I was born a poor black child part II
Where was I?? O yeah, off to college. I had a great time in college, made a lot of good friends and met my wife. As I said I was a horrible student in HS, but when I got to college something clicked when I found my major. During one of my years off I did a program of internships in Worcester, MA called Dynamy. One of my interships was at a radio station and when I finished I got my broadcasting license and did some overnight shifts (mainly on saturdays). It was while doing this that I decided I wanted to get into sports broadcasting.
When I got to KSC I found they had no broadcasting major, but the did have a minor under the dept of Theatre Arts, Speech and Film. Now I had done theatre as a kid so this wasn't a completely new world to me. My Dad had been heavily involved in community theatre and had also done some in college so I even got support on the home front for my major (which I would find was rare among my friends).
As part of my plan I got involved with campus radio (WKNH) and I must admit I had a bit of an attitude about it, I mean afterall I had worked in commercial radio, I was a pro. Well I got my shift (10am-1pm on Saturday, yuk) and started doing my thing, I likely violated a couple of FCC rules in regards to profanity, but considering the station was powered with a 75w antenna, no one was listening, least of all the feds. During one of the station meetings the GM of the station announced that the Athletic Director and Bball coach wanted to see if we were interested in broadcasting the games, the GM asked anyone interested to see him after the meeting. I jumped at the chance, funny though, I was the only one. So for the better part of a year I was the voice of the KSC Owls. The team won something like 3 games that year and it wasn't too many more years before the school dropped from NCAA Div. II to Div. III. I had fun though and got to travel to some of the great hot spots in the lower NH, MA and CT area, like Newhaven, and Manchester and Bridgeport.
At the same time that this was going on I was also taking my first of many theatre courses (intro to theatre), it was a great intro to the department as it was team taught by 4 of the faculty so we got to know all of them a little bit. A funny side note, there were 3 other Josh's in the class (an even funnier side note, I've never personally met someone named Josh who is older than me). I had a great time in this class and it culminated in me playing the role of tom Wingfield in a scene from "The Glass Menagerie". I screamed alot so it must have been good right? Looking back on it, it must have been horrible but it got me pumped about theatre again.
While this was going on I was also cast in my first KSC production "Laudomia" It was an original script and I must say it was pretty bad, but again it got me meeting and working with the people that would be my friends for the next few years.
After Laudomia I passed on theatre for the rest of the year as it was Bball season and I was getting busy. I did take an acting class so I was at least keeping touch with people but I was definately not "In" the crowd yet. I guess there's actually a reason for this, two people heavily involved in the program, Bill Whelan and Christine Byliski (not even close on the spelling) were also involved and two be honest they were both part of the percieved reason I stopped doing theatre in HS. They always seemed to be trying to percieve themselves as "Artistes"...whatever, it was all kid stuff anyway.
My sophomore year was when I really got involved and when I also started my transformation into being a techie. I auditioned for and was cast in "The Ghost Sonata" as Bengtsonn and The Dead Man (I had to walk down a 10ft. flight of stairs mostly blindfolded). I had fun in the play, likely did a poor acting Job, but more importantly this is when I met my wife Christina. Apparently we had been in the same Geology class, but I don't honestly recall. She was serving as a props person on the show and had to help me with my costume change. We got friendly and teased a flirted in a very HS way, it would be a month or so before I got up the courage to ask her out.
Maybe this is a good place to admit what must be painfully obvious, I have always been horrible when it came to girls. Prior to meeting Christina, the longest romantic relationship I had had was a grand total of 4 months (I've now been with Christina for more than 13 years). I was shy, always a bit overweight and had no ability to read signals from women.
After "The Ghost Sonata" I worked as a sound guy on a student production of "True West". This was an eyeopener. It wasn't the best production, but I loved the script. It was so gritty and modern and real. Not stilted or old fashioned like most of what I had been exposed to up to that point. I believe this is the point where I really started to think of myself as a theatre person. After that show I found myself involved in all but one of the 9 productions done at the school that year. And I really began to identify myself more as a techie than an actor. I took stagecraft and was constantly in the shop (over 100hrs for my 40hr requirement) and I met my best friend in school, Glenn. Glenn and I clicked quickly as we were both about the same age and were in the same class. Both of us had taken time between HS and college (him for the military, me because I was an idiot) and we were both probably a little bit left of center mentally. Glenn and I got into the habit of going to the local watering hole (Penuche's) after tech class got out around 3pm on Thursdays. We hung out alot with the seniors and juniors and quickly became part of the "in" crowd (as much as you can be "in" in a theatre group).
So I was really finding my way, I had a girlfriend, good friends and things to occupy my time. It was at this point I started to notice I was doing better in school. My first year I had a 2.25 avg, but my second year I really started to pick it up and ended the year with a 3.0 for the year. After that I spent every semester on the Dean's List and pulled my overall gpa for four years up to 3.18. Needless to say I was pretty happy with the turnaround and you wanna know what the cause was? I was staying busy. I was doing shows all the time, and taking between 16 and 18 credits a term (I ended up graduating with 10 more than I needed). It turns out I work best under pressure. And it wasn't just the artsy or teche courses I was doing well in, I aced my Lit class and did the same in my Theatre History, Dramatic Lit and a couple of seminar classes, one was on The Group Theatre (were you in that one Shane?) and the other was on O'Neill. As a result of the latter, I would become an O'Neill devotee to the point were I guest lecture on him in some of the 10th grade English classes at my current job.
During this time I had become passionate about many things, Christina, theatre and lastly, lighting. It was probably around my junior year that I decided I was going to be a Lighting Designer and I started thinking about graduate school.
Damn, writing a novel here. Gotta take a break, part III soon.
When I got to KSC I found they had no broadcasting major, but the did have a minor under the dept of Theatre Arts, Speech and Film. Now I had done theatre as a kid so this wasn't a completely new world to me. My Dad had been heavily involved in community theatre and had also done some in college so I even got support on the home front for my major (which I would find was rare among my friends).
As part of my plan I got involved with campus radio (WKNH) and I must admit I had a bit of an attitude about it, I mean afterall I had worked in commercial radio, I was a pro. Well I got my shift (10am-1pm on Saturday, yuk) and started doing my thing, I likely violated a couple of FCC rules in regards to profanity, but considering the station was powered with a 75w antenna, no one was listening, least of all the feds. During one of the station meetings the GM of the station announced that the Athletic Director and Bball coach wanted to see if we were interested in broadcasting the games, the GM asked anyone interested to see him after the meeting. I jumped at the chance, funny though, I was the only one. So for the better part of a year I was the voice of the KSC Owls. The team won something like 3 games that year and it wasn't too many more years before the school dropped from NCAA Div. II to Div. III. I had fun though and got to travel to some of the great hot spots in the lower NH, MA and CT area, like Newhaven, and Manchester and Bridgeport.
At the same time that this was going on I was also taking my first of many theatre courses (intro to theatre), it was a great intro to the department as it was team taught by 4 of the faculty so we got to know all of them a little bit. A funny side note, there were 3 other Josh's in the class (an even funnier side note, I've never personally met someone named Josh who is older than me). I had a great time in this class and it culminated in me playing the role of tom Wingfield in a scene from "The Glass Menagerie". I screamed alot so it must have been good right? Looking back on it, it must have been horrible but it got me pumped about theatre again.
While this was going on I was also cast in my first KSC production "Laudomia" It was an original script and I must say it was pretty bad, but again it got me meeting and working with the people that would be my friends for the next few years.
After Laudomia I passed on theatre for the rest of the year as it was Bball season and I was getting busy. I did take an acting class so I was at least keeping touch with people but I was definately not "In" the crowd yet. I guess there's actually a reason for this, two people heavily involved in the program, Bill Whelan and Christine Byliski (not even close on the spelling) were also involved and two be honest they were both part of the percieved reason I stopped doing theatre in HS. They always seemed to be trying to percieve themselves as "Artistes"...whatever, it was all kid stuff anyway.
My sophomore year was when I really got involved and when I also started my transformation into being a techie. I auditioned for and was cast in "The Ghost Sonata" as Bengtsonn and The Dead Man (I had to walk down a 10ft. flight of stairs mostly blindfolded). I had fun in the play, likely did a poor acting Job, but more importantly this is when I met my wife Christina. Apparently we had been in the same Geology class, but I don't honestly recall. She was serving as a props person on the show and had to help me with my costume change. We got friendly and teased a flirted in a very HS way, it would be a month or so before I got up the courage to ask her out.
Maybe this is a good place to admit what must be painfully obvious, I have always been horrible when it came to girls. Prior to meeting Christina, the longest romantic relationship I had had was a grand total of 4 months (I've now been with Christina for more than 13 years). I was shy, always a bit overweight and had no ability to read signals from women.
After "The Ghost Sonata" I worked as a sound guy on a student production of "True West". This was an eyeopener. It wasn't the best production, but I loved the script. It was so gritty and modern and real. Not stilted or old fashioned like most of what I had been exposed to up to that point. I believe this is the point where I really started to think of myself as a theatre person. After that show I found myself involved in all but one of the 9 productions done at the school that year. And I really began to identify myself more as a techie than an actor. I took stagecraft and was constantly in the shop (over 100hrs for my 40hr requirement) and I met my best friend in school, Glenn. Glenn and I clicked quickly as we were both about the same age and were in the same class. Both of us had taken time between HS and college (him for the military, me because I was an idiot) and we were both probably a little bit left of center mentally. Glenn and I got into the habit of going to the local watering hole (Penuche's) after tech class got out around 3pm on Thursdays. We hung out alot with the seniors and juniors and quickly became part of the "in" crowd (as much as you can be "in" in a theatre group).
So I was really finding my way, I had a girlfriend, good friends and things to occupy my time. It was at this point I started to notice I was doing better in school. My first year I had a 2.25 avg, but my second year I really started to pick it up and ended the year with a 3.0 for the year. After that I spent every semester on the Dean's List and pulled my overall gpa for four years up to 3.18. Needless to say I was pretty happy with the turnaround and you wanna know what the cause was? I was staying busy. I was doing shows all the time, and taking between 16 and 18 credits a term (I ended up graduating with 10 more than I needed). It turns out I work best under pressure. And it wasn't just the artsy or teche courses I was doing well in, I aced my Lit class and did the same in my Theatre History, Dramatic Lit and a couple of seminar classes, one was on The Group Theatre (were you in that one Shane?) and the other was on O'Neill. As a result of the latter, I would become an O'Neill devotee to the point were I guest lecture on him in some of the 10th grade English classes at my current job.
During this time I had become passionate about many things, Christina, theatre and lastly, lighting. It was probably around my junior year that I decided I was going to be a Lighting Designer and I started thinking about graduate school.
Damn, writing a novel here. Gotta take a break, part III soon.
posted by jwebb at 10:16 AM
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