Three Things Thursday

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Tony Caselli

It’s Three Things Thursday!

Three things related to Halloween:

Favorite Halloween Candy As A Kid

1) Reeses Peanut Butter Cups (I mean, this is a given, right?!)

2) Sour Apple Blow Pops – SO GOOD! Plus, GUM!

3) Those weird sugar water filled Wax Bottles!
(Yes! I loved those things! Pure sugar, plus weird flavorless-almost-gum!? Who could resist?!)

Halloween Candy I HATED as a kid! (And…still now…)

1) Candy Corn. And those awful pumpkins pretending like they’re NOT candy corn. Gross.

2) These things. I mean, come on. If you’re giving these out, you hate children. And happiness. And probably puppies.

3) Almond Joy/Mounds Bars. The only thing worse than coconut in a candy are numbers 1 and 2 on this list.

Three Random Things About Halloween

1) Now that my kids are in their teens, walking around with them Trick-Or-Treating is coming to an end. This makes the old-man-romantic-Dad in me sad.

2) My awesome wife, when we were dating back many years ago, made me a first-season Star Trek The Next Generation uniform as the coolest costume I’ve ever had. I still have it, even though it’s been about 15 years since I could fit in it. Since my diagnosis with Diabetes, I’ve been eating better and exercising and I’m almost back to being able to wear it! Maybe next Halloween? GEEKOWEEN!

3) This is the pumpkin I carved this year. PacMan Ghost. Yep, combining Halloween and Video Games: GEEKOWEEN! 🙂

Some fun at the theatre

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Tony Caselli

Just a walk through of the Williamston Theatre to see what’s going on as we prep for a Friday night performance of The Woman In Black.

Monday Quotes: Perspective

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Tony Caselli

Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective: an awareness that some things are really important, others not; and that the two kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs.
– Christopher Morley

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.
– Abraham Maslow

The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.
– Douglas Adams

Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.
– Alphonse Karr

If the stars should appear but one night every thousand years how man would marvel and adore.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Would it be possible for me to see something from up there?” asked Milo politely.

“You could,” said Alec, “but only if you try very hard to look at things as an adult does.”

Milo tried as hard as he could, and, as he did, his feet floated slowly off the ground until he was standing in the air next to Alex Bings. He looked around very quickly and, an instant later, crashed back down to the earth again.

“Interesting, wasn’t it?” asked Alex.

“Yes, it was,” agreed Milo, rubbing his head and dusting himself off, “but I think I’ll continue to see things as a child. It’s not so far to fall.”
― Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth

Thursday Pic Post of Good Things

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Tony Caselli

So, good news: this is a picture of my lungs, which are “looking good!”, according to the doctor. So, in The Continuing Adventures of Wheezy McCoughCough, the Bronchiospasm Kid we’ve have had a good week, eliminating some possibilities. Now, if we could eliminate more and solve the whole recurring wheezing/coughing thing, that’d be great. Slowly but surely!

Other awesome things: this was my view during the ct scan. 🙂

This is the lit up mural thing on the ceiling for people to look at during their ct scan.

I got lucky, and got a ticket to the Tigers versus the A’s playoff game on Tuesday!

Um…sometimes you’re the guy who forgets when his plates expire…

We open The Woman In Black tomorrow night, and it’s a beautiful, spooky show! Here’s a photo from my phone that’s not nearly as good looking as the actual show!

This is the newest video from Williamston Theatre, check it out!

The Last Rose Of Summer? Maybe… Or maybe it’s just a really tall rose that held on in our front yard longer than the rest of them did!

And lastly… How I hope to spend Saturday morning with my family:

Happy Thursday everybody!

A Nice Week – And A Moment Of Thanks

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Tony Caselli

“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” -Phillip Pullman

This Thursday, we had our first preview performance for The Woman In Black at Williamston Theatre.

I got up onstage just before the show to make the pre-show announcements, (“Hi! I’m Tony, turn off your cell phones, thanks for being here, turn off your cell phones, we have some folks to thank for their support, and if you have a cell phone please turn it off.”)

As I was talking, I said “Welcome to the first performance of our 8th Season!” and the packed house erupted into applause, cutting me off. I smiled and looked out into the crowd, making eye contact with a lot of people who I’ve come to know over the life of Williamston Theatre. (We have a lot of patrons who LOVE coming to the first couple of previews, they love the talk-back after the show: knowing that we’re still in rehearsals they’re participating in what is still a work-in-progress, and they enjoy the fact that they may contribute to what the piece ultimately becomes. We love them!)

So, I’m standing, seeing all of these people applaud and cheer, and had a moment. Just a quick “Wow” moment, but it was there. One of those lump-in-the-throat, I had better talk now because if I don’t I may not be able to in a minute kinda moments, because I was again reminded of how lucky we’ve been.

Starting our 8th Season. Wow. 42 productions – well, 43 now! Lessons learned. Friends made. Families made. Hundreds of jobs provided to artists. Many awards won. And – most importantly – lots of stories told that have moved people.

“People don’t want more information. They are up to their eyeballs in information. They want faith–faith in you, your goals, your success, in the story you tell.” -Annette Simmons

So many people to thank for making all of that happen – board members, actors, volunteers, my 3 co-founders John and Chris and Emily, our families, donors, our apprentices, our stage managers, designers, directors, the MSU theatre department, Williamston business owners, the list goes on and on.

We’re not done growing, I hope – and in fact as the applause faded and I spoke, I laughed and said “Thank you – we’re as amazed as you are that we’re still here!” because in many ways, we are!

So, this post is a Thank You. And an acknowledgement of the huge amount of hard work and faith and dedication that so many people have given to help keep a dream going. It’s also a reminder, too : Sometimes, in the middle of all of the day-to-day running and grinding and putting-out-metaphorical-fires, take a minute… take a minute to look around and appreciate where you are, who helped get you there, because it’s important. Remembering why you do what you do, why all the hard work is worth it – no matter what it is you do – that not only makes life worth living… it keeps it beautiful.

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” -Joan Didion

Friday Fun Things

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Tony Caselli

We are in Tech Week for The Woman In Black at Williamston Theatre, man it’s going to be a terrific show. Set, costumes, everything is just coming along beautifully. The actors are fabulous, and it’s a nice spooky piece!

Other fun things: I love this picture of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan… and Elmo.

Sometimes…when you get a package in the mail that has a lot of bubble wrap… you need to just roll around on it. So this happened at my house…

Aaaaand this is share-worthy just because it’s fabulous:

Also, I’m excited about the new freelance gig I’m doing with TV Talk! I’m hosting a show discussing the new CBS drama Hostages! My friend Joe Zettelmaier and I are co-hosting, it’s a ton of fun. The pilot ep of the show was quite good, I’m looking forward to watching and discussing/dissecting it more over the season. You should check it out – you can get the TV Talk App at tvtalk.com, or you can also just listen to the show there, too! It’s fun – the app has an option for listeners to join in on the discussion. And while you’re there check out the other shows available. TV Talk: Hostages is one of over 60 shows you can listen to, so if you’ve got a favorite tv show, grab the TV Talk app and join in with a community of folks chatting about it!

Happy Friday, y’all!

A nice thought for a Friday afternoon

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Tony Caselli

Being grateful

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Tony Caselli

It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted any thoughts or pictures or anything fun on this Commonplace Book I call my blog.

Unfortunately, I spent most of that time feeling pretty ill and being very under the weather. I talked about being diagnosed with diabetes here, but thankfully that’s been under control nicely from diet and exercise. The reason they found the diabetes though, back in April, was because for months I’ve been having issues with my breathing – my lungs keep shutting down, and none of the doctors are quite sure what the deal is yet. SO – while doing tests to figure that out they found out I had diabetes. As I said, I’m glad that I’ve been able to keep the diabetes in check, but the up and down roller coaster of recurring coughing/wheezing episodes has proven to be a bigger challenge. A big recurrence of that about 2 weeks ago hit me hard, and slowed down everything in my life EXCEPT the doctor visits! 🙂

I’m doing better now, and we’ve got another, hopefully solid, plan to combat it. Time will tell, and we’ll continue moving forward.

The thing for me, though, and the reason I’m writing this post today, is because it really has been a couple weeks of being reminded how much I have to be grateful for. My wife, who is the strongest most supportive amazing woman ever. My kids, who are the best. My co-workers, who picked up the slack and said “Stay home and get better” and made my life so much easier. My brother and sister who made me laugh the whole time, and my folks who have been super supportive. Health insurance, which has made this easier (although it’s amazing how you think “Oh, we’ve got insurance” and then still wind up paying thousands of dollars for things. I’m not going to get into a Universal HealthCare rant here, though! I’m grateful it hasn’t cost us more.)

So, other things I realized that I’m grateful for: Heating pads. Cool washcloths on foreheads. Good music. Soup. Tylenol with codeine.

Something I’m still LOOKING FOR to be grateful about: A replacement for coffee. I am done drinking coffee, have obviously eliminated (or greatly trimmed) sugar from my life, and am avoiding artificial sweeteners. So, I haven’t found a warm drink like tea with a flavor that I like unsweetened yet.

Ah, now I’m off and rambling. Things are looking up, health is on the mend, my family is fabulous, the theatre is launching into Season 8 and it’s going to be terrific.

So, thanks to those of you who’ve already heard some of this and sent “Feel better” wishes – I am – and today my blog post is a simple request:

Look around. Take note of things you’re grateful for, and take a second to appreciate them.

Happy Monday, y’all!

Monday: A Pic Post Of Good Things

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Tony Caselli

Random moments from the life of a Dad, Artistic Director, and Geek.

Sometimes your daughter gets old enough to drive a car.

And then you’re like

But then you get to do some light reading for work:

And you’re reminded

And the truth in that quote hits you like

And you think “There are a heck of a lot of wonderful things in my life”. Such as this renovation of the seating banks at Williamston Theatre:
From this…

to this…

where the second, third and fourth rows will have MUCH better sight lines to the floor of the stage, which is one more step to providing the best theatrical experience we can for our patrons!

In other good news, the Chelsea Community Fair was this weekend, and we had a blast. Along with rides and junk food and demolition derbies, we got to see this pig and her brand new piglets. Adorable, and now we’re fighting the urge to get a pig.

And, lastly, I’m excited to announce a new freelance gig – this Fall my pal Joe and I will be hosting a show on the TV Talk Network. TV Talk is a company that produces short-form talk shows discussing today’s favorite television entertainment. Joe and I will be hosting TV Talk: Hostages, a show about the new CBS series “Hostages”! Check out the details and download the free app at TV Talk – join us, it’ll be a ton of fun!

Another Milestone

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Tony Caselli

We completed our 7th Season at Williamston Theatre on Sunday!

Over 7 years and 42 productions ago, I wrote this post!

It’s amazing how that all seems like it was BOTH yesterday, and a million years ago!

Now, we continue moving forward:

There are construction workers downstairs beginning renovations to our seating risers, and construction on a new entrance into the theatre from the back of the house, so we can finally bring actors in from all 4 corners of the room!
In addition, season 7 was our most profitable and well-attended season yet.
In a couple of weeks we have our Season Launch Party for Season 8!
This weekend the Lansing City Pulse had their theatre awards ceremony, where WT won 9 Pulsar awards!
We also won several awards from the Lansing State Journal, and are nominated for several by the Rogue Critic
Tonight we’ll be attending the Wilde Awards, the state-wide theatre award ceremony, where WT is nominated for 10 awards! Whether we win or lose in any of these awards isn’t really the point, it’s nice to be nominated and to be in the company of some of the finest artists in the state.

All in all – it’s been a pretty great 7 seasons, and we’re incredibly grateful to everyone who had a part in getting us where we are: Donors, audiences, volunteers, actors, designers, directors, writers, crew… we’re very lucky to have the support of so many wonderful people.

So, a couple of weeks for renovations, planning and preparation, and then it’s time to start rehearsals for another show!

First, though, first I’m going to take a sec and look back at these last seven years, and enjoy the view. Lots of good things, lots of mistakes, lots of lessons, lots of good theatre, and lots of wonderful people. Thank you, everyone who was involved, for everything you’ve done!

Tony Caselli

Dad, Husband, Director

Tag Archives: life