I keep meaning to bring up that I have a sister. Her name is Gina. Her nickname is “Why are you bothering me?!” Without any prompting whatsoever, I’ve realized that I haven’t mentioned her here.

Gina’s life story is such:
Born a small Italian girl, she was the light of her family’s life. Jumping ahead, (the years between birth and college are not something the family talks about) she did wind up taking approximately a decade worth of Spanish, and she is currently capable of carrying on a conversation in that wonderful language, provided what you’d like to talk about is the location of A) a bathroom, B) a bar, C) a bar with a bathroom, or D) anything ending in the word ‘fajita’. She is fortunate enough to have a sense of humor similar to that of her oldest brother. (Her other brother will be discussed here at a later date.) She currently lives in familial bliss with her husband and son, and frequently dreams of opening her own pretzel stand on the Interstate.

We’re looking forward to seeing more of her around these parts.

Sunday Morning. The Ann Arbor News came out with a great review. Performance Network stages a smoking version of ‘Summer’, says the headline. Everything clicks in lesser-known work says the tagline.

Jenn McKee, the Ann Arbor News reviewer, had wonderful things to say about the production: “…it’s impossible to resist being drawn toward, and utterly mesmerized by, two characters’ scorching internal flames.” Praising the theatrical conventions and the performances (“The cast, as a whole, is fabulous.”), the article also praises the set design and the humor, calling the show “…an absolute gem.”

Congratulations to cast, crew – they all worked hard, and deserve the applause and credit. Nice Job you guys, thanks!!

More reviews will come out later in the week, I’ll keep you posted. Hopefully, regardless of whether the critics are all as positive as Jenn McKee or not, the show will continue to win audiences’ hearts and sell tickets!

So this afternoon was our Daddy-Daughter Square Dance! Sponsored by her Brownie troop, Maggie and I went and Square Danced our boots off! I’ve never square danced before, and this was Maggie’s first time too. There was a caller there talking everyone thru the steps – very funny, and a great time. Probably about 80 people there (Dads and their brownies!), 90% of us having NO IDEA how to square dance! It was very fun, lots of laughing and cheering. Maggie had a blast, we danced with 3 other ‘couples’ as a group (you DO know that you need 4 couples in a ‘square’ to square dance, right?…yeah, me too…).

All the girls were decked out in their best country/western garb, and most of the dads had dusted off our cowboy boots and flannel shirts for the event. First the Pledge of Allegiance, then about 45 minutes of dance/instruction, then we took a break for snacks and drinks, then another 1/2 hour of dancing with all of the steps we’d learned before snack time! A marvelous way to spend the afternoon!

Opening Night went very well. Cast was marvelous, tech went beautifully. Minor prop mishap, nothing the audience would’ve even noticed, although it did make the end of the play a shade different than I would’ve liked (The handkerchief is important throughout the play. At the end it’s thrown away – symbolic, and all of that. The handkerchief accidentally never made it to where it was supposed to be, so couldn’t be thrown away.) No biggie, live theatre, that’s what happens sometimes!

Audience response was good, I’m sure reviews will be mixed because of the “risk” I took, as some patrons were discussing, by double casting and employing a couple of theatrical conventions heavily throughout the play. I’m okay with that, if I had just done the play straight it would have bored me to tears, and that’s something I refuse to do to myself OR audiences.

#1 Sin in Theatre: Being Boring.

Now, on my way to making some logo decisions for WTP. As soon as I have the time to figure out how to do it, I’ll post some logo’s on here!

Next up, I need to SEE some shows! Meadowbrook, Purple Rose, and I want to see the show at Abreact, too. Anybody wanna go?

And HEY! Leave a comment, you lurkers! I know you’re out there, cuz you all keep telling me! 🙂

You know, my wife is a teacher. A good teacher. When I hear stories about how some parents treat teachers, it just DISGUSTS me.

People who want to take no responsibility, and don’t make their children take any responsibility, are unbelievable!!

Parents who want to be jerks and bully teachers around because they’re unhappy with their child’s grade are pathetic.

Most teachers work hard, long hours, dedicating themselves to helping kids despite frequent cutbacks and ridiculous demands. Most parents work hard, and understand that everything, EVERYTHING, is a work in progress. It’s the small percentage of parents who refuse to behave as rational, thinking human beings who drive good people out of a profession that is VITAL to the future of our children, our society.

I’m a parent, and the idea that my kid is not perfect, or would be anything less than the ideal student/citizen is, of course, upsetting to me. But if any situation arises where I must deal with a teacher/authority figure because of something my child is doing, I certainly hopt to God that I will be able to conduct myself with the grace and dignity that I try and carry through the rest of my life.

Perhaps that’s the trouble. Perhaps these people don’t conduct themselves with grace and dignity to begin with. Perhaps their whole sad, sad lives are based on blame and passing the buck. That may be the sad case. Well, I say to hell with them.

People, listen: public displays of stupidity in front of children are not a viable method of conflict resolution. Anyone who wants to debate me on the matter is welcome. In the meantime, every sane, dignified person out there, let’s start calling these idiotic, bullying, self-important people to task for their behavior.

I blogged a while ago about eliminating the influence of ugly people in my life. This is a next step in that. From now on, NO ONE will be safe from being called to task about ridiculous behavior. Call me pompous, call me annoyed, don’t care. Am I ranting? Yep. Don’t care.

Okay, currently in Ann Arbor, at Performance Network. Waiting for the final preview to start of SUMMER AND SMOKE. Inches from being done, and of the usual mixed mind about it. Yes, I’m done, and ready to move on to the next thing. However, as usual, I’ll miss the creative process on this one. Each show is it’s own little community, and the community on this has really been wonderful – everyone working hard, no maliciousness, a creative and professional bunch all working toward a common goal. I love that part of what we do. It’s as rewarding as the final product, especially when you watch the audience watching the show and enjoying it – then you think about all the work you and the team did to put it together, how everyone is working to make the audience FEEL SOMETHING, and you get reminded of why we’re in this business in the first place.

(Well, I got into the business ‘cuz I thought I was gonna be able to wear leg warmers to work every day. Boy was I mistaken about that…)

Good rehearsal last night. Cleaning up a handful of moments, did a run of the show w/out costumes to A) get everyone back in the flow of the thing and B) focussed the run on listening and driving thru the show. Some nice stuff. Tonight is final preview, then I’m handing the reins over to Callie, our Stage Manager. I’ll be back every week or 10 days to see the show, give feedback if needed. We’ll see if we need to have an official “Notes Call” per Equity rules, but even if we do it’ll probably only be one call 1/2 way thru the run.

Now, though, I’m working on casting the next couple of Williamston Theatre Project readings, choosing some scripts for our event in Williamston in July, finalizing WTP logo, and lining up a website for the WTP. That oughta keep me busy for a little while.

Oh. My. God.

In case I haven’t mentioned it, one of my recent (last 10 months or so) obsessions is the short lived Joss Whedon show “Firefly”. Well, it’s being turned into a movie, titled SERENITY (which is the name of…yes…the spaceship! I know, you’re shocked it’s a sci-fi thing…).

If you would like to see the sweet, sweet trailer for this film, go here:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/serenity/

After viewing it, I had the above reaction: Oh. My. God.

I can’t wait to see this freakin’ thing. The DVD’s of the show are marvelous. Can’t wait for the movie.

GO. See the trailer.

==Warning: Political Rant Ahead==

Thanks to Tobin for this quote:

“Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of
youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare, the
teaching of evolution in the schools, and working mothers who take birth
control pills.”
— Tom Delay, on Columbine

“Working mothers who take birth control pilsl”?! How dare they?! How dare those women work, how dare they succumb to the evil pressure of needing to put food on the table, of needing clothes for the family, of needing to pay the bills?! And BIRTH CONTROL?! Obviously these women haven’t seen the studies that show how much better things were when they were all chained to the kitchen and pregnant. Immoral, unfeeling, evil women! For Shame!

I mean, how do you even respond to that? This quote is from a few years ago, but the thing that makes it more important now is that this guy is currently the Majority Leader!

Working parents, working mothers, users of birth control and evolutionists read the following, and take heart!

Congressman DeLay is facing questions about the source of funding for some of his foreign trips, political fund-raising for Texas elections and his ties to a lobbyist under federal criminal investigation.

For further reading on him, check out these articles:

http://my.juno.com/s/lc?s=177247&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fnews%2Fwashington%2F2005-04-26-bush-delay_x.htm%3Fcsp%3D24%26RM_Exclude%3DJuno
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-04-26-delay-donations-ethics_x.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-04-26-ethic-gray-areas_x.htm

==Political rant ended. We now return to regularly scheduled programming==