It seems like it’s been forever since I sat down to type an entry. Computer giving me internet-connection issues, lots of rehearsals and prepping for rehearsals, lots of phone conversations with the kids, lots of not sleeping particularly well, lots of trying to get some Williamston Theatre work done…

…not enough time to write, to journal, to use this space for my own relaxation, unwinding, therapeutic rambling and pondering.

I am, though, getting some reading done. Some plays, some books about various aspects of the theatre industry, some science fiction, some newspapers. Mostly finding myself reading late at night, when I’m not sleeping particularly well…

Still – I’m not complaining – life is going well. Just…odd. Going through something. A change of…heart? Attitude? Not sure…but when I figure it out, i’ll probably be in the middle of typing about it here before I really realize what it is! 🙂

“Life was in the details, he thought, and thinking it, fell into a deep and peaceful sleep, at one with himself and the people he loved.” -Unity, by S.D. Perry

GREAT rehearsal today. Some fun combat/fight sequences, plus a bit that drove, and is still driving, me crazy. It’s GOOD the way it is. There’s a GREAT right there just waiting for me to find it, and I just haven’t yet…that makes me insane…so I’m leaving the thing alone for a while and moving on.

So tonight, finished rehearsal, went and had some dinner and then went back to the theatre to listen to some sound options and do a little prep work in the rehearsal space. On my return to my hotel room, I found a treat on the TV: A re-broadcast of this afternoon’s Spring Training game between the New York Mets and The Detroit Tigers! YES! Baseball is here!! WHOOOHOOO!! The Tigers won, 5 to 4, and it was GREAT to see some baseball! 🙂

Okay, I’m going to encourage you all to go to Channel 101, a website I’ve talked about before. My friend Mike has some very fun short films in a series he’s made called “QUEST”. Odd, funny, and if the 4th episode makes it through the screening, it’s also very sweet(some adult language, be warned). Check it out here, but scroll down and start with the first episode!

It’s very cold, and tonight very foggy, in Buffalo. I’ve been doing a lot of walking while I’m here, and it’s been pretty nice! Trying to get in shape a bit!

THIS would be a fun game of ping-pong to play!

It’a very odd thing, spending a couple of weeks in a hotel room. An odd sense of displacement. I have work, and I’m working, on things here and some stuff from home at Williamston Theatre. At the same time, I feel very removed from most of my normal life. I find myself wanting to spend my off time just reading, not exploring my temporary home – which is weird for me. Plus, even though I’m feeling much better after getting over my sinus infection, it still has me wiped out a bit. On the flip side of all that, I’m feeling very positive about the work, and about the direction that life is going. So…an odd thing.

The awesome seian adapted an older userpic and made this very fun Shakespeare Made Me Do It version so that it looks like ME holding the knife!

I LOVE it!

For those of you who don’t know, seian is a wonderful artist with an interesting LiveJournal – I encourage you to check it out.

She has her artwork up on Flickr, too, and for fun I’ll post a link HERE to the piece of hers that is my absoute favorite, and a link HERE to the piece that comes in a very close second! Take a second to explore them, you’ll love ’em!

Thanks, seian, for the great userpic! I owe ya! 🙂

Okay, I just watched the coolest thing on The History Channel:

40 Years Of Star Trek: The Collection

In October 2006, as many of you Trek fans (like me) know, Paramount Studios got rid of a huge amount of Star Trek props, set pieces, costumes, and miscellaneous stuff by having the famous Christie’s Auction House do a giant auction of it.

The auction wound up being one of Christie’s biggest ever, because there was so much stuff, and it also wound up breaking records for the most money spent on “Pop Culture Memorabilia”.

The History Channel did a documentary on the auction, from over 6 months before it (while everything was being prepped and catalogued and photographed) up to shortly after it. The documentary was wonderful to watch, as it also included a ton of interviews with Trek cast, producers, designers and writers. Plus, it had a ton of just normal fans who got a chance to bid on and buy items from Star Trek history. Alien masks for about $900 went to normal folks like me who decided they could spend a little money on a keepsake, and giant pieces went to people who had…a bit more to spend.

Like the guy who bought the 8 foot model of the Enterprise-D for $500,000.00! Yep, half a million. I suppose if you’ve got it, you might as well spend it!

So, for a couple of hours, I had a nice little Trek fix. The cast interviews were great, and it was also really touching to see all of the “regular joe” fans of the show win some of the smaller to medium priced bids: the genuine excitement and emotion of the fans getting something important to them was absolutely infectious.

So, yep. A documentary worth watching…especially if you’re someone who’s interested in that stuff…and that’s me. Husband, father, director, producer, Justice League fan, Star Trek fan, baseball fan. And proud of ’em all!

Anybody good with LJ userpics? I would love to change the shakespeare one I’ve got to have the person holding the knife look like me (short guy, short brown hair, beard/moustache, glasses, something other than a carrot on his shirt!). I have no idea how to do that.

Plus, I’d love to get some directing icons, or other theatre icons. Can’t find any anywhere…

A great rehearsal today, moved ahead quite a bit in our “basecoat” of the show. It was a long day, an “8 out of 9”, so we worked 9am to 6pm, with a one hour break in the middle. After being sick, I’m pretty wiped out from today’s work! Still, I feel pretty good, thankfully, thanks to some antibiotics and a bunch of soup and juice! 🙂

The show is coming along nicely, I think. We’re only a few days in, so it’s hard to tell yet exactly what we’ve got, but I’m very happy with the cast and crew, and we’re laughing a lot in rehearsal, which is a good sign. We’ll know more in the next week or so, as we finish the basecoat and get down to the polishing and cleaning of the play in a moment-to-moment fashion. This is a play that calls for tight rhythms, and clean, clean, clean moments.

Now, I think I’m going to eat some soup, and then either watch tv, go see a movie, or go see a play. I’m not sure which movies or plays are playing within walking distance, so that could limit my options, but we’ll see!

Whew. Got some antibiotics, some tea, some soup and some rest. Off to bed soon (again), and I’m feeling a bit better now, so I expect that in the morning I’ll be feeling much better! I hate that whole “getting sick” thing.

Interesting: I’m laying on the couch, in Buffalo, New York, and watching a replay of Governor Jennifer Granholm deliver her State of the State Address for Michigan on C-Span 2. She’s a great speaker, Jennifer Granholm. I listened to her speech live on the radio a few weeks ago, home in Michigan (while driving). Watching it tonight, I’m inspired by her passion for the state, but also still frustrated and disappointed that she didn’t mention the Arts once. A couple of years ago she touted a “Cool Cities” program that used the Arts to help re-vitalize the downtown areas in cities all over the state. They distributed many grants to cities and organizations that were working to rebuild downtown communities in large and small cities. This year, not a word about the Arts. That’s discouraging for a guy who runs a newly opened not-for-profit theatre company. Still – I’ve got faith that this year will be big for both Michigan, and the Williamston Theatre.

So, started rehearsals today for The Mystery Of Irma Vep at Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo. Really like the people I’m working with, it’s going to be a fun show. Such a great facility and performance space here.

A few of the challenges to this job:

It’s always an interesting challenge, being the new guy. There’s a rhythm, a pattern that folks who work together have – you need to insert yourself into that rhythm, but at the same time not be timid about doing your job. I’ll write more about that later.

Also, being away from the family. Tough, always. They’re great, and Jeanne’s got family staying at the house to help out with schedules and things, but it’s hard on them when I’m gone, and I miss the heck out of them!

Right now, one of the biggest challenges is that my throat is killing me. I tried to work thru it but I’ve clearly come down with a sinus infection/throat thing, and am going to need to get some antibiotics. Tried curing it by pounding the Emergen-C, Airborn and Zicam for the last two days, with lots of tea and aspirin, but that’s not working. *sigh* Good timing. Now I’m woozy, in pain and coughing.

Missing a lot of stuff at Williamston Theatre, which is a bummer. I’ll be able to do a bunch of stuff over email/phone, but I need to get healthy before I can do that, since right now I’m using all my energy in rehearsal and then crashing in my hotel from feeling lousy. A trip to the Doc will clean that up, I hope.

Now, I’m going back to sleep. More about rehearsals later.

5 long days between posts…
fighting a cold/sinus infection…
getting ready to start rehearsals for a new show…
more topics that I should be journaling about, to record for posterity, to work through for myself as I write, to share with anyone who’s interested. Unfortunately, I just don’t have enough energy to type a lot right now.

Sleep calls…

We got a tremendously positive review from Between The Lines, which you can read here…

And we got a review praising our production, but critical of the script, from The Lansing State Journal, which you can read here….

Go Team!!

(This is cross-posted to the Williamston Theatre Rehearsal Blog – apologies to anyone who gets both postings!)