I’m thrilled to announce that I"ll be directing a new play about legendary baseball broadcaster Ernie Harwell, written by Mitch Albom, in Detroit this Spring!

Actors TJ Corbett and Will Young, Me, Writer Mitch Albom

The play, Ernie, will start previews in mid-April, and Open on April 28th at the City Theatre, across the street from Comerica Park – where the Tigers play! 

Here’s an article about the show, from the press conference we had yesterday. 

As a director, this gig is very exciting.  As a big baseball fan, and a big theatre fan, this is a real treat.  As a huge Detroit Tigers fan who listened to Ernie Harwell all the time, being a part of the team to honor his memory in this way is a very exciting honor.  

•  This morning, a meeting on the META project.  (Michigan Equity Theatre Alliance).  It’s coming together, and going to be great.

•  Today, wearing my Producer hat and doing tasks for the next project at the Williamston Theatre, While We Were Bowling!  

•  Also today, our apprentice Alex and a wonderful volunteer, Fred, built us some fabulous lumber storage racks!

•  I did some prep work for a project that I can’t announce for another 2 days, but that I’m very excited about.

•  The "Next Season" Project:  Picking a season for 2011-2012.  A great part of my job, the possibilities are endless!

• Tonight – a reading of one of the shows we’re considering for next season!  Very fun!
 

Both last night and today we had performances of OEDIPUS that were packed nearly to sold out.  I have to say, I’m really thrilled with that!  The wonderful, humbling second half of this story is that on Thursday, we only had *almost* enough people to fill the front rows of our 4-sided space.  I guess this goes to show that You Just Never Know!  

I really went into this production unsure if anyone would be interested.  We’ve been fortunate enough to get wonderful reviews – speaking of which, I forgot to post the most recent one:  

The Rogue Critic says: It would be a mistake to pass off this show as simple merely because its fine ensemble makes it look easy. By earning the audience’s rapt attention to its juicy, catastrophic plot and subtly insisting on the thematic undertones that make this myth a classic, the production should give a willing viewer food for thought that satiates well beyond the play’s end.  Read the whole review here!

What I’m excited about, despite having a couple of very small houses, is that we’ve also had some medium houses, and some packed houses: people are coming.  They’re coming, and they’re enjoying it and, most of all, being moved by it!   It’s not going to be a blockbuster at the box office, but still, that’s okay!  We had a talkback after the show today and it was great to sit with the cast and chat with the audience about the show, the process, the script, the decision to do it, etc… There were a ton of great questions and observations.  The thing that gets me is the thing that still gets me every time we have an event or I get up to give the curtain speech before a performance:  People came!  People are interested enough, excited enough, to spend time in our building. 

That’s been a great thing to see during this season: as we’ve intentionally experimented with a varied selection of productions, our patrons have been supportive. That’s encouraging. 

It’s more than encouraging, it’s exciting and humbling and rewarding – and it’s also, probably MOST importantly, a reminder:  We have to earn that.  

Every time.

It’s good to be reminded.