Tag Archives: family

WOW July went fast!

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August 1st?! When and how did that happen?!

Our production of Predictor at Williamston Theatre has been going wonderfully. Audiences are loving it, we got three rave reviews from critics and have been getting a TON of wonderful feedback from patrons. The show runs until this Sunday, August 4th, if you’re in the area join us this weekend! Get Tickets Here!

My wife Jeanne and her sister Jackie went hiking on the Appalachian Trail for the month of July, just got back a couple days ago! There are fun videos on YouTube if you want to see them! Here’s one, if I can get it to embed into the WordPress properly! 178 miles, I think, is what they did, on crazy Appalachian Trail terrain!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9jzS8lckdlA%3Fsi%3D1MwgqAf-lzP5OSEs

Sadly the Detroit Tigers have proven to not be much improved this season, although some of the younger guys are proving they could be core members of a solid squad, but the pieces still aren’t all there, so we’ll be lucky to finish at .500 this season. Still, a lot of fun games have been close and entertaining to watch this season, so that’s been fun.

We’re deep into planning for season 18 at Williamston Theatre. The webpage for the season can be found here, check it out! There’s so much fun stuff coming up – a season launch party on August 22nd, 5 great plays, 4 standup comedy nights, our “Dark Nights in Billtown” series of staged readings, a Giving Tuesday Play-a-Thon where we read 3 plays onstage in the same day, free to the public! Coming up in October is a fun series of readings that will be all political plays: Animal Farm adapted by Ian Wooldridge from the book by George Orwell, Bad Books by Sharyn Rothstein, and The Election by Don Zolidis. A great blend of thoughtful comedy and satire to take us into our national election.

So much going on in the world… hang in there, people! šŸ™‚

Random Thursday Stuff

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Today: Random thoughts on things that have been clogging up my brain the last couple weeks.

The Detroit Tigers have had a disappointingly sad first half of the season. Yeeesh.

We are about to start previews for the final production of our 17th season at Williamston Theatre! It’s amazing that we’ve done that many, this makes production number 98! Season 18 is around the corner, and I can’t wait. Until then though, I hope people come see Predictor, it’s SUCH a great script – I love the story, and our entire production team is killing it!

Speaking of theatre: Dependability is a trait that employers look for. Do they still teach this in theatre schools? It gets rewarded.

I’m so grateful for my many doctors. And as messed up as the American medical system/Health Insurance world is, I’m also grateful to have the coverage we have.

I finally left Twitter, or X, or whatever it’s devolved into. Just not an Elon Musk fan, and honestly I’m getting a little tired of social media in general. Working through how to manage that.

We celebrated my mother’s birthday the other day with her. My wife Jeanne and I, and both our kids and their fiancĆ©es had a great afternoon out together. Everyone’s been so busy and with the kids moved out of the house now it was really great to have everyone together. I’m a lucky guy.

Random TV stuff: House of Dragons is back, it’s been fun so far. The new season of Doctor Who was a mixed bag, but largely delightful – Ncuti Gatwa is a terrific Doctor, and I’m looking forward to seeing more! Apple TV’s show Dark Matter is a fun sci-fi show that’s right up my alley, did anyone else watch the first season? I’m excited that the new season of The Bear is out, looking forward to watching that.

The Presidential Debate is on tonight. I’ll miss it, because we start previews tonight, but I’m looking forward to catching highlights online later. At least, I think I am. I’ll be honest, maybe I’m trepidatious. I still can’t fathom voting for Trump, he’s such a human trash bag, I just can’t wrap my head around people seeing the guy and thinking “Yeah, that’s a leader I’d follow”. Biden has his challenges and downside, for sure, but at least I believe he’s trying to do things for the people of the country – Trump is in it for himself and that’s it, and the extremists using him and his quest for power to push their theocratic agendas are scary.

Speaking of politics, I’m excited for an upcoming event at Williamston Theatre. In honor of the upcoming election, we’ll be doing a series of readings of fun, engaging political plays in October. 3 shows over 3 days, should be a fun time! Keep your eyes peeled for our announcement of show titles and details!

That’s enough Thursday Thoughts. Gotta go! Just for fun, I’ll leave you with an image from our show: here’s a picture from our Photo Shoot for Predictor. First Preview is in a couple of hours, I’m very excited!
(I shot this with my phone, sorry if it’s not the best quality!)

Featured in the photo are the cast, from Left to Right: Kamara Miller Drane, Mona Eldashoury, Caitlin Cavannaugh, Tobin Hissong, Chris Purchis, James Kuhl, Ryan Patrick Welsh. Directed by Billicia Charnelle Hines. The work you’re seeing in this picture is: Scenery by Thalia Lara, Projections by Jeromy Hopgood, Costumes by Mona Jahani and Lighting by Shannon Schweitzer. Props are by Michelle Raymond, Sound is by Brian Cole and Intimacy Direction is by Alexis Black. Adam Kruger leads the SM team and Aaron Delnay is our Technical Director!

Home

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Ran across this quote, and really loved it:

Let home be that place where you

never notice the bad lighting,

let it be a wall whose cracks keep growing

until one day you take them for doors.

– Iman Mersal

Thinking a lot about “Home” lately. Maybe it’s because we’re approaching the holiday season, or maybe because it’s been just Jeanne and I in the house for a few months now, with one kid in college and one moved into their own place. Who knows. I’m looking forward to Stuffing Day Thanksgiving this year, we’ll have a lot of family at our home this holiday, which we haven’t done much – in the past we’ve almost always celebrated Thanksgiving at a parent’s house, or sibling’s, but this year life has brought the family gathering to our little house, and I’m excited. (I mean, the excitement is partly about the stuffing… turkey and gravy and potatoes are great… but the STUFFING! Can I make two kinds? I’m gonna make two kinds.)

Even MORE than the stuffing, though, is having family there. We won’t have enough room for everyone, so it’ll be crowded and loud… and wonderful.

And it’ll be home.

(and there will be 2 kinds of stuffing.)

Good Things, and a MILESTONE!

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Lots of good things going on now!

SEASON 16 begins! We start rehearsal for The Magnolia Ballet by Terry Guest at Williamston Theatre tonight. I love this play, and can’t wait to see what the director Gary Anderson, and the production team and cast do with it. This beautiful, intense and thought-provoking piece follows a young Queer Black man coming of age in the American South. In a wonderfully theatrical storytelling style we explore sexuality, racism, toxic masculinity, homophobia, love, and the incredibly complicated relationship between fathers and sons and the legacy passed through them from generation to generation.

This week we also have our first production meeting for our holiday show, A Very Williamston Christmas. I’m really looking forward to directing this fun, sweet, ridiculously silly Christmas piece. Everyone loves (or loves to HATE) those Hallmark Christmas movies, right? Well we’ve got our own over-the-top parody of those stories coming to Williamston this November! If you’ve been jonesing for schmaltzy, smoldering “Will they Won’t they” looks over giant mugs of hot cocoa between flirty new friends as one of their Small Town businesses is under threat by an evil developer from the Big City RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS EVE….. then we’ve got the show for you!

As I type this in my office, it’s quieted down in the building. And by “quieted down” I mean that now I can hear the normal buzz of people getting ready for first rehearsal. An hour ago I couldn’t hear that, because the sound of banging and sawing and drilling and construction workers yelling back and forth filled the air, and I loved it! We are just DAYS away from the renovations to our space being done and I am SO EXCITED. For 15 years we’ve hoped to get rid of the structural support poles in our theatre space, and this week it becomes a reality. Can’t wait to share the newly renovated space with our artists and patrons.

OH! And one other thing that I’ll probably write more about soon: I realized that I’ve hit a milestone. This Fall marks my 30th anniversary of making a living as a professional in the American Theatre Industry. I’m pretty proud of that. I remember many years ago, when discussing what I wanted to study at college with my parents, I said “theatre” and my father took a breath and said “Do you think you can make a living at it?” I responded with “I really think I can.” He nodded, and said, “Okay then, let’s figure it out. Your mom and I will help however we can.” And that was that. Now, all these years later, I can look at the last 30 years and say “Okay. Done. 30 years. I did it. I made a living at that.” And it feels good, like I lived up to my promise. And to their faith.

So, I’m having a good week. I hope you are too!

And now….. off to 1st rehearsal!

This time of yearā€¦.

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This time of year is odd for meā€¦

Today marks the 7th anniversary of my dadā€™s death. I still miss him every day. I talk to him all the time, sometimes in my head, sometimes out loud. Mostly if Iā€™m trying to figure something out, or if something happens that he wouldā€™ve loved. Once in a while Iā€™ll see someone on the street or in a store who reminds me of him and my breath catches for just a second – that usually takes the rest of the day to recover from. He was a a great guy, caring, smart, funny, imperfect like the rest of us, and I always knew I was loved. I wear the 25th Anniversary ring that he got from Ford Motor company, just to keep him close. (Well, he got a tie tack. Since my dad wore a tie about 3 times in his 68 years, he turned it into a ring when he got it!) Hereā€™s what I wrote the day after he passed away, if youā€™d like to read more about Frank Caselli.

The other reason this time of year is weird is that 8 years ago today I was in the St. Joeā€™s Chelsea Hospital, after having collapsed at home, starting my long ā€œmeningitis adventureā€. I remember very little of what happened, especially the beginning 6 weeks or so. The occasional flash of a hospital room or my wife or sister. I have clearer memories of the last few weeks, as I was waking from the coma and going in and out of consciousness. Some visitors, struggling to breathe, my parents being there non-stop. I remember a LOT of very vivid, long, coma dreams – what felt like other lifetimes and other realities. Hereā€™s what I wrote about that experience, if youā€™d like to read more about that.

Also, my birthday is this coming Monday! Itā€™s so close to these two things that have changed my life forever that it feels weird to be thankful and excited for my birthday, but I am. I know a lot of folks donā€™t like birthdays – ā€œAnother year older, ugh!ā€ and all that, but I love it. Especially the last 8 years or so. ā€œAnother year olderā€ isnā€™t ā€œUgh!ā€ for me, itā€™s ā€œI MADE IT!ā€ – I got another year with my family, friends, enjoying the world around me. Especially with the pandemic and the world being what it is right now. This one will be 53! Who knows if Iā€™ll make it to 68 like my dad – heck, who knows if Iā€™ll make it to 54 – but I know Iā€™m going to try and enjoy being here now, and celebrate the wonderfulness around me.

So, today, I encourage you all to celebrate. Celebrate your lives, celebrate the life of my dad, hug your loved ones and your friends – tell them how awesome they are, and put hang-out days on your calendar right now! This is the life we have – time is being spent right now. Enjoy it. Savor it all.

Updates on a Tuesday

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Lots of things happening around here at Casa Caselli.

Jeanne and I are healing up nicely from our kidney transplant. It’s officially been a month, and everything seems to be going in the right directions so far. We’re both moving around pretty well again, with just minor soreness. We can both drive again, although it’ll be another few weeks before we’re allowed to lift anything heavier than 8 lbs. I’m adjusting to the new regimen of anti-rejection meds, and glad that they let me wear this shirt:

(I may have bought several fun “kidney transplant” t-shirts this month!)

The whole family is really grateful for all the support we got during this whole event: a HUGE Thank You to everyone who reached out and sent support in any way – texts, cards, food, visits, it was all SO helpful.

Meanwhile, lots of other things are happening too – at Williamston Theatre we are FINALLY looking at a schedule that would reopen our building in 2021, and working on all of the 7,942,233,007 things that that involves. We’ve been doing some staff DEI training, which has been eye opening, educational, tough and really useful, resulting in lots of reworking of internal policies. We’re working on nailing down the reopening season (AND the next one, actually), and will be making some announcements over the upcoming months, and there are some really exciting projects and collaborations coming up that I’m excited to share with everyone. Plus we’ve got renovations happening at the theatre and new seats ready to install for our patrons to enjoy. The Covid Shutdown has been a nightmare of an intermission, but we’ve tried to combine “use the time wisely” with “spend this uncertain time with family and stay physically and mentally healthy”.

So, now we slowly start coming out of the bubble we’ve been in. Because of my anti-rejection meds making me extra susceptible to infection, I still will be wearing a mask often, but I’m still feeling better about being out among people again. I may have to see about getting to a Lansing Lugnuts game sometime next month, I’ve been looking forward to some live baseball!

One nice side effect of the surgery is that since coming out of it, because of the new dietary and medical stuff, I’ve been eating less junk and am down about 20 lbs. Feeling more fit than I have in a while, hoping to keep that trend up and stay healthier – I’m not quite back to my “pre-surgery” routine of walking 3-5 miles a day, but I’ve been able to do about 2.5 every couple of days the last week or so, and I’ll be trying to improve on that over the next couple of weeks. (I’m inspired by my amazing wife, who walked 2 miles AND ran 2 miles today!!)

So, I think that’s it from here for now. Trying to heal, rest, prep for reopening, and enjoy being with my family. Doing a lot of reading (plays, novels, anti-racism education, an N.K. Jemisin trilogy) and watching TV. And, honestly, lots of self-reflection about what “Post Covid” and “Post Transplant” life should be, and could be. We’ll see what that leads to!

I hope everyone is doing well, staying healthy (physically AND mentally) and enjoying their summer. Take care of yourselves!

Transplant updates!

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Jeanne and I have returned home from the amazing UofM hospital and transplant clinic. They took great care of us, and now she has one less kidney, and I have three! (But, as the transplant joke goes, two of mine are decoys!)

We are at home, getting taken care of by wonderful family and friends, and being very grateful for the support. Weā€™re both very sore and tired, and under strict orders to rest, do nothing but take short walks, lift nothing and heal. The next 8 weeks will be a lot of recuperating, and we both have to just make ourselves take it easy. Right now itā€™s hard to sleep or rest because of how painful everything is, but the pain meds help and that will ease over the next week or so as incisions heal, muscles knit back together etcā€¦. Right now we are trying to sleep a lot!

The new kidney, for me, is a whole new lease on life. It comes with a new set of challenges, a lifetime regimen of anti-rejection medications that require constant balancing and some other things that go along with those, but itā€™s such a gift. Iā€™m the luckiest guy, and Iā€™m determined to make the most of this blessing that my wife, medical science and the universe have given me.

Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive – the cards, social media posts, texts and well wishes – they all mean a ton to us and itā€™s deeply, deeply appreciated. If you know a medical professional, hug them for us.

The Transplant is Here!

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Well, this is the week! On Friday the 21st of May, Iā€™ll be getting my new kidney. Even more amazing is that itā€™s coming from my wonderful wife, Jeanne.

Iā€™ve known this day would come for the last 7 years or so, although we didnā€™t find out until recently that Jeanne was a match and would be donating my kidney – for which Iā€™m so grateful and thankful – sheā€™s amazing and Iā€™m a lucky man.

Iā€™m also very grateful that I got the last 7 years of not needing dialysis. After my whole hospital stay in 2014, every day is one Iā€™m thankful for, but for the first few months after the hospital I was on dialysis and we were thinking that would be a long-term thing as I went onto the transplant waiting list. But then I got very lucky and my kidneys healed up a bit, to my doctorā€™s surprise, and I got a whole 7 more years out of them! (If you donā€™t know any of this story and want some details, check out this part of my website)

Now we go into another stage of the adventure. Jeanne and I, and the kids, are so blessed to have family and friends who are so supportive during this time (If youā€™re reading this, you know who you are and we love you. Thank you.)

SO – if youā€™re a person who believes in putting good energy out into the universe for things, weā€™d appreciate any good vibes you have this Friday and through the weekend! Iā€™m nervous, just becauseā€¦ yā€™know, surgery, but I also know we are in great hands with the fabulous team at the UofM Transplant Center – theyā€™ve been SO great to work with, weā€™re eternally grateful for their skill and awesomeness.

Hereā€™s Stef Din and I, and the Kidney SHE gave me. Itā€™s a lot more plush than the one Jeanne is giving me, but Iā€™ll love them bothā€¦. Iā€™ll probably just USE the one from Jeanne more! šŸ˜‚

A night to be thankful

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Absolutely beautiful night for sitting on the porch, listening to the Tigers and doing some journaling. The frogs and crickets are serenading me. Itā€™s early August, not too hot, and Iā€™d be happy to sit here for many, many days.

A beautiful night on the porch

The house behind me is pretty quiet – I can hear Max and Maggie playing a game together in the basement, laughing quietly and enjoying time together. Another few weeks and theyā€™ll be heading out, back to college, and Iā€™ll miss the sounds of them laughing…. or fighting, or singing, or all of the sounds Iā€™ve gotten used to hearing again since they moved back in waaaaay back in March, when the pandemic was just starting and we werenā€™t sure how long the interruptions would be. Of course Iā€™ll be worried about them, and I still hate that theyā€™re going, but they have leases on apartments, and most of their classes will be online, and so I have to trust theyā€™ll be okay. Ugh.

Jeanne went to sleep a little early, she had a long, busy day. Some exciting things happening for her thatā€™ll be announced soon enough. Yesterday evening the four of us took the dogs for a nice walk as the sun was setting, walking around the neighborhood. We were laughing, watching FlipFlop pull Max on his skateboard (which he LOVES to do!), and Sneakers was pulling on Maggie because she wanted to chase them… as we followed behind Jeanne said ā€œAw man… we arenā€™t going to get many more nights like theseā€ and I knew she was right. The kids will be moving out soon, and who knows when or even if theyā€™ll move back in. Sneakers is not doing well – sheā€™s almost 16 and had a good life, but probably wonā€™t be with us much longer, so weā€™re really trying to enjoy the time we have with her now. Even if you take the pandemic out of the equation, the constant shifting of sand beneath our feet will be bringing us to a new place again soon.

Can we take the pandemic out of the equation? I mean, all we can do is be as careful as possible, and wait. Wear our masks, wash our hands, Hope people do their best, and hope for a vaccine. And do our best to manage the change that keeps coming as time drifts on, gently dragging us along (and sometimes not gently at all).

Thing is, every time I can remember thinking ā€œAw man, this is the end of an eraā€ in our family, or with friends, later I also found myself having nights like last night, or tonight, once again, where I wound up thinking ā€œThis is beautiful. Iā€™m a lucky, lucky man.ā€ So, even though everything is so up in the air right now, I have faith that as much as I love tonight, Iā€™ll have more moments like this again in the future. Hopefully Iā€™ll remember to take the time to recognize them.

For now, though, Iā€™m going to enjoy the back-and-forth of this ridiculous ball game as the Tigers keep finding ways to give away the lead, and listen to the frogs and crickets reminding me to just breathe, and savor.

SNOW DAY!

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Boy, we had a nice winter storm on Saturday. I mean, it wasn’t anything to write home about, in terms of winter storms – we’ve certainly had bigger, snowier, scarier, but this one was… Nice. (For me, anyway. I apologize to anyone who was inconvenienced by it.)

Since we already had rehearsal off for the day, Jeanne and I decided to just have a relaxing Snow Day, and almost the whole day was in pajamas and on the couch. We watched a little TV, we played Word Chums (it’s like Scrabble, and its on our phones), we did some napping and some reading. I’m nearing the end of The Beautiful Ones, the autobiography that Prince was working on with Dan Piepenbring when he passed away. It’s a moving and insightful look at the artist and his life, but it was barely begun when he passed, and so what Piepenbring was able to do with the book in his attempt to honor Prince’s wishes is lovely.

So, we did those things, I made some fantastic BLT sandwiches, I worked on my script for the show I’m directing (900 Miles to International Falls by Annie Martin), we had fun speaker-phone conversations with both kids and snuggled with the dogs. At one point we were all curled up on the couch. Jeanne was at one end, with FlipFlop (Schnoodle, curled up on her feet). I looked up from my book, took a drink of my coffee (decaf, almond milk), and petted Sneakers (Cockapoo, curled up on my legs). As I stroked her head, she let out one of the longest, most contented sighs I’ve ever heard. I nodded my head and said “I agree, Sneaks. Me too.”

We did wander out of the house in the evening: The Sun Theatre is a 10 minute walk from home into downtown Williamston, and their one screen was showing Won’t You Be My Neighbor, the Tom Hanks movie about Mr. Rogers. It was not at all what I was expecting, and we both enjoyed it a lot.

Snow Day. A little oasis of time. It was wonderful. In the craziness of life – running a theatre, directing a show, wrapping my brain around all the doctor stuff for my kidney transplant evaluation, paying bills and putting out the many metaphorical fires that we all find ourselves dealing with – having that day was a gift. Thanks, Universe, for the chance to catch my breath – and for the reminder that stopping to catch our breath once in a while is really, really important.

I hope you, if you’ve read this far, get a chance to slow down and catch your breath soon. In fact, if I can be bold – I’d encourage you to go ahead and MAKE the time. I think I’ll be doing it more often.

“Simplify, slow down, be kind. And don’t forget to have art in your life ā€“ music, paintings, theater, dance, and sunsets.ā€ – Eric Carole