Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.
-George S. Patton

It seems to me that people have vast potential. Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don’t. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever.
-Philip Adams

Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth.
-Katherine Mansfield (1888 – 1923)

My daughter is home today with bronchitis.  Poor thing feels yucky, and was ordered to spend the day on the couch, drinking fluids and resting.  Since she had just finished the book she was reading this weekend, she was complaining that she didn’t have anything to read… so…

I decided that since she’s almost 14, it was time.

I got down my copy of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy and gave it to her.

I’m happy to say she’s halfway through it already, and loves it!  This fills me with an irrational amount of joy and pride – Nerd Dads, you know what I’m talking about!**

In other news, I spent the weekend working with the Otterbein University 2012 Acting Seniors, they had their campus performances of the Senior Showcase that I’ve been working on with them, and it went fabulously!  We’ll be taking it to NYC in the Spring, and they’ll perform for about 150 casting agents, talent agents, directors and producers.  It’s a fun gig, and the energy from the students is always a rejuvenating thing!

The Theatre Communications Group (TCG) does an annual survey of the national not-for-profit theatre to get a handle on how the industry is faring.  Here’s a blurb about the one they’ve most recently published, “Theatre Facts 2010” –

“Theatre Facts 2010 provides three lenses through which to view the not-for-profit theatre field’s attendance, performance and fiscal health. Based on the TCG Fiscal Survey 2010—which covers the fiscal year that theatres completed anytime between October 31, 2009 and September 30, 2010—the report shows that the year 2010 brought a slight reprieve after two years of difficult times during the height of the recent economic crisis. The average theatre ended 2010 with a positive Change in Unrestricted Net Assets (CUNA), even though total income growth fell short of inflation over the 5-year period by 1.4%, and average working capital was negative in each of the five past years becoming even more severe in 2009 and 2010. However, capital campaigns left theatres with substantial growth in investments and new, improved or expanded facilities”

To get a look at the whole document, visit the website here, and click the “Download Theatre Facts 2010 PDF” link.

**As I’m about to hit “publish” on this blog, she’s in the other room, quoting it for her brother and laughing.  This is a Milestone Moment.  🙂

•If you follow this link to the Theatre Communications Group, you’ll find the list of the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Awards from the first round of 2011.  I have to say that I’m pretty pleased that out of 19 of these awards given out nationally, two of them came from Michigan!  Way to go, Michigan theatre folks!

•It IS possible to be successful and not rude.  Kids out there, take notice.

•I love the show “Fringe”.  If you’re a fan, there’s a great podcast that you should check out:  The Fringe Podcast.  Also, if you watch the show, you’ll appreciate this video!

•We’ve entered a fun time in the theatre season: the picking of next year’s season!  I always enjoy this part, the piecing together of a season.  Playing mix and match with scripts and styles and genres and figuring out how to blend them all together into a season of things that the audience will love, the artists will love, we’ll all grow from, be entertained by, be challenged by.  It’s fun.  It’s also nerve-wracking, stressful, and exhausting… but it’s mostly fun!  🙂

•”If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.” – Albert Einstein

“This Wonderful Life”, a revival of Williamston Theatre’s 2009 production, is propelled into captivating theater by three men: actor John Lepard, director Tony Caselli and playwright Steve Murray.

-Michael Margolin, Encore Michigan

Check out the whole review here!

Got to spend a lot of Quality Family Time the last week with my kids and wife, and on more than one occasion I was reminded of how quickly we all grow, change, move on.  Another one of those milestone events happened, recently, and as we approach this holiday season it will be different than any of the ones we’ve shared with our kids before.  Our youngest is now 11, and is approaching Christmas with a different look at St. Nick… and I will love the holidays as much as ever, and the family time… but a small loss of innocence can change a lot of things.

“Lost, yesterday, somewhere between Sunrise and Sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever.”
-Horace Mann

We watch our kids grow.  We take so much pride in their simplest accomplishments, and pray that they grow to be better, smarter, wiser, more successful than us… but that pride in each step of their growth is sometimes mixed with just a touch of sadness, of loss… not, I think, for who they are now, but for who they won’t be again – and maybe who WE won’t be because of that.

If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder without any such gift from the fairies, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.
-Rachel Carson

From the American Theatre Wing – a video podcast with Ben Cameron, Thomas Schumaker and Kevin McCollum about the state of theatre today.  Interesting, certainly brings up things worth talking about.  Check it out, let me know what you think.

American Theatre Wing – “Working In The Theatre”

And, since we’re doing podcasts – here’s an interview with John Lepard and I about “This Wonderful Life”, the production he’s starring in right now at Williamston Theatre!

Encore Michigan “This Wonderful Life” Podcast

Because Prince should be listened to all the time, but especially when he’s jamming a solo in a cover of someone else’s work:

And… have you checked out the Michigan Equity Theatre Alliance yet?  META

Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath.  – Solon (638 BC – 559 BC)

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

Voices that loud are always meant to bully. Do not be bullied. Acts of bravery don’t always take place on battlefields. They can take place in your heart, when you have the courage to honor your character, your intellect, your inclinations, and, yes your soul by listening to its clean, clear voice of direction instead of following the muddied messages of a timid world.  – Anna Quindlen

To enjoy the things we ought and to hate the things we ought has the greatest bearing on excellence of character.  – Aristotle

I got two very different warnings yesterday – one for the Artistic Director, one for the Dad:

First, I went into the lobby at the Williamston Theatre and was headed into the theatre itself, but was stopped by a CAUTION! sign.  CAUTION – WET PAINT!   The progress on the set was coming nicely, the paint was dry and the seal-coat was about to be applied.

The second warning was the one that made me laugh.  Apparently, my son was working on a project yesterday, because this was on the kitchen table when I got home…

Yep, he was trying to answer the Important Life Question “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?”

(In case you can’t read it, it says CAUTION – 3,333 Licks – DO NOT TOUCH – he really wanted to make sure no one threw that thing away by mistake!)

When I asked him why he hadn’t finished it yet, he said “Because my tongue got sore!”.

🙂   I love being a Dad