Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2

Blog and Feed Bizarreness

Something funky has been going on with the feed for this blog. I noticed that for some reason (still not sure what) I wasn't receiving any update in Google Reader since March 22. I checked things out and re-synced the FeedBurner feed and then re-subscribed and things seem to be flowing again.

So, if you're subscribed in a feed reader of some sort or the other, you might want to re-subscribe (at least I hope you'd want to :). Here's a link to the feed.

Also leave a comment if you're not seeing the feed. Maybe something will help me track down the issue. I'd appreciate the help.

Private Donations and the Arts in Virginia

Location, location, location. Let's hope that's not the case here.

A great article in the Richmond Times Dispatch about private donations and the arts in the Commonwealth, at a time where we are seeing state cutbacks. This article focuses on the Richmond area, and it makes me wonder why we don't see a similar climate here in the Northern Shenandoah Valley region when it comes to supporting what the arts bring to our region.

Our production of Romeo and Juliet, which completed its run last night, is a typical example. Cast with mostly local teens, alongside a few professionals, the show was a splendid success with audiences, but we have very little luck finding donors to support these sort of efforts. Even we tell them the great success stories.

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to be talking a bit more about this struggle on Wicked Stage, as we move forward to our season opening in June. We've got to change the conversation in our area in a big way if we are going to continue, and I hope the folks who understand the importance of the arts in our area will lend us an ear, and some support.

Podcasting Fun

In addition to podcasting with the GottaBeMobile Gang (we've been going four different directions lately and haven't gotten one off in several weeks but that will change soon) I've also been heard on several other podcasts of late. At Wayside Theatre we're blogging a bit and also podcasting a bit thanks to our intrepid uber intern Claire Romano. The podcast is called Sound Waves and you can find it on the blog, Inside Wayside.

I also took some time to have the pleasure of talking politics with Steve Gillmor, Dan Farber, Karoli Kuns on the NewsGang Live podcast. Hopefully my schedule will allow me to do the same again. In any regard, you can catch it or subscribe here. I'm on the Feb 18 episode.

Family Sorrow

This morning, as some of us at Wayside Theatre were waking up to meet a new day and prepare for a matinee performance of Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming, we got terrible news. One of our cast members, Pam Pendleton, received word this morning that her husband had died suddenly.

We quickly put plans in place to cancel today's matinee and are busy working to make plans going forward as I.

We say all the time that Wayside Theatre is one large extended family. And within that large family that is Wayside Theatre, the cast for Smoke on the Mountain is a family unit itself. Homecoming is the third in a trilogy that follows the Sanders Family from 1938 to 1947 and we have been blessed that this cast has been with us, with one exception, for all three shows over the last few years. They are indeed a family within our family.

Those words were never more true than this morning when we all got the tragic news, and it was never more true this particular weekend. At last night's performance the first two rows of the theatre were filled with family members of the cast. In some sort of serendipity, various family members had all made the journey in for this weekend to see there loved ones perform this magical show about a family of bluegrass gospel singers. If there is any good fortune in the wake of the loss that Pam is dealing with, is that her sister was in town to see her in the show and is helping her cope with so much right now.

This extended family I speak of has also broadened a bit this morning as we plan to move on with the show without Pam. We've made calls to many sister theatres and other contacts in efforts to bring in another actress to continue in the role of Vera. That won't be easy in any circumstances, and it will be tough on all of us as we go forward. We've left lots of messages and expect to be working on this through the afternoon while we prepare to say farewell to Pam as she heads home. Our friends in other theatres are helping out in only the way family does in those circumstances and I'm sure we'll be fine in the end.

We are all going to be with Pam in spirit as she journeys home to deal with her loss and her grief. We'll be dealing with ours here as well. The one ugly reality about this business we call show is that it teaches us the hard lesson that life, like the show does go on. The beauty within the tragedy we deal with this morning is that it also reminds us time and again, that it is family that helps us pull through the tough times together.

God Bless you Pam, your husband, and your family.

Happy Birthday To My Wife

My lovely and dear wife, Thomasin, who is also my best friend, is celebrating her birthday today. Her mother, step father, aunt, and cousin are coming in for a few days to celebrate with us and watch her performance in Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming. (Actors don't get the day off for their birthday, the show goes on.) It should be a fun weekend.

As usual I'll refrain from mentioning how many candles should go on the cake, but I won't refrain from wishing her the best and many more to come. I can't imagine a better life partner and I can't imagine anyone that can make me, and everyone around her, laugh as much in the craziest of times. Watching her in the show is totally an appropriate way to share her birthday. When she performs she gives so much joy to so many and does so with all her soul and every ounce of energy she can muster. How she does the things she does and keeps both herself and me sane is a miracle. Of course in her own way she's a miracle herself and I'm blessed that I get to hang around her.

Happy Birthday sweetheart. I love you.

Back Home

Feels good to be back home. We've been gone for a week, attending the UPTA conference, auditioning actors for this next season at Wayside Theatre. The conference itself was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. The journey back was crazy. We always drive on this trip and were hoping to make the 12 hour trek in one day, but the weather didn't allow that. We ended up pulling over for the night and staying at a hotel after seeing so many accidents due to freezing rain and slick roads. We got up early in the morning and made it in safely.

So, back home. And back to work.

Communities In My Life

I'm blessed in many ways in this life. One of those ways is that two of the paths I walk; my life in the theatre, and my blogging life, both share a common trait. Regardless of why folks participate in either space, they form a community. A life in the theatre is a complete immersion in a community, and this blogging and tech world is the same way. Of course in that world we call it social these days, for whatever that's worth. Here tonight at the BlogHaus I've got a number of my Tablet PC friends. Many of those friendships have existed only or mostly virtually over the years, so when we do get a chance to catch up in person, it is special. It is kind of like when actors get together to work on a show after not working together for quite some time. The key here in both communities is that regardless of why you participate, or if you consider yourself a professional or an amateur, you have to share a passion for what you do. It is scary and wonderful to witness passionate people sharing that passion. Lots of that going around here and I'm just happy to be a part of it.

Technorati Tags: CES 2008,BlogHaus,Wayside Theatre

Blogging From CES 2008

Yep, I'm in Vegas attending CES 2008. Here's a Flickr stream of touristy type shots for you to enjoy. Or not.

Technorati Tags: CES 2008

Happy New Year

I hope you have the happiest and healthiest of New Years. Thanks for stopping by Life on the Wicked Stage every now and then, and I look forward to seeing you here in 2008.

Graphic courtesy of that Cartoon Monkey, Chad Essley!

2008 Wicked Stage Predictions

Someone will be elected President of the US, despite everyone's best efforts to screw it up.

Whomever is elected president will not get the usual honeymoon that new presidents receive.

There will be natural disasters.

There will be extreme weather conditions at various places on the planet.

Extreme weather will be blamed on Global Warming.

Scientists will insist Global Warming isn't real.

There will be several celebrity trials, murders, scandals, etc.. that will dominate the news.

The Writers Strike will never end. No one will notice. No one will care.

The RIAA will branch out to start suing other lawyers for using boilerplate legal language in EULAs.

New products will be announced. Some will actually be released. Some will actually sell units.

Google will continue its march towards world universal control of all data.

Microsoft will continue to suck at marketing its products.

Apple will continue to roll.

Steve Jobs will continue to fight with the entertainment industry. He'll win some and lose some. He'll  be perceived as the winner and the loser, depending on the phase of the moon.

Web 2.0 will become Web 2.1.0319428. We're not ready for Web 3.0 yet.

The Gang will continue to be this decade's best effort at surrealism.

The Russian Bot gang will take down another country.

Savings will become the new consumer buzz word.

Telco's and big media companies will continue to bite the hands that feed them, even though they continue to get slapped by those same hands. What's a little pain when you have profits?

Robert Scoble will upset someone somewhere with a blog or Twitter post.

Someone will patent stupidity and then we are all doomed.

There will be predictions made at the end of 2008.