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The big day is here: Saturday August 3 at 1pm at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Artswww.PhantomProjects.com/youngartistproject Have you been keeping up with the intense process of the creation of this year's show? Check out our tumblr for daily documentaries, blogs, pictures and more! YoungArtistProject.tumblr.com

Day 13: It’s that kind of dedication that makes me glad I agreed to participate in this INSANE project that no human should ever do.

Oh boy. It’s the Day 13 blog, brought to you by Shayna. It is almost 5 am, so please forgive any inevitable spelling mistakes.

Today was a landmark day for YAP 2019. We actually got to the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. We rolled up at high noon, sets, costumes, and props in hand, and set up the space for the show on Saturday. Walking into that space for the first time was electric. There’s something about being on the stage for the first time, whatever that stage may be, that kicks everything up a notch. We set sound and lights and did a cue to cue, working transitions and big moments in the show to make them seamless and spectacular. The six hours we spent there flew by incredibly quickly.

The adrenaline of the load-in had obscured how ravenously hungry I was. Luckily, Steve took us all to IHOP for our lunch/dinner. We’ve all spent so much time around one another that all of the filters are off, so we must have been a very fun table to observe. I hope we weren’t too obnoxious, because a very nice couple commented on our matching YAP shirts and asked about the project, which they had heard about through our feature in the La Mirada Lamplighter. It was strange to remember that other people have a stake in the success of our work, but also very cool to be recognized.

After we were full of breakfast food, we headed back to the warehouse. I for one was very glad load-in went so smoothly, because the remaining hours were nothing short of grueling. We were running on fumes, tweaking all of our media elements, running dances, and adjusting staging. It took us awhile to get through all of the precise tweaks necessary to make a clean show. There are so many small moments that change the efficacy of the storytelling, and finding them is a fun but taxing process.

Luckily, I was surrounded by a cast of warriors. Even though our exhaustion and desperation to go home was apparent, everyone continued to tweak and rehearse and rehash until we had gone through our show. It’s that kind of dedication that makes me glad I agreed to participate in this INSANE project that no human should ever do. They’re all insane, too.

Day 12: I have been humbled. I am emoting so much. It’s getting personal. Have not rested. I am hallucinating.

WARNING: A way too truthful blog up ahead. Proceed with caution

Day 12. I remember Day 1 like it was just a week and some days ago. I’ve come to understand first hand what Steve meant when he said to not underestimate this process. It feels as though everything I once knew is turned upside down. Day 8 has not ended for me. The past few days have just been a long, restless day that just won’t end. I also have learned so much and it literally blows my mind. Have you ever heard of that stigma about the cocky 21 year old? I am her. I have been humbled. I am emoting so much. It’s getting personal. Have not rested. I am hallucinating. Send help.

I had been up an estimate of 48 hours with a 2 hour nap in between prior to last night. So at 2 am I was sent home by the group to get some rest and shower, probably because I stunk up the warehouse. Today, I arrived with a drafted script that I’ve grown sick of staring at. I’m naming it the Fuzz as it has fried my brain.

When we tackled the actual running of the show, with Steve playing the Father Time role, we were actually able get somewhere. Besides my desire for this show to be the most epic spectacle ever to be seen, I very much want to do my absolute best for this particular group of people I am working with. The responsibility of it all is overwhelming.

UPDATE: I just fell in the shower. I’m talking, as soon as I put one foot in the tub. It was pretty dramatic but was still a safe fall. Reminder folks, always take time to clean your tubs. Now, back to typing.

We ran the show, got notes, updated scripts, ran again, got some more notes, updated, ran, notes, update, Update, UPDATE. Has a final product been created? No. But don’t be afraid out there. The show will be no less than blow-your-socks off amazing.

In these final moments of panic and exhaustion, our producer Steve manages to keep us motivated and feel so supported. It really takes a certain skill and character to do so, as a group of 6 girls are going absolutely insane. I can hear the text of our play in my head on repeat while I try to sleep. It is 3:54 am. Our call time for tech tomorrow is 10:30. I’m doubting every instinct I have. Make. It. Stop.

Day 11: The Day Before Load-in

Day 11, other wise known as crunch time!

Yesterday we pitched a new idea to Steve that was a completely different story than what we had at Midnight Rehearsal. He was intrigued by the idea but reminded us that it's all about the execution of it. So determined to finish a script, Nicole and I wanted to stay up until it was done. By 7:00am this morning we only had Act One completed. We felt a little defeated since we wanted the entire show to be done by 9:00AM when the rest of the cast was to arrive. However, quality over quantity! We knew we had a solid Act One and were excited to present it to them.

After a quick 2 hour nap, we woke at 9:00AM and was ready to take on the day. The entire cast gathered around the table at 9:30AM and we read thru Act One. Holding my breath, we asked the rest of the girls what they thought of the story since it was a little different than what they had left to us the night before. The cast LOVED it. They were encouraged by the development of characters that happened overnight and the more playful elements that were added to the show. Wahooo!!

Steve had tasked us with a 3:00PM run through of our show (or whatever we had of our show). So with only a handful of hours to block through our show and incorporate our dance and song elements, we got to work. The hours crept up on us and before we knew it, it was 3:00PM. The last time Steve watched and critiqued our show was Midnight to 8am rehearsal... and we all know how that turned out. So needless to say, we were all very nervous as to what he would think of it.

"It pulls you in. It makes me really want to know more and that's how you end an act!!" -Steve

What. A. Relief!! Finally, we had a show, granted it's only act one but we are headed in the right direction and Steve really enjoyed it!!

I think everyone felt that a big weight lifted off their shoulders when we heard the feedback for our show. We were able to breathe a little, celebrate a little and then we got RIGHT back to work to flesh out our Act Two

It is 10:30PM on Day 11. We have 35 hours until we tech our show at the La Mirada Theatre and the script is not complete. This may seem like an impossible task but here at the Young Artist Project.. nothing is impossible! It's definitely difficult and stressful and frustrating and chaotic and tiresome and overwhelming but it sure is not impossible.

Day 10: The Young Artist Project

The rehearsal process has gotten to the point where the cast does not count a day by the circadian rhythm, but by when they sleep and when they wake up. If they sleep at 8 am after staying up all night, then 10am, when they wake up, is a new day for them. In the google drive folder that they all share a new subfolder called “Pre - Midnight Rehearsal” and “Post - Midnight Rehearsal” has been created indicating work before and after the run through for Steve. After going through a post mortem of the “Pre - Steve” work the team had done, day 10 was a day much like day 2.

There are key factors that made day 10 much like day 2. #1: Like day 2, the team spent the majority of the day writing and expanding on the story they came up with the day before. #2: By this point, the team had been sitting in their seats discussing the plot for 5-6 hours and frustration was at its peak. #3: Much like day 2, the cast had begun to focus too closely at the details when the big picture was not even developed. However, there are major differences between day 10 and day 2 as well. #1: Because they had gone through this process once before, day 10 was much more structured. #2: With all the notes given about the previous show during the midnight rehearsal, the team was able to avoid or catch the mistakes before it was too late. #3: Due to the upcoming deadline, the cast was much more frustrated with the process than they had been on day 2.

The team had been sleeping inside the warehouse for the past two days, cutting off all ties with the outside world. Steve, who saw they needed some kind of catalyst to trigger their efficient work ethic brought the team all the foods they dreamed of. Cake and lasagna leftover from his birthday, donuts for breakfast and pizza with buffalo wings for dinner. The cast was very appreciative for this. Because the cast had been living in the warehouse for 48 hours, mornings for them looked like the wake of the dead, all with clear dark circles under their eyes, very slow and heavy movement and indistinguishable grunts.

Day 9: “We’re spending the night tonight....”

Saturday 7 AM: I woke up.

Saturday 8:30 AM to 7:00 PM: Work an 11 hour shift.

Saturday/Sunday 12 AM to 8 AM: Rehearse. Perform. Scrap our show.

Sunday 9 AM to 1:30 PM: Work a 4 hour shift.

Sunday 2 PM to 5:30 PM: NAP!

Sunday 6 PM: Back to the warehouse!!!

I’m surprised I’m so awake and ready to work but we started over and there are so many emotions going on!

Steve thought our show had too much going on; too many characters, too many plot ideas, too many comments, not enough talents were incorporated. It was vague and not specific enough, but there was potential. It’s not as though we HAD to scrap everything and start over, but we found ourselves uninspired and unenthusiastic about keeping up the old show… so here we are brainstorming for a new concept. It’s a radical cycle where you invest in an idea just to have it crushed, invest in a new idea just to hit a roadblock, invest in a new idea just for people not to get onboard.

If YAP has taught me one thing, it’s that I have to keep an open mind. I’ve always considered myself to be an open-minded individual, but YAP is a different kind of open mindedness where you have to say “yes” when we really want to say “no”. Someone will recommend something that sounds ridiculous or insane, but you just have to agree and see where it goes from there because sometimes (if you’re lucky) it’s really interesting. There’s also this difficulty of offering up your ideas and having them become something different from what you wanted. You can’t be stubborn and say “I want this!” because it’s not entirely up to you. If you stay close minded, you’re closing yourself off to the possibility of anyone having an idea that could work better than yours. It certainly doesn’t make it any easier, but it is a disservice to everyone.

Right now we are drafting up a new plot and looking for ways to incorporate our old text into this new script. We’re finding lots of overlap, but also developing some really interesting (and bizarre) stage pictures that we want to incorporate. Steve recommended that we start with pieces that excite us and find a way to put all that crazy exciting stuff into our new show without worrying about where they fit. Right now we have several disjointed ideas, but I think it’ll be really cool when we mend them together with a real concept!

DAY 8: The midnight to 8am Rehearsal

Hello Everyone!

Tonight we had our midnight to 8 am rehearsal. Going in to this rehearsal I was excited and felt confident that we had a great show. We came in with a lot of positive energy and were ready to perform our “draft” of the show for Steve. We worked on some last minute blocking and did a final run through and were ready to give it our all for Steve at 4 am.

We did our show for him and received almost an hours length of notes from him immediately following. No egos were crushed hearing his feedback and we all made sure to handle his responses as professionals and to not take things personally however within this time we came to realize our show was not amazing. It had unnecessary dialogue, loop holes, too much information and ultimately Steve presented us with the idea that we may want to start from scratch and create a whole new show.

So here we are. It’s 8 am and we currently have no show. We have ideas of places to begin but there is no story. So we will be coming back on day 9 knowing this.

1. We will be creating a show in less than a week.

2. This show won’t just be good, it will be phenomenal.

3. You’re going to want to see this show because when you do all you will be thinking is how did they create that in a week?

4. Yes, we are all insane.

We live to perform, if we didn’t we would have all walked away from this project today but instead we’re fueled to create an even better show, a show that will leave audiences on their feet.

We could easily get discouraged and not know what to do from here but we all have the same end goal, to create a show that impacts every individual in our audience. So get ready because the Young Artist Project of 2019 won’t be one to forget.

Thanks for listening, come back tomorrow to learn more about what happens on our journey to show day.

The cast was featured on the front page of the La Mirada Lamplighter! The article talked about their hard work their work ethic, and their original show!

Day 7: The Blog

Hey! Shayna here. Today was a very exciting and taxing day.

We took on the task of blocking our entire show. And you know what? WE DID IT! I feel like we’re David and today was Goliath: SLAIN.

This wasn’t the outcome I expected. I was worried we were going to be the slain ones at the beginning of the day. We had a hard out at 7 pm and didn’t really start working until 12:30. Yesterday, it had taken us two hours hours to choreograph a 30-second dance piece, so I was ready for the long haul. But despite being covered in sweat and thoroughly wiped out, we pushed through and got it done. We even had time for a full run-through, which left me feeling confident about tomorrow’s rehearsal, where we show Steve our progress.

Throughout this process, I’ve loved discovering what strengths everyone brings to the table beyond their artistic talents. We have a varied group of collaborators. Kaitlin has a keen eye for detail and a great instinct for set/lighting concepts, Noi is level-headed and direct, Gabi is endlessly patient and a fantastic communicator, Nicole is precise and unflinchingly diligent, and Emily is an honest and enthusiastic outside eye. The unifying factor between them all is a lack of ego. Don’t get me wrong: we disagree and go back and forth on points, and there are times when I resent all of our type-A personalities for slowing us down. The thorough debating shows how deeply everyone cares about the outcome. But once we decide on something everyone is fully behind it, and that’s what’s important.

These ladies have earned my trust tenfold and are doing amazing work with it. I feel so cheesy reiterating how appreciative i am to be working with these people, and you might be sick of reading it, but that’s the truth. Suck it up.

I hope you find out work speaks for itself. In the meantime, I’m going into this midnight-8am rehearsal, guns blazing with my girls!

Day 7: The Documentary. The cast is at the 1/2 way point. Pressure is mounting. Tension is rising. And the days and nights are getting longer..

Day 6: The Blog

And now it’s my turn to give you a glimpse of the “inside.” WELL. Today, I tried my best to wake up as early as possible so I could finish the final draft of Act 1. I hit snooze more than I could count. But alas, I awoke and did the deed. Called my father for his reassuring words, a daily ritual as L.A. living is not the most comforting. I commenced my 2 hr commute on my big stuffy chariot, stopped for an iced coffee and then mentally prepared myself outside the doors of the warehouse with a listen to “Almost There” from Disney’s Princess and the Frog. Animo mi gente. We discussed final edits on Act I and finally all suggestions were satisfied, limbs still attached fortunately. As the girls completed media and music, I tackled our final version of Act II. Bless the higher powers, She wasn’t that hard to fix up. A task quickly achieved thanks to the skeleton provided by Noi and others. Suggestions were made, satisfied and I was finally free from edit mode.

The girls went hard in finding our final costume choices. So so that a very giddy Kaitlin and Gabi appeared suddenly with the PERFECT costumes!

Excitingly, I finally got to work on the choreo and music I was assigned and was able to catch up with the rest. My favorite part of today was easily working one and one with our famous prodigy Shayna. Something I’ve always wanted to do was develop an ear for harmonies so I had such a blast learning from her. Every off note or key, I’d look at her with wide puppy eyes waiting for her correction. I yearn for CRITICISM!! “Keep trucking on!” she’d say to me. I’ve never heard that before, but I appreciated the newfound motto. Hearing the harmonies being executed felt like magic. A quintet was born.There’s a section in the music where I have to drop a whole octave almost immediately, but Shayna and Emily stuck it out with me so that I could achieve the part. (Thank you Emily, you’re amazing!)

Finally, we did a whole choreography session that seemed like a black hole. The sun was out, and what felt like 30 min later (but apparently was a span of 2-3 hours) passed and it was pitch dark outside. We interviewed, ate ice cream, cleaned up, and I realized my bus was gonna pass soon. I grabbed my crap and ran out yelling “Night guys!”

I missed the bus.

Next one wouldn’t arrive for another 30 min. Fortunately, there was an AM/ PM gas station way down the street. With my hefty bag on my back and sweated through maxi dress, I happily walked my hitchhiking looking self into the store and purchased a well-earned cherry hibiscus tea. Only 110 calories. Caught the next bus, and now we’re all caught up. I’m writing this on my notes, battery on 28%, jamming to some Al Green and watching the views of the city through the dusty window pane.

Can’t get any better than this.

If it does though, tag me along?

DAY 6: The excitement but remains, but seeds of doubt, anxiety and emotions are starting to creep in.

Day 5 Documentary: The 2019 Young Artist Project

Day 5 Blog

Day 5 Blog Written by Emily Rose Githens

Today was a fairly quiet day for the most part. We are still working on the complete script so a majority of the day consisted of everyone at the their computers working. Throughout the day we reconvened and discussed our edits and what needed to be changed. We came across a major story line road block that stalled us for a hot minute but once we talked through how we could fix it we realized to have to go back....again and make edits.

In addition to continuing to flesh out a full script, Gabi worked on some multimedia that we are all super excited to be incorporating into the show. I think they really enhance the message we want to portray in our story and it's a fun addition to our live performance. Shayna continues to pump out glorious tracks of music. It is amazing that she can hear these tunes in her head, create them, write lyrics and all in an hour or so.

We took a break from staring at our computers to play a little dress up. We decided to look through some of the costumes that the Phantom Projects warehouse has to offer. So many things from 1920's flapper dresses to medieval costumes and everything in between. We pulled a couple items that are in the era we've set our show and tried a few things on. We didn't make any final decisions on costumes but we have a little bit better of an idea of what we have to work with.

I'm pretty excited (and I know everyone else is too) to get our script done so that we can start blocking! Not only with the idea of finally being able to visualize the show, see our lines come to life and develop the quirky, fun personalities of our characters but it will be nice (mentally and physically) to be up and moving for rehearsals.

As we continue to edit our story, it seems more and more holes arise and as we try to fix each one, the story becomes more complex. Our motto when we began was, Keep It Simple! With only 2 more full days to hash out details before Steve sees our show, I just hope that we stay true to what we started.

DAY 4 Blog

Today’s blog is written by Noi Nuria Maeshige:

Today was the 4th day of the Young Artist Project and the team got a LOT of work done.

The team was able to finish a rough draft of Act I after many changes were made to the storyline and was able to make the plot line much cleaner than it was before.

The main focus of today was to clean up the Act I script that Kaitlin, Shayna and Gabi had began cleaning earlier in the day. Throughout the day, as Nicole and Noi joined the group they began to go in depth with the storyline and made sure that the story was easy to follow for the audience. From day 1, the group knew that they had a tendency to make the story a bit too complicated to work in two weeks. The second act was loosely written as well! Although there are still many revisions to be made, the amount of work done by the team is amazing.

The team also began to integrate all the key concepts and themes that were important to them. This included womanhood, audience immersion and use of media throughout the show. In it, the team was able to use it in such a way that made the show more accessible, relatable, and powerful for the audience watching.

By the end of the night, though still very loosely written, the group had a finished script! There were still scenes missing in between, grammar errors galore, and discussion about Act II to be had, but it was there. The story had some shape to it and for the first time the writing of this play in 7 days didn't seem so impossible.

Day 4 is in the books! Pressure is mounting as the group gets closer to presenting their show...

2019 Young Artist Project August 3, 2019 La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts www.PhantomProjects.com/youngartistproject "I did not think it would be so hard."

See what's going on during the 3rd day of the process...

Obviously I knew it was a huge commitment and I’m thrilled to have so many passionate ladies making this happen, but we are going in every which direction with no real end in sight. I think part of having such a strong group of artists is dealing with A LOT of opinions and A LOT of visions for the show, which is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand; we have lots of people to help solve the issues that we are encountering, on the other hand; it’s difficult to incorporate the ideas and talents of 5 completely different individuals with the same amount of power! A collaborative process is wonderful because everyone’s voice gets heard, but hard because there’s no one to make the final decision.

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