That man who does not live in awe of something outside himself is dead.
The experience of drama is one of those moments in which a human being sits in awe, wonder, and admiration of something outside of self.
-William Ball

I was thinking about this quote today, as we were rehearsing Fully Committed, which is a very funny, very sweet one-man show. It’s very theatrical; one actor plays the main character, as well as about 40 other roles.

The trick in this kind of play, of course, is to keep it as theatrical and fun as you can, but not lose track of the story. The WHY. Why are we telling this story? How can you be sure if you’re staying on track, you ask? One way to check is to go back, as director Jon Jory would say, to the Theme of the piece: are all of your choices, as you shape the play, true to the Theme? Do your characters have needs, actions, “objectives” or (save me from these two words) “motivations”?

So, in rehearsal, I’m watching to make sure we’re telling the story well, and this got me thinking of Ball, who lists in his book a handful of things that theatre contains, and needs to contain, to be anything other than an inconsequential entertainment.

According to Ball theatre must contain, among other things;

Unity,
An Awakening Of The Spirit, and
A Revelation Of The Beauty Of Humankind.

I mean, it’s funny how superficial the story could be: a fun play with one guy doing 40 funny voices and running around arguing with himself. But to make it MORE than just that, we need to make certain we’re not just going for the laugh. Ball’s right – theatre should be an entertainment, but it’s an artform as well. And it’s the care, the attention to detail, the honest portrayal of LIFE, that makes the difference. A Revelation Of The Beauty of Humankind.

In the end, all we’re doing is telling a story. Still, I want the story to have an effect: I want people to laugh until they pee. Then I want them to think about some aspect of life that the play prompted them to give a little thought to. I want them to think about that aspect, and explore it.

So, there’s our goal. Get the story to have that effect.

And maybe, if we’re lucky, we can help someone to sit in “awe of something outside himself”…

…after, of course, they’ve laughed until they’ve peed.

On Friday, we had a little gathering at Williamston Theatre.

It was a big day – January 12th was our One Year Anniversary.

(On January 12, 2006, we opened our doors to the public. We held our first Open House and hoped that someone, anyone, would be interested enough to come. We were blown away when over 125 people showed up. And it’s been an amazing year since then.)

So, we held an informal get-together, invited all the people who’ve donated money or time or support, and had a bunch of food and drinks to say “Thank You”. We filled the place up; donors, volunteers, our Board of Directors, some friends and family members that wanted to come. It was a great time, lots of nice things said, we gave out some tokens of our appreciation to some key people, and we 4 founding members even got surprised by gifts from the Board of Directors, who also said some wonderful things in an impromptu speech.

So, in honor of our One Year Anniversary, here’s a list what we’ve been up to at the Williamston Theatre since January 12, 2006:

• Held four open houses
• Held four staged readings
• Built walls and risers
• Painted the Theatre black
• Drywall, drywall, drywall…
• Installed light grid, light board and sound board
• Held general auditions for our 2006-2007 season
• Passed building inspection
• Ran Additional Particulars for six weeks
• Painted front lobby blue
• Held two poker tournaments
• Installed theatre seats
• Painted back lobby white
• Started Williamston Theatre Gallery, which is a small in-house art gallery that houses work by local artists. The art shows, which change with each new WT production, are always thematically related to the show onstage.
• Awarded Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs grant
• Ran Rounding Third for eight weeks
• Awarded Michigan Interfaith Trust grant
• Ran Every Christmas Story Ever Told!! for two weeks, sold out almost the whole run.
• Remounted ECSET!! at MeadowBrook Theatre
• Remounted ECSET!! at Tecumseh Civic Auditorium
• Presented three sold-out performances of Boogie Stomp – an incredible two-piano concert/celebration of boogie woogie, blues and jazz – over New Years Weekend.
• Received recognition by the Detroit Free Press for Rounding Third – one of the Top Ten Shows for 2006

Not a bad year. Looking at it in list form is, actually, very inspiring: It’s now January 15th, so we have 350 days to make 2007 at least as good as ’06 was!

So, snuggling the 6 year old to sleep. Laying on his bed, chatting about the day, he’s snuggled up in my arms…

The lights are off, and in between yawns he’s excitedly describing his art projects, how he spent recess, how he made Mrs. Schiller laugh, and I’m cherishing every second of it…

The yawns get bigger, the pauses get longer, but there’s always one more idea he wants to share…

After a while, though, the talking stops, and his eyelids pass droopy and head right into drowsy…

I listen for the tell-tale slowing and deepening of his breathing as he slowly drops into sleep…

A little sleep-twitch, then just slow and steady breathing. I lay there with him in my arms, thinking about how much I’ll miss it when he, in a few years, will announce that he doesn’t want any more snuggles…

Then, as I lay there, just enjoying holding this amazing little person that makes my breath catch in my throat just by being there, his little voice whispers to me in the dark…

“Dad. My armpits are gettin’ kinda sweaty. Can you let go of me now?”

One of the many silly little things I enjoy is when people re-mix movie clips and create fake trailers for them.

This one is one of the best I’ve seen:

Stephen King’s THE SHINING: A romantic comedy!!

Now THAT’S a movie I could take my kids to! *laughing*

Wanna know what bizarre holiday falls on YOUR birthday? Go here to see the list of all our weird holidays!

My birthday just also happens to be Eskimo Pie Patent Day! NICE!

Click here to learn more about the awesomeness that is the Eskimo Pie!!

And THIS picture is very cool, because it’s an ad that ran during the 40’s (in the World War), and it explains why Eskimo Pies will temporarily be sold in something OTHER than aluminum foil!

A handful of things I just felt like listing…because they made me feel good.

1) This Story is awesome. A 51 year old man saved an 18 year old guy, who was suffering a seizure and had fallen onto a subway track, by jumping on him and pinning him down flat so the train passed safely over them without hitting them. Wow. Wow! A true hero.

2) I’ve recently discovered that I can download the podcasts of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me! From NPR, and I’ve been listening to them on my Treo! Educational, informative, and funny as hell!

3) Speaking of downloading things, I have also downloaded a new book that I’ll be reading on my Treo. It’ll be my first “eBook” experience, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes! 🙂

4) Speaking of my Treo: I have an awesome new Treo phone! It’s a Palm/Phone/Emailer/Web Browser all built into one, and I love it!!

5) On Sunday we took the kids to Zap Zone, a place where you can play Laser Tag! Laser Tag, if you don’t know, is high tech cops and robbers, where you skulk about a giant life-sized labyrinth of shadowy corridors and ramps wearing an electronic vest and carrying a “phaser”, and try and zap your opponents! Oh my God, did we have fun! First it was me and Max -vs- Jeanne and Maggie, then it was me and Maggie -vs- Jeanne and Max. So much fun! Jeanne even said it was a little therapeutic: apparently she got to work out some nice issues by zapping me over and over! We had the whole place to ourselves, and spent 1/2 hour running around playing spy. A while ago I posted about us playing ninja in the house…and all of those skills came in handy at Zap Zone!

6) Last night we did a reading of our Spring show at Williamston Theatre, and it’s going to be great. A great team of designers, and a wonderful cast and director have been assembled, and I’m looking forward to having them all in the building, and creating what I think is going to be a beautiful, beautiful piece of theatre.

7) Also, we scheduled auditions for the show after that, our Summer show, Flap, a world premiere comedy! Those are in about two weeks, and will be fun – it’s always nice to put together a team!

8) Before those two shows, though, we have our very next one, Fully Committed. On Tuesday, we begin rehearsals. Can’t wait!

9) Just read through my Friends List on LiveJournal, and it was nice to see so many nice things happening in people’s lives! Babies, new pets, poems honoring writers and the anniversaries of their works; What a nice start to the new year!

10) Tonight, when tucking in my 8 year old, she asked if I would help her with a play that she’d written. She wants two of her friends to be in it, and she wants to direct it. “I want to practice”, she said, “Because when I grow up I want to be a director, like you.” And then I was killed from the sweetness. I mean, she’s 8, so tomorrow she’ll want to be an astronaut and Friday she’ll want to be a gardener. But tonight, tonight she wants to be like me. That’s a pretty amazing, humbling…terrifying…amazing feeling.

If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author and everyday you have the opportunity to write a new page.
-Mark Houlahan

Every decision you make—every decision—is not a decision about what to do. It’s a decision about Who You Are. When you see this, when you understand it, everything changes. You begin to see life in a new way. All events, occurrences, and situations turn into opportunities to do what you came here to do.
-Neale Donald Walsch

Oh, I like this very much.
A very nice way to look at things, to look at how time is being spent.
Especially now, as I look at my to-do list for the upcoming week…month…year.
Very helpful.
Helpful, as the list stares me down, to remember WHY all those things are on it.
Because I put them there.
Because I CHOSE them.

And so…
Forward, into a new year.

Williamston Theatre’s production of Rounding Third has been named as one of the Best 10 Plays of 2006!

In his traditional “Best Theatre of The Year” article, Martin Kohn of the Detroit Free Press does a list of what he thinks the best work of the year was in this area of the world.

I’m flattered, proud, and very excited that Williamston Theatre was named in this article – in our first year of work, to get on here is a nice bit of recognition. I’m honored to have been a part of the team that helped to make both the theatre company, and that play, come to life. Congrats to everyone involved, and thanks to Mr. Kohn and the Free Press!

What a nice way to start the new year!

To everyone out there, Happy New Year!

Here’s to a wonderful, prosperous 2007 for all of us. *raises glass*

I’m not big on resolutions, because I have enough pressure in my life, but there are a few things I’d like to do in 2007:

Eat healthier, be healthier, exercise more!
Make, save, and spend wisely more money than I did last year!
Spend as much time as possible with my family.
Continue making Williamston Theatre grow.

Wish me luck! 🙂

Max left me an awesome message, and I had to save it so that years from now I can replay it for him!
(The beginning is a little hard to understand – we made a home movie of him being a superhero, and he’s asking where the tape is! Then he goes on to sing “I love ya” and “You are the best” over and over in his own little made up song!)