Wednesday Pic Post… On Friday

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Yep, Wednesday Pic Post on a Friday. These things happen!
Life is good. Currently rehearsing Ernie, which starts performances tonight with our first test audience! Also in rehearsals for The Understudy as an actor which, thankfully, doesn’t open for a few weeks! Having a blast doing both, and grateful for my life!

Research from the set designer and director for The Understudy. The setting for the show is “onstage at a Broadway Theatre”. The way they’ve attacked that in our small space is really wonderful, and I’ll post pics of that in a couple of weeks when it’s done. In the meantime, some research pics…

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PS – Hey Michiganders, recognize those places?

This made me laugh.
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I’m very pleased that my current favorite show on TV has been renewed for a fifth and final season!

Seriously, if you haven’t checked it out, you should – John Noble is just incredible! (and the rest of the cast, the writing, production quality – it’s pretty darned great!)

Rehearsals have begun!

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We’ve started rehearsals for The Understudy! It’s going to be a ton of fun, and a nice challenge. Recently I’ve concentrated so much on directing and producing, it’s been a long time since I was onstage. It’ll be great to stretch those muscles again, and to remind myself of the challenges of things that I, as a director, ask actors to overcome regularly!

Sunday quotes: A Saturday full of little things

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Half the joy of life is in little things taken on the run… but let us keep our hearts young and our eyes open that nothing worth our while shall escape us. – Victor Cherbuliez

Yesterday was one of those nice days that you thank the Universe for, and it was a great reminder that the big things in life are wonderful, but they happen less frequently: taking notice of the little things makes the difference between a good life, and a great life.

A clear, chilly morning and a great cup of coffee on the porch before heading to rehearsal.

A good rehearsal of a good show. Taking moments that are good, and making them better with the collaboration of a good team.

The human tendency to regard little things as important has produced very many great things. – G. C. Lichtenberg

A surprise text message: “Hey, you Downtown? I have a free ticket behind home plate, wanna come?” You bet! Turns out it was no problem that I would be rehearsing for the first part of the game, got there in plenty of time to sit about 12 rows back behind home plate and see 4 innings of baseball in a beautiful ballpark. Even though our team got hammered, the place was sunny, packed with fans – the mood was light, the company was good.

The evening was full of Quality Family Time: laughing over burgers, sitting around the neighbor’s bonfire for a while, relaxing on the couch with my family, grossing out my daughter with my eye (I apparently sneezed too hard and burst a blood vessel in my eye, so it looks all yucky and zombie-riffic!)

An early bedtime, listening to the Tigers win the second game of their double-header.

For the person for whom small things do not exist, the great is not great. – Gasset, Jose Ortega Y

Nowhere in there was there a giant life changing event. No big holidays, no one won the lottery. We didn’t suddenly get a new dream-job or celebrate the success of anyone’s efforts on a project. Instead, we had a day full of simple goodness: quality moments, with quality people – smiles with loved ones. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. – Robert Brault

Wednesday Pic Post:

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A ballpark is a magical place, don’t you think? It stops time. It’s a place where a father and son can sit together on a lazy afternoon enjoying the game and decades later, in those same seats, that son can sit with his son, and it’s as if nothing’s changed. Time moves differently inside a ballpark.
-Ernie Harwell, from Ernie by Mitch Albom

Today…
…we had a press conference for Ernie, and our Stage Manager Megan took this shot from the booth! Press Conferences are odd things, and I don’t do them often, so it was fun.

Speaking of baseball…
Last night we played some catch in the yard! Awesome.


Speaking of awesome things, The Town Pump has awesome fried pickles, and lunch today was pretty darned great.

Also…
We start rehearsal for this show next week, and I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a long time since I’ve been onstage, and I’m anxious to work out those muscles again!

So, challenges, opportunities, quality family time… a week full of reminders that all of those are important. Thanks, Universe.

“Ernie” Tech Day!

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28,000 people saw this show last season! And the team is back to do it again!

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A view from the lighting table in the back of the house.

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Stage Manager Megan Buckley and Sound Designer Steve Shannon!

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Lighting Designer Dan Walker

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Actors TJ Corbett and Will Young!

Somehow I missed getting Tech Day photos of two amazing people, Assistant Stage Manager Andrea Kannon and Projections Designer Alison Dobbins, but they were there too and helped make the day go perfectly!

Sunday Night Quotes: Action

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Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.
-Alfred Adler

Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back on himself. He imposes his own stamp of action, takes responsibility for it, makes it his own.
-Charles de Gaulle

Don’t find fault. Find a remedy.
-Henry Ford

Do not be critics, you people, I beg you. I was a critic and I wish I could take it all back because it came from a smelly and ignorant place in me, and spoke with a voice that was all rage and envy. Do not dismiss a book until you have written one, and do not dismiss a movie until you have made one, and do not dismiss a person until you have met them. It is a f@*$%load of work to be open-minded and generous and understanding and forgiving and accepting, but Christ, that is what matters. What matters is saying yes.
– Dave Eggers

Note to self: finding a cool quote and writing it in your journal is not a substitute for Getting. It. Done.
-Betsy Cañas Garmon

Random Good Things

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When I looked at my calendar in December and predicted “Man, April and May are going to be a nightmare!”, well… it turns out my predictive powers are dead-on accurate!  That’s a good thing, right?!  #HappyToBeworking #CoffeeIsMyFriend

The phones are ringing off the hook for the last two weeks of The Usual at Williamston Theatre!

Rehearsals for Ernie are going well! 

The Detroit Tigers are 4-1 so far this season.  I like it! 

This video definitely counts as a good thing.  Reminds me of my son!

Wednesday’s Non-Theatre Pic Post!

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Buffy fans…Hilarious.

Yesterday, my poor wife had “one of those days.” You know, the ones we all have once in a while, where things don’t go well, random people are jerks, and you just want to either crawl under a rock or punch something, or both? Well, the kids found out, and before she got home they set up a big relaxing pile of pillows and blankets in front of the tv, with the newest episode of her favorite show on Netflix, the room lit with just candles, some chocolate and a glass of wine ready for her!
And of course the pic is dark because it’s just candles, but doesn’t she look relaxed? 🙂 My kids are awesome.

Speaking of kids, my daughter was feeling crafty, and made me a case for my iPad out of felt, colored duct tape, and some magnets!
What a kid.

This pic is here because it’s amazing…click to embiggen and get the full effect!

April 1, 2012. Mount Etna spews volcanic ash during an eruption on the southern Italian island of Sicily. (From Time Magazine)

Lastly, this came from my brother. He knows me well.

Some Days, Don’t You Just Wonder?

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When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
-Mark Twain

Resiliency means recognizing that chaos occurs in our own mind and we can react accordingly. In other words: Chaos is not the problem, it’s how we respond to it that makes the difference between balance and imbalance.
-Chip Weiner

Fetter strong madness in a silken thread.
-William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act V, sc. 1

You only require two things in life: your sanity and your wife.
-Tony Blair

Sometimes we do a thing in order to find out the reason for it. Sometimes our actions are questions not answers.
-John Le Carre