Here we are, the big event for me, the Worldcon Masquerade. \u00a0I’ve been working towards this since before we got into town.<\/p>\n

A Worldcon Masquerade is a major stage event, just like a play or musical. \u00a0Except that we have one day to rehearse everything, make sure that the lights and audio are set, that everyone knows how to work on the stage, that the crew have all of their cues, for our one big night.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>

Chris Doyle (as Jyn Erso), Karen Lord, Debi Chowdhury<\/p><\/div>\n

After my initial concerns about a small entry list, we ended up with 25 entries, most of whom were novices under the International Costumers Guild (ICG)<\/a> rules. \u00a0My Co-Director, Debi Chowdhury, convinced nearly everyone she saw wearing a costume to enter. \u00a0We set the run order on Friday afternoon, trying to get a balanced mix of experienced and new, dramatic and humorous, etc. \u00a0One of our two Young Fan entries withdrew, and the remaining Young Fan decided she wanted to participate as a Novice. \u00a0Good choice, as you’ll see later.<\/p>\n

The day starts with a 10am meeting for all of the participants. \u00a0We go over the schedule for the day, walk through the stage and back stage areas, discuss missing audio files and other specific issues, and then break to start the tech rehearsal at 11am. \u00a0Except that the tech crew didn’t think they needed to be there until noon. \u00a0We hung around until we got someone who knew how to run the lights and audio board, but once we started, we moved along fairly quickly.<\/p>\n

My biggest problem was differences in expectations. \u00a0Many anime conventions expect a full skit\/presentation — more like a variety show with song\/dance\/etc. \u00a0A Worldcon Masquerade expects a 60 second or so presentation. \u00a0The only person with a microphone is the Toastmistress. \u00a0So folks need to record their script or provide it to the Toastmistress. \u00a0I ended up as Karen Lord’s surrogate as she was scheduled for several panels during the day. \u00a0Using my best stage voice, I introduced folks, read (and edited) scripts, made sure that everyone had some sort of audio to play in the background if they didn’t already have something, and helped them figure out their staging. \u00a0My absolutely invaluable helper was Lori Meltzer, who is an experienced Masquerade stage hand. \u00a0She coached participants on movement and attitude on stage and explained how we would help cue them during the actual event.<\/p>\n

We planned to open the auditorium at 7pm, and start just after 7:30pm. \u00a0I got the Press Room to print out the revised script at about 6:30pm. \u00a0And then realized that I hadn’t print out the intro for Karen Lord. \u00a0Husband to the rescue — I e-mailed the file to the Press Room and got Stephen to pick it up for me. \u00a0And then when he walked in to give it to me, I grabbed him to become the “Voice of God” — the person behind the curtain who does opening announcements — because all of the Finns felt they had too much accent.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>\u00a0 Our judges included a mix of US, British and Finnish costumers. \u00a0Both workmanship and presentation judges complained that they had too many good costumes and costumers to pick from. \u00a0But in the end, they were able to make their awards. \u00a0Best in Show Workmanship went to Leena Peippo as Dwalin the Dwarf. \u00a0And Best in Show Presentation went to Olivia Flockhart (the Young Fan who switched to Novice) as When Halley Came to Jackson in 1910 (Halley’s Comet).<\/p>\n

We handed out a total of 20 awards. \u00a0The full list along with links to lots more photos is here<\/a> on the Worldcon 75 website.<\/p>\n

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