Okay, tonight is final dress rehearsal. Last night (Tuesday, the 19th) went VERY well. I was thrilled with the steps the show and the cast are taking. Scott Mancha, the light designer, revamped the whole system for lighting the cyc (cyclorama, for you non-theatre types – it’s the big white backdrop that we put pretty colors on…) – it looks great. Monika and Suzanne (set and costume designers) have turned in some wonderful work. We’ve got until a week from Friday before official opening, but test audience tonight and then previews start tomorrow – we’ll learn a lot, and keep polishing the show until Opening, but I’m very happy with where we are.

After winning 3 games in a row, the Tigers lost to Baltimore last night, 8-4. Now we start a series at home against the division leading White Sox. We MUST win 2 out of 3 of these games. We’re already 4 games behind them. If we lose 2 or 3 to the Sox, it’s gonna be an ugly haul to get back up there in our division.

THE WILLIAMSTON THEATRE PROJECT has an underwriter for it’s first event! Hooray! John Lepard has worked his negotiating magic and landed us a major donor. More info on it later. Before long, this thing will be up and running and drawing audiences and artists from all over the freakin’ state!!

Until then, 2 employment events happening:

In a very cool turn of events, Dennis Rohmer at Otterbein University in Ohio called and asked if I’d like to direct LEAVING IOWA down there in April of 2006. Should be a lot of fun – Dana White was the connection there, thanks Dana! (Hopefully he’ll be able to design lights for the show while I’m there!) Otterbein has a great theatre program, it’ll be nice to work with students again, and meet some new folks in that department.

AND, possible announcement about a Fall ’05 directing gig. Once all of the t’s are crossed I’ll post more.

Finally, today, can I just say that I LOVE The Amazing Race. It has quickly surpassed SURVIVOR as my favorite “immersive game show being mistakenly called ‘reality tv’ series”. Admittedly, it’s not as fun as a good episode of WEST WING (remember those?), or Buffy, or Farscape when it rocked, or Battlestar Galactica or Stargate, and certainly not as good as Arrested Development (great, great season finale. Please tell me they’re not going to cancel that show). However, T.A.R. is just unbeatable when it comes to actually pulling for someone, sitting there and getting caught up and tense and anxious and frustrated and…well..amazed! That’s all. Now I have to hope Season 2 of Arrested Development comes out on DVD sooner rather than later.

Now, off to prepare for tonights rehearsal. Notes to contemplate, scene work to prepare for. To the test audience tonight, I say “BEWARE! I’M FEELIN’ FEISTY!”

Okay, the Tigers won 13 to 3 tonight! Now that’s more like it. A couple weeks of that kinda game will be great, thanks very much…

Williamston Theatre Project update: Tomorrow is a big meeting day, possible seed money coming in. Very excited about the possibilities. Also; website coming soon – more details will be posted when we get them!

Also, yet another fun way to waste time: Fantasy Baseball season has begun. YES, Fantasy Baseball. Or, to be specific, BLB, which stands for Big League Baseball, the name of the league I’m in. YES, it’s a ridiculous amount of fun, and YES, if you let it, it can be a ridiculous waste of time. Last year I spent a ton of time on it, and WON! This year, I’m thinking less time, because I’d rather be making a theatre with John, Chris and Emily – dammit I want to make this thing work!

That doesn’t mean that I’m just gonna throw in the towel, though! I’ve got a good team, thanks to the efforts of Aaron Rossini, who stepped in and handled the draft day process for me when I had to be at rehearsal. I hated to miss it, it’s one of the best parts of the year, but everyone else could meet and rather than reschedule and make everyone wait LONGER into the season, I just asked Aaron to fill in for me on Sunday. We had a deal that we’d fill in for each other if needed, and it worked out. ( Thanks, Aaron! Now, in the spirit of BLB, I hope your team crashes and burns while mine flourishes. Good luck with that. )

—–

Okay. Another thing. The point, tonight. Currently working to clean out the clutter in my life. Leaving room for the good, the challenging. Closing the door on the ugly people in my life, (and so we’re clear: by ‘ugly’ I mean behavior.) Tired of allowing people who are just lousy human beings to have impact. SO…done with it. Come on, join me – it’ll be a fun way to live!

Yep.

Almost as fun as smacking the ugly people in the head with stuff. Lots of stuff. Stuff like big fishes, or sticks. Logs. Damn…I’ve backslid…

Okay, Tech on Saturday went well. Some issues with the lights, but it’s a big lighting show and they’re still solving a few things.

Very excited about today’s rehearsal, and the next few days. Can’t wait to get an audience in, let the cast relax into the show a little bit.

Still have some stuff to work, of course, and we’ll use every second we’ve got, but now it’s about tweaking scenework.

If you’re interested in reading more about the show, and what we’re doing with it and what makes our production a little different, click this: Summer and Smoke.

Today, we’re teching the show. Having a good time, it’s going to be very cool. Everyone involved is doing good work. I love this part, we get to put everything together, see the lights completely change the play, feel the sound set a tone, everybody just clicks in. Wonderful.

So, my Tigers finally won today! Now, at 4-7, we almost don’t suck. Almost.

Sadly, I missed SURVIVOR this week. I just had to vent about that. Ah well. Bad habit or not, it’s still a habit, and I’m feelin’ a little twitchy as withdrawal sets in. If I start bitin’ my nails, that’s why.

13 days until I’m at some time off. Classes done, show opened. 13 days. Play time with the kids, relaxing in the sun, building the Theatre Project. 13 days!

Not that I’m counting.

Later. Back to tech! Act II awaits.

Okay, rehearsals on Wed and Thu went very, very well. Cast is adjusting to the set wonderfully, making big strides in the life of the piece. Tons of scene work and polishing to do, but that’s good for where we are. Also, I haven’t given enough public mention of Tom Whalen and Aral Gribble, two guys in the show who are doing wonderful things with a guitar and harmonica, really helping me create the world of the play, which is a little different than the way Tennessee Williams is usually done.

Anyone who reads this (does anyone yet?) and is in Michigan, the show is in Ann Arbor, at Performance Network at 8pm starting the 21st of April (previews) and officially opens on the 29th. Check out details at http://www.performancenetwork.org, and come see the show – the cast is marvelous, and I think I’m managing to not screw them or the play up! Very much looking forward to the next week of work before leading to 1st preview.

This fun thing was posted on Keith R.A. DeCandido’s blog, and I stole it:
(If you’re into Sci Fi or fantasy novels, Keith is a great author and a very funny man, check out his blog at kradical)

So apparently I speak General American English and a large amount of ‘Upper Midwestern’. Well, born and raised in Michigan, I’m thinking that fits…

Okay, so as I wrote yesterday, I was told I needed to write some Director’s Notes for the playbill of Summer and Smoke. Normally I hate them, because they wind up sounding so academic, elitist, blah blah blah. So I procrastinated. But I had to write them. So, in looking for a hook for the piece, fate stepped in. Here’s what’s going into the program:

————–
Director’s Notes.

Okay, truth be told, I’m not a fan of Director’s Notes. I prefer to let the
work and the piece speak for themselves. As I was struggling with what to say
in these, however, the universe intervened and opened a door for me.

Today in the news, an article appeared. “Unpublished Tennessee Williams Poem
Found”. Sure enough, a poem written by Williams in 1937 was found in, of all
things, the back of a blue-book exam from his student years at Washington
University. Williams didn’t finish at Washington – he left, looking for
something else. The poem, titled “Blue Song”, is an indicator of why. Henry
Schvey, who found the poem, had this to say about the author after reading it;
“It’s clearly someone who feels he’s lost his moorings or who he is, or, if he
has his identity, it belongs to a different place.”

That quote speaks volumes. It’s also, coincidentally, a direct tie-in with
SUMMER AND SMOKE. This play is about people who’ve lost their moorings. It’s
about people who want to fit in with the world, who want a connection, but can’t
get there. Or rather, don’t get there in any way they ever expected.

Searching. Finding yourself. Losing yourself. We all do it. Williams was
doing it in 1937. Tonight, you’ll see some of his wonderful characters do the
same. I hope you enjoy their journey. Thanks for coming.

Tony Caselli
Director, Summer and Smoke
————————

I like ’em. On top of that, today I took some steps toward casting the couple of readings the Williamston Theatre Project will be doing in the upcoming 12 weeks, and worked on some other things for our company-in-the-making. Crystal Woolard is helping with our logo, I’ll post an example soon.

Okay, rehearsal last night until 11pm, then went home and watched THE AMAZING RACE which, as always, WAS Amazing. (Okay, I’m hooked.)

Then, however, could not sleep a wink. Thinking about the play – rehearsal was good, but not what I wanted it to be: I wanted to do scenework and a run thru, but because we were onstage for the first time, and it was a big change from the rehearsal space, we wound up spending the whole rehearsal running and cleaning transitions and a handful of staging moments inside scenes. SO, although it was a useful day, I’m looking forward to a runthru tonight to see how it goes. Because of not being able to get it out of my head, though, I was up tossing and turning a lot. Also, got up early with my son. Then came into the University to grade the projects I had to return, and teach. Now I’m going to eat and prep for tonights rehearsal, which is in a couple of hours. Also, must write the “Director’s notes” for the program, which I hate because I never like the way they sound, but I’m gonna get them done anyway.

The cast in this show is great, by the way. Everyone is working hard, great attitude. The atmosphere is very nice for bringing this piece to life.

Okay, off to do that. Oh, my Tigers lost again last night. *sigh* Our new super-bullpen gave up the tying run and losing run in the 8th and 9th innings. Let’s hope that stops soon.

Okay, today I had to go and pick up my son’s birth certificate. He’ll be 5 next month and we realized we’d never gotten it from the county. We have to get a copy of it to register him for Kindergarten.

As I’m picking it up, it hit me. He’s going to Kindergarten. In like 4 months, my youngest kid will be in Kindergarten!

WHEN THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?!?!

I mean, okay, my beard’s turning a little gray here and there. Yes, my metabolism slowed down, as predicted by everyone I knew who was 10 years older than me. My knee is certainly showing signs of the grief it’ll cause me when I’m a senior citizen. BUT WHEN THE HELL DID WE GO FROM “LET’S GET MARRIED” TO “TWO KIDS IN SCHOOL”?!

*sigh*

I need some aspirin.

Okay, lots of good stuff going on. Had a meeting with John, Chris and Emily Sutton-Smith about the next steps for the Williamston Theatre Project.

A couple nice events planned – we’re having an event in May to bring folks together in Williamston for cocktails, then we’re going to Chelsea to see the show at the Purple Rose. This’ll be a great awareness builder, as folks see the size of the theatre we want to build, the style of theatre we like to do, etc…

Next is our involvement in the Michigan Theatre Festival. In June, a lot of the Equity companies in Michigan are getting together and doing a festival of new play readings. This event will be June 8-12, and the Williamston Theatre Project will be doing our readings on Friday June 10th. Check out the MI Festival link at http://www.heartlande.com

Then, in July, we’ll be doing a collage piece of short one-act comedies and songs in Williamston. July 16th, at the outdoor Art Fair. Be ready to come, laugh and have fun!

Also, we’ll be doing public readings of new plays and other events throughout the summer, too. Hopefully we’ll have a website before long, where all of this will be located!

Okay, a cool thing. Working on ‘directing’ with my class at EMU, we were playing with Stage Pictures. It’s very energizing to work with students who love the theatre. They were broken into groups, and given 3 words (like Love, Joy, Anguish, Communion, etc…) and charged with A) going to the library and coming up with visual representations of these words/ideas, and then B) after sharing those with the class they had to come up with their own tableau stage pictures using everyone in their group to represent the words/ideas. It was marvelous! We discussed stage pictures, and ‘clarifying theme with staging’, and will discuss further as we work on ‘staging the play’ as our next topic.

Energizing.