3 quotes about truth that struck a chord with me and my life.

“I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.”
-Umberto Eco

“Hold a true friend with both hands.”
-African proverb

“When a thing is funny, search it for a hidden truth.”
-George Bernard Shaw

A wonderful bit of news involving my friend Joe Zettelmaier, who’s a great guy and a great playwright – his play Language Lessons is a nominee for the American Theatre Critics Association Award! This is the second year IN A ROW that a play of Joe’s has been nominated – last year his play All Childish Things also got a nod. Just getting nominated is a great thing – what a wonderful bit of recognition and confirmation of Joe’s talents and hard work.

Also, my friend Mindy Woodhead, who I got the chance to direct in Summer and Smoke at the Performance Network, has done a wonderful thing: She’s joined the Peace Corps, and will be in Morocco for the next 2 years volunteering in a small village to help the people there with long term projects that will upgrade the quality of their lives.

Mindy’s wonderful and it’s an amazing, inspiring thing that she’s doing, and she keeps a great journal of her time there on her website. I encourage you all to go and give it a look! I really think you’ll enjoy it. The pictures alone are terrific!

Aaaaand lastly – Williamston Theatre has a number of great projects coming down the pike, and it’s a busy time around the building, but a pretty great time:

December 7th we have a concert by Grammy Award Winner Barbara Bailey Hutchison! Nearly sold out.

December 13th thru 23rd we’re presenting Every Christmas Story ever Told!!. Sold so well that we added an extra performance!

December 31st we have 2 New Year’s Eve concerts (a 6pm and a 9:30pm) featuring the Patrick Terbrack Jazz Quintet. Our New Year’s Eve concerts last year were a huge hit, and this one is shaping up to be the same. (And the 9:30 concert includes a trip around the corner after the show, where we will ring in the new year at midnight with food and drink at the Red Cedar Grill, a terrific restaurant!)

January 2nd we start rehearsals for Art, the next show I’m directing here, and it’s a great cast that I can’t wait to work with. Pre-production has already begun, and the design team is spectacular!

And on January 21st we start our next session of classes being taught here at WT – the first 8 weeks will be for young adults (aged 12-17), and the second 8-week session will be “Beginning Acting For Adults”.

So – that’s where we are right now. Life is pretty good!

I’ve recently discovered something that’s been around for a while (isn’t it fun when that happens?), and I wanted to share!

If you’re interested in theatre, especially the inner workings of professional theatre, I encourage you to go visit The American Theatre Wing. They’re the folks who founded the Tony Awards, among many other things. (In fact, the history of the ATW is really interesting, and can be found HERE on their website!)

I didn’t discover them, I’ve known they existed for a long time. What I did find out is that they do a series of podcasts that are fabulous. You can find people from all areas of professional theatre being interviewed, having these wonderful discussions about how they do what they do, and it’s truly wonderful. I recently downloaded a handful of interviews they’ve had with the Artistic Directors of some very successful national companies, and have been absolutely thrilled with them.

So – if you like that sort of thing, head over to their website and check out Downstage Center.

Also, they have a televised interview program that’s been around for a long time called Working In The Theatre, and I hadn’t realized until recently that they have a ton of those broadcasts available as video podcasts as well!

You can also find them in iTunes, for anyone who uses that wonderful program!

Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.
-James Allen

Dear Santa… Dear Santa, This year I’ve been busy! In September I gave mary919 a kidney (1000 points). In June on a flight to LA, I stole the emergency flight information card (-40 points). In October I broke cepurch‘s X-Box (-12 points). In November I put money in davidsmom76‘s expired parking meter (14 points). Last Monday I ate my brussel sprouts (1 points). Overall, I’ve been nice (963 points). For Christmas I deserve a Sony Playstation 3! Sincerely, Tony101

Write your letter to Santa! Enter your LJ username:

To all my American friends,

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope there’s some relaxing and some good meals in your plans for the next couple of days!

For me, well, I have too much to be thankful for to put into this quickie morning post…but that list is coming…

Okay, a couple of fun things worth discussing:

A) In this story, we find out that some folks in Australia want their fake Santas to say “Ha ha ha” instead of “Ho ho ho” because…wait for it… “Ho” could be considered offensive and derogatory toward women.

Seriously? I mean… “Ha ha ha”? The idea that Santa’s “Ho ho ho” is offensive is ridiculous, but the idea of replacing it with “Ha Ha Ha” is possibly even MORE ridiculous! Is this what the world has come to? Please, God, bring back common sense. Santa is not shouting “Whore Whore Whore” anymore than he is shouting “Slut slut slut” or “Pay me for sex”. Santa is not shouting slurs, or slinging hip hop profanities, or summoning street walkers. It’s SANTA CLAUS. Next you’ll tell us that he can’t wear red, because it offends communists and bulls.

Maybe I’m wrong. I’d love to hear from any women who read this story. PLEASE, ladies, share your thoughts on this. If you saw Santa, and he jiggled his belly like a bowl full of jelly, smiled, laughed a hearty “Ho ho ho” and wished you a Merry Christmas…would you be upset that your morals and career choice were being questioned?

Sometimes this world amazes me.

B) And now, a story that needs less debate but should be read by everyone because it’s funny: A group of cows being transported by truck escaped their trailer and made a break for freedom… when the driver pulled into a McDonald’s restaurant!

*laughing*

I love this story! The comedy just writes itself. I mean, imagine the discussion that passed between the cows as they realized where they were!! It’s like a Far Side cartoon come to life! 🙂

A couple of unrelated quotes today, just because I liked them…

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

-Howard Thurman, American theologian, clergyman and activist

“Another belief of mine; that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise.”

-Margaret Atwood, Canadian writer