HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Latest news on Peter Pan ...

As of 1:30 today, only $500 away from making my goal in ticket sales with the opening a little over two weeks away!!!

A couple of links from newspapers about Peter Pan:

• Royal Purple (school newspaper): http://media.www.royalpurplenews.com/media/storage/paper1225/news/2008/01/30/ArtsEntertainment/Peter.Pan.Contest.Will.Allow.Winner.To.Fly.Across.Stage-3174809.shtml?refsource=collegeheadlines
• the Week - Walworth County (free entertainmnet newspaper): http://www.theweekextra.com/news/2008/02/behind-scenes-of-stage-performance.html

Things are progressing nicely with the publicity and marketing of the show. I'm waiting to hear back from the group that won the flying session. It's a local school group and they need to figure out how they will determine the ultimate winner since they purchased 109 tickets. Flying rehearsals are next weekend Feb. 22-24 -- one last publicity opportunity!

Checking In.......

It's been a very, very long time since I've posted. YIKES!!! I missed a complete semester - a semester that was definitely my worst/busiest. Working 35-50 hours a week while the Director of Public Events was on maternity leave and bartending 8-10 hours a weeks was absolutely nuts!!! But I survived .... and I managed to stay on the Dean's List.

Directing I - A
Dramaturg Practicum - A
Independent Study (Public Events Assistant) - A
Mass Media Writing - A-
Foundations of Advertising - A-

October - The dramaturg practicum for Terra Nova was a kick to work on. I scanned lots of photos and created a slide show that played in the lobby before and after the show, and during the intermission. The music in the slideshow was the same music that was used during the production - "Symphonia Antartica." Of course, I had the usual handouts and display board with timelines, maps, and photos. The coolest thing I researched was for the set designer/props person. He wanted to know what an odometer looked like on a sledge during that time period. I had scanned so many photos that I only took me an hour to find a a pic of one. Very cool --- Here's the slideshow - be warned it's 10 minutes long ....



December -- My directing scene went extremely well. I followed the suggestion of choosing a play with a small cast so I had minimal schedules to coordinate. Plus, I couldn't have asked for more committed actors - they were part of the Acting I class and definitely were dependable and met deadlines. Other directors in my class were not so lucky. I chose two scenes from "A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking" (Thanks for the play suggestion Jim). This meant I had a scene change, along with a costume change for each character ... tough to pull off in a short 10-13 minutes production. It went well, in spite off only having a 20 minute tech rehearsal -- two hours before my directing debut! Classes were cancelled because of weather the day tech rehearsal was scheduled - UGH!

As far as this semester goes, I'm expecting to eventually 'coast' -- LOL My classes include:

• My Senior Project - Marketing & Publlicity for Peter Pan - finished the middle of March (a huge topic for another post)
• Human Resources Management (Monday night class)
• Public Relations Tactics I - (this covers press releases, brochures, fact sheets, etc -- information that goes to the media - stuff I've already been doing - heehee)
• Script Analysis (probably should have taken this class before Directing - LOL)

On top of this "cushy" schedule, I gave notice at the bar -- no more slinging beers. My last day is Feb 10th -- WOOHOO!! Weekends off?? What?? Crazy - I know ....

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!

Move over Elton and Liberace.....

Sequins, sequins, sequins ..... I've been working in the costume shop now for the past several weeks, and pretty much all I've done is put sequins on corsets. The first production this semester is The Rocky Horror Show and we had to make 11 corsets, all having sequins sewed on by hand. Ugh! Not exactly the most exciting job, but at least it's a no-brainer and a group of us can sit and chat while doing it.

October is proving to be a very busy time for me. This Saturday I'm heading to Green Bay for the alumni book signing. Next week (Oct. 10 - 14), Rocky opens and I'm playing the role of Assistant House Manager for some of the key performances - just a little added security. The midnight performance is sold out which should be a lot of fun. The 14th of October is Homecoming and the Advancement Office has a bunch of "schmoozing" planned. And the 28th, the Children's Tour kicks off, so I've been working on finalizing all that stuff - study guides, press releases, group sales letters, vehicle rental and driver authorization, advance travel expense money .... and, oh yeh, we've decided to add a Halloween Party for the kids before the performance on that Saturday which I'm planning. Can I tell you I'm looking forward to November? heehee

Happy Monday!

Yeah! Two of my three classes were cancelled today. I absolutely love unexpected time, especially when I'm feeling a time crunch. woo-hoo

My Monday night Marketing class was one that was cancelled. Tonight was to be a group project presentation --- yep, three of my four classes have group projects .... yee-freakin-haw! I have a feeling this group is going to be a tough one since one guy works a bazillion hours like me, another guy doesn't say much, and the last guy flunked out of Madison because of his partying (his admission). Ugh! On top of the group project this teacher is strict... no leaving once lecture has started and she lectures from 6:30p right up to 9:00p. We can get out early if we, as a class, decide at the beginning of class to forgo the 15 minutes break. Wow! I have never had a night class that met the full time. The computer classes that I took at night had lecture for about an hour ... and the rest of the time was lab ... so I'd just take off and do what I needed to do at home. The good thing is that it only meets once a week. It's also a very large class ... 97 students. She took our photo at the beginning of class so she can learn our faces. LOL

Back to normal.....

The first week of the semester is almost over. It's been a little hectic, but I'm determined not to procrastinate this time -- LOL So far, so good ...

My classes this semester include:

• Theatre History to 1550: I've got the Theatre History routine down -- they are all taught by the same professor and as long as I reasonably keep up, it shouldn't be a problem. We'll be covering the Greek, Roman, and medieval eras.
• Intro to Design: In this class I'll be designing the set, costume, and lighting for a show. My assignment this weekend, besides reading the text, is to decide on a script. The only requirement is that there are at least seven costumes. This class will be a challenge! Definitely very important not to put this off.... (sigh)
• General Marketing: I'm taking this class on Monday night, so I haven't gotten any information on projects or assignments. Next week... I can't image it'll be terribly difficult since it's a general class.
• Arts Marketing: This class will drive me crazy since everything is group project based. Since it is my third "art management" class, I've met a core group of students that have arts management as a minor or are theatre management majors. After my experience with last semester's group, I've decided to "draft" my group ahead of time ... LOL ... Everyone is on board. Now just to keep the slackers out... that might be difficult. The instructor has also added a group member evaluation to the formula. Yeah! It won't determine your grade, but it will affect it. That was something I suggested during the course evaluation after last semester's fiasco.
• Practicums: I am also working 40 hours in the costume shop and am part of the running crew for the last show of the semester. The running crew sounds interesting ... It's just a pain for me to take so much time off from the bar and the bowling alley. Between tech and dress rehearsals and performance, I think I need about 10 days off. Yikes! Better start working on that....

I'm still working at all three places: the college, Hammer's and the bowling alley. At the college, I'm staying on 20 hours a week throughout the academic year ... most of those hours will be during the day unless a project needs to be worked on during the evening or on the weekend. As for the other two places, I've told the bowling alley I can work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Hammer's - Friday, Saturday, Sunday .... leaving Monday night for class. I'm pretty sure I won't be working very many hours at the bowling alley since they recently hired a manager that will be working 40 hrs. I'm okay with that ... gives me more time for homework and to chill. Hopefully I'll get a weekend or two off from Hammer's now that they have hired another bartender. Working every weekend this summer sure got old.

Work Work Work

I talked with the Dean of the College last week and confirmed that I'll be staying on throughout the school year! Yippee!! I'll work between 20 and 30 hours a week, depending on the projects that I have going on. The core of my job duties will be working with the Director of Advancement on fundraising/marketing/development projects and then coordinating the programs for the music recitals. I wouldn't have thought the latter would be a big deal, but there are 40 in the fall semester alone. The headache will be getting the program information from the faculty and students in a timely fashion. There is a faculty member that is already two and half weeks late getting his information in..... errrrr! I wonder if that means the programs can be two and half weeks late... haha! Since the programs are sent out for printing, it gets to be a big pain.

I guess with each job comes some frustration. Good news though! As part of my job with Advancement, in October I'll be heading to the Packer ProShop to hang out with an UW-Whitewater Alum who has written a book - "Mudbaths & Bloodbaths: The Inside Story of the Bears-Packers Rivalry." He is having a book signing at the ProShop and part of sales will be given back to the College of Arts and Communication. He's a Communications graduate that works for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Both the Dean and the Director are busy, so they are sending me. Should be kind of a fun project -- It would be better if it was a game day, and I had a free ticket to the game.... oh well

Sweet Baby James

I finally treated myself to a concert ... Last Tuesday I headed into Madison to see James Taylor at the Coliseum. It was an excellent concert - very cool! He played all my faves ... "Fire and Rain," "Carolina," "Steamroller," "Shower the People" ... even a few surprises - "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" from the musical "Oklahoma!" and "The River is Wide." It definitely got me fired up to see more live performances and take advantage of living so close to so much.

Here's the review: http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/entertainment/index.php?ntid=95006&ntpid=3

Dreams...

Last weekend I had my recurring dream that usually surfaces during periods of stress in my life. I hadn't had one since the end of the Spring semester, and didn't think things were too terribly stressful in my life right now, outside of working a bazillion hours. The premise of this dream is that I'm about to go on stage for a performance and I don't know my lines. It's literally minutes before my cue and I'm frantically studying the script and experiencing lots of anxiety. Sometimes I wake up before going on stage, other times I go on stage and just "wing it." This time I wasn't freaked out about not knowing my lines ... I just walked out on stage with script in hand. LOL Don't know if it means anything at all, but when I woke it made me chuckle.

Quick trip to Rhlder!

Last week I made a day/night trip to Rhinelander to join in a Nicolet Players celebration/volunteer appreciation. I had a BLAST!! I saw several people I haven't seen in a while and jogged my memory about past Nicolet productions. Thanks to Jim, Kay, and Kristin for all their work in putting together this shindig. (Note: I'm going to steal this idea when I have my own theatre!) :^D

The past week at the college I've been updating the Theatre/Dance Department website - putting the 2005-06 and summer season into the archives and getting the 06-07 season on the website. Feel free to check out the website:
http://academics.uww.edu/CAC/Theatre/Season.htm (06-07 Season)
http://academics.uww.edu/CAC/Theatre/archivesnew/archives.htm (archives)

Today I met with the stage manager of a production called The Center Line. I'm going to coordinate the publicity and promotion of this ALL student production. Written by a fellow student, this play is completely student driven - all the design, acting, directing, publicity, etc. is done by the students. The only involvement of the college has been .... "yep, you can rehearse and perform here." With it opening Sept. 1st, I had better get moving - less than four weeks. Since it's a student driven production, I have to work on it outside of my hours at the college... rightfully so. This week is going to be tough since I'm working 40 hours at the college and 38 at the bar ... ugh! But I think I can get the script read and a draft of the press release written on Wednesday night. LOL Good thing I work well with deadlines!

I'm still here...

The end of July already ... There hasn't been much to write about - just work. Two weeks ago I started full-time hours again at the college. Now I'm working only in the Director of Public Events office since she's on maternity leave. My focus has been, and will be for the next couple of weeks, publicity of the summer series and publicity for the upcoming academic year - press releases, ads, sponsorships, etc. The Hammer's (the bar) has been keeping me busy - working 3 nights a week, if not more. I have a week coming up that I'm working 5 nights because one of the other bartenders is going to Sturgis. Between the bar and the college, I'll have that proverbial candle lit at both ends that week... Good thing that the bowling alley is closed until late August.

The fall semester starts in five weeks. While I'm looking forward to getting back into the routine, so many of my summer projects aren't finished yet. Oh well... that's life!