What a weekend!

Friday, a great designer run thru of AMERICAN CLOCK, that I’m directing at MSU.

Saturday, another good rehearsal at MSU, followed by an incredible Season Launch Party for the Williamston Theatre. I was amazed at the packed house, full of people there in support of our theatre. Amazed, humbled, and inspired to do better.

Sunday was some awesome Quality Family Time – church, lunch, cider mill, nap! THEN Sunday was topped off by seeing the designer run-thru of BLUE DOOR at Williamston Theatre, which is going to blow the doors off the place! So excited about that show!

Thanks universe! More weekends like that for me and all my friends, please! 🙂

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Today my wife and kids started the new school year!

I have, for about the last 12 years or so, on the first day of school, had flowers delivered to Jeanne’s classroom.

Last night, she said “You’re sweet, but you don’t have to send me flowers – save money this year.”

Silly woman.

She’s forgotten who she’s dealing with! No Financial Recession will spoil our Floral Tradition!

🙂

In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don’t try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.
-Tao Te Ching

BLUE DOOR is in rehearsals at WT. Love it.

AMERICAN CLOCK rehearsals are going well for me at MSU.

I taught my first college class in a couple of years on Wednesday. Well, day one was mostly syllabus work,
the really fun stuff begins this week!

My kids start school tomorrow! (I’m putting this under “good”… They may not agree! 🙂
I can’t believe they’re in 5th and 7th grades already!

Williamston Theatre won some awards! The state’s biggest theatre awards, The Wilde Awards, were held last week and Willamston Theatre won 5 of the 7 we were nominated in. Some were for our production of THIS WONDERFUL LIFE, and some were for our co-production with the Performance Network of IT CAME FROM MARS. Congrats to all involved, and to all the theatres for a great 2009-2010 Season of theatre in Michigan!

If you’re not watching WAREHOUSE 13 on the SciFi Channel (or, sorry, SyFy now!), you’re missing a really fun show!

Saw the film GET LOW with Robert Duvall and Bill Murray – it’s wonderful. Go see it!

From the wonderful series “Slings and Arrows” –

GEOFFREY: What are we doing here, you and I?
OLIVER: Putting on a play.
GEOFFREY: Putting on a play. This isn’t about us, is it?
OLIVER: No. Never was.

Started rehearsals for The American Clock today, which I’m directing at Michigan State University!

It’s a wonderful challenge, and the cast and production team are going to be great to work with.  Today was a lot of fun.  It’s always exciting to start a new project, and this one is no exception.  The script is very collage-like, with lots of scenes depicting life into, through, and out of The Great Depression.  It’s extremely relevant to the current state of the world, and I think we’re going to make a very moving show that audiences will really relate to!  Just the staging of it is the kind of challenge I love, and working with the student actors, crew and designers is a treat.

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."  – Henry David Thoreau  (1817-1862)

In other news:
-We start rehearsals for Blue Door at the Williamston Theatre on Tuesday, and I’m really excited about having that beautiful show in our space.

-Poor Maggie has been sick for 4 days, she’s got a sore throat and fever and is just miserable.  The doctors say it’s just a virus, and the only cure is to keep her comfortable, cool and hydrated.  Boooh.  One of the single worst feelings on the planet is that of a parent who can’t help their sick child. 

-Amazingly, I start teaching my class at MSU on Wednesday!  This Summer ended much quicker than I expected!

Conversation after cuddling with my son and watching tv tonight:

ME:
“Max, I have some good news, and some bad news…”

MAX:
*sigh*
“Is the good news that you’re still really good looking, and the bad news that it’s time for me to go to bed?”

ME:
“Ummm…..”

MAX:
“Yeah, that’s what I thought you were gonna say.”

🙂

I think my kids are catchin’ on to me!

The Williamston Theatre is taking part in the Renegade Theatre Festival in Lansing this week – tonight was our reading of Joseph Zettelmaier’s new play “And The Creek Don’t Rise”, and it went wonderfully! This show will be our summer production at the end of next season, and this is a great opportunity for Joe to hear it in front of people for the first time and plan his attack on a second draft! The audience tonight was very responsive, and we got some very useful and positive feedback.

When I got home, I found the cherry pie that my family had brought back from the Cherry Hut! I forgot that Jeanne and the kids picked one up when she drove up to bring them home from camp on Wednesday – so an incredibly good slice of pie was a nice way to end the night. If you’ve not been to the Cherry Hut, it’s in Beulah, Michigan, in the northern bit of the lower peninsula, and it’s fabulous! http://www.cherryhutstore.com

There’s a ton of stuff going on the next few weeks – we’re starting rehearsals in about 10 days for the first show of next season, I start rehearsals for the show I’m directing at MSU, I start teaching my class at MSU, Annie Martin and I are continuing to work on our adaptation of Oedipus (which is proving to be a fabulously fun challenge), the kids and my wife start back to school soon. We’ll be busy, and happy.

I’ve got a ton of stuff I’d like to blog about concerning some of those projects, but it’ll have to wait until another night – right now, I need to get some sleep!

Just because I like them, here are our logos for next season, in order of production! 🙂

(These aren’t quite final – we need to add the playwrights, dates, etc….)

We posted this on the Williamston Theatre Rehearsal Blog, but I thought I’d repost it here as well, now that our 4th season is officially history!

We’ve just closed the final production of our 4th Season here at the Williamston Theatre.

This is sort of amazing to all of us.

You see, in 2005 we all got together and said "Okay, let’s try this, and see if we can make it happen. If we build it, maybe they’ll come!"

In January of 2006, we moved into our home at 122 South Putnam, in downtown Williamston.

Since then, we’ve had 24 productions, sold over 27,000 tickets, gotten some nice recognition and awards, and created over 280 job opportunities in acting, directing, design, stage management, crew, box office and other areas of theatre production.  

So, as we wrap upour 4th season with Five Course Love, and plan our 5th season, we can’t help but reflect on how fortunate we’ve been.  The recent economic troubles have made the last few years very challenging for a lot of people, and we’re all truly grateful that folks have been interested, helpful, supportive, and attending our theatre.  

That support is a constant welcome reminder that what we do holds value for a lot of people.  

For that, we are truly thankful!