Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending Professor Jill Hoddick's Stage Makeup class. The class, which meets every Tuesday and Thursday at 2:30 p.m., is held in Mago Hunt Theater. On Thursday, the eight students worked on special effects makeup for the stage. They explored the art of special effects makeup with the use of latex bullet holes, silicone scars, flesh effects makeup, and fake blood.
Here's what they did!
Watch to the end for the gruesome final photos!
Friday, February 25, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Meet Conor Eifler: UP's student playwright
Meet Conor Eifler: student playwright, ukulele master, and senior actor at the University of Portland. Eifler, who is currently starring in UP's production of "Two Gentleman of Verona," is an avid playwright whose plays have performed by UP students and professional actors. His latest play, "It Happened at Mickey's" was performed last week at the ACTF competition.
Q: Why did you get into playwriting?
Conor Eifler: I have loved both the theatre and writing from a very young age, so when I got to high school and took a really good visiting playwriting workship from a local actor and playwright, who became mentor of mine, it was just about perfect. And I love how much you get to craft stories from the group up unlike any other role in the theatre.
Q: How would you describe your writing process?
CE: Exhilarating when it works and frustrating when it doesn't.
Q: Where do you get your inspiration for writing?
CE: Different inspiration every time. Sometimes an idea of a theme, sometimes a character or situation that I want to write about, sometimes just a really good line of dialogue from real life.
Q: Describe the arcs of the characters you develop.
CE: They still feel pretty forced. I'm working on that.
Q: Talk to us about "It Happened at Mickey's." What was your thought process when writing?
CE: I wanted to write a throwback to a campy sci-fi, an homage to the "Twilight Zone." I also wanted to practice writing scenes with more than 3 people in them. Those were the two main jumping off points. I came up with a situation and a cast of characters I thought would be interesting to see together, outlines most of it because it was the first piece of length I had attempted (I have mixed feelings about outlines), and camped out to finish it. There was also a lot on my mind at the time I wrote it, the first draft in my sophomore year, a whole lot really and I was trying to cram it all in there, which meant it got pretty lost and confused. One of the challenges now is to go back and sift through all my ideas and intentions, carve it out and simplify, even when that means cutting chunks I really enjoyed if they are no longer imperative to the story I want to tell.
Q: What plays/playwrights do you admire? Why do you admire them?
CE: Many, there are some I enjoy more as a writer or more as an actor and some just 'cause. Tom Stoppard is a master wordsmith, plain and simple. Harold Pinter is so damn complex and subtle. Peter Sinn Nachtrieb is so absolutely hilarious and full of heart, plus he weaved in science in the coolest ways. Tracy Letts, Lee Blessing also make the list right now.
Q: What other plays have you written?
CE: A One-Act about Activism that was done at Focus The Nation a couple years ago, an adaptation of "Alice in Wonderland" this past year for Nomadic Theatre, and a bunch of ten minute plays and sketches about people falling in love at a bus stop, kids reading Playboy and Shakespeare making dick jokes. I am currently working on another full length about a father and a son, featuring faux-science, time travel, aged rock 'n' roll musicians, an Antarctic explorer and it all takes place on a train. We will see how it goes.
Q: What do you hope to do in the future?
CE: Write and act.
Q: How do you get through the ever-so-frustrating writer's block?
CE: Beat myself up over it, read books, watch plays, and movies, listen to music, get working on something else and either inspiration will return or I will drop the project.
Q: What advice would you give to an aspiring playwright?
CE: I feel like I'm still one of those, so to my fellow comrades, let's keep writing, keep plugging away, remember to have fun with it, make our own opportunities and sit back and enjoy the show when the curtain comes up on our pages.
 |
| photo by Gary Norman |
Conor Eifler: I have loved both the theatre and writing from a very young age, so when I got to high school and took a really good visiting playwriting workship from a local actor and playwright, who became mentor of mine, it was just about perfect. And I love how much you get to craft stories from the group up unlike any other role in the theatre.
Q: How would you describe your writing process?
CE: Exhilarating when it works and frustrating when it doesn't.
Q: Where do you get your inspiration for writing?
CE: Different inspiration every time. Sometimes an idea of a theme, sometimes a character or situation that I want to write about, sometimes just a really good line of dialogue from real life.
Q: Describe the arcs of the characters you develop.
CE: They still feel pretty forced. I'm working on that.
Q: Talk to us about "It Happened at Mickey's." What was your thought process when writing?
CE: I wanted to write a throwback to a campy sci-fi, an homage to the "Twilight Zone." I also wanted to practice writing scenes with more than 3 people in them. Those were the two main jumping off points. I came up with a situation and a cast of characters I thought would be interesting to see together, outlines most of it because it was the first piece of length I had attempted (I have mixed feelings about outlines), and camped out to finish it. There was also a lot on my mind at the time I wrote it, the first draft in my sophomore year, a whole lot really and I was trying to cram it all in there, which meant it got pretty lost and confused. One of the challenges now is to go back and sift through all my ideas and intentions, carve it out and simplify, even when that means cutting chunks I really enjoyed if they are no longer imperative to the story I want to tell.
 |
| photo by Kai Hayashi Photography |
CE: Many, there are some I enjoy more as a writer or more as an actor and some just 'cause. Tom Stoppard is a master wordsmith, plain and simple. Harold Pinter is so damn complex and subtle. Peter Sinn Nachtrieb is so absolutely hilarious and full of heart, plus he weaved in science in the coolest ways. Tracy Letts, Lee Blessing also make the list right now.
Q: What other plays have you written?
CE: A One-Act about Activism that was done at Focus The Nation a couple years ago, an adaptation of "Alice in Wonderland" this past year for Nomadic Theatre, and a bunch of ten minute plays and sketches about people falling in love at a bus stop, kids reading Playboy and Shakespeare making dick jokes. I am currently working on another full length about a father and a son, featuring faux-science, time travel, aged rock 'n' roll musicians, an Antarctic explorer and it all takes place on a train. We will see how it goes.
Q: What do you hope to do in the future?
CE: Write and act.
Q: How do you get through the ever-so-frustrating writer's block?
CE: Beat myself up over it, read books, watch plays, and movies, listen to music, get working on something else and either inspiration will return or I will drop the project.
Q: What advice would you give to an aspiring playwright?
CE: I feel like I'm still one of those, so to my fellow comrades, let's keep writing, keep plugging away, remember to have fun with it, make our own opportunities and sit back and enjoy the show when the curtain comes up on our pages.
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