On occasion, there were USITT sessions where members visited a Scottish Rite during the conference. The last was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Lance Brockman and I spoke at the local Scottish Rite – the Humphrey Center. Planning the event was a less than a pleasant experience, and I have been hesitant to propose an off-site session again. That being said, whenever I am attending USITT, I look for a nearby Scottish Rite. It provides me with an opportunity to document just one more collection.
This year, I had multiple requests from colleagues who were attending USITT to visit while I was documenting the Scottish Rite scenery. I always have to check once on site that the Scottish Rite is okay with the extra people showing up during the documentation, but I never mind the company.
My only day to photograph the scenery was Wednesday, as there was a Scottish Rite Reunion starting on Thursday. The other logistical parameter for Wednesday was trying to finish up in time to attend the Scene Design Commission meeting. I had from 9AM to 3PM to document as much as possible and make my way back to the convention center. I knew that it would not be enough time to get everything and double-check the inventory. In short, to have people come around and chat really prohibits my ability to rapidly document scenes. However, I also don’t want people to miss the opportunity to see the collection, especially when they have asked in advance.
There were a few fortuitous moments on Wednesday that just made the day. The first was meeting Richard Bryant for coffee before heading over to the Scottish Rite. Richard decided to join me for a little bit, as the building was quite close to the convention center. The Masonic stagehands greeted us with donuts and a short visit. So much for my gluten-free diet, as I have no will power against a chocolate donut. Over the course of the morning, Richard did some interviews with his Archiving Technical Theatre Podcast, then ran the light board for one scene so I could capture the painting under different lighting situations. His interviews with the local Masons were such a good idea! This is something that I should have been doing for the past three decades. Richard’s podcast comes out today.
Gradually, a series of students and colleagues joined me for a short while and then headed back to the conference. It is always wonderful to listen to their observations about the painting, as I always learn something new. Midway through my project, the Scottish Rite held a small pizza party for our lunch break. It was a wonderful opportunity to chat with the Masons who showed up to help work the lines. Again, so much for being gluten free.
I returned to the convention center for the Scene Design Commission meeting, as I am the VC for Heritage. After the standard introduction, we all broke into our respective sessions to plan for next year. There were only two of us in the Heritage group, Rick and I. The point of the commission meeting is to come up with topics for USITT 2020; these ideas are now filed online with the deadline being June 1. The sessions for next year have been reduced from 1 hour 15 minutes to 45 minutes, with the option for double sessions slots. I am conflicted and a little concerned about the lack of interest in heritage, the reduction of session time, and our industry’s future plans. In hindsight, as I sat with Rick and came up with several session ideas for next year, I realized that this all could have been done over a drink in a bar.
To be continued…
The Humphrey Center/ Milwaukee is right across the street from where the William Wehner/Heine & Lohr panorama studio stood, which from 1885-88 produced 2 units of BATTLE OF ATLANTA, 2 units of BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE & LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN and 3 units of JERUSALEM ON THE DAY OF THE CRUCIFIXION. genemeier@frontier.com