Many details are lost to time, but I took a cab from the airport into town, somehow got my things from my friends place and moved into my new house.
The renovations were almost done, with just a few small things yet to be done, but the house looked nice and looking back I had a good time and enjoyed the guys who I lived with.
The first “Official” event of the school year was a BBQ and softball game with all the grad students and teachers.
There were a few new faces but I had already knew most of the people from my two previous visits.
At Michigan they followed the long Theatre ritual of work hard/play hard and there would be many more parties, poker nights and softball games ahead, but so was a great deal of hard work in the classrooms and Theatres.
When I started college I felt a bit unsure of myself and now I wondered if I was ready for Graduate School and would I be able to do the work?
I was eager to do well in all of my classes but Costume History and Design was new to me and I was not sure how well I would do, but I jumped right in, worked hard and tried not to get behind.
Non-Costume Design students were not expected to do the same level of work as Costume Design majors.
Lighting Designers, Directors and Actors could take the class as “Sketchers” and just do simple costumes design plates, but that was not good enough for me.
I have always tried my best at everything I have done, but my first Costume Plates were just plain bad.
It was easy to see how bad my first few projects were and I knew I had to get better.
Each week I got a little bit better and once I reached a certain level the teacher would not let me go back and would push me to do better.
The Jew of Malta, Costume Designs, 1980
I always appreciated the teachers who gave that extra push and have tried to do that with my students when I began to teach.
Having students who want to learn is always a joy and I have always gone out of my way to help them if I could.
Painting the costume plates were at first hard for me, but I enjoyed the challenge of learning how to research, adapt the design and paint the plates.
There were many nights I was up late working on my projects to get them just right.
I am very happy when I look at the progression of my designs from my first projects through my Thesis designs and I will have to scan some of them and post them here.
Unlike some my fellow students, my drafting skills were already very good when I got to Ann Arbor but I still had to learn a few new lighting design conventions.
Sometimes I miss hand drafting, but I do not miss long hours of working late into the light to get something done.
I can now do a basic light plot or set of working drawing in one tenth of the time it used to take, plus they are done more accurately, but there is still something about using your own hands to draw and paint your ideas.
There would be plenty of assignments to draw, paint and draft while at Michigan and I enjoyed the challenges of each project given to me.
I have kept most of the work I did at both UB and Michigan and often use them as examples in the classes I teach.
In addition to class work there was always design work on the stage and the first play of the year, and my first design in grad school was quickly coming up.
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