Posts Tagged With: theatre

New Year, New Goal

Posted on January 3, 2016 by lifeisjustduckie

After years of being lazy with crafting and selling my crafts I made some decent strides in December. I went to my first craft show and started an Esty shop. I’ve even made a banner for it!

EtsyBanner1

It’s the little things like these that make me feel accomplished.

I’m going to join the new resolution bandwagon and instead of making a list for 2016 choose a word to focus on for the year.

My word is productive.

One of my biggest struggles is having too many ideas and not producing any of them, so this year I hope to be productive and make things happen.

I hope to stick with this the whole year, but I won’t beat myself up if other words/goals become more important. As my favourite playwright says:

OscarWilde1

Categories: Crafty Duck, Daily Duck | Tags: daily duck, Etsy, fun times, goals, me-made, New Year, quotes, theatre | Leave a comment

Book Review kiss me like a stranger

Posted on March 24, 2015 by lifeisjustduckie

I finally got to Burke’s, the bookstore around the corner from the intern house. I bought three books and blazed through one in a few days.

Gene Wilder’s memoir, kiss me like a stranger, was an open and honest glimpse into his life. I’ve always loved Gene Wilder in everything I’ve seen him in (not much as I found out) and I was excited to read about him.

Growing up I first saw Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which I was incredibly surprised to learn was considered a flop at the box office. It only earned $4,000,000, one million more than its budget. I also discovered that Wilder was a writer having many ideas turned into movies, most well-known to me being Young Frankenstein.

Reading about Gene Wilder’s stage days were particularly interesting because I hadn’t known about them. He auditioned for and became part of The Actors Studio, here he was mentored by Lee Strasburg. In those early days Gene had focused on being dramatic instead of playing to his comedic strengths, and Strasburg called him out on it, saying:

“I got news for you: If you don’t know how you’re going to act some part of the script–work on what you do know. Build up your confidence a little bit. That will help you find what you don’t know.”

I was struck by this statement. So often I focus on what I need to be doing and learning and working on that I forget to play to my strengths. I spend too much of my time and energy worrying about how I’m doing compared to others. My biggest competition is myself; as long as I’m doing better than I was yesterday that should count as a win.

I loved this book. The flow was easy and made me want to read way past my bedtime. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone, specifically theatre people and those interested in Gene Wilder.

Categories: Duck Duck Book | Tags: books, fun times, gene wilder, quotes, reading, theatre | 4 Comments

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Posted on November 14, 2014 by lifeisjustduckie

Oh. My. Goodness. As the title implies there’s been quite a few changes in my life recently.

Sorry it seems like I abandoned ship. I didn’t. But guys…I moved. If you remember, I had already moved back to Fairmont earlier this year. I was pretty content. Working at Colasessano’s, a pizza place, and taking two classes at Fairmont State. I was actually doing pretty well, probably better with my classes than I had when I was there before…oops…

ANYWAYS!

I kept getting SETC’s e-mails for new job postings and one came up for a costume internship at Playhouse on the Square. No big, I’d already applied and gotten shot down a few times this year, from internships and one real sweet Americorps gig, but this was my #1 choice theatre at SETC…so I had to panic and rush around to rewrite/piece together a new cover letter and resume. Well it worked!

I GOT HIRED!

Then the fun part came, and I had roughly 2.5 weeks to get my life in order. I somehow, with the help of my parents and my fella, got my apt sorted/packed/and put in storage. It was crazy! Sidenote, I have waaaaaaaay too much stuff, but we’ll talk about that later. My fella, Anthony, and I loaded my car up and I embarked on a 2 day trip to Memphis, Tennessee. I broke the 12 hour drive up by stopping in Lexington, Kentucky. I have a cousin who lives there, as well as a college friend who works for the children’s theatre.

So, I’ve been living in Memphis for about a month…why not post sooner? Well the answer is my computer died…kaput, no green light, nothing. It lasted me almost 6 years before kicking the bucket, so I am very grateful for it. But Kelly, how are you typing this…?

I GOT A NEW COMPUTER, YA’LL!!!

It is so very pretty and shiny, and a pretty early Christmas present from my parents. Yay! Thanks Mom and Dad!

So long story short, I have relocated farther south and I’m enjoying it so far. We got our first dusting of snow this morning, which is apparently quite uncommon, but I found it reassuring. This is a real brief summary of my life the last couple of months, hopefully I’ll settle into a new rhythm soon.

Categories: Daily Duck | Tags: daily duck, new, theatre | Leave a comment

Me Made May 2014 is Winning…

Posted on May 20, 2014 by lifeisjustduckie

So I have discovered that for as crafty as I am I have very few me mades that work for this season/whole/pieces of an outfit. Luckily my pledge hasn’t been the most difficult to keep but sometimes I feel like it is winning.

Last week I traveled to Minnesota with my parents to watch my brother and sister graduate from their band instrument repair tech program. It was exciting! I don’t remember the last time I’ve been in a car for that many miles, even going to Alabama in March only took one day of driving. I was very good and planned ahead by making a trip to the yarn store so I would have a project to work on. I bought this beautiful variegated yarn for a tank top that I hope to finish by the end of the month.

The week before our trip I was able to attend the theatre awards at my alma mater, Fairmont State. These awards are called the Pappy’s after a member of the faculty from some years ago. While I had plenty of dresses that could work, I hadn’t refashioned anything in a while and knew I could fulfill part of my MMM14 pledge while I was at it. Unfortunately I was so excited I only have one before picture, after a cut had been made…

One day I’ll remember the before shot…

As you can see it was a full length spaghetti strap gown which I shortened, but don’t worry I used that bottom portion to add sleeves!

Pose, pose, pose!

As you can see a great time was had by all! And the night got sillier as it went on, ending with an impromptu photo shoot at my friend Tyler’s house. I think this dress makes a wonderful addition to my refashioned wardrobe and I had a fun time making it. I hope to refashion some more outfits soon, I have a stack of clothes waiting for me to get my mojo back.

I’ve been a little hard on myself with the pledge, which is not what it’s about at all and I want to start having more fun with it. This dress definitely helped with the fun part.