Great review from the Lansing City Pulse of our most recent show at Williamston Theatre! Mr. Kluge had some very nice things to say about the actors, I’m thrilled to see their excellent work get recognized!

Follow the link to see the wonderful review!

…by theatredivachu! The rules are as follows:

Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a blog with 6 weird things/habits about yourself. In the end you need to choose the 6 people you will tag and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them to read yours!

So, let’s see…some weird facts about me, or weird habits…

1) I’m a huge Prince fan. There’s not an album I don’t own, and I own many bootlegs and b-sides. I’ve seen him many times in concert (6 or 7, I think) – the most recent was the Musicology tour in 2004. I went twice that summer! Once with my wife (9th row!) and once with my sister (2nd row – unbelievable!). For the second concert, The Time were a surprise Opening Act, and it was an unbelievable concert – easily the best I’ve been to in my life.

2) For relaxation, I love to read Star Trek novels. Yep, I read plays, classics, essays, but when I want to escape for a bit, I dive into a good Trek paperback.

3) I investigated, fairly seriously, the idea of joining the Air Force when I was done with High School. I seriously contemplated trying to be a spy, and starting in the Air Force. Ultimately, I went with theatre. (Or…maybe I actually went through with it and am just a spy pretending to be a director?)

4) I like to put a splash of Red Wine Vinegar on my pizza. Try it, you’ll like it.

5) I collected Justice League of America comics for a loooong time. I don’t anymore, although I sometimes still pick them up and read them in the bookstores, or drop by a comic shop and read a few to see what’s going on! Green Lantern has always been one of my biggest favorites, and I wear a very cool silver and black ring that comic fans recognize as the Green Lantern symbol. If you don’t know it’s a superhero symbol, it’s just a nice looking ring, so it works well in any situation! 🙂

6) Cucumbers are the worst vegetable ever, and I will avoid them at all costs. Exceptions: Pickles (which are no longer cucumbers), a very well made gazpacho soup that doesn’t let me taste the cucumber in it.

7) I wish I had more time, and more discipline, to do more writing than I do. Plays, novels, whatever. I’ve become particularly fond of the essay format used by writers like David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell.

8) When going to sleep at night, I walk the house at least twice, checking on each kid at least twice, and making sure there are a couple of lights on. I don’t feel comfortable turning out my light unless the last thing I’ve done is look in on the sleeping kids.

9) I don’t like to eat mint in anything other than mints. Mint should never, ever, ever be mixed with chocolate, or ice cream, or coffee, or anything else. Ick.

10) I’m an ordained minister, through the Universal Life Church. I performed the wedding ceremony of my friends Chris and Tobin, and would love to do more!

EDITED TO ADD: Okay, it’s been pointed out that I didn’t follow directions. I blame this on the fact that I didn’t read the directions before attempting to follow them. So: Yes, I listed 10 things and not 6. Why? I was on a roll. 10 is a nice number, and I went with it. And I forgot to stop at 6. Also, I’m NOT tagging anyone, but I’d love to see the lists of any of you fun people who read this. My work here is done.

So, catching up, we’ve opened Every Christmas Story Ever Told!!, and the first weekend has been a great success. 5 near-to-sold-out houses, riotous laughter, a few standing ovations.

No reviews yet, but I’m not overly concerned about them. They’re normally useful to help sell tickets, but this is such a short run and the word of mouth from the first week is so good that 2 of our 5 remaining performances are already sold out, and it looks like we’ll come close with the rest, if not sell them all out.

Not bragging, of course. Thrilled. But also fascinated.

There have been a lot of interesting lessons with this show, as well as several interesting topics of discussion raised. Now that it’s open (but not not done – I get to restage it for another couple of performance spaces over the next few weeks), I’m getting a chance to reflect a little on the process and end results of this project.

I’ll be recording those thoughts here, and possibly on the Williamston Theatre Rehearsal Blog. It’ll be useful to help sort out the lessons in my head by putting them down…well, not exactly on paper but…getting them out of my head into some semblance of order.

Tonight, though, for fun, 2 things:

1) Here’s a link to a nice article about us and the show from the Lansing State Journal. (I’ll try and post reviews later, if/when they come out.) (And if they’re not completely slamming us – who wants to read all that negativity?! *laughing*)

2) The real reason for my post tonight: Leaving the theatre this afternoon was an amazing thing.

I had to leave a little early, and I’d just been in my office working and listening to the matinee through the monitor speaker. 82 of our 88 seats were sold, which is a record house for us. And the people were loving it. I tried to get out of the building right after intermission, (to get back home – family duties), but different little delays kept me there until the final seconds of the show. Since I was there, I couldn’t help but stand in the lobby and listen to a tremendous amount of applause during the curtain call, with patrons hooting and hollering. Only one of the actors, Aral, comes through the lobby after the show; I high-fived him as he exited the theatre and joggged through the lobby to the dressing rooms upstairs, sweating from the workout of the show. Then, listening to the buzz of a happy crowd, I beelined for the door and made my way to my car a block away. By the time I’d gotten my briefcase in, seatbelted myself in and started the car, the people were exiting our building.

And they were smiling.

And laughing. And chatting. I had to stop my car at the stop sign and wait for a half dozen people to cross, and they were clutching programs and talking happily and gesturing animatedly back and forth. People were streaming from our little building, and they were walking to their cars, clearly in good moods. Some were headed back towards downtown where, I imagined and hoped, they were going to the coffee shop or the restaurants.

As I watched this happening, I sat at the stop sign far longer than necessary, and I had one of the best moments I’ve had in recent memory. There was a sense of pride, accomplishment, and love, for what we’d done. In creating a place for this to happen, in bringing this place to life, but also…something even more specific.

I love what I do. Sometimes, in the hustle and pressure and day-to-day slamming-against-the-wall that is real life, you lose track. You lose track of some of the what and the why.

Today, I was reminded. God, do I love making people laugh. And cry, and gasp, and forget to breathe, and slap their knees and grab their head or their partner. I love giving them something to talk about for a while after we’ve done our work – not just because they can talk about it, but because they want to, they have to, because it moved them so much. It’s all about moving people. Sometimes it’s with subtle, nuance-y human comedies, sometimes it’s with deep painful dramatic material, and sometimes it’s with plain ol’ fashioned silliness. Sometimes, to be honest, I’m not sure what it is, but I know when it feels right in rehearsal.

And today I was reminded. After working for a couple of weeks with 3 great actors, some great crew and designers, we had a great weekend of moving people.

And as I finally pulled away from the stop sign, and left the smiling crowd in the rearview mirror, I knew that soon the work would begin again on the next project, where we would try it all again.

But today…today as I drove away, I smiled and thought…Got ’em!

Okay, we’re almost open with this show.
It’s been a busy, busy process. Not much updating of LJ, not much family time, sleep, housework, or anything else!

Prompted by an entry from my friend kateherself, I was thinking about some of the fun things that happen in rehearsal. One of them is when actors are getting their lines memorized. The process is called “getting off-book”. The phrase “off-book” is just what you’d expect: no longer needing to hold the script, you’ve got the lines and your cues memorized and aren’t relying on “the book”.

When this happens there is usually a short period of transition, where the actors are calling “Line”, and a Stage Manager or their assistant (who is following along in the script) will call the line out to the actor. Sometimes this process goes very well, other times it can be trying for actors and directors – until the lines start to come smoothly, the play lurches forward with not much listening to each other, or rhythms or actions because the actors are truly working to remember the next thing they say. This process is usually a couple days of rehearsal, in the first 1/3 of the process. Then the words start to come instinctively, and the real scene-work begins to shape up.

So, as you can imagine, this lurching-forward-stop-start motion can be frustrating to actors, on occasion, as they try to find the truth in a scene while still trying to remember what their next words are.

This following exchange, from the middle of a scene we were working on, was one I heard fairly recently from an actor getting more and more frustrated with himself, and made me laugh. I thought I’d repost it as close to verbatim as I could remember it.

Actor: Uhmm…Line?
Assistant Stage Manager: What?
Actor: Line!!
Assistant Stage Manager: The line is ‘what?’
Actor: I say ‘WHAT?’
A.S.M.: Correct.
Actor: I just ask him ‘WHAT?!’
A.S.M.: Correct.
Actor: Jesus Christ. Somebody shoot me.

Sometimes what we do can be ridiculously funny!

People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
Abraham Lincoln

Greatness is not found in possessions, power, position, or prestige. It is discovered in goodness, humility, service, and character.
William Arthur Ward

We need some soup.

Maggie, my 8-year-old daughter, stayed home sick today. It’s always so hard when they’re not feeling well, even if it’s just a cold, because there’s only so much you can do as a parent. I hate not being able to fix it right now! . You have to basically snuggle ’em, keep ’em rested and hope the cold medicine does its thing. (Okay, should that be “it’s” or “its”. Man, how do I STILL confuse those?!)

Still, it’s not that bad of a cold, so we get to spend some time together, and the way the last couple weeks have been, that’s a treat. She’ll be coming to work with me later, for a few hours, propped up on the couch in my office with a blanket watching DVD’s!

I’ll get her some soup, too. She’s a big soup fan. Both my kids are soup fans, in fact. Chicken noodle, of course, is a favorite. However, they both LOVE Italian Wedding soup, too. We try and make soups homemade, but don’t get to do it nearly as often as we’d like. (Jeanne has a turkey chowder soup that is absolutely amazing. Now I’m craving that!) We also try and keep the canned soups with low-sodium around the house – there’s SO much sodium in, say, Campbell’s Chicken Noodle!

So, that’s part of my day – at home with a snuffly daughter. I have to work on some sound for Every Christmas Story Ever Told on my computer here anyway, so no problem being home. Then later we’ll go to the theatre, she’ll relax in my office, and I’ll get some more work on the show done. (No rehearsal today, it’s our day off. The next one will be Thanksgiving, and we open the day after! This is the fastest project I’ve ever worked on – I’ll probably journal about that after the thing opens.) There will be a lot going on in the building today – the crew will be in finishing up the set, and doing some lighting re-hang and re-focus. There will also be some work being done on the sound system, we’re adding an output machine and re-arranging a couple of speaker assignments. Some big things, some small. All part of the normal care and maintenance of a theatre – which is exciting to write, because the place is really starting to work like a theatre should.

And while all that is going on I’ll be juggling the normal 8 or 9 other things at the same time, like the rest of the staff, and working to keep our little company alive and growing. Which is perfect, because I love doing it. Add to that the fact that I get to have some bonus-time with my daughter, even though it’s because of a cold, and this adds up to a pretty good day: A little TLC for the theatre, a little TLC for my daughter, and both are gonna be just fine.

I think maybe I’ll have some soup myself, too!

Lately, it seems like everything is about lists and bullet-point charts. With my schedule as crazy as it is, that’s all there’s been time for.

So, some updates:

• Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard, for you Star Trek fans) was wonderful in the production of The Tempest that I got the chance to see last week. He and some of the other performers were wonderful. I did, like many of the people I spoke with, find the production as a whole to be less satisfying than I’d hoped. I think some directing choices didn’t help tell the story, and some not only didn’t help, but they flat out hurt the storytelling. (The entire prologue of the play – which is the big shipwreck onto the island – was done behind a screen with only a “porthole” view for the audience. This rendered the whole scene absolutely unintelligible.) Still, as I said, several of the performances were wonderful, Ariel and Miranda in particular, along with Caliban and Patrick Stewart as Prospero. That man is just amazing to watch. Simple, clean and direct, complex and inspiring.

• We’re in rehearsal for Every Christmas Story Ever Told!! right now. We’re having a ton of fun, but it’s a much faster process than normal, and the script is so off-the-wall that we’re finding a handful of scenes more difficult than I’d expected and hoped. Still, we don’t open until the 24th so we’ve got plenty of time to polish it all up.

• We close Rounding Third this weekend. Ticket sales the last couple of weeks have been quite good – last weekend was our highest grossing weekend ever. This weekend, I think, is going to come in a close second. So YAY! It’s been a great run. Tobin and John have done some wonderful work, and the reviews and consistently positive word-of-mouth for the show reflect that as much as the increased ticket sales.

• So, the elections came and went, and the Democrats kicked butt! I’m glad about that. I also, though, have to say how much I enjoy the process of voting, and the whole event. There’s something very uplifting, inspiring, about a people exercising their right to choose and making a difference. I hear some folks say “I don’t vote, it doesn’t really matter”, but I just don’t think that’s true at all. The idea that I’ve heard from 4 or 5 people over the last month has been “I don’t see a reason to vote; it’s just picking the lesser of two evils.” WELL?! When given a choice, if that’s the choice, PICK IT!! Don’t let the GREATER of two evils get in there! No matter what your political views are, you should make your voice heard!

• The Detroit Tigers picked up Gary Sheffield! A veteran slugger (who, some folks worry, has his best days behind him.) Still, there’s no question that he can produce at the plate when he’s healthy, and if he stays healthy he is going to be a FORCE in the middle of the Tigers lineup next season! The questions of “Where does he play, and who gets less playing time?” doesn’t seem to be answered yet, but I think that’s because the Tigers still have at least one more move to make this off-season before the picture becomes clearer!

• As mentioned, my schedule has been nuts. It will be throughout the next 14 days, lots of rehearsal, family time, office time and very little sleep time. Still, it’s going to be a very exciting two weeks – wish me luck! 🙂

A 4th grader was suspended for not answering a question on a test.

Here’s the whole story.

Unbelievable. The behavior by this principal is inexcusable. Bullying and intimidation should be discouraged by the schools, not practiced by the principals.

As the father of a 1st and 3rd grader, this whole story is absolutely infuriating. We can go on and on about the dangers of Standardized Testing, but to start blaming the kids, and punishing them like this? Unacceptable. If someone did this to one my kids, I would make absolutely certain that she spent a lifetime trying to live it down. And I’m MARRIED to a teacher, and YES I understand the pressure that is heaped upon teachers and schools. That doesn’t give people the right to pass on this ridiculous amount of pressure to a 4th grader.

The last couple of weeks have been Soooooooo busy!
Prepping for a a new show to start rehearsals.
Raking leaves. At our house, this is a huge task. An acre full of giant old trees. Literally DAYS worth of raking and burning.
Replacing an actor – unfortunately John Seibert, a tremendous actor, had to drop out of our upcoming Christmas show for health reasons.
Fortunately, we were able to find another marvelous actor, Chris Korte, to replace him.
Halloween!
Board Meetings.
Seeing Patrick Stewart in a play! (More to come on that, just haven’t had time. He was great!)

Still – this past weekend was our biggest attendance weekend EVER at Williamston Theatre! WhooHoo!

However, now I’ve got 11 more seconds to make an entry before I must run out and vote…and I wanted to encourage everyone else to do the same:

GO VOTE! Whatever your vote of choice is, don’t miss this opportunity to have a say in what happens in our country, in your state!

There…11 seconds are gone. Now I’m going to vote, and prep for rehearsals to begin in less that 10 hours.

3121

I need a Vegas vacation.