Friday Flashback

CATCHING UP: How busy have we been this past week? I'm still trying to catch up with last Friday. That's the day we left home at 9 a.m. and the kids got home at midnight. Lots to recap!

Our first order of business that day was an art session at Seattle Center.

Annabelle can tell you more about the art workshop. ...  

The “Write Out of This World” Comics workshop at MoPOP Was a 3-week experience where home-schooled students could learn from experienced illustrator and D&D player Jen Vaughn. She taught us about panel layouts, character design, dialogue, and much more within the span of just 13 and a half total class hours.

Most of our class was spent drawing in a small hidden room on the first floor of the museum, with a visit to one of the many permanent exhibits after our 30-minute lunch break. We spent a lot of time during class studying how other comics and graphic novels structure their stories and art, and took inspiration from those to develop our own stories and characters. Overall, the workshop is somewhat hard to write about because most of what we learned must be put in context or with images for it to make any sort of sense.

That being said, I think I learned quite a bit about the comic-making process and how to apply those ideas to my own art and writing.

One of the things we learned about on the last day of class was "hatching" or "cross-hatching." It's a technique often used in comic books to fill in areas.   

CJ wasn't in the class, but he came to Seattle Center with us. Between 10 a.m. and noon, he visited exhibits in MoPop, and then we three met in the Seattle Center Armory for a Subway lunch. While there, we checked out the model railroad exhibit that is a holiday fixture.   

In the afternoon, CJ went to a movie at Pacific Science Center (more on that later). Annabelle and I continued our art class, which involved visiting the Indie Game Revolution in MoPop. 

We were there to check out games' art styles and story lines.

Our class let out at 2:30, at which point Annabelle, CJ and I emplored MoPop for a bit. 

I had to visit Jimi.  

I popped into the Hendrix exhibit and, for whatever reason, it immediately made me feel melancholy. I snapped this photo of the guitar he played at Woodstock and headed out quickly. 

We three checked out the Pearl Jam Home Show exhibit. We were fortunate to see the band last summer when they played at T-Mobile (formerly Safeco) Field.  

There's also a Prince display at the museum right now. Below is the blouse he wore in "Purple Rain." 

 CJ wouldn't fit into Prince's tiny shirt, but the replica Purple Rain motorcycle fit pretty well. 

About 3:30, I walked the kids to the monorail platform. They rode the train to Westlake Center, and then walked to the Fifth Avenue Theatre.  

CJ can tell you more about what they were doing there. ...  

The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle occasionally hosts "Fridays at the 5th," a youth program where students between the ages of 14 and 18 are given "the opportunity to create the characters, sing the songs, learn the choreography, and meet with the cast and crew for the productions on our stage," according to the 5th Avenue Theatre's website. On December 6th, 2019, the 5th Avenue Theatre hosted a Fridays at the 5th event for that night's production of Mrs. Doubtfire, a musical based on the 1993 Robin Williams film of the same name.

The main focus of the Fridays at the 5th event was the students learning how to quickly switch between character roles and voices - an important function in the play. The auditorium in which the event was held was packed, apparently to capacity. One of the activities we did was singing classic Christmas carols such as "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman," except that we had to change position and voice with each line. This activity grew tiring very quickly. We then repeated this activity, except with wearing gag props such as fake glasses or clown noses with each line. Right before we had dinner in the auditorium, there was a brief Q&A with the scriptwriters.

After the provided dinner, we got tickets to see that night's production of Mrs. Doubtfire. The basic premise of the musical is identical to the of the film: A divorced man poses as an elderly Scottish nanny in order to spend more time with his children. Rob McClure, the actor who played main character Daniel Hillard/"Mrs. Doubtfire," obviously had to meet a tall order in living up to Robin Williams' performance in the 1993 film. While I can't make a fair judgment on whether or not McClure lived up to Williams' performance, he certainly did a good job quickly shifting between voices.

One of the central elements of the musical was actor Rob McClure frequently shifting between the characters of Daniel Hillard and "Mrs. Doubtfire." Two other actors had to help him dress and undress during these sequences. In a brief Q&A session after the play, Rob told us that he eventually was able to shift in just 18 seconds.

Overall, going to Fridays at the 5th and seeing the play was a fun experience, and I look forward to the next Fridays at the 5th.

All in all a very busy, fun-packed Friday!