So, in a few hours, our first audience will be in the building. A building that, as of 5:30, is finally about ready for them.

This morning, I was snuggling my son for 10 minutes before I had to drop him off and come to the theatre.

I told him I was sorry for not being home much the last two weeks, but that we were having our first performance tonight at the theatre.

He said “At your new theatre?! That’s so cool Dad!”

I thought that was pretty cool.

Then a little later, when I was dropping him off, we shared a big hug and, as I was leaving, he yelled “I hope your show goes well!”

I was a little surprised by how much that meant. Not sure why, really, but it was pretty wonderful to have him yell that. I’m a lucky guy.

Well, my friends – tomorrow is first preview at Williamston Theatre.

To hear a nice little interview we had on the Lansing radio station, check out this link!
You can see pics of the actors and I, and listen to us ramble on about the show and the building!

It’s getting close! I’ll post some pics soon – the transformation over the last two weeks has been amazing!

Currently: About to fall asleep in my chair.
Earlier: Driving around running errands, picking things up, listening to the Tigers beat the Red Sox on the radio.
Earlier than that: Rehearsing. A long day, but a ton of great work. A huge day, we did our first full run thru of the show with all of the tech. Everything worked very well. (Now everyone knock on wood, quick.)
Proof of rehearsal – our lovely Assistant Stage Manager Erica took a bunch of photos. She emailed them to me – click the link to see one: Continue reading →

Live for a great purpose, and hold the central idea of that purpose constantly before mind. Do not live for the mere sake of prolonging existence; live for something that magnifies, on the largest possible scale, all of the elements of existence. Do not work for yourself; work for the great idea that stands at the apex of your greatest purpose.
Christian D. Larson

Wanted: 14 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

If anyone has any extra sleep laying around, please send it.

I need a good Star Trek fix every once in a while!

Okay, this made me laugh.

And here’s a sweeter, different look at a similar subject…

OR, for any Next Generation fans, this is a nice Picard montage…

What a couple of days.
Williamston Theatre is 11 days from first audience.
Then a week of previews before Official Opening Night.
I’m hoping to catch up on my sleep on the morning of June 17th.

Some photos of the stuff going on:

These first two are of the set/stage area as the set and stage floor were being loaded in on Friday.

These next two are from the work day Sunday, when we had 6 volunteers plus the staff come and help get a ton of painting and other things done in the space!!

(For the one below, I was on a ladder, and Brian is on a ladder with the paint sprayer, silhouetted against the window – I just thought it was a cool shot!)

I need to say how humbling it is to have a whole bunch of people who have nothing invested in your theatre, or your company, show up and bust their butts for you for 5 hours. When we were starting this whole theatre project, we kept up the Field of Dreams mantra, “If you build it, they will come.”

Well, it remains to be seen if enough audiences will come but, to my constant awe, supporters and donors and volunteers have come. And it’s amazed me every time. Today we had a lot of fun, and got a ton accomplished – and folks were there just because they wanted to help. Just because they want us to succeed. And because they come, we want to succeed even more. We want to make it work even more. Because of them, and for them.

So…tonight, I’m going to bed exhausted. But also, humbled, inspired, grateful, thankful, and excited.
And covered in black paint.

Go, read this! A great Williamston Theatre article!

Why do I always check the doorknob to see if it’s unlocked? More specifically – I leave the house, locking the door. When I come home (sometimes hours later, sometimes minutes), I have my keys in my hand but I always turn the knob anyway, just to see… Why? What ridiculous little part of my brain refuses to acknowledge that I was the one who locked the door, so it’s STILL locked?! I just did it again this morning, and I’d only been gone 10 minutes! *sigh* Am I the only one who does this? Please say no…

The Detroit Tigers are 16 games over .500! They have the best record in ALL OF BASEBALL! I’m not sure how long this is gonna last, but I’m loving the heck out of it!

Today at Williamston Theatre our building inspector is coming to give us the thumbs up, down or sideways. We’re expecting sideways, with the “looks good, but now you must remember to do X,Y and Z” kind of thing. That’s fine with us – we’ve been anxiously awaiting his inspection because without it the next several dominoes can’t fall…

We have a new Williamston Theatre Rehearsal Blog! Check it out at: rehearsalblog. For now it’s me talking a little more in-depth about the specifics of rehearsals, but later it will be the guest directors, maybe some actor entries, other staff people, we’re going to mix it up a bit and try to get people interested in what we’re doing, how the thing comes together!

Went on a school field trip with my 6 year old on Monday! Museum, planetarium and (a first for most of the kids) an Amtrak train ride! Had a great time! On the bus on the way back about 1/2 of the kids were falling asleep in their parents laps…mine included. It was really an incredible moment – he’s with all his buddies, being silly and dorky and 6, and then just says “I’m sleepy” and cuddles right into my lap, just abandoning his playtime for some very public Daddy snuggling. As he was falling asleep, I shared a couple of looks with some of the other parents who had kids snuggled in their laps, and we all were silently acknowledging the “I wish this wouldn’t go away so quickly” feeling. *deep sigh*

Gotta go – too much to do today to sit for long!