101.

     On Sunday, I shot the tech rehearsal for Dead Letters. It is to be put on at Loew's Jersey Theatre. It is a huge old theatre in Jersey City. It is clear that it was once an extravagant, beautiful theatre that has fallen into unfortunate disrepair. I had never walked through an empty theatre of such size. It was a very humbling experience. You can't help but feel very small. It was like sitting in a corpse.
     Everything is ornately detailed and gilded like a temple dedicated to the gods of theater. It reminded me of when Margo speaks of theater in All About Eve and she says, "All the religions in the world rolled into one, and we're gods and goddesses." It is horribly sad to think of it in its dilapidated state. That world of Margo Channing is gone and this is what is left. With paint peeling off the walls, holes in the flooring and staples holding the curtain together, this theater is holding on with everything it has. I don't know if it would be better to restore the place or let her go with dignity.

93.

      This is the final installment for my seminar project. At this point, I feel as though I have perfected, or at least gotten much closer to, the method of photographing these people. Last time I did a project like this, I felt like I wanted to continue it and feel the same way with this one. It is not complete but it was a semester project and now it's over. I supposed there is no reason I should stop, I certainly do not HAVE to but, who is the audience? Where is the time?

91.

     This is another installment of images for seminar project. I have started looking at the people as characters. I have been only taking horizontal pictures so they look more like film stills Although that goes against the theatrical aspect, it goes along with my photographing them as characters. The light is theatrical in some and cinematic in some, either way, I love play with it.
     I especially love the the moment I caught from Jessica Chastain. I feel that it looks very cinematic in an old Hollywood way, as though her character was being yelled at by or saying goodbye to the man in the hat. And she looks beautiful - with her lipstick and curled hair - it's all quite perfect. I was lucky to get that one, I think. I do need to get images of the actors with their eyes up, but the sad look on her face works in the case, I think.
     They are crappy scans but I don't intend on spending the time until the final is due - I just did a quick scan of all of them.

90.

       Although I should have, I have not completely decided on a seminar project. Thus far, I have been going to mid town and photographing the people coming out of the theatres. For one, I love the feeling of coming out of show, it is like coming from some alternate world into the bright, dirty, New York reality. I love the people that get dressed up, I love the old people milling around each other, I love the congregations at the stage doors - the devout few waiting for a picture or an autograph. I love the cops containing the crowds to the side walks. I love the sleeping men in town cars, waiting for some performer to take home. I love shooting in the dark. The grainy, almost black images I get is what I see. Using only available light poses a big problem but there is something so romantic about the final product that I don't really care if I get two good images on one roll. It is a almost reminiscent of theatrical lighting, which, in this case, couldn't be more perfect.
    There is something I like very much about the theater: the fact that interaction is possible. I love that when you applaud, the performers hear you, they see you and you are REALLY seeing them. That is something I love about the stage door, ha, they're actually real people and they love to perform for you and you love it when they perform.  I have been playing around with the ads (the ads that I really hate, the design is quite tacky). I have been attempting to make it look as though the people are interacting with the people in the ads in sort of nod to that notion.

48.

     These are images that I took for my second semester project last year, Backstage. I was granted access backstage to a play called Perfect Crime. It is actually the longest running play on or off Broadway and taking these was a lot of fun. I haven't posted these anywhere yet, which is weird, but here the are.
     Always having had an interest in theater, yet never blessed with any theatrical talent, I became interested in how a production is made. In a show running as long as this one, it's smoother than butter - it's like clockwork, better - they should change the saying to "it's like perfect crime." None the less, watching the actors and the one stage manager run around, changing costumes and interacting in and out of character was a fun experience for me.

27.

     After turning in the first Broadway series, I considered the critique. No one got the jokes, I didn't expect them to but for the purposes of class, I figured I should at least make it more universal. Some thing that was said was that I had no people in my images, this is strange because it's Times Square - it's annoyingly busy at 1:00 am. I didn't even consider this when taking them, but that is how I see the Theater District at before show times: empty. Many tourists don't know, or sadly care, about the theaters around Times Square, they are distracted by the lights and chocolate. And, I don't know why, but I feel like the empty theaters are kind of sad in the daylight. I enjoy this overcast lighting in general and it is befitting the mood of the images.