The Story Guys

My friend Tom and his partner Scott, The Story Guys, are back with another hilarious video and I wanted to let everyone know about them. The StoryGuys have started a project called Stories From The Heart: Gay and Non-Gay Perspectives. They're running a series of videos on You Tube where you can find them. The purpose of the project is to collect stories from individuals about being gay, coming out, feelings about being gay, stories from non gay friends about their gay friends etc. The plan is to turn the stories into a play.



So check them out; watch their videos, subscribe to them. follow them, send them videos or stories.

Flash theatre

Take an empty stage, 2 timers, 45 minutes, some of the best directors I have ever worked with, 3 judges, honest and specific written and verbal criticism immediately following your show, points, and advancement at stake. Will you live to perform another day?

At the end of the day, when the shouting, crying, applause, awards are over the best part starts. Your prize? Two more weeks to "fix" everything; redesign, re-block. re-write, re-costume - all or none of them. Crazy you say? Yes. But, oh so invigorating and challenging! It puts the "life" in "live" theatre. These are the elements of the MIFA Theatre Festival open to high schools across Michigan

High School? Wait. High school? Isn't that just "high school" theatre. A resounding, absolutely not! I have had the pleasure and privilege (hmmm, sound like a show tune- Rothschilds perhaps?) to compete and judge this festival over the past 15 years and I have a passion for it.

The challenge? Find the "perfect" show for that year's genre and start slashing. Remember that 45 minutes mentioned earlier? Schools have exactly 45 minutes and not 1 second more , hence the timers, (unless they want to be penalized 5 points per judge, essentially knocking them out of competition) to put up the set, perform, strike and clear the stage completely.

I have seen some amazing shows and we aren't talking about "high school" one acts (although less savvy directors have fallen to prey to their easy format); Moliere, Ibsen, Neil Simon, Ragtime, Terra Nova, Once on This Island, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Noises Off , Museum, On the Verge to name a few.

This weekend across the state the shows that advanced in districts are performing at regionals where 1 show out of 6 will advance to states with an additional 5+ of the top ranking shows. the following week 13 shows will be at States in Chelsea. I plan to be there both days. Despite the fact that I see almost 60 shows a year, I'll rearrange my schedule, double up on the shows for several weekends so I can be free to sit back and enjoy. In fact, I could sit in the auditorium hour and hour and watch with fascination as kids work together during spike time to as an ensemble to practice moving the set on, spike, checking lights,sound levels, costumes, and projection.

As to those amazing directors. I will name them here because they are my theatre "gods"; the master of them all and winning dozens of State titles is KEVIN SCHNEIDER. You may remember Kevin when he was working and costuming here in Lansing. He's at Holland High School. Kevin will get a show out of districts and sometimes redesign the whole thing. I have known him to redesign a costume or two at states because they clashed with the theatre's seats. He's also been known to redesign an entire set before States. And he probably holds the record and works hard at getting a show timed between 43:30 and 45:00 on the nose. Malcolm Tulip formerly at A2Community and now a main stay at The Performance Network, Phil Walker at Chelsea High School. Joanne Peterson at Grand Rapids City, Jeannie Gilbert at Bay City John Glenn, and Nancy Fitzgerald at Grand Rapids Christian to name a few.

BFF Update

I am shocked that it has taken me so long to follow up with the most extraordinary news. If you remember a few posts ago I wrote about my new best friend, Craig Wilson, a columnist with USA Today.

So....several days after posting I received a wonderfully wry email from Craig! (I can call him that, Craig, because after all we are best friends).

Two emails later and we had made plans to get together for drinks on a porch in an undisclosed upstate New York location but I'm pretty sure we're talking hypotheticals here.

Thanks Wendy for passing the blog along!

Welcome to Shirley

Shirley, Long Island was a "hardscrabble service town to the glittering Hamptons" but to Kelly McMasters it was an idyllic town in which to grow up; close knit neighborhood, block parties, a group of girlfriends to hang out with and explore the wildlife refuge that was next to their subdivision, Fourth of July barbecues, and neighbors that watched out for you. But Shirley was also located next to the deadly toxic nuclear plant called Brookhaven National Laboratory which for years was leaking deadly chemicals into the groundwater.

Kelly watched her neighbors and friends become ill and die, the nuclear plant become a Superfund site, and the town's attempt to resurrect itself through a new identity." It is at times a love song to the town and a heartbreaking story of loss."

I was drawn to this memoir because I grew up on Long Island. We passed by the signs to Shirley every time we headed out to Montauk Point during summers. Although the name Brookhaven Lab was as familiar to me as Grumman Aircraft, I really had no idea what they did. I always assumed it was just another scientific lab doing biological, wildlife or fisheries research. Long Island has a lot of those. I had no idea that nuclear experiments were going on there or that evacuation plans were in place in case of a nuclear meltdown. I had no idea that it was built in a place that was supposed to be far away from major population centers because of the nature of the atomic work that was being conducted there. I had no idea that Brookhaven was home to so many nuclear reactors.

It is a scathing look at how "environmental injustice" works.

Coming to America

I have a pen fetish. I admit it. I'm not alone. I even got my daughter hooked!

Several years ago, when Katie was teaching in Thailand, her roommate bought her a set of Stabilo pens for Christmas. She loved them. I loved them.

Thus began my search for the elusive Stabilo in America. For months I looked in every office supply and art store I came across. I googled STABILO dozens of times and got nothing. Lots of Staedtlers, no Stabilos.

I begged my daughter to bring back Stabilos when she returned from Thailand. She very graciously did so. But my stash is low.

I went to the Student Book Store in E.L., adjacent to MSU, to find some different highlighter colors, beyond the basic 5. I'm directing a play; I need lots of highlighters. SBS and I'm sure every college bookstore anywhere usually has the greatest selection of single pens. pencils, highlighter etc.

It was in among the other pens that I spotted them!! Singles, minis, pkgs. of 12, pkgs. of 18! I was in pen heaven. So along with the purple, pineapple, and azure highlighters, I purchased 2 Stabilo pointVisco gel pens. Just two. I restrained myself. It was tough. It took will power. However, I know where the mother lode is.

Today when I googled Stabilo I came up with 250,00 hits! Yes, Stabilo has come to America in a big way and everything is right with the universe.

Let Them Eat Cake

The other night I was baking a cake. It was cold, it was miserable, I needed, no, not needed but wanted, comfort food even if it meant breaking the New Year's resolution. Extreme cold and MORE snow can do that to you.

So I was in the middle of adding the ingredients to the cake mix and went to measure the 1/2 c. of oil only to discover I had a scant 1/4 c. and no more. So I figured a little oil was better than none, and come to think of it, when did cake mixes start adding oil at all?

So began the QUEST through food land.

I was sure that cake mixes did not always require oil. Water, yes. Eggs, yes but oil? Was it economics? Did cake companies eliminate some other ingredient that achieved the same result to cut costs and then ask the consumer to provide its equivalent? Was some other ingredient heavy on the hydrogenated oil and eliminated for health reasons? (I mean really, this is a cake we're talking about) In the recent past, we were enticed into adding pudding mix to our cakes and substituting applesauce for the oil for a lower fat alternative.(again, cake) Was I losing my mind?

I finally found a partial answer from the amazing people at foodtimeline. I found an incredibly thorough treatise on the history of cakes that covered every cake ever made along with recipes. It is truly an amazing site. Katie and Anne, especially Anne, and all foodies, you need to check it out. I discovered that General Mills developed the first "Add water and Mix" cake mix, ginger cake, for their Betty Crocker campaign. They were also in development for their PartyCake line; yellow, spice, white cakes. In 1948 Pillsbury introduced the first chocolate cake mix and in 1951 Duncan Hines introduced their "Three Star Surprise" mix. Not sure what that meant! Any way, Ginger cake became Gingerbread and Cookie Mix. (And by the way, when did Gingerbread mix start adding eggs along with the water? Another quest.)

"Add water and mix" cakes were not selling as well as companies had hoped. They enlisted the help of psychologists who did research and discovered that eggs were the problem; powdered eggs to be exact. They believed that woman should add a few fresh eggs to give them "a sense of creative contribution." Research also found that when companies make things too simple they are rejected. Remember this was the 50's.

At the bottom of the site was a "Contact Us" link, which I did. And thus began my conversation with Lynne. I contacted her in the evening and received a response that night. I replied to her response and the following day got more clarification.

Apparently it was in 1972 that Duncan Hines ran an add in the New York Times touting their cake mixes that now included the phrase "add 1/2 c. vegetable oil." So there it was, part of the mystery solved. My sanity was restored.

I still don't know why. I'll save that for another cold and snowy day.

Thanks to the people at http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodcakes

God Grew Tired of Us

I've been meaning to read this book for forever. I seem to be drawn to books about Africa.

This memoir is told through the eyes of 13 year old John Bul Dau who was driven from his home in 1987 by invading troops from the north and separated from his family in the civil war that was ravaging Sudan. He wandered for 14 years from refugee camp to refugee camp from the Sudan to Ethiopia to Kenya starving, thirsty, often hunted by invading soldiers.

It is an incredible story of terror, survival, and, yes, matter of fact humor. John emigrated to the United Sates in 2001 under the auspices of Lutheran Refugee Services

BFF

I don't think I've ever written to anyone "famous" before. I'd too embarrassed. I mean really, who am I among the millions of other adoring fans?

But the time may have come. You see I have a new BFF, only he doesn't know it yet.

His name is Craig and we are soul mates; the same age, born the same year, in the same month, in NY, we owned the same first car he even knows where Schroon Lake is located. He reads my mind and channels my thoughts. I think we had the same Dad, or at least the same "Dad" garages.

I've been dying to tell him he's my new BFF and, hopefully, my new email pen pal but then there's that "millions of OTHER adoring fans" thing. I would be lost in the madding crowd.

You see, Craig is a little famous; he's a writer,a well known one with a really big paper (USA Today) .

I wait with baited breath for the Wednesday edition of USA Today. I discard all the other sections and go straight to Life, front page, below the fold. And there he is....Craig Wilson and The Final Word.

He writes about his dog, his partner, his Dad, finding a good contractor (too bad he doesn't live in MI, I'd send Larry over) and I cried when he wrote about losing his friend Vicki. I applauded his standing ovation inflation column. I think the only thing we don't agree on is camping. I mean, how can a boy growing up in upstate NY not like camping? Just normal everyday things; the little things. The stuff that is Life.

Lately I've become worried. After all, I know Craig's age! I'm afraid that one day I will open the paper and read that's he's decided to retire and lie on the beaches of Florida working on the ultimate tan.

So, Happy New Year Craig, my new BFF. I'll be in touch.

Has NY Dropped the Ball?

In the last 60 seconds of 2008, as millions of people around the world watched, the ball in Times Square dropped to usher in the new year.

Did you see it?

No really, did you actually see the ball drop? Or did you see it descend, shuffle, shimmy, wobble, creep, slither or fall in excruciating slow motion? Or maybe you were blinded by the 5 giant, brilliantly lit, smoke and fireworks sprouting Toshiba signs below it along with the giant Toshiba countdown screen. Even at 12' it was hard to see the ball awash in all that light. If you were watching ABC's Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest you may have have missed it altogether.and nary a replay in sight.

I am mourning the days when the ball actually dropped. They let it loose from it's tether at the top of the flagpole and it dropped like a lead balloon; swiftly, quickly, rapidly like the speed of light. If you blinked you would miss it.

Things changed in the 1980's when a red and a green lit "big apple" globe were added to celebrate NY's "I Love New York" campaign. In 1988 the flashy era ended and the ball was once again lit with plain white lights. In 1989 however the ball had it's first major face lift and rhinestones and strobes were added. The biggest change happened in 2000, the millennium year, when a massive 1,0750 lb ball was built with Waterford Crystals. This year the ball is even bigger, more expensive, double in size to 12' in diameter, 11, 875 lbs with 2668 Waterford Crystals and 32,000 LED lights.

Gone are the days of 400 lb, 5', iron and wood ball featuring 25 watt lights in 1904. Gone also is the ball I remember watching every year from 1955 to the late 1980's to the tunes of Guy Lombardo's band as I watched the elegantly dressed party goers dancing the night away in the Waldorf Astoria ballroom; a slimmer, 2oo lb version made of aluminum with simple white lights.

Now THAT was the ball that DROPPED!

I Suppose this is Supposed to Make Sense

Disclaimer: Grammar Rant. Many more to come!

I love Lynne Truss, the author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. She is a grammar maven when it comes to the incorrect use of punctuation and I must admit I can be a bit of a grammar stickler myself. It must be the English teacher still channeling inside me.

I'm in good company though. Frank McCourt, the author of Angela's Ashes said, "If Lynn Truss were Roman Catholic I'd nominate her for sainthood."

At least I'm in the company of saints. Please keep that in mind as you read on.

My pet peeve this week surfaced in one of the holiday newsletters I received. I suppose I shouldn't have been so upset but there were so many errors on so many levels that my grammar radar was blipping like crazy. The biggest offense? The misuse of the words suppose and supposed.

Some gentle enlightenment, dear readers.

SUPPOSE- most commonly means think, guess, imagine.
SUPPOSED- means required or obliged. Supposed can also mean mistakenly believed as in "Her supposed friend failed to support her in her disagreement."

"Suppose your friends don't come when the are supposed to?"
"I suppose it's supposed to snow tonight"
"Am I supposed to care?"

I suppose this will never reach the people who are supposed to benefit by this but I suppose I feel better now.

Celebration!

(New Year's Eve Thai Style. Lighting the Khom Loys or hot air balloons)


HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A few pithy thoughts to usher in the year.

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. ~Benjamin Franklin

Mark Twain
New Year's is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions.

James Agate
New Year's Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time.

Bill Vaughan
An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.

Oprah Winfrey
Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right.

Slumdog Millionaire

A movie not to be missed!!! This incredible movie tells the story of an impoverished Indian teen who becomes a contestant on the Hindi version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." But how is it possible that he knows so much? He must have cheated, but how? He's arrested and tortured for the answer. Each of the show's questions intersects his life in some way and leads him to reveal a part of his story growing up in the slums of Mumbai.

Light My Fire

A light connected and sparked to life in my brain the other day. It was an epiphany; the cartoon version of the light bulb that goes off in the brain. An item appeared on TV the other day that opened a floodgate of nostalgic memories. My synapses hadn't even fired before over this hot story but it ignited and crackled across the media. CBS was consumed with thousands of complaints and worried emails about it dying out or worse yet, update it. It sparked a center page article in the New York Times.

Was it because it was normal for me; a part of my growing up, as common as trees? Was it because I took it for granted and assumed it was ongoing? Was it because as an adult I no longer needed it because I already had a real one?

But I am on a burning mission now. I must have one. A "real" one. I MUST have a Yule Log DVD. It MUST be as "original"as possible. Only the burning log with the old classic songs by Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole. Not that cartooney updated version with the old holiday radio programs playing underneath.

You see, I grew up in New York. Since 1966 I watched the WPIX Yule log burn away on my TV screen, at first in black and white and then in color, every Christmas. As a teenager I was the night owl that turned off the TV in the family room after my mother had long fallen asleep in front of the burning log.

I grew up, moved away, bought a house with a fireplace and never thought of it again except to wonder at the foolishness of people who were buying roaring fire DVD's; until this year.

The CBS Morning Program did a story about the WPIX inspiration for the Yule log. I think the juxtaposition of the words WPIX and YULE LOG is what fired up the synapses. So a warm wave of memories wafted over me. WPIX cancelled the show in 1989 amongst a firestorm of complaints but in 2001 they fanned the embers and brought it back to life. After CBS aired the story the other day, panicky New Yorkers were woried that there were plans once again to exstinguish the fire. CBS put a damper on their fears but as the New York Times says, "Still, if the current financial crisis has taught us anything, it's that it is wise to hedge bets."

So hedging my bets I am. Unfortunately, WPIX never produced an authentic version on DVD but there are others that are close, namely "The Original Christmas Yule Log Fireplace".

So I'm on a mission. Anyone have one they want to dump? Anyone know where to get one?

"Let There Be Peace on Earth"

(St. Peter's Basillica, Rome, 2008, (c.) Jane Falion)

"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."

(Mother Theresa)

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Peace

Bailey the Unknown Reindeer

Thought I'd share this You Tube video.

Snowed In

14" of it! Larry was up north so it was "my" 14" to shovel with a little help from Katie and John. It was one of those eerie snows where no one ventured out and the roads were almost empty. We had to. Katie had a hair appointment and you don't mess with your stylist.

But the best part is that feeling that there is NOTHING pressing to do. The "snow day effect" a day off that is unexpected and leaves you with nothing you have to do.

So we snuggled in; hot tubbed and watched an old Audrey Hepburn movie, my request, Roman Holiday. Ah, what joy.

One Man's White Elephant, Another Man's Golden Goose

It's that time of year again. The annual theatre get together and white elephant exchange. So I am digging deep to find an appropriate gift. The white elephants have been losing their luster lately so I want to be up to the challenge. In the last 30 years we have had some GREAT white elephants. Elvis busts embellished as they are passed on year to year, local artistic talent, a statue of George Bernard Shaw, an elephant, African carvings to name a few. Even the singing Billy the Bass was a hit the first year it was around.

When the kids were little I would buy them their "white elephants" and sneak them into the mix and amazingly they got some really good stuff. Of course they probably don't have a clue as what a real white elephant is, metaphorically speaking. (See description below)

In years past I was a little racy with my choices until one ended up in the hands of a 14 year old boy who is now well into his thirties/forties? and a dear colleague of mine. Somewhere in my house there has to be at least 2 (Larry and I) really good choices if only I can find them. Any ideas?

A white elephant

Meaning

A burdensome possession; creating more trouble than it is worth.

Origin

White (albino) elephants were regarded as holy in ancient times in Thailand and other Asian countries. Keeping a white elephant was a very expensive undertaking, since the owner had to provide the elephant with special food and provide access for people who wanted to worship it. If a Thai King became dissatisfied with a subordinate, he would give him a white elephant. The gift would, in most cases, ruin the recipient.

References to Indian and Thai veneration of white elephants dates back to at least the early 17th century. The first reference in English to the idiomatic meaning of the term 'white elephant' comes in 1851 G. E. Jewbury's Letters, 1892:

"His services are like so many white elephants, of which nobody can make use, and yet that drain one's gratitude, if indeed one does not feel bankrupt."

Copyright © Gary Martin, 1996 - 2008

"Synecdoche: A Part of Life That Makes Us Whole"*

Synecdoche. What a great word! Almost as good as proclivity.

I have just been reminded of the clever William Safire and his On Language column in the New York Times Sunday Magazine.

His wit and pen turn this week to the confusion between Synecdoche and Metonymy. Now I know the word synecdoche but didn't realize it had a cousin, metonymy.

So a little elucidation.

Metonymy- identifies a person or a thing by something closely associated with it. For example "the brass" in the military, "the crown" for royalty and "the suits" for business executives.

Synecdoche uses the part to refer to the whole like "wheels" for a car and "head" for cattle and "troops" for individuals in the military branches.

So, at your next cocktail party toss those tidbits into the conversation.

*Headline by Philip Kenicott of The Washington Post

Missing Mike

Mike Hughes, long time Lansing State Journal entertainment writer was "downsized" right out of a job a week or so ago. We've all noticed how the paper has been shrinking in size, paper quality, local stories which no longer look so local, and now a talented writer!

Mike has been the performing arts writer since at least 1972 when I first moved to Lansing. He wrote about my shows and everyone else's. He reviewed them all; some we liked others we didn't. We may not have always agreed with him, we might not have always gotten the coverage we hoped for but he covered everyone! He wrote thousands of preview articles for us all. Not just theatre but art, music and of course, TV. He wrote about my wedding and even put it on the from page of the What's On section. He has hosted the Journal's Thespies Awards for just as long as I can remember. He will be missed.

All of us in the arts will feel the impact. It's not the ads that bring people into our venues but the human interest stories told about our events. It's the hook that makes people want to come to theatre, or attend a dance concert, or go to the symphony.

Please take a moment to write the Lansing State Journal and tell them what Mike meant to your organization.

Thinking Outside the Box

Which leads me to ask, When you buy a Box Set aren't you buying a set of boxes? But if you are buying a Boxed Set the boxed becomes the adjective describing some noun or object such as a boxed set of Harry Potter books or a boxed set of Star Wars DVD's.