“I like the ephemeral thing about theatre, every performance is like a ghost – it’s there and then it’s gone.”
– Maggie Smith

I need to take a moment to draw public attention to the marvelousness of mary919.

The Williamston Theatre received a surprise shipment, yesterday. A surprise GIFT.

The delivery man arrived with two boxes, brimming with office supplies. Direct from Office Max.

“But HOW?”, marveled the staff, staring with awe at our new found bounty, “But WHO?” we wondered.

The answer, it soon became clear, was mary919. A marvelous, generous woman who made not only a donation, but took the time to pick out things she knew we could use, and had them shipped to our doorstep.

The private Thank You’s have already been given.

This public announcement is in addition to that. It’s the least we could do, to honor a woman who helped out some poor theatre schlubs hundreds of miles away from her.

Thanks, mary919!

Today, I told Max to get dressed. 10 minutes later, no sign of progress. I said “Max, are you getting dressed?”
His response?
“Oh, darn it. Dad, I was gonna get dressed, but I got really, really attracted!”
“You got attracted? Do you mean DIStracted, buddy?”
“Ummmm. No. I mean attracted. I got attracted. But I’ll get dressed now!”
And off he scampered.

On another note, Click Here To Read The Newest Article about the Williamston Theatre from the Lansing State Journal. Nice article, although it mistakenly turns Chris Purchis, our Managing Director, into a man. She is not one!

Lastly – I’m getting a little anxious for Lost, Survivor and The Amazing Race to come back! My new TiVo is not getting nearly enough action right now! And, although I’d previously announced giving up on West Wing, now that (sadly) John Spencer has died, I’m gonna have to watch the rest of the season to find out how they handle his death. (What a wonderful actor he was.)

You know, it’s interesting. More than that, it’s amazing.

The most amazing things have been happening lately. As we work to bring the Williamston Theatre into being, we’re gathering people. People who believe. Board members. Community members. Actors, directors, stage managers.

But also, people are giving. Donating. Contributing. Therefore, becoming ‘a part of’. Joining. Collaborating. And caring. Caring.

I’ve already shared the story about Barb at the hardware store. Giving me a screwdriver so we could take down the ‘for sale’ sign off of the building. Then minutes later running out of her building to bring us another, better screwdriver to keep as well.
A wonderful woman came in and wants to donate services – she’s a writer for magazines and newspapers in the area. She wrote and polished press releases for us, and helped us update our press-contact lists.
Another wonderful woman came in and wants to volunteer time. She can help with accounting, marketing. She wants to set up a few hours a week to volunteer with us. AND, she wants to donate money!
Checks are coming in the mail.
The mayor stopped by. We were in the building, and he stopped by to say hi and see how things were going. He offered advice, support, and some of his personal computer equipment to help us supply the office.
I just got an email from a couple who own a printing company. They love the arts, and want to help us out with our printing needs.

There are others…I’m not quite at liberty to talk about them all yet.
As with all not-for-profits, it will be a challenge to meet our financial needs.
We’ll see if the giving continues, and we’ll see what our future holds…
But for now, it’s…
It’s encouraging.
Uplifting.
Amazing.

These idiots thought it would be okay to leave their kids home for the weekend alone – after all, they did leave them breakfast cereal!

Seriously…how do two grown people come to this decision? How frelling stupid can you be?!

After they had explored all the suns in the universe, and all the planets of all the suns, they realized that there was no other life in the universe, and that they were all alone. And they were very happy, because then they knew it was up to them to become all the things they had imagined they would find.

From Lanford Wilson’s Fifth of July, a beautiful play.

Hope the theatre entries aren’t getting boring.

Well, I’m writing for myself a lot, too, so I’m probably gonna write them even if you get bored. Sorry.

1) Name Change: We’re going with the Williamston Theatre now. We’ve eliminated the word “Project”. Any thoughts on that? Feel free to share, I’d enjoy hearing them.
2) This weekend I was named “Best Director of a Drama 2005” by the Ann Arbor News. That was nice, it’s nice to have someone recognize your work, and it’ll look good on the resume and hopefully be useful as we build the Williamston Theatre!
3) For anyone interested, here’s the “Year in Review: The Artistic Director Rambles” piece I wrote for our next newsletter. Continue reading →

Happy New Year!

I’m a big fan of PostSecret, I’ve mentioned before. Well I loved this particular postcard;

I encourage you all to visit the site, it’s updated every Sunday. It’s amazing, and very moving, to be reminded of the humanity, spirit, courage and, well, magic, all around us.

So, It’s snowing like mad! We’re supposed to get 2 to 4 inches, and it sure looks like we’ll get it.

Christmas has come and gone. Had a wonderful time. Spent quality time with family, watched the kids as they found Santa’s ashy footprints around the fireplace, watched them squeal as they opened presents and, even more moving for me, watched them beam with joy as others opened the gifts the kids had bought for them. They also found, outside, the chewed up remains of the carrots they’d left for the reindeer! It was VERY exciting.

Jeanne likes her iPod Nano, I filled it with a bunch of her music before I wrapped it. The kids and I also got her the new Harry Potter book, and I’m not afraid to admit that, between buying it and giving it to her, I sneakily read the thing! She’d go to work, or sleep, and I’d pull it out of hiding and read a chapter or two! (Hey, SHE got me re-addicted to the darn series, what’s a boy to do?!)

I got TiVo as my present from my aforementioned lovely wife, which I’m thrilled about! However, I’ve been so busy all week that I’m only right now getting around to hooking it up, and I’m annoyed, because I’m trying to set it up, and when it gets to the screen that says “Pick the cable provider for your area” my cable provider isn’t listed, and so I have to choose “Not Listed” and get told to call Customer Service, which is currently closed, and will open at 7am Pacific Time. *sigh* I’m not a patient man with this kind of crap! (One time, just once in my life, this type of thing will go smoothly and work the first time. It is at that moment that you will hear a giant scream of unbridled, astonished joy echo around the world.) So, maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to TiVo some shows! Or, since it’s a holiday weekend, I’ll probably have to wait until Monday. *sigh*

This week has been crazy. Signing for the building on Wednesday (Well, John did the signing – I did the witnessing and picture taking!). Then John, Chris, Emily and I had a big long productive meeting in our new building, which included a big champagne toast! A quick story about that day!