I wasn’t quite sure about my grades. But I managed all A’s, except for a B in Marketing. That class was the worst and I could write a book on the horrors, but I squeaked by with a B so I’ll let it go. The children’s tour was successful, along with the Halloween Party for the kids being a hit. I had a GREAT group project experience in my arts marketing class and worked with a team that was fired up and more motivated than me. We developed a marketing plan for Summerfest, which they want to actually present to the Summerfest Board of Directors in hopes of getting internships this summer. More power to them - I have enough on my plate! :^D

The spring semester starts on the 22nd of this month and time is going by quickly. I’ve been working full-time in the Dean’s office, along with bartending at Hammer’s and the bowling alley. No rest for the wicked.

My goal for next semester is to be less frenzied and to post regularly in this blog. I’m doomed if I let my life be so crazy for the next year and a half. The just-in-time delivery method didn’t work the greatest this past semester regarding homework. I got it done, but with lots and lots of stress. New semester, new outlook! Bring it on!