I'm employed!!

So school is officially over and it's still kind of sinking in. I'm sure it'll really hit me in the fall when I won't be going back to class with everyone. I'm glad to be done though! Three years is a long time!

The great news is that I've already found a job! I'm working as a costume production assistant on a feature film, for one of my absolute favorite designers! If you know me, you can probably guess who.. :) I've been raving about how awesome she is ever since I had the chance to help her in the research library when I interned at Western costume two years ago.. Anyway, the great news is that the film shoots in LA, so I'm employed through mid December!! It's a period film as well, with some great actors attached, so I'm very excited to get to see this one all the way through from prep thru wrap!

That's all I'll say for now.. but I'm super excited!

Done with grad school!

Well, this weekend was Design Showcase West, marking the end of my time in grad school! It's still kind of sinking in.. graduation is this Friday and then it's officially over! Too weird!

Two weekends ago I was at the National Design Portfolio Review, which was a similar showcase of graduating designers from across the country. We each had a booth where we put up examples of our work and had our portfolio books to peruse, and people came by to chat and give critique. While I was in New York, I had the opportunity to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met (AMAZING!) as well as The Book of Mormon on Broadway! It was pretty hysterically funny.. I have bought the soundtrack since I got back and it's still funny even after listening to it over and over.. Check it out if you're in NYC! (If you can get tickets that is..)

What with all of this portfolio organizing that I've been doing over the past few weeks, I updated a few things around here as well. I added photos and renderings from Erendira, my thesis production, as well as some new illustrations.

Erendira!

The Sad and Incredible Tale of the Innocent Erendira and her Heartless Grandmother opens in two days!

Anyone who's in LA should come check it out! Tickets and showtime info available at:
http://www.tft.ucla.edu/calendar/performance/erendira/

Sneak peek from 2nd dress.. Erendira and her Heartless Grandmother.. :)

National Design Portfolio Review

Exciting news!

I've been selected to represent UCLA at the National Design Portfolio Review in New York City on May 28-29th. It's essentially a chance for graduating MFA students in costume, scenic, and lighting design to network with working professionals and to exhibit their work. Students from all over the country will be coming to present, so it should be an exciting glimpse into what other students around the US have been working on. I'm really excited to have the chance to participate, and anyone in NYC should definitely come by and check it out if you get a chance!

Now to get working on that portfolio..

Wrapped!

Just wrapped tonight on another AFI short, "The Great Commission," about a bible salesman in the 1950s. I'll update the film section later with some pics!

Now that that's over with, it's time to fully focus on my thesis project 100%! It's called The Incredible and Sad Tale of the Innocent Erendira and her Heartless Grandmother, based on the novella of the same name by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It's an original adaptation, written by my director, Monica Payne. Very exciting to be working on something new and original, but it's also based upon an author whose work provides a lot of wonderful things to draw from. We got signed off on the designs last week, and I love the direction we've settled on. It's kind of a surrealist steampunk hybrid of modern and victorian elements with a very tight color palette. Here's a sneak peek at some of the designs:

Film update!

Updated the film section of my portfolio! Added photos two new films: Lil John, an AFI short, and Silk, Sugar, and Shadows, a UCLA short. Lil John is being screened this Friday, excited to see it completed!

Enjoy the pictures!

La Clemenze di Tito

Taking a mini break from doing alterations on the film I'm working on.. thought I'd share some of my final costume renderings from the opera designed for class this quarter. We were designing La Clemenze di Tito, an Italian opera seria written by Mozart in the late 18th century. I bumped my version forward a bit to around 1810-1815, and did a very stylized interpretation of Neoclassical revivalism. I also had to design the set and lights, which was a challenge to say the least, having no experience with either! Anyway, hope you enjoy the renderings! Now back to work for me..

Silver Gardens Trailer!

The trailer for Silver Gardens was released tonight! Take a peek!

New navigation system!

A quick note to mention that I installed a swanky new mouseover viewing system on the portfolio pages! Instead of clicking on each thumbnail, just mouseover each one you want to view and it will appear to the left! Let me know if there's anything not working properly and I'll fix it. :)

Portfolio updates include new photos of Copenhagen, and the trailer for Honest Cheat!

Copenhagen photos

Finally got photos of Copenhagen from the photographer this week! They came out really great, I'm very pleased with how these will look in my portfolio!

Enjoy!

Upcoming projects..

Now that Copenhagen has closed, I have a few new things coming up!

- I'm working on the designs for my thesis show, The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Erendira and Her Heartless Grandmother directed by Monica Payne. Monica and I had a great time working together on Elektra, so now we're teaming up again for this adaptation of the novella by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Monica has adapted the story for stage herself (ambitious!), and everything at this point suggests that it's going to be quite a spectacular show! We've been looking at a lot of steampunk, circus, and South American research, so we're working out how to combine all of those influences in a way that creates a world entirely our own. It opens May 21st and closes June 4th. See UCLA's website for dates and more info.

- Lil John, an AFI short film about a girl who meets a guy online who turns out to be only a few inches tall. Very cute, funny story! Excited to learn more about greenscreen techniques and forced perspective shots on this one..

- Silk, Sugar, and Shadows or Me and Mr Jones, a UCLA short film about a wealthy couple whose lives are infiltrated by a manipulative younger man. The cast is nearly all African American, and the concept is a very stylized contemporary world.

- For my "Collaborative Design" class, we're designing sets, lights, and costumes for Mozart's La Clemenze di Tito (The Clemency of Tito). It's my first chance to design for opera, as well as my first go at scenic design. Definitely proving to be challenging, but fun! My version is set in early 19th century Britain, during the Neoclassical revival.

Honest Cheat Trailer!

The trailer for Honest Cheat, the independent feature film I designed two years ago, was just released! Check it out and if you like it, please donate at http://www.indiegogo.com/TheHonestCheat. They're raising the money for pickup shots and post-production, hoping to get it out for festivals in the fall.

Copenhagen in the Daily Bruin!

Well, Copenhagen has opened and closed, and we got a nice writeup in the Daily Bruin!

I'll post some more official photos from the show once I get them from the photographer.

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UCLA students enact a conversation about nuclear research just before World War II in play ‘Copenhagen”

By ARIT JOHN
Published January 27, 2011 in A&E, Theater & Arts

Just as the chaos of World War II was about to break out in Europe, two friends and colleagues sat down to have a conversation in Copenhagen, Denmark, about the future of nuclear research.

Michael Frayn’s award-winning dramatization of the night’s events, “Copenhagen,” is being presented tonight by the UCLA theater department. Directing the play is Alex Levy, a candidate for a master’s in fine arts in directing.

“The play is about how collisions in history force us to decide what kind of world we’re going to have and what kind of world we’re going to live in,” Levy said.

Before beginning the MFA program at UCLA, Levy directed a theater company in Chicago. He returned to school after a 10-year hiatus to give himself the opportunity to experiment.

“I had a great company in Chicago, and I was very proud to work there and be a part of it, but as an artist, you’re always looking to stretch and to see what else you can do and to try new things,” Levy said.

Levy’s interest in “Copenhagen” arose out of the idea that nuclear physicists held the power to either improve or destroy the world. According to Levy, the play does not pass judgment so much as explore the way that man’s actions force decisions on the fate of the world.

“Copenhagen” is structured around the 1941 meeting between Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr, two leaders in atomic research. Though the conversation is shrouded in mystery, it is believed that Heisenberg said something about the ability to create nuclear weapons, but the specifics of that conversation, as well as Bohr’s response, are unknown, Levy said.

“What is historically known is that in 1941, Werner Heisenberg came to occupied Denmark to have a conversation with Niels Bohr,” Levy said. “What was said during that conversation is the leaping-off point for this play.”

The play follows a non-linear format. It jumps around chronologically between various important moments in Heisenberg and Bohr’s relationship.

“We go through different parts of history that illuminate what these two men went through,” said Jake Rude, a third-year student who plays Niels Bohr. “We actually start in 1941 and then we’ll jump to 1947 and then we’ll go back to 1922, and it just bounces all over the place.”

The play centers around the evolving relationship among three historical figures: Werner Heisenberg, played by third-year Robert Rushin; Niels Bohr, played by Rude; and Bohr’s wife Margrethe, played by fourth-year Heather Kellogg. All three are theater students with acting concentrations.

Though Bohr and Heisenberg are the major historical figures in the play, Margrethe Bohr’s character is just as prominent as the men in the play.

Kellogg said she is an observer who pushes thoughts through to the other characters. Her character works to remind the men of the rough patches in their relationship.

“My relationship with Heisenberg is that he was someone that came into our house and worked with Niels but … it wasn’t a good time. A lot of great physics came out of it, but it was (a time of) jealousy and tears,” Kellogg said.

As the only actors in the play, much of “Copenhagen’s” success lies with Rude, Rushin and Kellogg. These roles depend on the actors’ abilities to handle being on stage for the entire play and perform on many different levels because the three must carry the play, Levy said.

“It’s quite a challenge for actors who are decades into their careers to pull off these roles, so for these three young actors, it’s really amazing watching them take on the challenge,” Levy said.

Part of the difficulty of portraying these characters lies in the pressure the script puts on the actors to represent jumps in time. Though the play covers several decades, there are no costume changes, no dramatic make-up changes or any attempts to age the characters.

“It’s not necessarily about the physical transformation from time to time, because this whole show is kind of a memory play. It’s all taking place in this unexplained, amorphous environment. It really comes down to our understanding of it emotionally, not necessarily physically,” Rushin said.

“Copenhagen” is also about exploring morality. Bohr and Heisenberg both worked extensively on atomic research – Heisenberg was ostracized for his research done for the Nazis, and Bohr worked with the American team that created the first atomic bomb. The play explores the way people determine right and wrong.

“I think what (the play) does is ask us questions that show us the way morality is judged is relative,” Levy said. “I think it challenges us to examine the world more than tells us where to go.”


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“Copenhagen”
Jan. 27-29 at 8 p.m. and Jan. 29 at 2 p.m.
Freud Playhouse, FREE