Going to bed…

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…and as I walk the house, I do the rounds. The checklist. Doors? Locked. Lights? Most off, a couple on.

Walking around, I see the remains of our evening. Glasses from homemade milkshakes in the sink…a few dog toys scattered around… And even more kids stuff.

I check on the boy – as usual, his pillow is on the floor. Tonight, however, it has a companion: The MegaRobot 2000 – a contraption he made by combining many of his toys with a lot of duct tape and, yes, he gave it that very modern sounding name. I think back to when I was tucking him in and he started singing me a song he’d learned in music class – he was shocked to discover that yes, I TOO know the words to Puff The Magic Dragon!

I check the girl. As usual she’s sleeping on top of the covers…and 4 seconds after I pull them up over her she’s kicking them back down to the foot of her bed. The foot of her bed which, as usual, is full of Girl Stuff: 2 books, one stuffed animal, a gift bag full of clothes (?), and a sketch she drew of the giant paper maché tree she wants to build for her bedroom (?!). I think back to earlier this evening when, during our family board game, her brother made her laugh so hard and so unexpectedly that she shot homemade milkshake across the table. The cleanup was worth the laugh.

I check my wife. Eyeglasses and book removed from bed now that she’s fallen asleep? Check. Now, though, the puppy sleeping at her feet seems to be doing a little coughing and rasping – that’ll need watching. Next, steal a glance at her alarm clock: the wrong number of glowing dots means she’s forgotten to set it, and there will be trouble in the morning.

And as I hit the pillow, I think of the milkshake dishes and kids toys and dog toys and how I should straighten them up…

But aren’t they just evidence of a house well-lived-in?

Yes. Tonight, they definitely are.

Recovering for the weekend!

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So, Max is feeling better – a little sore and tired, but in good spirits. Thanks a bunch to everyone who commented, called, or emailed to see how he was doing – appreciate the support and well-wishes!

After being up for 40 hours straight during that ordeal, I managed to get a little sleep, and am now gearing up for our Tech Weekend for Hate Mail. I’ve not got time to do a big post about the whole E.R. ordeal, which will come soon, I’ve got a ton of stuff to catch up on for the show! And of course we got hit with another 5 or 6 inches of snow today – whoohooo!

Have a good weekend everyone!!

Whew. A big relief.

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So the doctors have said, at last, “He’s gonna be fine. It’s nothing surgical.” Whew!

Basically it’s a combination of a couple of things:

Some intestinal blockage that was undiagnosed until the XRay, plus probable intestinal virus and/or flubug caused the painful abdomen & low platelet count. He’s eating now.

So basically we go home, flush him with fiber, keep him rested and on lots of liquids for the virus, and go back to the doctor on Monday for another check of his abdomen.

Again, I’d just like to state for the record: Whew.

7:30am update

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We’re in a room at the Pediatric Emergency Room of Mott’s Children’s Hospital, at the UofM Hospital… Max is sleeping soundly in his hospital bed. The doctors seem now to be more concerned that his platelet count is low, and how it’s related to his abdominal pain. Apparently the low platelet count in addition to his abdominal tendernss and his tendency to bruise easily could be a symptom of a couple of things…

He’s resting comfortably, Jeanne and I are just waiting and not sleeping in the chairs next to him.

They’ve done some more bloodwork, taken an XRay of his abdomen, and now they’re considering admitting him to get him out of the E.R. area…

So we’re in a holding pattern until they figure out the next step.

This pretty much sucks.

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Its 1am. I’m in the UofM Hospital with my 7 year old son, who is having abdominal pain, possibly appendix related.

Seeing your son with an I.V. In his arm, asleep on an ambulance stretcher, sucks.

He’s in pretty good spirits, and is being very brave. The pain comes and goes, and they’re not sure why yet. Waiting to run a couple of tests right now, and he’s resting.

2 weeks into rehearsal!

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Art had a successful closing, and now we’re gearing up for Hate Mail. We start Preview Performances next week, and I’m really looking forward to it.

The script is very funny, and the cast is doing a terrific job. I’m very interested to see how audiences respond to this unique style of storytelling – the format of having correspondence read back and forth is not a new one at all, but it’s not one you see done often. It is, however, a very fun, different experience. I think the end product of this process is going to be a really fun, funny, and uplifting production that leaves us not only laughing, but thinking about the relationships in our lives. It is, after all, a love story of sorts!

The big challenge for me right now is staging. This type of play is often done with folks simply sitting at a desk, reading letters back and forth. However, because we’re on a 3/4 Thrust stage, I have to move folks around for sightlines. Also, though, I think a little bit of staging can, if we’re true to the author’s intent, enhance the theatricality of the piece and the storytelling.

The trick, of course, is to find the line where we’ve got just enough movement, and it’s telling the right story. Too much, and it dilutes the power of the text and the style the play is written in. Too little, and audience members with poor sightlines will become frustrated and unhappy. Frustrated and unhappy is no way to watch a comedy! *laughing*

So far, I think we’re succeeding nicely. As I said, though, I am very excited for Previews, so we can get some audience feedback!

3 really amazing things

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Okay, so the first thing amazing thing is this really fantastic bit of Improv/Performance Art/Plain ol’ Coolness from the folks at Improv Everywhere: Frozen In Grand Central!

According to their website: Improv Everywhere causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 70 missions involving thousands of undercover agents. The group is based in New York City. A couple of years ago they did a similar event with slo-mo in a Home Depot store, and it was really neat. I love this! Thanks to Emily for pointing me toward it!

The second really amazing thing for today is the Lunar Eclipse!! It’s going on right now, and I just came in a few minutes ago from freezing my butt off on the back porch watching the eclipse. Amazing. The universe is just amazing. I mean, here we are, on this planet, and I’m looking at our shadow…On The Moon. Approximately 240,000 miles away. Events like this have an incredible way of pointing out just how small we are, don’t they? And how we’re all one. That’s us – all of us – blocking out the sunlight. That shadow is everyone on Earth! I tried making a little bunny shadow puppet, but I’m not sure it worked because the whole time delay thing confused me (it takes about 1.4 seconds for light to reach the moon from here, and about 1.4 seconds for it to come back. So, in theory, I could’ve seen my bunny on the moon 2.8 seconds after I made it…but I got distracted and forgot to look, and it was just too cold out to try again.) But the point is, it MIGHT’VE worked. Because tonight, folks, we cast a shadow on the moon. And I think that’s amazing.

The third amazing thing tonight…is my son. I had a great afternoon and evening with him. We ran errands, had some Chinese food (he loves Orange Chicken!), replaced a lost stuffed animal of his, did a lot of chatting and joking about life, 2nd grade, The Justice League and other important stuff, and had some seriously good Quality Time. It was sorely needed, by both of us, and at the end of the night when I tucked him in he hugged me long and tight and said “Dad, I really love you. Thanks for one of the best days ever.” And I told him I loved him too, and hugged him back for a long time.

So, hey! 3 Amazing Things in one day… I like it.

Looking forward to what tomorrow brings!

Research can be cool!

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One of the (many) great things about working in the theatre is that for every play you do a whole bunch of research.

And through this research you learn lots and lots of stuff about things you may otherwise have never known ANYTHING about!

A smattering of things from the last two shows that I’ve had fun learning about:

The Gila Monster is one of only TWO species of seriously poisonous lizards!! (And can grow up to 2 feet long!)

Paul Valery was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher.

Diane Arbus (March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971): American photographer, noted for her portraits of people on the fringes of society, such as transvestites, dwarfs, giants, prostitutes, and ordinary citizens in unconventional poses and settings.

Oligarchy: a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few.

The music of Lou Reed, with which I have been woefully unfamiliar up to to this point!