Getting the basics wrong

I am a snob.

As I am about to graduate with a degree in Drama, I realized that having worked on several productions only with other people who majored in the performing arts has made me a snob. It is rare for me to attend a performance or event organized or performed by non-performing arts people. (My working life is in a theatre. Why would I spend my free time in another theatre?!)

Last Thursday, I attended the 1st Annual East Asian Studies Night, which was a talent show performance meant to showcase the East Asian languages (Mandarin, Korean and Japanese), performed by the students who volunteered (and get full points on presentation for their class grade). The main reason why I went was to support a classmate who was dancing to Jay Chou's "青花瓷", and it was going to be the last performance of the night.

I knew that the organization of the event was bad the moment I arrived at the venue.
When I arrived 10 minutes before the show was supposed to start, I was asked whether I was a performer or an audience member by the usher. This made me raise an eyebrow, because I assumed that all the performers would have arrived WAY before me. Alas, no. Half of the performers have not arrived and the ushers were not informed of who the performers were supposed to be.

After getting a seat, I noticed that most of the performers that were there had programs. Thinking that I may have walked past the usher without getting one, I walked back to the entrance and asked for one. I was told that there were none for the audience and to please refer to the program that was taped up onto the pillar for information about the performances. ...Okay, l understand the need to conserve paper and ink and the time and labor to fold them. But, seriously?!

Fine, fine. I will let that pass.

Sitting down, I finally got to observe the venue and the way that everything was being handled in the preparation for the performance. The venue was a lecture hall, and it was clearly never meant to be a performance hall. The track lighting that was pointed towards the stage was all pointing towards the sides of the stage, which is meant to showcase the speaker on the podium while he was speaking about whatever presentation he had on the screen.

The whole thing was that it was organized with too many cooks in the kitchen. All the performances separated to their respective teachers and it seemed nobody was concerned about the technical aspects about it, whether it be checking placement on stage or doing a sound check. However, I could be incorrect about this, because I did arrive only 10 minutes before show time.

Nah, I was right. Each scene started out with the performers having a little huddle meeting to talk about where everyone should stand and what technical equipment they can use. :/

Cringe-worthy moments:

Singers did not sing into a real vocal microphone. They sang into the little itty bitty microphone that sits on top of the podium...and the podium went along with the microphone. And if there were a chorus, they were too soft to be heard because the podium would be shifted off-stage. Of course, since it wasn't a vocal microphone, it screeched, caught pops and breaths and other unsightly sounds which we would not wish to hear.

As we lost natural lighting through the windows, it was evident that the stage was half lit, and the darkness was most apparent...in the center of the stage, where many of the performers have chosen to situate themselves in.

One scene had roses tossed onto the stage by the performers. When their scene ended, they just picked up the numerous roses and didn't sweep the floor. My friend's dance performance was right after and involved a lot of floor movement. I saw red scratches on their arms at the end. :/

There were several moments where I also just blanked out. Particularly, those moments came whenever a low energy performance (such as a presentation about Confucius from Elementary Mandarin 1) followed a high energy performance (such as "Be A Man" from Mulan in Mandarin from Intermediate Mandarin 2), and performances where I don't understand the language at all (Korean, Japanese). I'm sure the people who couldn't understand Mandarin were bored of the Chinese performances as well. English subtitles could have been included in the missing program for everyone to enjoy the whole night.

I felt very sorry for my friend who had to perform last, because by then, 90% of the audience was gone. Although I know that several were there to support friends and then leave right after...they could have retained more audience members if the performance was held in a better venue with the correct technical equipment, the performance order was changed to hold the interest of the audience and better organization was done for the smoothness of the show and the safety of the performers.

Although a disappointing night, I did learn one thing.
I am a snob because I expect perfection from every performance I see, no matter who it's done by. Or at the very least, get the basics right!