The purpose of theatre is… making an event in which a group of fragments are suddenly brought together… in a community which, by the natural laws that make every community, gradually breaks up… At certain moments this fragmented world comes together and for a certain time it can rediscover the marvel of organic life. The marvel of being one.
-Peter Brook

The Wilde Award nominations were announced this morning – The Willianston Theatre received 7 nominations, including Best Drama, Best Production Of A New Script, as well as several acting and several tech nominations!

Check out the nominations and the accompanying story here!

One of the nicest things about the Wilde Awards is that they really are a wonderful celebration of theatre in Michigan – Thanks go to BETWEEN THE LINES and ENCORE MICHIGAN for their dedication to the theatre industry in this state!

Congratulations to all of the theatres and artists nominated!

So, this is 3am. I’d almost forgotten what it looked like. Fortunately, my friend “You don’t really need sleep” showed up to remind me…

As I lay here I’m thinking back through the day – a pretty good day, I’ve decided.

Lots of stuff accomplished at work, which is always nice. I mean, let’s face it – some days I go in with a plan and that gets tossed the minute I get there and replaced with whatever is running around on my desk flaming. OR it gets replaced with a trip to Starbucks, and THEN I tackle the flaming running stuff. OR I go to Starbucks and stall for a few hours, hoping the flaming stuff just falls asleep and puts itself out. (This last one has never actually happened, but I heard a rumor that it sometimes CAN, so I will continue to experiment)

I assume everyone’s day is like this, though.

And then when I got home, some nice family time! Maggie performed her class presentation about Belize for us (“and so, I think things are looking up for Belize in the near future!”) and Max showed me his class project which for some reason consisted of making a menu for an invented restaurant (I’m fuzzy on the details of this project, but it’s fun). He not only picked some great dishes to sell (pepperoni sugar cookies, frog-juice tea) but he also came up with hilarious descriptions of the dishes: “Salad – made with lettuce stolen out of the hands of a woman on the east coast of Africa” and “Taco Cake – you don’t need to know what’s in this.”

Ah, good times. Now, I’m going to try and sleep and pretend like I can’t hear the makings of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich calling me from the kitchen.

Okay, Miguel Cabrera, the Detroit Tigers first baseman, needs votes.

The All-Star voting is happening online right now, and he’s in 3rd place for 1st basemen. He’s having a year that may win him the MVP of the whole American League if he keeps it up, but the Tigers are having a mediocre season so he’s not as popular across the country.

This is where YOU come in!

Go to MLB.com and vote for Miguel Cabrera! Just go to the website, click on the “ALL STAR GAME 2010” link at the top of the page, and vote! You can vote up to 25 times!!

Don’t hesitate! Let’s get some Detroit players on that All Star Squad this year!! Go vote for Miguel and ALL the Tigers!!

It seems to me, and this is while I’m on a lot of caffeine and not much food, but it seems to me that there is a fine but clear distinction between A) Using the “I tell it like it is” excuse in order to be an asshole and pretend like it’s okay, and B) Calling someone out when they’re being an asshole, even if it’s not particularly polite or politically correct. Those are pretty clearly two different things, right? Right? Because it seems to me that those get confused for each other more often than they should…

This woman is suing Google because the Google Map Directions told her to cross a street.
The street was a busy highway, but she thought she should cross anyway.
She did, and got hit by a car.

Idiot.

Read more about the lack of common sense some people have!

Surely there comes a time when counting the cost and paying the price aren’t things to think about any more. All that matters is value – the ultimate value of what one does.
James Hilton (1900 – 1954)

Every time we say, “Let there be!” in any form, something happens.
Stella Terrill Mann

Happiness is essentially a state of going somewhere, wholeheartedly, one-directionally, without regret or reservation.
William H. Sheldon

Home: Voices From Families Of The Midwest, currently running at the Williamston Theatre, got some great reviews the last couple of days!  This is the third in a three-season series dedicated to exploring and celebrating life in our part of the world.  We’re very grateful that audiences are loving this production, and it seems as though the critics are as well!  Congrats to the whole team!

Bridgette Redman, of Encore Michigan, said:
"Home triumphantly wraps up this three-season series that celebrates the lives of Midwesterners and what makes them not unique, but what makes them human."

Read the whole Encore Michigan review here!

Tom Helma, of the Lansing City Pulse, said:
"I lost count of the number of stories after the 10th, not because they were decreasingly interesting, but rather they became more compelling, more expansive in characterizing the breadth and depth of families."

Read the whole City Pulse Review here! 

OPENING NIGHT for "Home: Voices From Families Of The Midwest" at the Williamston Theatre tonight! The whole company is doing great work!

If you haven’t been to Google today, click the link!  It’s the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man, and they’ve got a treat on their homepage!

Tomorrow gets to be a nice family day – looking forward to that!

We’re underway with production meetings for our next show, "Five Course Love", a very fun wacky musical comedy with some heart!

Random thought:  Some days it’s hard to pretend that people of horrible character are anything other than that.  We all have to go through our days sidestepping this issue regularly, I think, and choose to ignore the people we’d love to tell off.  I believe we do this because we all think "Oh, I’ll take the high road" or "That battle’s just not worth it."  But some days, it’s hard to ignore the urge to tell off or publicly call attention to someone behaving like a complete tool.  Some days you want to just point and say loudly to your kids "See.  That.  Don’t grow up to be that."  Hmmm…. this brings up the whole issue of "Politeness" versus "Honesty", social rules versus just doing the right thing.  Interesting.

"Politeness:  The most acceptable hypocrisy" – Ambrose Bierce, U.S. Author and Satirist

Happy Friday everyone!  Hope the weekend is wonderful!

Wow. Two weeks since an update. I hate that! Not only because there are folks who actually bother to check this thing and read it (thanks for that!), but because I like to use it as an actual journal, and I hate missing two weeks worth of stuff!

Events from the last few days:
Previews of “Home” at WT
The Wharton Center Playwright Festival
A couple days of General Auditions
My son turned 10! Big sleepover/laser-tag party!

Much more to write about – LOST has been great, is ending Sunday! My daughter is getting braces Thursday, more auditions coming up, Opening Night is Friday, planning for the summer musical and all of next season is underway…

And my lack of consistent sleep is becoming a problem. So, since I’m getting sleepy writing this, I’m hitting the sack!

A quick quote to close out the night: (I read this earlier and it’s been a good reminder all day that there’s more than one way to look at things – obvious, but easy to forget!)

“I happen to feel that the degree of a person’s intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting attitudes she can bring to bear on the same topic.”
-Lisa Alther