A moment of pride… and then of being smacked down to reality! :)

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Was running errands this evening with my kids, and we were talking about how school is going, how things are different in their grade this year, etc… and they started discussing how different it must be to be an adult.

(Since I barely consider myself one, I wasn’t sure I was a good judge, but I played along.)

As we continued talking, conversation turned to what THEY might be doing when THEY turn 40.

My son says “I want to have a bunch of money, so I can open a hospital where it only costs a dollar to get healthy. There are too many sick old people and sick kids and they should be taken care of and it sholdn’t cost them money.”

I think that’s a pretty cool thing for a 9 year-old to say, and I tell him I’m proud of him, that’s a very thoughtful, helpful thing for the world. He then says…

“Of course, I’ll need a lot of money. So I’d better do something COMPLETELY different from what YOU did, huh?”

*laughing*

It was hilarious. True, of course, but hilarious nonetheless, because he was so honest and thoughtful about it. Ahh, kids.

Art

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“Art comes to you proposing frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass.”
Walter H. Pater

I love this quote.

Yep, there’s always a nice debate about “meaning”, or “message” in plays. Sure, there’s often a big deep message, some important themes. Sometimes there isn’t, and it’s just a distraction – escapism to let us be somewhere else for a while. I personally like both kinds, and I really believe that a mixture of the two is the best. Who wants CONSTANT introspection? And who wants nothing but frothy silliness? Not me.

Still, no matter where your preferences may be in that debate, I believe that the quote above applies to ALL types of theatre. Whether the show is there to help you reconnect with a part of you that needs a nudge, or whether it tackles giant sociopolitical-economic issues, or whether it just gives you the opportunity to smile and forget your world for a couple hours, the sentiment behind the quote works. It’s a sentiment that lays down a challenge, too: don’t let your art be just good – make it Very Good. Highest Quality.

After all, all of our moments ARE passing – shouldn’t we fill them with worthwhile, joyful things?

Yes. Yes, we should.

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Moving forward!

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At The Williamston Theatre, when you enter the theatre from the front lobby, normally you’re Stage Left and looking over and past the stage, to the Stage Right seating bank.

Right now, when you enter the theatre, what you see is this:

That’s the big sheet of plastic that the construction guys have put up, to protect the theatre space and the rest of the seating banks. (You can see a couple of our red theatre seats of the front row/center section on the bottom left of the picture!)

The plastic is necessary, because the seating bank that WAS Stage Right, along with the women’s restroom that used to be the reason that we could only have two rows of seats there, now look like this:

Yep, the restroom and old seating bank are GONE! Neat! The shot above is taken from the door of the Light Booth, looking straight out. The sheet of plastic and the rest of the theatre is off to the right.

Below is a shot from directly across from where the above pic was taken.

This shot is looking directly toward the light booth, from Upstage to Downstage, where the new and improved stage right seating bank will soon be located. If I took this shot in a week, it’d be looking over a whole bunch of beautiful red theatre seats!

It may not be much to look at right now but, in a few days, it’s going to be fantastic!

Sunday Night QuoteBag

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And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.
Roald Dahl, Author

Let us face a pluralistic world in which there are no universal churches, no single remedy for all diseases, no one way to teach or write or sing, no magic diet, no world poets, and no chosen races, but only the wretched and wonderfully diversified human race.”
Jacques Barzun, professor and writer (1907- )

To be alive is a fine thing. It is the finest thing in the world, though hazardous. It is a unique thing. It happens only once in a lifetime. To be alive, to know consciously that you are alive, and to relish that knowledge – this is a kind of magic. Or it may be a kind of madness, exhilarating but harmless.
Edna Ferber (American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright 1887-1968)

The world is its own magic.
Shunryu Suzuki(Japanese Zen priest, ?-1971)

My “That Was Awesome” moment of the morning

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I had a box of Kleenex in the backseat of my car. (I have two kids – tissues are ALWAYS handy.)

One of the kids sat on the box recently, flattening and ripping it. Since it was ruined, they did the natural thing: put the big pile of tissues that used to live in the box into a nice stack in the rear-window ledge of my car.

This morning, alone on my nice long drive, I opened my window to enjoy some fresh air.

The pile of tissues immediately began swirling around my car, blowing EVERYWHERE, just riding the wind!

It was totally cool.

I drove for a minute, completely enjoying it. Eventually I had to stop and gather them, and throw them away, but I now know EXACTLY what it would be like to drive inside a snowglobe.

Awesome.

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Caves, Rehearsal, Baseball, Music!

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The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.
Euripides (484 BC – 406 BC)

For the long holiday weekend, Jeanne and the kids and I went on a vacation to the Mammoth Caves National Park in Kentucky. We camped for a few days, and took some absolutely incredible cave tours! Plus we did some nice hiking outside, and the kids completed the “Junior Ranger” program at the park, and loved it! If you’ve not been, I absolutely encourage you to go, it’s really wonderful.

The day after returning from vacation was the first day of school for Jeanne and the kids, and first day of rehearsal for the new show at the Williamston Theatre, which I’m directing. So it’s been a busy week! Jeanne’s liking her new class of students, and Maggie and Max are enjoying their new school schedules so far! Plus they’re both taking TWO instruments this year! We try to keep their activities to a manageable level – there’s no point in over-scheduling them and killing their play-time – but they really wanted to do them, so we’ve worked it out and Max is still taking violin lessons and adding drum lessons, while Maggie is still playing bass and adding guitar lessons!

Amazingly, and thrillingly, the Tigers are still in first place in the division. So cool!!

Things I’ve learned since 7am.

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When taking a long car ride with kids, the over-the-counter medicine Bonine works well for preventing carsickness in kids who get it often.

The Moral of World War I is NEVER ASSASSINATE ARCHDUKE FERDINAND.

The iPhone App “Rest Area” is fantastic! It’s a simple app, but really useful on car trips – it uses the GPS to see where you are on the Highway, and tells you where the nearest rest area is, and what conveniences it offers! Very helpful. Especially with little kids who need bathroom breaks often!

The Lemony Snickett books on tape are a fun way to pass the time when driving, but the ones narrated by Tim Curry are better than the ones narrated by the author.

It’s easy, when driving while everyone else rests or reads, to get lost in thought about the play you’re about to start directing, and forget to watch mile-markers. (Fortunately no exits were missed!)

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Show Logos!

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Our 2009-2010 Season!

These will be adjusted in size, and eventually for posters and postcards they’ll have more text on them, like the names of the cast, and show times/dates, all that stuff…
But these are the logos. I really like the feel of the whole season!
(For more info on the season, check out the Williamston Theatre website!)

(Click the pic for the big version!)

You’ve got to be kidding me.

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Oh my God. Okay, this story is amazing – I mean, I’m stunned.

A 61 year old guy, shopping in Wal-Mart, decided he’d had enough of a crying 2-year old.

It wasn’t his kid, or grandkid. In fact, it was the daughter of a complete stranger. The 2-year old was crying, as toddlers do. The mother was trying to calm her down.

The guy, Roger Stephens, decided he’d take matters into his own hands. So he went up to the stranger and her two year old, and threatened that if the mother couldn’t silence the child, he would.

A few moments later, he grabbed the child and slapped her 4 or 5 times across the face, saying “I told you I’d shut her up.”

The mother screamed, police were called, and this idiot is now in jail.

Okay. We’ve all been in a position where we wish a child wouldn’t cry, or scream, or throw a tantrum. Yep. Been there. Been there with other people’s kids, been there with my own.

However. There are things you don’t do.

If I had been walking with my son or daughter… if this guy had approached us, and put his hands on one of my children? SLAPPED THEM REPEATEDLY?! I’m afraid the example I set for my kids might not have been the one I want them to remember me by, because I don’t think I would’ve been able to think rationally. I think my initial reaction would be to go for his throat and rip it out, and just not stop doing that until I was pulled off of him. Unbelievable, the nerve, the audacity, the sheer amount of being a complete tool that it takes to do something like that.

Here’s another link to a better version of the story.
What the hell is wrong with people?!
end rant

Link-O-Rama… because sometimes, you have to take the time

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This link is here because everyone needs a totally cool visual timeline of the history of time travel.

EncoreMichigan has a new podcast series, and this link is to the latest episode, which is all about the Performance Network’s 10-year anniversary in their building.

This one has some adult language, but the folks at “The Correctness” are doing a Superhero Smackdown series, where they pit superheroes against each other and decide who would win. Mostly tongue-in-cheek, it’s fun! Check it out.

Interesting to me because I recently directed a play about Picasso: A raid in Iraq uncovered what may be a Picasso stolen decades ago. But is it really a Picasso?

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs