Friday, September 26, 2008

The grandfather Clock

Building this marvel of mechanical engineering was extremely taxing even for such a trim individual as myself. It's only natural to expect that such a feat of architecture would require some level of grunt work but I don't think any of us who turned up expected the slavish hacking of wood and careful attention to detail that this activity entailed. Not unlike the builders of the Taj Mahal I expect. If the Taj Mahal had been made of wood. And looked like a giant clock. And also our arms are still attached to elbows. But that's all. Everything considered, it was pretty fun, and clearly, as I think the photos will evidence, none of us is averse to intense physical activity. If we weren't so well suited for this university thing some of us (chiefly me) could probably have reasonably successful careers as woodsmen/women, or, alternatively, models.










Wednesday, September 24, 2008

more next pictures!






here's the cast of Next.













and i agree with christine. it really is annoyingly difficult to blog pictures!

12/09/08 next rehearsal!!! finally!!!

yes i made myself blog this before i went to bed!
you better enjoy this! as you probably already know, us bloggers were tremendously bored during the Next rehearsal, and here's what we were doing:



the Stage VP! was messing with his lappy!


























rashidah our production publicity head showed off her very pink collection!
























that's her.

























and christine was laughing to herself reading the next script!




















Virtuous Burglar Photoshoot

I am now at the Virtuous Burglar photoshoot and it is so cool! I can't wait for the final photos to be out!

For now, here's a sneak peek at the shots 'behind the camera lens'..


The venue of the photoshoot:















Testing out the lights















Must get the lights juuusttt.. right















Photoshoot is hard work!















The burglar and his wife















The cast of VB
















Stay tuned for the actual photos!

Monday, September 22, 2008

I'm not crazy I'm just a little unwell

Hi. I've never blogged before so I'd like to take this opportunity to blame my lack of experience for anything wrong I might do now or in the future. Thank you for your consideration, and have a nice day.



pz.

i cannot transfer pictures to my laptop at the moment.

yup. what the title said.

will do it by tomorrow latest. stay tuned.

shroom eats world.

hi,

i am the i-have-no-idea-what-number-th blogger on this blog.

if you're reading this blog, thank you for your attention.

and if the thought 'this is lame or terribad' came to mind,
we're working on it so don't close us off too soon.
this blog is still work in progress.

yes. as is shown by the apparent trend
i guess im supposed to introduce myself.

im an arts and social sciences student
majoring in communications and new media
and considering a second major
in theatre studies or sociology.

i am currently doing 
the introductory module to theatre studies 
so please do expect
some semblance of a semiotic perspective
with respect to some of the stuff we do.

if i dont, please kick me.
i need to be applying what im learning.

yes i suppose that's all from me.
for now.

Esplanade:-Theatres on the Bay


Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay is without a doubt, Singapore's most exciting performance arts venue to date. Located at the waterfront overlooking Marina Bay, the complex with its distinctive dome-shaped roofs comprises a 1,600-seat concert hall, a 2,000-seat theatre and several recital rooms, theatre and rehearsal studios, as well as outdoor performing spaces.Also lovingly dubbed “the Durian” by locals, after the prickly tropical fruit, the Esplande – Theatres on the Bay also houses a mall, cosmopolitan food outlets and the library@esplanade – Singapore’s first arts library with literature and audio-visual materials covering music, dance, film and theatre.

Esplanade originally means a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls. Esplanade and promenade are sometimes used interchangeably, but that is a mistake. A promenade can be anywhere, and it is exclusively for walking, while an esplanade is for walking but also can include large boulevards or avenues with cars.
Another interesting fact about The Esplanade is that it occupies the site of the former "Satay Club" a popular food haunt for Singaporeans which had been discontinued prior to the Esplanade's construction. Currently the "Satay Club" was re-allocated next to Sembawang Shopping Center which is now demolished.
Officially opened on October 12, 2002, Esplanade was developed at a cost of SGD 600 million.

Programme Booklet Design

I have just received the design for the programme booklet! *smug smile*
It's really, really nice and I love it. Of course I'm not allowed to reveal it to you guys yet because it's TOP SECRET. Whaha.
So right now, hang on tight as we await the confirmation from the higher powers of Stage. Hopefully they give the thumbs up and you'll be able to get your hands on a copy during Back2back!

Friday, September 19, 2008

christine 02 + pictures!!!

hello hello!!!
ok i know i promised updates on Next soon and this is abit later than soon. heh sorry(: i'm sure ya'll forgive me anyway!

well then on with the post.

the Next rehearsal that i attended was unfortunately just a reading session. in other words, the actors and the director basically just sat around and did read throughs of the script in order to confirm just how they want the lines and what not to be put across. this meant that it was dead boring for those watching. hahahaha. so i spent the time reading the script for Next and i have to say it really is funny. haha. yes yes i realise i am in NUS Stage and that i should already know that they are fantastic and all that jazz. but hey i'm new to both NUS and NUS Stage and NUS Stage is super new and i have yet to see any of the productions so it does make sense if i was abit apprehensive. but my fears have been put to rest! the script truly is funny!

so yes we[publicity people and whoever else] basically just spent the time mucking around. gaurav has videos and sherman has pictures that i'm sure they'll upload asap(:

so Next rehearsal was on friday the 12th. Some of publicity met up on friday the 19th to continue with the painting of our publicity boards for BACK2BACK and daaaaamn they are pretty fantastic if i do say so myself.

here are some sneak previews!!! the final work will be revealed soon! so do look out for it!
but before that, let's have the hardworking painters!

Shruthi[designer/artist/painter]


Ankita[designer/artist/painter]


Shruthi[painter]


Rashidah[our dearly beloved head of publicity]


Paaritosh[designer/painter]


Kadam[painter]


and of course ME! well all i did was paint like a total of 10 strokes but you know....


and yeah i had to crouch over like a moron cause i was moronic enough to wear a skirt. meh.

ANYHOOO
here's the progress of our extremely cool burgler! whom i think looks kinda pervertic ahahaha.

1.

2.

3.

4.



alrighty then, that's all for now. uploading photos is a PAIN i tell you so all you lil people better appreciate it(:
i've gotta go study now!!! bye ya'll!!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

NUS Stage's First (Teeny-Weeny) Play!

Hello there! I'm Rashidah and to follow Christine's template, am a Year 2 FASS sophomore majoring in E Lang. Yes, Christine, I am majoring in E Lang, and no I am not crazy.

Well, while you're all (excitedly) waiting for Back2Back, here's a little snippet of our first tiny play we staged at the NX Gallery at the NUS Museum on the 21st of Oct. Rachel Lee, the writer, performed in this play, along with 5 other brilliant actors and actresses (I was one of them ;p)

The same play was also staged at Central Forum the following Monday as part of the "NUS Fights Climate Change!" Carnival.

So enough about me and I'll let Rachel tell you more about her experience :) See you guys at Back2back!!



@*^@*$@*%@*@*$&@(^#$&&#(*$^&%#@*&^#**(@@)!>@?&(*@^@&&&@&)#(&@)#^@)*#)!@#)()@()#?!~!

That's "hi i'm Rachel, a freshie from biz" in leetspeak. =)

My "drama-tic" journey began 7 years when I stumbled upon the joys of theatre in secondary school and there wasn't a single doubt that I would be joining nus stage when I was in nus. SO YEAY NUS STAGE!!!

Soooo, the focus for today would be the recent environmental play that was staged in collabo with NUSSU SAVE. The concept of the play was that an ecoterrorist father gets a taste of his own medicine when confronted in a courtroom presided by the one and only Mother Earth.

I auditioned for the skit and got selected for the part of Mdm Butterfly and Flora xD. Rehearsals started almost immediately, as there was only a week to complete blocking and to polish up the script. Rehearsals were pretty fun (lol rehearsals are always fun). The cast got along fab after 3 or 4 rehearsals together - I remember one particular rehearsal where everyone degenerated into goofballs of laughter and couldn't continue for about 5 minutes.

Our first venue was at the NUS museum. The minutes before performance were spent fretting, wondering if anybody was going to be there to watch it. I quite liked it even though there wasn't an actual stage because the audience was quiet and the whole environment was well-suited for performing.

Our second venue was at the central forum. We were given both a stage and microphones to work with. The microphones were a bit hard to work with as the cast had to balance our speaking volumes with the mic volume. Also, given that the space was an open area, it was noisier (something that I'm not entirely used to) and we had to sustain the people's attention.

So that just about sums up my reflections on the environmental play!

@*&#(@^$&(@$^%*@#@*$@$%#(&$%#?>@?#<$#&#?#(&)~@#>?>


Cheers,
Rachel~




The cast (from left): Ruen Qing, Rachel, Rashidah, Waseem, Akash, Prasanta
















----------------------------------------------------------------------

ps: Are you back2back?

Friday, September 12, 2008

Christine's First

Heyy!!

Welcome to my very first post on the NUS stage blog!

Who am I? Well, here goes the standard tutorial introduction:

“Hi, I’m Christine. First year FASS student, am interested in Theatre and hence, THINKING[emphasis on the thinking] of majoring in theatre studies”

Ok I guess that’s all you need to know for now(:

Anyway, I’m sure ya’ll are just dying for news on our latest productions. Namely, “Next” and “Virtuous Burgler”. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to make it for a practice session so all you nice lil people out there will just have to hold on to your horses. Not for very long though cause I will be attending the practice session for Next on Friday and so, you’ll have interesting tidbits soon!

For now, let me pimp out “Buds Youth Theatre”.

“Buds Youth Theatre provides free theatre skills training to young people aged 16 - 25 who share an interest in the performing arts. Members receive training in practical aspects of theatre making and take part in our theatre productions. We rehearse on Sundays at The Substation from 11.30am to 2pm.” Source: http://www.substation.org/associate_artists/performance/buds_youth_theatre.html

It’s something I recently stumbled across on while checking out The Substation’s website. It sounds like a smaller scale theatre studies module that will already [maybe] be a ton more interesting simply because of the age range. Plus if it’s anything like the course I went for in The Substation, I’m sure it’ll be a fantastic experience. Also, come on people, find that inner Singaporean, it’s FREE!

So yes, do go check it out cause it does seem fun and if you do, please comment and let me know how it is. Thanks in advance!

For now, I shall bid you arrivederci. Which I do believe is Italian for “till we meet again”.