They came to me in Tech class three years ago, (they've been with me now for three years), with their fantastic Advanced Placement skills; there is no other word for it, that's what it is; fantastic artistry and skills. They are meticulous, day-in and day-out; and they are always like quiet little elves: they come in, they do their job, they clean-up and pack-up and go and when they leave, I come in and go, "Ah! it's done!"
They started in Elephant Man production, hand-painting the circus banner. Together they set the bar at its highest for what a theatre technician should be, and they have never been bested.
Tara stayed with Prop Mistress and Amber supported me and a very serious sound board operator up in the booth as being the third sound person to do the pre-cues for the seven wireless mikes that were to be used for the very first time in Josh Cuellar's production of Little Shop of Horrors. [Applause]
They even made acting appearances in-between my shows, always coming back to Theatre Design, lucky me; being prop mistress and back stage manager, being lead of special effects for Dracula, thank God! And every single terrifying deadline that I had in any play, any scene painting that had to be done, they were here: on Christmas break, on Spring break, for hours on end, and again, like little elves with their thing: they come in, they paint, they finish up, they leave, and always cleaned up. Wonderful, wonderful people.
If you remember the garden wall for Sabrina, that back long wall, that was hand painted by the two of them, and every single stone in the set of Dracula was drawn and sponged by these ladies, every - single - stone; it must have been 800 square feet, right? [Applause] So I am sure they were both delighted when they took a break and did the coffee mug and pencils and pens for Toy Camp and put away their paint for awhile.
They have a beautiful mural in the make-up room and another mural adorns the walls the art quad. Please give it up for Amber and Tara Rankin. [Applause]
I hope that other art students will follow in your footsteps. In fact, I hope so much that Theatre Design students will follow your criteria of excellence and work ethic, achievement and dedication, and so I have added, yet again, at great expense, a second, honorary award that will stay here in this building. It will be awarded for a Theatre Design person of two years or more, and when that person appears again they will have your dedication, and their name might go on a little plaque, a perpetual plaque that is called, "The Rankin Award." [Applause]
I will have you know, at a Fine Arts meeting (I swore them all to secrecy) - and when I told Linda Nugent, she said, "Oh, and it will be like - do you rank with the Rankins?" [Laughter/Applause]
All designs, original art, and photography Copyright © 2007 Amber and Tara Rankin. All rights reserved.