So, a bunch of exciting things happened in the last day or two:

The Chicago White Sox won the World Series! Congrats to all of Chicago (except the miserable Cubs fans who can’t bring themselves to cheer, big dorks!) What a great series! It was a sweep, but all of the games were close and exciting.

Maggie decided that last night would be a good time to get sick to her stomach. So, I got home from rehearsal, and Jeanne was sitting up with her. I let Jeanne go to bed, cuz she’s gotta get up at 5:30 to get ready to work, then I stayed up with Maggie most of the night as she kept having to throw up. Poor thing. She’s doing better today, although we’re both tired!

And, in awesome WTP news; this morning, Christine and I had our walk-thru of the building with the contractor!! Finally! A great guy who really knew what he was doing, (or so it seemed to me!), he said he’d get back to us within a week for our first solid bid on the first stage of our renovation!

And now, off to do some housework and prep for tonight’s rehearsal!

Iran’s president: Israel must be ‘wiped off the map’

Does anyone else find this upsetting? That the President of Iran has called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” and said that a new wave of attacks will take care of it? This is the group of people who’ve also labeled the U.S. as “The World of Arrogance” and named us sworn enemies, too.

Don’t like to get too political on here. Got enough of that crap in real life. But, Jesus, vowing to wipe an entire country of people off the map? AND there was a suicide bombing in Israel shortly after the announcement, where 5 people were killed and a couple dozen seriously injured. This is just gonna get much worse before it ever gets better.

*sigh*

For now, I guess I’m just gonna rehearse my play and play with my family.

2 new tires now on my car! (after even more tire trouble on Monday, we’re not getting into it.)

Also, great Williamston Theatre Project meeting – our Board of Directors is coming together! Whoohooo!

And, I had a wonderful meeting with Bart and Mary, the structural engineer/design geniuses helping us with the building renovation that we’re trying to do for WTP. We met at the Arbor Brewing Company in Ann Arbor, looked over plans and brainstormed for a couple of hours. Very fun and exciting stuff. AND it was happy hour, so hooray for that…

My daughter has a nasty cough/cold type of thing & stayed home from school today; taking her to Pediatrics in a little while…

I finished grading all of the projects my Producing Theatre class turned in. I’m glad to say they all did very well, which means they may actually be learning in my class! Yay.

So, the Chicago White Sox are winning 2-0 over the Houston Astros in the 7 game World Series. Unfortunately, every freaking game is on at a time when I’m in rehearsal. Boooo… I did, however, get to a TV in time to see Scott Podsednik’s game ending home run on Sunday, which was awesome! For those not paying attention, Podsednik’s a good player on the White Sox, but not known for his power – he hit ZERO home runs during the regular season. Then this post-season, not only did he hit one during the Division Playoffs, but he also hit a game winning homer in the bottom of the ninth on Sunday, to end game 2 of The World Series! Baseball is amazing!

I now have Arrested Development, Season 2 on DVD. People, if you are not watching this show, you are missing serious hilarity. Go here, and watch some of the video clips if you don’t believe me!

Rehearsals for Jacob Marley are going well. Huge day on Sunday, when we made some big experiments really work. My cast is just an awesome group of guys – this is a great process.

Cool thing that happened as I’m typing this: The kids are playing a learning game on their computer, and Maggie watched Max finish in 2nd place just now – he was very disappointed about not winning. Maggie said “Max! 2nd place is great! You didn’t win, but look how good you did! You did great!” and he cheered right up. Sweet.

Soooo…

Tony’s Morning Adventure That Lasted ’til Evening. A LONG post.

*sigh* Stood up.

I’ve been stood up by a contractor.

Today was the day I was supposed to walk through the building that Williamston Theatre Project is trying very hard to get for our home. I was going to go thru it with the contractor and get a bid on the 1st renovation step: the removal of 4 posts in the middle of the room that needs to house our theatre space and audience seating.

Sadly, he called and had to postpone until next week. Nice guy, genuinely wants to help us and didn’t want to postpone, but they’re having a problem with the job they’re on now, and he can’t leave, and so it goes…

Dammit.

For those of you interested, here’s the scoop on how some of this works.

EDITED TO ADD: Thanks everybody, these were hugely helpful! Thank you thank you thank you!!

Okay, continuing to work on my play! All of your responses were fantastic, thank you!!

A clarification; I’m not directing A Christmas Carol, but instead am directing Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol which is a story about Scrooge’s dead partner, Jacob Marley, and what happens to him after he dies. It becomes a ‘behind the scenes’ of A Christmas Carol, as you discover how much Marley had to do with Scrooge’s whole evening of Spirit-ey visitors.

SO – because of that, I’m not going to be able to use all of the marvelous things that people mentioned. Unfortunately, the logistics/story of this piece have no reason for several of them. SO: I’m going to list the ones that it’s possible for me to use, and I’d like to ask one more bit of help from everyone:

Rank the following objects in the order that YOU think is most important to the story of A Christmas Carol. (What on this list, from top to bottom, makes you think Christmas Carol the most? What are the most iconic pieces from this list?) (Again, I’m only listing the ones I will really have any chance of getting onstage.)

The Figure of Death
Chains
Doorknocker
Candle Holder
Huge Dusty Old Book
Skeleton Keys
Coal
Scrooge’s Sleeping Cap
Snow

And, of course, if another Iconic Image or Object from the story comes to mind, let me know that too! All of your thoughts on mood/color/tone were right on!

Thanks again!!

EDITED TO ADD: Thanks everybody, these were hugely helpful! Thank you thank you thank you!!

Quick-
I’m directing this play, you know?
Need Feedback:

When you think of “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, what images come to your mind?

I’m looking for a few iconic things to use onstage, just a couple, and I’m wondering what everyone pictures when you think of the story of Ebenezer Scrooge and his ghostly visits and spiritual redemption?

Whether it’s from reading the book, watching the movie, seeing the play, or listening to Patrick Stewart’s one-man version of it on audio-book: What do you see in your mind’s eye when you think of it?

Just a quick list of anything that comes to mind would be hugely helpful!!

You fit in with: Spiritualism Your ideals are mostly spiritual, but in an individualistic way. While spirituality is very important in your life, organized religion itself may not be for you. It is best for you to seek these things on your own terms. 60% spiritual. 40% reason-oriented.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Hmmmm… I guess I can live with that!

What’re YOU?