Trinity Shakespeare Festival Log. DAY ONE (May 10, 2011)

So here I am. Back to this lovely blog page I seem to inherently bombard with my useless and silly rants about my day to day life in either exotic or crazy awesome places. Was that a wordy sentence or what? I know my posts from Europe were a bit lengthy, but I must keep these short in order to continue sleeping and therefore working in the insane environment I seemed to have gotten myself into.

When I woke up today, I was excited and nervous at the same time. I have heard absolute horror stories of the Trinity Shakespeare Festval (hereafter, TSF) but I have also heard of the rewarding experience it offers. So being daring, I interviewed for the job with several other TCU students, and got the job! I'm working as a scenic builder and lighting technician for the show. When we arrived at the theatre this morning, I'm not sure if any one of us knew what we were in for.

First of all, after the main company meeting, my roommate and I (since we were so prepared and were already checked in) were sent to wait on a huge shipment of lumber. The trouble with that is, no one really knew when it was to arrive. So we waited for about 2 and a half hours (while everyone else was "checking in") on this lumber shipment. When it finally arrived (at 11:00 or so) we loaded everything into the theatre and went on our break. The break only ended up lasting around 45 minutes.

We first ended up working in the theatre doing something called "rehanging". It's a form of torture that makes people who aren't used to lifting heavy amounts of weight, lift heavy amounts of weight across the loading gallery. And we aren't allowed to let them go or someone could be hurt. Bad. Ok, so I'm kidding, it's not THAT bad. But what it basically entails is relocating all the borders/legs/curtains on a theatre's fly system to their proper location for the show(s) being worked on. It's one of those things that everyone wishes they could hire some robots for.

Once the work resumed in the scenic studio, we were sent to build giant portals that would be used in one of our productions. BY THE WAY, if any one needs any information on the festival, visit http://trinityshakes.org/ for anything you might want to know. Anyway, these portals were about 32 feet long by 6 feet wide. They weren't a simple task to put together. We had about 8 or 9 people working on those until the end of the day when a good amount of work was completed on their main structure.

Tomorrow (at 9:00am) holds many surprises as to what exactly will be done for the continued building and producing of these Shakespearean works, but for now, off to slumber. Goodnight.

I've been thinking a lot lately.

Recently, I haven't posted much here because, truthfully, there hasn't been much to post. My job at medieval times ended quietly, and things are slowly building up to me moving out. Today, I had my Eagle Scout ceremony, which was awesome. A whole room of people standing up to cheer for me, who hadn't even sung a note, felt pretty good. I have felt like I've owed all of you something, and until I can record again, here's a poem I wrote in a few minutes and I hope to turn it into a song.

I'm dedicating it to everyone who I'm leaving behind as I move. Well, here goes...

I'm sorry I have to say goodbye

I don't want to, but the reason why

Things will be better, for me, for you

Things will be better, once it's all through

Four years from now, four years from this

What are we going to be like? who'll join the bliss?

I will make someone, out of who I am now

Just don't forget the passion, the reason, and how.

Writing one last verse, one last chorus.

One last chance to see who really loves us.

I hope you will understand, I hope you'll find out why

I want to do what I love and continue to fly

Once upon a time a man was born

He didn't know who, where or what for

Knowing and having, the tools to succeed

He went on through life never having the need

I hope that means as much to you as it did me. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't want to let all of you down, so I'm going to continue with what I love, and hope everything works out for the best.

Thanks to everyone for supporting me these past several years, and I am hoping the support will not weaken, but grow as I go into college.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Each and everyone of you.

-Matthew Benton Wofford

Medieval Times

As the last few days of my job at Medieval Times come to an end, I looked back to a blog I wrote all about my first day there in the castle. It’s very old, but it really made me think of everything that went on in the castle and how I can’t believe it’s coming to an end. It has been a great experience, thank you everyone for supporting me and helping me through it. Here it is:

“Welcome my lords and ladies to the castle! How many are in your party this evening?”

That’s right, I have to say this about 700+ times every weekend. In case you haven’t heard, I am now employed at Medieval Times in Dallas. I was amazed when Mike said I got the job and took me off to meet Don McCoy. Don used to be the king, but he quit show cast and moved to manager of the photo department, while Chris, the photo manager at the time was moved to Food and Beverage manager. While this wasn’t the smartest thing in the world, Don is much more lenient than Chris. But sometimes that can be a bad thing. Sure he is nice a lot of the time, but watch out…he’s always watching. These are the events that happened before I started working and I was filled in on when I started by my friend and coworker Daniel.


Day 1: Thursday, April 17, 2008

So I was at school anxiously awaiting the arrival of Daniel to take me to my first day of work at Medieval Times. He was running a tad late due to his school running over class a little bit, but he picked me up and we were on our way to Dallas.

We stopped at McDonald’s for a quick bite to eat before having to get my first day of work started. On the way he was explaining every aspect I probably already knew about my job and what to expect. I listened and nodded my head while hurriedly trying to finish my cheeseburger and fries.

Once we arrived at the castle, he explained I would need to talk to the costume lady. It was then she handed me my puffy shirt, a brown sash, and what looked like to be a pair of ladies capris. I asked her where the pants were and she responded, “No pants, tights!” Now, some of you at this point are probably thinking, “Ewww, he wears tights?” Yeah, I do now, so get over it. Trust me, it is the last thing us photo people have to worry about. So once I found an empty locker, put my things in there, put on my costume and headed back to the photo lab, the feeling of nervousness that filled me was unlike any I felt before. Little did I know, it was about to get worse.

I arrived in the photo lab suited up and ready to go. Daniel then handed me a small plastic shield. I turned it over and it read, “MATT W.” What? Since when did my first name have a W at the end followed by a period? He then explained that I was the second of two Matts that were working in photo. I shook off the idea as if nothing and started work.

He told me I would need to be in tower in about 15 minutes. So I went on over to tower and waited. And waited, and waited. After about 6 minutes, a bald guy with side burns and a goatee ran up and said, “Come with me, you’re going to be rolling tower along with 11 other serfs and wenches. I had absolutely what this bald man was talking about, but he was wearing tights as well, so I listened. We lined up and when a guy with long hair and a radio said, “Tower’s rolling.” I was in the middle of a line of 7 serfs followed by the executioner, the Chancellor and the King. The funny bald guy was also in the line. They just told me to do what everyone else did. So when they bowed, I bowed. And when they started walking back into the castle, I followed suit. Then the real fun began.

I soon learned that this funny bald guy’s name was Phillip, and that he was a valued asset to our little department. He had a great Medieval Presence that even I envy. I was soon to learn that a good Medieval Presence was all you really needed in this job. And also a strong sense of confidence that people thought it was normal that you were wearing tights.

I learned what I was supposed to do and with Keri as Princess that night, everything went great. She gave me some good advice on what I needed to work on for the next shows that would follow my Medieval Times career.

After tower was over, I met up with Dan and Don back at the photo lab. They said I needed to learn about selling photos. So they partnered me up with Phil and we went out into the arena. He taught me one thing. Just sell. The more we sell, the higher our raise might be. So we were selling and he had gotten through twenty photos. We only managed to sell one photo. Not good. But oh well. It’s not about selling the photos. Right? Anyway, he told me to wait at the door inside the arena to watch the show. I watched and as the knights were being introduced, he bust in through the door and said, “Come on Matt! We’re going to precession!!” What? What the heck is that? I didn’t say that out loud because I knew Phil would try and explain it to me the best he could. What he explained was too good to be true.

“We get a part in the show?” I responded after his long testimony as we walked down the long corridor that led to the employee hallway. We walked in and he yelled, “I’ve got a processional virgin here! He needs a cape!” The hallway was filled with serfs and wenches. One wench was holding a bundle of gold laced capes. She handed me one and said, “You’re both in green, don’t screw up.” I didn’t even know what to do, how could I not screw up? Once we were lined up in the pit, Phil told me a story about his flash light and how he lost it down in the pit three times. And just before the mob of serfs and wenches started moving toward the big opening that was the entrance to the arena floor, he gave me to instructions, “Watch for horse shit, and try and keep up.”

With flags in hand, we walked out onto the arena floor. The audience was cheering, clapping, screaming, and just about everything you can to do show appreciation to someone preforming something on a stage. Only this was a big sand pit. After procession was over and we all went back inside, everyone seemed to complain about procession except for Phillip and I. He enjoyed it because it was the only time his degree in theater could come into play, and I really liked it because I was in a freaking show! It was one of the coolest, scariest, nervous feelings I had ever felt. It was awesome.

I went back to the photo lab and sold a few more rounds of photos with Phillip. Then we turned everything in and Daniel told Phillip to go home. He went, but not without a fight. He had a little word fight with Daniel, I think people call those arguments. But he did end up leaving. Wishing me a good career ahead of me. Shortly after, Daniel told me to go out and change and wait for him.I went and changed, put my costume back with the wardrobe department, and walked out the employee entrance. I stood by Daniel’s car, the Ford CLI edition Taurus, (inside joke, that’s wrong Keri) and awaited what wonders would this workplace of a castle would hold for me in the future to come.

Special Thanks to: (In order of Apperance)
Phil
Keri
Lara
Lacey
Brady
Thanks for all your help in starting my job off right at the castle.
Never shall you be forgotten.

Somethings are just better left unsaid.

So when I went to talk to the lady at the admin building, all I got was a crappy explanation and no money. She said that I need to wait until Monday to get my check. Which totally sucks, because now I'm in debt like 70 dollars, and can't afford lunch! I honestly don't even feel like writing much today, I just needed to share what happened with that whole money thing.

Peace
Matt Wofford

Lighting Designer:

The role of the lighting designer (or LD) within theatre is to work with the director, set designer, costume designer, and sometimes the sound designer and choreographer to create an overall 'look' for the show in response to the text, while keeping in mind issues of visibility, safety and cost.

Testing out a few different color/angle mixes. That's me.

-Wikipedia 

I think they forgot later that the job also includes not getting paid until people feel like it. I'm about to be on the phone again with an administrator with the school district. Why would I call her, you ask? Well, it turns out, if I want the 200 dollars I deserve, then I actually have to put forth phone calls, that later on, the bill would equal just about 200 dollars. It's ridiculous, and forgive me for bitching, but seriously! It's been almost a month now, and I still haven't gotten compensation for that program, which I thought was one of my best shows! It seems that with every show I design for, I end up getting better. Who'd a thunk it?! I'll put various pictures from that show up when I get them, but a few can go around now of the design process and stuff like that.

Ben practicing piano; Pancho, Oscar and Mike discussing
the com system; and me taking pictures. Yep. 

I just recently got hired on to do another lighting gig, one for the school district, again. So lets hope the financial side of things gets sorted out a little bit better now. Even though I would sell myself short and do all this stuff for free, getting money is a nice perk and I kinda need to get used to being paid for this stuff since I'm not a student anymore. And I need to learn to "get mad", as my dad puts it, when I don't receive any money for the things I do. In fact, I'm not the only one suffering through this financial torrent of crap, Oscar's right there with me. So I think today, I might call him and we will actually go up to the ad building and get shit done!

Martin 250 Wash.
Rigging up lights. 

The other show I did was put on by Dana's Dance Academy. I had to leave the warmth of the Jack Singley Academy to do it, but it was pretty fun getting to test out a new space and try to make intelligent lighting work for it. I will be happy to be at the Academy for the next gig I'm doing, which I'm told is basically just a celebration for the new Superintendent. I hope they enjoy it, because I'm gonna work my butt off! I might have to install some new trussing over a satellite stage just because they planned to have the band (M5) off to the side. Which I have no idea how they plan on putting an entire band on like, 30 square feet of stage, but let's get this done! (I'm secretly hoping they switch it out to the main stage, but eh, Irving's stubborn)

So here I am, on a nice Wednesday morning, awaiting the day to take over. I need to send out some emails regarding my upcoming Eagle Court of Honor, clean up my room a little bit, and then I have work at 5:30pm. But I also need to eat, and we just ran out of microwave pizzas, so it looks like I'll be having eggrolls...or CocaCola. I'll decide later.

As for now, I hope your day will prove to be awesome! good bye for now!
Matt Wofford

Pictures FINALLY!

That's right! I finally felt like sitting through the boring upload process that entails putting about 800 new pictures from a Nikon D70 to a Macbook Pro. So as that gets going, I'm going to select 10 or 20 photos from that pool of 800 that I feel are my favorites. The entire photo pool can be seen on my Facebook, and I'll probably use the ol' flickr account. If I can remember the credentials, that is.

Photo 1: From D/FW International Airport, with Amilcar. (Day 1)

I took this picture hoping to get the airplane we would be riding on for 9 hours to London Heathrow Airport. I also hoped to capture a childlike sense of wonder! I think I got both things. I don't know why I like this picture so much, but it really stood out to me. Amilcar, I think, tried to make it in every single picture I took. Although, he didn't quite do that much, I think he was in a fair amount, as you'll see if you check out my facebook albums.

Photo 2: From D/FW International Airport (Day 1)

I took this on my way to the D/FW Airport's "people mover". Ashleigh and I rode it around the entire airport while we were bored waiting for our London flight to take off. It was quite fun, and although a lot of the pictures I took on this trip didn't come out because of faulty camera electronics, this is one that stands out. There's almost an amount of symbolism in it. The sign on the pole says elevator, and gives two arrows, an up and a down. I guess thats symbolic to something you can choose, to either go up or down. But with an escalator, you can't really choose. You have to go where it's taking you and hope thats where you want to go. 

Photo 3: Taken at Trafalgar Square in London. Featuring Amilcar and myself.

This photo was one of the first ones when I looked at it I was like "WHOA COOL!!" Of course, anyone who looks at this should say the same. I think this one speaks for itself. But the actual situation was that I wanted to climb on the statue and Amilcar was helping me. It wasn't THAT epic I suppose. 

Photo 4: Taken at Premiere Inn, Wembley, London. 

I know you can't see much looking at this. Just a vending machine, right? WRONG! Well, not really, but it's a very culturally differentiated vending machine! You see some of the more recognizable things like Twix, or M&Ms. But look closely...kit kat never looked like that! Must be a new logo or something. And what's this "walkers" stuff. That looks a lot like lays chips! I really just love cultural differences. I could talk to my New Zealand friend Amy for HOURS about cultural differences. In fact, I think we have done that. Haha. Yeah. Ok. Moving on.

Photo 5:  Scaredy the Squirrely in London!

Oh this squirrel had to be my best friend on the trip. We totally kicked butt together! He would somehow always find a way to express the emotions that I was too afraid to tell! I think we also connected because I too was once I scared creature. (WIZARD OF OZ REFERENCE!) I made him sing songs of joy, and love. I talked to his owner(s), and learned that they are quite awesome people, and I shall be hanging out with them soon enough. Other than that, I really like this picture because you can see all the little details on the squirrel. I love detail!

Photo 6: Line of people at the Crowned Jewels in London

I wonder what it would be like to have something so huge and amazing, that people would gather in the hundreds to see it...to say they were within spitting distance of it. That's right folks, I'm talking about the worlds largest diamond. Measuring in at 530.2 karats, it belongs to the Queen of England, and will probably stay that way for a while, unless some crazy tourist gets creative. I picked this photo just because of the sheer multitude of people that gathered behind our group in less than 20 minutes. It's amazing when you think about how far people come JUST FOR THAT. Ponder that.

Photo 7: Small hotel room in Paris, featuring Amilcar, again. (Day 4)

The French might be super polite, but they really need to work on their living spaces. This is rediculous! Three beds in one room, wall to wall with only about 3 feet of walking space which is halfway taken up by a large wooden desk/cabinet thing! But it sure was fun pranking the dude in the other group with our ninja pillow fighting skills. But that will be discussed later.

Photo 8/9: The Louvre in Paris. (Day 4)

These two shots have to be some of my absolute favorites. I love the power of the sun mixed with a good Nikon. Just stare at these for a while.

Photo 10: Tour d'eiffel en Paris (Day 5)

The eiffel tower! Probably one of my favorite stops on the trip! Everything about it was cool! from waiting in line, to meeting people on the elevator and getting sold countless things by street vendors! It was a great experience and I'm glad I can say I did it!

Photo 11: Pere Lachaise cemeterie en Paris (Day 6)

Jim Morrison! You will be missed. In honor of him, I'm leaving this space fairly empty. Say your own thoughts. Leave some liquor or beer on the grave if you want. Peace.

Photo 12: French snacks! (Day 6)

Yay!! Very yummy items I enjoyed while in Paris. The Orangina is like a softly carbonated orange juice. It's lovely. The chips are actually potato chips au Nature. Which is, natural. No flavors or anything. Just the crisps. It's actually realllllly good. If you ever have the chance to try them, do it. You won't regret it.

Photo 13: Stuart in the middle of a Florentine street. (Day 7)

I swear, every time I saw this man I instantly thought about traveling around the world. He was born in England, taught to speak french and English, and now lives in italy. He eats culture for breakfast! He's a great tour guide and a good talk to person if you have any questions about politics and things of that nature. He has a way of putting words out there in a way that everyone can understand and agree too.  I think the best part about the tours he gave was how he was very "real". It's hard to describe, but most of you understand what I mean.

Photo 14: Crowded Italian Street...crowded by 50 american tourists that is.(Day 7)

It's amazing how small a space Stu managed to get us to take up. He could have fit all 50 of us in a single elevator, and in Europe that's saying a lot. Here we are crowded outside of Leonardo's Leather Shop awaiting our time to go in and be taught about the aesthetics of real Florentine leather. One thing I specifically remember about this time when we were standing in the street, a man came up on a vespa. He was short, and quite stalky. I could immediately tell he was a local just by the coarse curly hair and the gold chain around his neck. He approached me and I instantly reached for my wallet (which was a little bag necklace thing I wore inside my shirt) to make sure I wasn't going to be pick pocketed. He asked me the name of "the bald man". I told him it was Stu, and he instantly smiled and waved his arms around at Stu trying to distract him. He finally got his attention and they went on for a few minutes in the local vernacular, and then he sped off on the scooter as we walked into the shop. Fun times.

Photo 15: Taken at a Florentine Cafe featuring Pizza Margherita (Day 8)

This, my friends, was it! The mother load! The bees knees! The cat's pajamas! Real, authentic, Italian Pizza! I was so happy when it was brought to me. For one because I wasn't about to pay 6 Euros for just one slice of pizza (about 9 dollars), and two I was so happy it was an entire pizza because it almost wasn't enough to fill me up. I couldn't get enough of this delectable creation. Some people say when they have really good food it makes an "orgasm in your mouth." Well, this was like 10. Think of your favorite food and multiply it by like the biggest number you can think of plus another 20. That's how amazing this was. I hate writing about it because I am only missing it more and more with each key stroke. After I ate this, we went and had authentic Italian Gelato. I love italy. They could almost steal Hawaii's catch phrase. "Don't eat til you're full, eat til you're tired."

Photo 16: The bus ride to Assissi/Rome featuring a few different generations. (Day 8)

When i took this, it was really out of impromptu camera button pressing. I went to put the camera back into my bag and it snapped this picture. I now look at it and like it alot! There is so much activity going on. I love it! Ok, enough. This was taken on the way to Assissi, which was a stop on our way to Rome. This was also either shortly before or shortly after I had my first Italian Cappuccino. Oh my goodness it was amazing! The coffee was so good, I had two at every stop I could get one. How I wish starbucks could match it. How I wish.

Photo 17: Ancient History at its finest! (Day 9)

I think the only reason I like this picture isn't because of the photographic qualities of it, because, well, there are none. But because of the history presented here. I mean, I was standing no less than 200 feet away from something that was built by 100s of people over 2000 years ago. Things like that really amaze me. Like, really. The whole time I was walking around Rome I kept thinking "Russell Crowe walked here 2000 years ago". Just kidding about Russell Crowe, but I was constantly thinking about history, and Mr. Austin. Best history teacher ever. 

Photo 18: In the roman hotel featuring Brooklynn (DAY 9)

I know I know, "Matt, this picture has nothing to do with Europe at all." Well, step back for a moment and look, because it has everything to do with Europe! This here is Brooklynn Munsterman. Or as I like to call her M-un-st-errr-man. She is apparently now my best friend, who lives in Missouri. Ha. Her and I had a few good adventures on the trip. Of course, they were nothing big, but I say anyone who takes a picture with someone after only knowing them for a day or two is worth blogging about. It's either that, or this is the only good second picture from Day 9 I could find. Oh well. On to Day 10!

Photo 19: Saint Peter's Basillica in Vatican City (Day 10)

While I love this photo, it's only the second favorite as far as photographic elements are concerned. The first favorite is up on the page a bit more (Photos 8/9). I will never forget walking into Saint Peter's and this was the first thing I saw. Huge beams of light shooting down from heaven. It was really cool. A must see thing. Put this on your bucket list. Even though I could probably recreate similar lighting with some things I learned from my years of theatre and lighting, nothing will compare to this. Ever. 

Mamma Mia...

Here I go Again. My my, how can I resist ya? Well, that was random. Seeing as that the only thing I am trully thinking about right now is pizza, there really was no reason to start this post off with an old abba song. Oh well. Today is Monday, July 26th and it's a beautiful day back in good ol' Texas.

Honestly, I'm getting a bit tired of telling the entire story of my European adventure to anyone that realizes I'm back and asks "Ohh! How was it?! Where did you go?!" I swear, people aren't original at all. No one bothers to ask about anything other than how it was, what the weather was like, or where I went. What about..the food?? Or...the coolest flooring I saw?! In fact, the purpose of me blogging...the purpose of me taking about 30 minutes to an hour each day updating people on what I did that day...was to keep from having to tell people about it once I got back....but apparently it's unavoidable. Oh well. Bragging to people is one of my strong points so I guess I can live.

Today I'm gonna head to work for the first time in a few weeks. Only to give my two week notice...which, in some ways is good, but at the same time, I will miss that place dearly. I'll have to elaborate more later. For now, I must shower and get ready for the day.

Peace!
Matt Wofford