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ceebeegeeYesterday was a long one. I met Paul at his apartment to look over his wardrobe so I could coordinate a twin costume for the two of us. His apartment is in HomoHamilton Heights, not too far from my neighborhood. His apartment is in a beautiful old building, very similar to Tesse's building, with lovely marble floors. Afterwards we went down to the Union Square area to look at wigs--I ended up buying identical blonde pageboy wigs at the Halloween store on 4th Avenue. I may have them trimmed a little bit--the wig looks very Prince Valiant on Paul.
On our way back to Union Square, we passed by a new chocolate bar/store--they had seating (albeit a long line--we opted against getting something there) and a shop in the front that also had vats that were stirring melted hot chocolate. It reminded me of Ghirardhelli's. There were lots of samples about, and one of the counter girls offered Paul and me samples of caramelized pecans--soooooo delicious. We still wanted to get something to eat though, and popped into Au Bon Pain nearby which was a mistake. I wanted a smoothie but their smoothies aren't made with fruit, and the other three things I asked about, they didn't have :< so I got iced coffee instead. Paul ordered a sandwich that took at least 10 minutes to be made. ABP is supposed to be upscale--they certainly charge enough--and that kind of slapdash service annoys me mightily.
We went up to 34th Street to Conway's, that savior of every costume designer in the city. Originally I was thinking loose, flowing poet's shirts with vests for Sebastian and Viola, but then I saw their section of school uniforms--they had a bunch of different polo shirts, with both short and long sleeves, in different colors. The difficulty was fitting Paul, since he's not exactly the size of a child. The size 14/16s were still too small--finally we found the "Husky" sizes which worked out. My sizing difficulty was different--I have (more or less) the frame of a 10-12 year old boy, but my arms are somewhat disproportionately long for my body, so the sleeves were coming up short. We went up a couple of sizes--it looks better for Viola if the shirt is looser anyway--and finally found one. After that I picked out identical charcoal black newsboy caps--charcoal black looks good on blondes. I want us to have black pants as well--the outfit is simple but striking, and it definitely makes me look (somewhat) convincingly boyish.
We walked from Conway's over to Clinton Cove Park for rehearsal--Ben wanted to stage the last act/scene in the space, and for some of the cast, it was the first time they'd seen it. It was a beautiful late afternoon/evening yesterday--thank goodness, because I spent a lot of time standing on the granite and marble, waiting for blocking. Ben has some very interesting stuff happening in this scene--Orsino finally gets a personality! Frequently the last scene in a Shakespeare comedy can be a little...anti-climactic. They're typically about tying up loose ends and everyone gets married. Not this one--there's actual duh-ra-ma. Orsino gets super-pissed at Olivia and a little sadistic toward Viola--he is writing off Olivia, saying "I know you love this boy--but you'll never have him."
But hear me this:
Since you to non-regardance cast my faith,
And that I partly know the instrument
That screws me from my true place in your favour,
Live you the marble-breasted tyrant still;
But this your minion, whom I know you love,
And whom, by heaven I swear, I tender dearly,
Him will I tear out of that cruel eye,
Where he sits crowned in his master's spite.
Come, boy, with me; my thoughts are ripe in mischief:
I'll sacrifice the lamb that I do love,
To spite a raven's heart within a dove.
Ben was demonstrating what he wanted Ken to do, and passed behind me saying "you're torturing Olivia a little...it's like the adorable bunny rabbit whose neck you're threatening to snap [which made me laugh]...I want you to trail your fingers along her back as you cross behind you." Well, as I said he was actually doing this as he said it, and I was wearing one of my loose white little tops
--lots of back access. I started getting a little giggly and Ben said "is that all right?" I said "no, no, it's fine." Sure, the good-looking Director Man can trail his fingers along my back any time--I'm a professional, I can take it! On that note, later on Ken was blocked to grab me along the jaw and throw me to the ground (as I said, this scene gets very DRAMATIC). Ken, like Ben, had just been doing this (grabbing my face) and then he remembered to ask me if it was okay. I said sure, no problem and I was saying to Tracy that during The Trojan Women, I hated it when Nora grabbed me without asking, because she was so nasty and unprofessional during the entire production. (Nora played Hecuba and I played Helen of Troy--Hecuba hates Helen, since her abduction is what triggers Troy's downfall, and Nora waaaaay over-identified with her character. A strange woman--a very uncomfortable experience.) And yet, when you're working with people you know respect you and like you, you don't care as much if they ask permission. You know their grabbing you isn't some kind of weird, wish-come-true.
As I said Ken throws me to the ground. Nick, our Valentine/Priest/Captain/First Officer and also our fight choreographer, explained how to fall (on granite, yet) correctly. I was very impressed. Nick had told me he had studied fight choreography and has a lot of certification, but I hadn't seen him in action before last night. I think we're in good hands.
Duncan made me laugh with his shrieking entrance, clutching his head after Sebastian has handed his ass to him. He's really going to be very funny in this role. Duncan does ridiculous well.
On our way back to Union Square, we passed by a new chocolate bar/store--they had seating (albeit a long line--we opted against getting something there) and a shop in the front that also had vats that were stirring melted hot chocolate. It reminded me of Ghirardhelli's. There were lots of samples about, and one of the counter girls offered Paul and me samples of caramelized pecans--soooooo delicious. We still wanted to get something to eat though, and popped into Au Bon Pain nearby which was a mistake. I wanted a smoothie but their smoothies aren't made with fruit, and the other three things I asked about, they didn't have :< so I got iced coffee instead. Paul ordered a sandwich that took at least 10 minutes to be made. ABP is supposed to be upscale--they certainly charge enough--and that kind of slapdash service annoys me mightily.
We went up to 34th Street to Conway's, that savior of every costume designer in the city. Originally I was thinking loose, flowing poet's shirts with vests for Sebastian and Viola, but then I saw their section of school uniforms--they had a bunch of different polo shirts, with both short and long sleeves, in different colors. The difficulty was fitting Paul, since he's not exactly the size of a child. The size 14/16s were still too small--finally we found the "Husky" sizes which worked out. My sizing difficulty was different--I have (more or less) the frame of a 10-12 year old boy, but my arms are somewhat disproportionately long for my body, so the sleeves were coming up short. We went up a couple of sizes--it looks better for Viola if the shirt is looser anyway--and finally found one. After that I picked out identical charcoal black newsboy caps--charcoal black looks good on blondes. I want us to have black pants as well--the outfit is simple but striking, and it definitely makes me look (somewhat) convincingly boyish.
We walked from Conway's over to Clinton Cove Park for rehearsal--Ben wanted to stage the last act/scene in the space, and for some of the cast, it was the first time they'd seen it. It was a beautiful late afternoon/evening yesterday--thank goodness, because I spent a lot of time standing on the granite and marble, waiting for blocking. Ben has some very interesting stuff happening in this scene--Orsino finally gets a personality! Frequently the last scene in a Shakespeare comedy can be a little...anti-climactic. They're typically about tying up loose ends and everyone gets married. Not this one--there's actual duh-ra-ma. Orsino gets super-pissed at Olivia and a little sadistic toward Viola--he is writing off Olivia, saying "I know you love this boy--but you'll never have him."
But hear me this:
Since you to non-regardance cast my faith,
And that I partly know the instrument
That screws me from my true place in your favour,
Live you the marble-breasted tyrant still;
But this your minion, whom I know you love,
And whom, by heaven I swear, I tender dearly,
Him will I tear out of that cruel eye,
Where he sits crowned in his master's spite.
Come, boy, with me; my thoughts are ripe in mischief:
I'll sacrifice the lamb that I do love,
To spite a raven's heart within a dove.
Ben was demonstrating what he wanted Ken to do, and passed behind me saying "you're torturing Olivia a little...it's like the adorable bunny rabbit whose neck you're threatening to snap [which made me laugh]...I want you to trail your fingers along her back as you cross behind you." Well, as I said he was actually doing this as he said it, and I was wearing one of my loose white little tops
--lots of back access. I started getting a little giggly and Ben said "is that all right?" I said "no, no, it's fine." Sure, the good-looking Director Man can trail his fingers along my back any time--I'm a professional, I can take it! On that note, later on Ken was blocked to grab me along the jaw and throw me to the ground (as I said, this scene gets very DRAMATIC). Ken, like Ben, had just been doing this (grabbing my face) and then he remembered to ask me if it was okay. I said sure, no problem and I was saying to Tracy that during The Trojan Women, I hated it when Nora grabbed me without asking, because she was so nasty and unprofessional during the entire production. (Nora played Hecuba and I played Helen of Troy--Hecuba hates Helen, since her abduction is what triggers Troy's downfall, and Nora waaaaay over-identified with her character. A strange woman--a very uncomfortable experience.) And yet, when you're working with people you know respect you and like you, you don't care as much if they ask permission. You know their grabbing you isn't some kind of weird, wish-come-true.
As I said Ken throws me to the ground. Nick, our Valentine/Priest/Captain/First Officer and also our fight choreographer, explained how to fall (on granite, yet) correctly. I was very impressed. Nick had told me he had studied fight choreography and has a lot of certification, but I hadn't seen him in action before last night. I think we're in good hands.
Duncan made me laugh with his shrieking entrance, clutching his head after Sebastian has handed his ass to him. He's really going to be very funny in this role. Duncan does ridiculous well.
