June 2 2013

Don Juan in Tech Rehearsal February 2013. Photo: Manuel Rotenberg. Dancers: Members of the San Diego Ballet. The first movement of the Dream section was sort of presented as a look at all of the previous women in Don Juan's life. Past girlfriends coming back to haunt him.

Daily Stuff: The main focus of today was meeting with Jan, my costume designer for SUDS at NewVillage Arts. It was the first meeting so we just went over the basics of what was needed by each character in the show and the style of the piece. I told her to think of a bottle of children's vitamins as far as the color palate was concerned. But as I was talking I also came to a realization about the show. The original designer, Gregg Barnes, did a wonderful job in creating costumes that pretty much summed up each character the moment they stepped on to the stage. Audiences would often laugh and respond as each character walked through the door. And that this visual "short hand" is important to the show. All that said, I wanted to make sure that Jan felt that she would have a bit of artistic wiggle room.

Continuing from my though track yesterday...

My first Arts Engagement assignment was a visit to the AjA Project to check out Brandie Maddelena's installation, "The Nature of a Door is to be Opened." 

Vicki Leon was volunteered to go down with me. Truth be told, I had not visited the first time because the place was not that easy to find. The website had neither an address, operating hours, or a phone number in an easy to find space. But this time I had a mission.

So after some searching on the website, I managed to find a number. A very nice person answered and told me that they thought that someone would be there until 2:30 or 3:00, but that I would need to pound on some interior doors to be let in. Already sounding like an adventure.

So I picked Vicki up at her studio (her car had burst into flames) and we made it to the AJA Project before the zero hour. I pounded on the door and was allowed entry.

Brandie's project is right in the foyer and easily accessed. The idea is 2nd graders relate and record an early memory which is then rendered by 5th graders. These "installations" are all housed in individual, connected cabinets. When you open the door to each cabinet, the recording starts. There are about 50 of them.

Very sweet.

All of the children are from the City Heights neighborhood where the AJA Project is situated, so it fits well with their mission.

Afterwards, I dropped Vicki off at her studio, but before I left I took a nice tour. Continued tomorrow.

For more info on the AjA Project go to... http://www.ajaproject.org/

For more info on Brandie Maddalena... http://maddalenaarts.com/