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9.5.12

to those who appreciate wisteria and sunshine





Sometimes I forget how spectacular my current occupation is. I'll be hastily walking through the quiet, dimly lit theatre to my next errand and stop... and look up at the stage (^this specific one in particular) ...and think I helped do that (and I got paid for it) The way I received the job offer was quite coincidental. That particular day I happened to peruse my way to the job board online, it was the first time I'd ever looked. Posted that day was a job offer for a "prop assistant." It sounded intriguing. So I marched myself down to the theatre office and handed Judy a resume. In pure happenstance Brother Ray was in said office checking his box and Judy said "this is your girl, Ray" and he said "can you lift 50 pounds?" I replied "Yes." And he said back, in a way only people who know Ray could truly appreciate "are you sure?"

And suddenly I found myself employed in the BYU-Idaho Theatre Department as a prop assistant. Or prop-master. Or prop-mistress. Or properties-mistress. Or prop-tart (I know.) Or really whichever name the theatre professors give me.

My tasks differ from day to day and are, for lack of a better word, completely random. I have a list of props we need for upcoming shows and I either pull it from one of our 2 storage rooms on campus or 3 storage sites off campus, order it online, or make it. Hmn, lets see... in the past I've pulled a taxidermy squirrel (and raccoon for that matter), ordered a used primitive birthing stool, and made an elephant foot umbrella stand. Random, yes?

These photos are from one of our shows last semester, "Enchanted April" (Liz was the lead, and she was magical) It was an equally huge and beautiful set. See that 2nd photo? I spent hours in the woods cutting "monkey vine" to crawl on the castle, chopped limbs to make the tree, hung the camo net and ivy, spray-glued the moss to dress the set, carried that danged statue across campus, pulled that table and those chairs and everything on top, carried every single last one of those plants from storage to stage, and pulled the light fixtures. See that 3rd photo? I gave literal blood, sweat and tears to those chairs as I reupholstered them and filled that brandy glass with flat, watered down ginger ale. (All with direction from the amazing professors and staff in the department and help from tech students and stage managers, of course)

So yes, toot-toot. And yes, I love my current calling.

17 comments:

abby said...

That is so neat, Kate. I mean sooo neat. I'm just kind of marveling.

Unknown said...

Okay now I've got an image to what your lugging around on the phone. Did you tell her you could lift fifty and multitask on the phone all at once ? :) also where is your barn pic? Really Kate your amazing I had no idea these were so spectacular!! Great job!

Lauren said...

What an unusual job! Lovely story and much more interesting than mine (a butchery assistant in a supermarket!) x

carla thorup said...

TOOT TOOT.

you shoulda capitalized the dickens out of it bc it's so gorgeous.

kate said...

you go right on and toot that horn, kate lines! i'm uber impressed (and i can TOTALLY see you doing this!)

Mandy said...

I want to write a novel about a girl who works as a prop-assistant now. Magical.

Talia Jensen said...

that last photo is magical. seems to be a swell job indeed :)

Shaina Longstreet said...

I have worked on a number of productions with our local theater here. Backstage work is my favorite. What a great testimony to a job you love. :)

Liz said...

1. Thanks for the compliment. If I was magical, it was because that set MADE me magical. Especially in that last scene.

2. I can totally hear Bro. Ray saying "are you sure?" that way.

3. I miss working in the Theatre Department so much already! I loved that you never knew what was going to be sitting in the office when you got to wor...a full-scale skeleton, or a magical staff, or a box of feathers, or...

4. I miss Enchanted April. Blood, sweat, and tears, but geez I miss it.

Unknown said...

Exciting! I work for the dance costume shop on campus, its fun to see your work put to use :) and these sets are super wonderful.

Brittany said...

oo prop-master sounds just too fun to be getting paid! that's awesome!
lovely photos too :)

mad white woman said...

Toot and love away... I think it's fantastic. :)

angela hardison said...

how fun! it sounds like hard work, but seriously what a cool job.

Ezra, Kian & Eden said...

That's pretty dang amazing lady!

Jules said...

These photos make me miss BYU-I theatre soooo much.

And: prop-tart. That KILLS me.

Emily said...

Ummmm, this is AWESOME! It's so nice to see your hard work in such a tangible way! Well done. Now I'm craving ginger ale. And really, do I want to know what a birthing stool is??? I'm intrigued but kind of terrified.

chelsea :: stock said...

you must feel like you can do anything now, huh.


what amazing experience to have.