This show was produced and performed by some friends I’d worked with before, but hadn’t seen in ages, so wonderful to see them all again.  It was also performed in one of my favorite off-off-Broadway spaces, the Women’s Interart Center, home to my friends at Blessed Unrest, but also where I directed Stormy Weather: Tornado/Avalanche.

Shooting in these small spaces is always a challenge.  There’s not enough house to be able to move freely without being in everyone’s way — there was creative team in every row!  I pretty much shot from one spot, but occasionally scenes unfolded favoring the other side of the stage, so I tried to head to the other side of the house around the back (oddly enough, essentially backstage) only to find that the angles there were worse!  Of course that’s when the eponymous prop made his entrance and I wasn’t able to get a good shot (pardon the pun) of him.

Sometimes the Seagull wins…

This was another project I was also involved in as a performer and another marvelous opportunity.  This piece was created in the Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue and 66th Street, again, a place I’ve seen some amazing theatre, music and installations.

This was an unusual opportunity for me!  Puppet theatre in Brooklyn.  Some really creative and expressive pieces.

This was an incredibly fortunate gig for me.  A friend of mine was directing this piece for Montclair State University’s Peak Performance Series.  I’ve seen some amazing work there (Romeo Castellucci’s Hey Girl! for one) and was honored to be working with them.  This was also my first time using my almost brand new Canon 5D Mark III for any extensive shooting.  Thereby hangs a tale!  About 15 minutes into the show I switch lenses and something happens — maybe some static charge, I don’t know what… but my LCD screen goes green only.  I can see the images, info, menus, everything — but like you would have seen on an early 1980’s computer — all in green.  I’m freaking out, but I keep shooting, hoping that it’s just the display.  I’m making adjustments to shutter speed and aperture totally by the indicator in the viewfinder with really no way to check if I’m getting good results.  For those of you who don’t shoot performing arts, this is nerve wracking, because there are wild variations in lighting, it’s frequently MUCH darker than you’d like, you certainly can’t use a flash, and actors and dancers tend to keep moving around, meaning you can’t have low shutter speeds!  One good thing is the 5DMIII’s pretty clean higher ISOs.  I bumped the ISO up fairly high and just hoped for the best.

Turns out it WAS just the display and the shots had all turned out OK.  I did everything I could think of to reset the camera, but to no avail.  Green screen all the way.  I sent it to Canon — just in time for it to get stuck at their repair facility during Superstorm Sandy!  Once they re-opened and a tech was able to look at my camera, it had miraculously fixed itself.  Who knows…  It’s worked fine ever since.

This show was part of the 2010 NY Fringe Festival. Directed, performed and produced by friends through SITI Company training, this show had a lot to offer visually.

This was a show I not only shot, but directed, too!