Thinking about it today, I think that directing is 30% creativity, 50% hard work, and 20% insanity.
Last night, we had some technical failures. The computer hooked up to our ceiling mounted projector froze during intermission. Unfortunately, it is not hooked up to a monitor with the ability to do a dual display or go off and on, so we were unable to reset the computer without the entire audience having to watch the reboot process. We did some troubleshooting, but ultimately gave up. My techies think there's a bad cable. Anyhow... so today I decided we'd use the portable lcd projector from my classroom on the a/v cart; however, I knew that just leaving the lcd cart in the middle of the aisle would look bad and detract from the magic. Plus, the light from the monitor would be distracting. So, I came up with a solution: we'd build a hut.
I contacted some of the students and told them I had an idea but needed help constructing it. I bought purple spray paint on my way to campus. They showed up early to help. When they got there, I looked at them and said, "We're gonna build a hut for the projector."
Wonka looked at me and said, "Are you joking?" When he realized I was serious, he helped me dig cardboard boxes out of the dumpster.
Soon, Mike Teavee showed up. When we explained the project, he said, "Are you serious?"
Wonka replied, "That's what I said," but these kids have been with me long enough to know that I rarely give up once an idea pops into my head, so they grabbed the tape and went to work. Eventually, my assistant director showed up, and by then the vision was already taking shape. She trusts my insanity completely and jumped right in to hold boxes while we taped.
"A hut for you," I replied. He laughed, then realized I was serious.
"You want me to sit in it? I'm going to get high on the smell of the spray paint."
"It'll be dry by then, and it's VOC free spray paint. You'll be fine."
20% insanity.
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