mary-masked

More About Buffy Burlesque!

Published: November 25th 2019, 5:10:26 pm

"I've never done tech for burlesque before," Our tech person warned me. "I've just done lighting for improv shows."

"You are MORE than qualified," I assured her.

It's so rare that burlesque has any kind of lighting design. Even in festivals you just say "uh, something spooky." and hope for the best. Lighting is the one part of design that I wouldn't really trust myself to do well. It's the aspect of design that seems most mysterious to people and usually the first to be chucked when you don't have a budget. But, wow, can it make a difference. Theatrical lighting is like an instgram filter. It adds extra drama and polish, and covers up some blemishes. Or if it's bad, it makes everything look terrible.

For this show we actually did a paper tech, which I haven't done since I was 16. And then she set levels and I gave feedback, which isn't something I've EVER done. It made me feel like a director, which is a very precious feeling that I don't get to experience anywhere near as much as I'd like. I still miss theatre sometimes, but who knows when I'll do something about that.

This show went really well though! We had a good crowd and a great cast and, for once, NOTHING WENT HORRIBLY WRONG! That is a BIG deal for me. Especially given how little lead time we had (like, maybe a month?)

The shirt turned out well and it's much easier to make Johnny look like Angel than like Spike. And he seems to pick up fight choreography easier than dance choreography so that helped a lot.

I'm particularly proud of this prop because it looks really cool but was shockingly easy to put together. It's just a clear christmas ornament with tiny LEDs, some clear plastic packaging, and gold foil tape. The hardest part was scraping the decoration off of a dollar store ornament! Those tiny LED strings are a fucking godsend.

It looks so magical!

I couldn't watch the show but the audience had a blast so I know it was good. After the show, we screened an episode of Buffy, just like the other shows in the festival. This turned out to be a really fun bonding experience for the crowd. And as I was getting dressed to go to the show, I remembered that I have the same dress that Buffy wears in the episode we were showing!

It's extremely short so I always have to layer it with something, but on its own it was a great post-burlesque outfit. I wasn't going to make a big deal out of it, but when I came out into the audience, there was sort of a murmur that went through the crowd till everyone was like "OMG, she's wearing the same dress!" and a small applause struck up. Ham that I am I got up, did a fashion turn, and took a bow.

The lead up to the show was pretty stressful. It was my first time producing with someone who was more busy/disorganized than I am. But, like, everything go done and the show worked! 

I produced a show almost totally on my own and it actually went well! It was promoted enough to get people to see it. And the set lists weren't scribbled on a napkin! It's heartening to know that I *can* produce a show on my own.

Of course, I slept for 20 hours the next day and spent a couple days feeling like I'd been kicked down a flight of stairs, so I'm not about to make a habit of it.