Madwoman's Attic: In The Attic

Numbers don't lie. . .

So, I was updating my theatrical CV today and decided, just for "fun" to see how many man hours I've logged in on theatrical productions/studying theatre/teaching theatre over the last 15 years. 

I actually went show by show and job by job and worked out how long the rehearsal process was, how long prep times were, workshop times, hours by number of weeks in a class, performance lengths x number of performances, set building weekends (av. 4 hours per weekend day on a set), etc, etc etc. . . .

It worked out to 9,002  hours over the last 15 years.  If I had added in the ten plays I've dropped from my CV I might have gotten almost to 10,000 hours. 

But 9,000 hours over 15 years is 600 hours per year.

Which is 11.5 hours per week.

Which is 1.5 hours per day.  (With no days off, holidays or anything).

So if you take into account the holidays, the production breaks, the recuperation time after a burn out session. . . . that actually looks more like a part-time job than  people give it credit for. 

Let's do that math:

Okay, out of 52 weeks every year, I usually average two major productions and three small events (staged readings, play workshops, etc).  And I tend to be involved with a company even during my light times which usually requires a couple of hours a week of work during the slow times. 

So. . . . 1 year - average 12 weeks of prep/rehearsal - 6 weeks of performance days - 32 days of administrative work- 7 days  of special events prep, - 20 days of work filed under "other" (company errands, special meetings, covering house managers, etc. . . ). . . . = 185 days.

That's slightly more than 6 months a year I work on theatre stuff.    And I'd actually say that's been the average over the last 15 years.  Some years I did way more and some years I didn't do more than one show, so. . . I'd say that's a very good estimate. 

So, what's the real tale of the tape? 

9,002 hours divided by 15 years= Average of 600 hours per year.  Squeezed into 26 weeks (185 days)= 23 hours per week or an average of 3.2 hours per day during those actual theatrical working times of my life.

How do married people do this?

Sorry to bore you with a numbers post, but I found it fascinating. 

Here's the other thing at which I've been plugging away. . .

In my typical Project-Runway -challenge-style, I've taken on making an Elizabethan ensemble in 2.5 days.  (Technically I have all week, but I've got a dentists appointment tomorrow, a doctor's appointment on Thursday, life in general to organize, and the ensemble proper has to be TV ready by Friday at 4:30 a.m for a spot on KSEE Sunrise.  So, in actuality, we're talking 2.5 days). 

Here's the initial sketch:

I tried a new form of gown-- a front tying gown with a stomacher placket (the piece that covers the stomach-- duh!) pinned across the front.  I'm not thrilled with how the back looks right now-- I'll probably have to redo it later, but for now it will work.

And here it is with the stomacher and ruff-- I still have to handsew the ouches (decorative thingies) onto the placket and reinforce the ruff with a wire supportasse (there are pencils holding it up now), but that's for my half day tomorrow. 

While I'm not thrilled with the proportion of the look, I am proud of that ruff.  I think it makes up for a world of mistakes.  Yet to do tomorrow:

Reinforce ruff
Wire Supportasse
Sew on ouches
Extend girdle in back (that's the thing in front with the tassle hanging down).

Eventually, I'll make tie in sleeves to match the forepart and put rolls in at the shoulders, but I'll save that for when I plan to wear it without the ruff.  That ruff pretty much makes this outfit.   I made the stomacher reversible-- the other side matches the forepart fabrice-- and can be worn inside the gown under the ties if I want to go more gentry class.  I'm a little bit proud of that detail, too.   

Lots of thinking, little writing

So, I've neglected this blog in favor of my theatre blog, which has been neglected in favor of actual theatre. . .  but, basically, this quote sums up what I've been thinking about lately-- in terms of theatre, home, friends, family, effectiveness, happiness, and life in general:

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

--Buckminster Fuller