So I have Strep Throat. (Am I spelling that right?) Whoo boy, last night was miserable: sweating, shivering, a fever of 104, everything in my body hurt. Thankfully my fever broke early this morning. Throat’s still on fire though, head pounding. Currently
waiting for my prescription at the pharmacy and posting from my Treo. Looking forward to taking some antibiotics, some ibuprofen, and getting some sleep. I’ve never had a fever that high before – not fun!

Williamston Theatre has been honored with some award nominations!

A nomination for a Wilde Award, from the publication Between The Lines:
Tobin Hissong and John Lepard for Best Duo for their marvelous performances in WT’s production of Rounding Third.

In addition, WT received 5 nominations for Pulsar Awards, the theatre awards that are handed out annually by The Lansing City Pulse:
The cast of Additional Particulars AND the cast of Every Christmas Story Ever Told are both nominated for Best Ensemble.
Joseph Albright is nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his work in Music From A Sparkling Planet.
Quintessa Gallinat was nominated for Best Sound Design for her work in Music From A Sparkling Planet.
And I’m up for Best Director for Rounding Third.

So, whether or not anyone wins, it’s nice to see WT getting some recognition, and publicity. Even more important, it’s nice to see live theatre getting supported by local media, and by audiences!

My kids.
Had a great morning, made “eggs in a basket” for breakfast, which they loved. (I’ve not made them before, and I think next time I’m going to not cook them quite as long, so the yolk isn’t as well done.) Tomorrow we’re going to see Shrek The Third, and the kids are marching in a parade with their Karate Class.

My wife.
The most amazing, wonderful, understanding and supportive woman on the planet.

The Tigers.
Last night, they lost, but it was an exciting game. And Marcus Thames hit a BROKEN BAT HOME RUN! I mean, that is something that almost never happens – his swing is so powerful that when he hit the ball it broke his bat in half, and he still hit it out over the left-center-field fence. WOW!

Williamston Theatre.
Struggling right now, but so much good energy. People from the community coming in to ask if they can help. Actors donating money. Local Restaurants donating food and drink for get togethers. Great houses this weekend, after we announced our early closing of this production. Times are tough right now, but there’s a future here.

My NYC directing job.
Very excited about the show, which has some possibilities that are very exciting that I’m not quite able to talk about yet. Just the 4 days I spent in NYC last week were fun, and I’m looking forward to hanging out there for a month and making a play.

Vindigo.
A great new program that I got for my Treo, Vindigo has maps for all the major metropolitan areas that you can download. SO, on my Treo I now have, for my trip to NYC, city maps, lists of things like museums, movies, bathrooms, and all sorts of great info. And I can get them for Ann Arbor (which I probably don’t really need, since I know the city pretty well!), and Detroit (which I know fairly well, but could definitely use a map!), and anyplace else I fly to!)

An understanding Michigan State Police Officer.
I got pulled over for driving too fast this morning, right in Williamston about 1/2 mile from work. I was going about 32 in a 25, not paying attention and just going with the flow of traffic. I was just polite, and apologized saying “I wasn’t even paying attention, sorry.”, and I got a warning instead of a big fat $100 ticket.

*contented sigh*
Are there challenges in the upcoming month? Oh yes…more than I can list.
But there are things that make it all worth it.

This is the note to our patrons about closing our show early…

Closing a show, but our journey continues…

Dear LJ,

So much going on. So little time. Sleepiness is wiping out my thought process, and it’s only 11:15. Got up at 6:30 to take the kids to school, went non-stop until being able to sit and watch LOST with Jeanne.

Okay, that was pretty cool: SPOILERS FOR THE LOST SEASON FINALE

Hey there, LiveJournal! It’s been a few days since I posted, life has been busy! Leaving New York City on a plane in about 40 minutes, so not much time to update.

-Came to NYC a few days ago for some meetings about the show I’ll be directing here in a few weeks.

-Williamston Theatre got a rave review for MUSIC FROM A SPARKLING PLANET from Between The Lines.

-Unfortunately, despite that review, we wll be closing the show two weeks early. It is just not selling tickets, and won’t be able to pay actors and crew past this week. We got 6 weeks out of it though, but closing it early is very disappointing. More posting about this later.

– Saw a wonderful show while in NY, loved it, will do more details later.

Gotta catch a plane!

I use the word “Pummel” with my kids a lot.

When we’re wrestling, or tickling, or running around chasing each other for fun.

I love to say “And now…the pummeling!” or, as I walk slow and zombie like toward them, “I will now pummel you. Pummel I say!!”

I just love the word.

Plus, since she was little, Maggie has always mis-pronounced it Pumble. And Max, of course, picked it up from her.

And I love when they say it. Pumble.

So tonight, I decreed that there would be a pummeling.

And both kids took off running, giggling, yelling “Aaaah! He’s gonna pumble us! Run!!” “NOOOO! Not the Pumbling!!”

Then, of course, came the wrestling and cuddling.

Now that Maggie’s 9, and reading at a very advanced level, I’m pretty sure she’ll discover the true pronunciation of the word soon, and I keep wondering if I should just tell her anyway, so she doesn’t sound silly if she says it at school.

But I don’t WANT her to say it properly yet! That’s one more sign that my little girl is growing up.

And of course, once she discovers the true pronunciation, she’ll be sure to correct her little brother at the first opportunity.

*sigh*

Time marches on.

Until then, though…

The Pumbling Continues.

This is horrifying.

Staff members of an elementary school staged a fictitious gun attack on students during a class trip, telling them it was not a drill as the children cried and hid under tables.

I do not understand where common sense goes when these decisions are made.

Here’s another version of the story, with more details. Read the sidebar on the right, with one of the descriptions of the event where the teachers laugh at the kids.

I cannot blame the parents for being outraged, I would be too. Hell, I am outraged, and my kids weren’t involved! If it had been one of my kids I can tell you that I’d be doing everything I could imagine to get those idiots responsible fired from their jobs immediately.

How are those kids supposed to trust those teachers and staff members ever again? I mean, you want to do a drill? Fine, do an emergency drill. Do a tornado drill. Do a fire drill. Do a lock-down drill. But to terrorize 11 year old kids?

Unbelievable.

To all of the Moms out there – especially my mom, mother-in-law, sister and sisters-in-law, and my wonderful wife Jeanne…

Happy Mothers Day!

A wonderful opportunity has been given to me…

This Summer I will be directing a show in New York, NY! A small production of the same show I directed a few months ago at Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo, The Mystery of Irma Vep. In fact, it’s the reviews and word of mouth from that production, coupled with some phone interviews, that got me the job.

It’s a small production, in a small space, with just a couple week run, but it’ll be my first NYC credit. The production team seems great, there’s potential for the show to move on and have a future, and I’m very excited to spend a few weeks in New York, working on a fun show like Irma Vep. Plus I’ll get a chance to see some friends, some shows and maybe even take in a Yankees game, if I can work it out!

So, a very nice job opportunity; a good chance to make some contacts, get a nice credit for my resume, hopefully spread the word of Williamston Theatre and bring back some good publicity for our little company. Not to mention, of course, that I get to direct a play, which I love doing! 🙂

It’ll be hard, being away from home and Williamston Theatre again, which gave me concern about taking the job, but it’s for a shorter period of time than my last out-of-town trip and everyone in my life has given me their blessing and encouragement; it’s too good an opportunity to pass up, so I’m embracing it. Heaven only knows where it will lead, if anywhere, but I’m grateful for the work and looking forward to exploring this new arena!