Mixed Business Game

Mary Laws and I have been playing this for a few weeks and thought I'd share it with you. We take a strange business model that mixes two disparate trades and we come up with the perfect name for it. Examples:

A shoe store and dance club: Tongue and Groove
A fish store / weight loss service: Scales
A proctologist / tanning salon: Where the Sun Don't Shine
A coffee shop / fertility clinic: Better with Cream

We were so pleased with ourselves and our naming abilities, we've decided to start...

a business naming service / valet parking company:We'll Drive Away With Your Title

(Laws, if you remember more examples let me know them and I'll add them)

So, come up with your own for these combinations (or combinations of your own if you like.)

Used Car Dealership / Dentist
Road Painters / Party Clowns
Video Rental / Bricklayer
Hawaii Travel / Bible Printers

Good luck!

when costume run crew goes terribly, terribly wrong.

once upon a time, baylor theatre did a production of schoolhouse rock live! it was an enjoyable experience for all involved, cast and crew alike. except for one fateful night...

the shrl! costume run crew consisted of me, zach krohn, emmie rothenbach and taylor kulhanek...basically a group of badasses. we managed to cover the responsibilities of both run crew and maintenance, going above and beyond our call of duty. after a stellar performance one night, zach, taylor and i had gathered the laundry and taken it up to the costume shop to wash. we started a load of multicolored splatter-painted tshirts and then headed downstairs to retrieve a laundry basket full of vests. it was late and we were tired, so we thought we'd take the elevator...we deserved it.

so we climb aboard. the doors slide closed. i press the "1" button. we wait. and wait. and wait. and nothing happens. i push the "1" button again. and wait....and wait...and wait. nothing happens. zach has the wonderful idea to push the "1" and "2" buttons at the same time. taylor and i agree that this is obviously the best way to get the elevator moving. but alas, nothing happens. we sadly resign ourselves to taking the stairs and push the button to open the doors, but to our surprise...they don't open.

i wish i could say we stayed calm, assessed the situation and dealt with it like mature adults. but then i would be lying. instead, zach starts laughing, i startshitting the doors, and taylor has a minor panic attack. "guys," she says. "i'm claustrophobic." zach and i say "REALLY?" and she says, "no, i was just trying to be funny...but it is hot in here. i think i'm getting a rash. does that look like a rash to you?"

fast forward fifteen minutes. we finally have the bright idea to push the big red button that says EMERGENCY on it and have a nice chat with a member of the baylor dps, who obviously had nothing better to do with this friday night but wait for elevator distress calls. and i thought my life was boring. he deduces that we are caught between floors, assures us that help is on the way and tells us to stay put (WHERE WOULD WE GO?). we calm down a bit and settle in to wait for our rescue.

fast forward forty five minutes. all three of us are slumped on the floor of the elevator. we have sung through the entire score of schoolhouse rock live! at the top of our lungs and are currently in the middle of composing a rap song about being trapped in an elevator. r. kelly has nothing on us. hunger, fatigue, and the need to use the bathroom have all began taking their toll, and we're going a bit stir crazy. just when i thought all hope was lost, we hear the dulcet tones of the one and only lisa denman from beyond the elevator doors. "HELP US LISA!" we cry. "don't worry! i'm here to save you! and by that i mean we have a maintenance guy opening the elevator for you!" inside the elevator there was much rejoicing. when those doors finally slid open, we were greeted by not just the maintenance man and lisa, but the entire cast and stage managers of shrl!, who informed us that they had been listening to us sing for at least fifteen minutes. talk about adding insult to injury.

and this is why i refused to use the elevator for the rest of the year.

Further Elevator Ruminations

If you missed it, I have had other observations about the elevator.

Elevator Game - Mary Laws taught me this game. Much love, Laws. The premise is simple, when you are in the elevator with one or two other people, you set the car in motion toward the first or second floor, then you begin running around in circles. When the doors open the first one out of the elevator wins. This game is much easier if you play it with no one else in the elevator.

The Awkward Elevator Opening to the Dance Studio Moment - When I am descending to the first floor, usually on my way to the Green Room, the door opens to a dozen people dancing to Lady Marmalade or Big Girls Don't Cry or something, in the dance studio. Invariably, when they hear the elevator door open, they look to see who it is, and seeing me and knowing that I appreciate a joke, they start goofily dancing aggressively or seductively in my direction. If I were prepared for it, I'd laugh, or do a much more ridiculous dance in retort. But usually, I'm thinking about casting, or the classical unities, or something very far removed from silly, sexy dancing. I usually end up just looking startled and scared and I wave an awkward wave and run. Occasionally, I anticipate the door's opening and strike a "How YOU doin'?" kind of pose, or begin dancing myself. And when I do this, the door opens and there is no dance class and Sally, or Dawn, or Mr. Sherry are standing there looking at me. Embarrassed as I am, they hardly seem surprised to see something like that happening in this building.

Green Room Olympics - Don't Boycott!

In my short time I have seen exactly two sporting events occur in the Green Room.

1. Sock Wrestling - I learned of this game from my son, who loves it, although he is 1-8 in his P.E. sock wrestling league. (And the 1 is his friend Bryson, who has Down's Syndrome.) I, Dan Buck, was challenged to a sock wrestling match by John R. (almost one half my age and twice my height). It was a battle royale witnessed by Victoria Eisle (who, after seeing the last workshop I'm sure could kick both our butts in sock wrestling) and Bethany Salminen. John Rugsseggjgarr edged me out by one sock, but I put up a good fight. I'm still sore (it was over two weeks ago).

2. Windy Ball - This occurred yesterday in the Green Room before workshop when Melissa Flowers donated her Wendy's Kids' meal prize to the Theatre Department. It included two cool paddles, a large plastic ball, and a pathetic paper net. It is called Windy ball because Melissa, and a number of other native Texans say Windy's instead of Wendy's--and when I pointed it out, they couldn't see the difference. So... Windy Ball.

If you know of further athletic feats accomplished in the confines of the Green Room or anywhere in the H-S building, tell us about it in the comments!

Horribly creepy picture of cool people

Ummm...

New Green Room Game - Gangsta Slides

Gangsta Slides
Objective: to waste time.
Rules: Look at each of the screen saver slides on the green room computers and add the words "Beeyatch", "Shiiiit", "Fashizzle", or other gansta lingo to any of the taglines. You'll come up with such phrases as...

"Things are greener, fashizzle!
"Shiiiit, You need help with technology?"
"Murder anyone lately, beeyatch!"

Intro to the Baylor Green Room

I have found that I am addicted to the Green Room. When I don't have a class or lots to do, or especially when I DO have lots to do I find myself drawn to hang out with the most creative fun people I know in the Baylor Theatre Green Room.

Adria's always there and has admitted a similar addiction.

This blog will chronicle the goings on of the Green Room and other miscellaneous theatre happenings and observations. My hope is that they will be about the people, places and events you all know so well that you'll be riveted by every line.

For example:

The Elevator
For all it's faults the Hooper-Schaeffer building has a few glorious qualities, one of which is the immediate-door-closing elevator. When you press the (1) or the (2) button the doors close right away. No delay. No waiting for stragglers to the elevator. Instant gratification.

The other interesting thing about the elevator is that it constantly has more and more seating. I often wonder if people are using it as a rehearsal space. Or I expect there to be a refrigerator in there next time. Senior prank idea - move Stan's entire desk into that elevator.

This is the kind of hard hitting jourbalism I hope to tackle on this blog I hope you'll stop by again soon.