Sunday, Jan. 18, 2004 - 11:09 a.m.

Long Live Theater!

I hope everyone's new year is going swimmingly! We opened "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" (which I am directing - my first musical!) last weekend and it could NOT have been better! In fact, some in the audience were overheard saying its our best production to date! I am so proud of everyone. They really worked hard at getting this show off the ground in the abbreviated time frame we had. We so rock! If you have never seen this show, you owe it to yourself. It is a true gem of a show and great for the entire family whether on Broadway or community theater. In fact, I think the community theater setting is even better since you have a more intimate connection with the performers and they can really feed off audience reactions better.

My next directing project is "The Wizard of Oz." A friend of mine who directed a version of this once said it was her worst directing nightmare. But, I am sure she was using a different script than I was, so hopefully it won't be too excruciating. I'm excited though and have tons of ideas floating around in my head. Really, when directing a kids' show, the true challenge is getting the right cast who are larger than life performers to keep the kids interested. When we do shows, we are sharing a stage with the evening show that runs and most of the time cannot use the same set, so you rely on black backdrop curtains and prop and set pieces to create the picture as opposed to flats. I really hope to have the caliber of cast I have for Charlie Brown. The actors for kid's shows cannot be timid because the characters must be very animated. And the cast for this show is large. But I can most likely double up actors on parts.

And with all of this theatre talk, that leads me to this....

As with most arts organizations these days, we are struggling and hurting for funds. And fortunately, like some, we have not had to shut our doors. We are still renting space at the Jewish Community Center which is not ideal since we do not have free access to the resources we need. Our prop closet is locked and can only be opened by JCC staff who are sometimes difficult to hunt down. We are also performing when there are other events going on and most times, we are second fiddle to those events, meaning, they get priority over use of the facility. So we are trying to raise money of course to be able to build out our own theater space. And as president of the board of directors, I am taking the lead on raising funds. I have set up a PayPal account for UpStage where donations may be made. Every little bit helps. All funds go directly back into our operating expenses. JUST in case any of you would like to help out, I have included the PayPal link here. Any help is appreciated and donors receive recognition on our web site which is at www.upstagetheatre.org.

Leave it up to me for shameless promotion!

Thanks everyone and best wishes to all.

Song virus du jour: "The Baseball Game" from "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"