So…it’s been a heck of a couple of days…

Good: Baseball is back! Yes! I just love this sport.
Bad: The Tigers lost their home opener (although it was a good game.)
Bad: Tigers Pitcher Kenny Rogers had to have surgery to remove a blood clot, and will miss 3 months. 😦
(at least he’s okay – that’s an issue that could be life threatening – thank goodness they caught it.)
Good: The Tigers signed our awesome shortstop, Carlos Guillen, to a 4 year contract. Excellent!

Good: I saw a stumble thru of Music From A Sparkling Planet at Williamston Theatre, and it looks great. Suzi Regan is directing it, and she’s a wonderful person AND director.
Bad: The economy in Michigan is so bad that this week the Governor just froze all the arts funding. Yep, froze it. So far, out of the $10,500.00 grant that we got, we’ve gotten payments equaling about $3,000.00. We will get no more. AND rumor has it that there will be no arts funding at all in 2008. I can’t tell you how painful this is. Especially for a young company like ours, that is still building a donor and audience base – trust me when I tell you that the seven grand we aren’t getting is a huge blow. And it’s not just us, it’s all the arts in Michigan. Hundreds of people, if not thousands, will be put out of work by this.
Bad: Because we will not be getting the April grant payment that we were expecting, the money we had in the bank earmarked for our electrical upgrade is going to need to be spent on paying actors and crew.
Good: We had a small Poker Tournament Fund-Raiser this weekend, and made a bit of money! That’ll help with payroll!

Good: My wife and kids are on Spring Break this week, so we’re getting to spend a bunch of fun time together! Tonight we saw “Night at the Museum” at the dollar show (yay for dollar movie theatres!). Fun!!
Bad: Nothin’ bad about that! (Except that even though the tickets are only $1, you still spend 30 bucks on popcorn and drinks!)

So…a couple of days with some ups and downs. I suppose that’s life, eh? Still, we will make Williamston Theatre work. Right now the box office is almost done, we’re putting down a new stage floor, and we got a corporate grant earmarked for buying some stage lighting equipment. If we can keep growing our attendance, and turn all the good vibes we’re getting into ticket sales, we will be on our way. We’ll get there.