::tiptoe up onto the soapbox::

Let me preface my current rant by saying I am by no means an animal rights activist, but I still feel that animals have SOME rights - like, you know, to live and all.

First - There was a story on the Today show this morning about the woman in Florida who found an alligator in her kitchen. It was full of amusing stuff like her 911 call, waiting around for the animal control guy, etc etc. All good fun, right? There was a wild animal expert of some kind or a zoo-type person who was trying to explain the behaviour by saying that gators are hard wired for 3 things - eat, mate, swim (I'm paraphrasing) - so the expert guy says the gator was most likely going after the womans cat (eating) or caught a scent that smelled like some boots he wanted to knock (mate). The end of the story made a small remark about how the gator was finally taken out of the poor woman's kitchen (ha ha ha) and then taken away where it was destoyed. Okay, now back to you Meredith.....

Wait... destroyed? For doing what all animals do, which is follow their instinct? really?
You're telling me this gator, couldn't have been subdued and then released back in the everglades or in the wild somewhere? donated to a zoo? It HAD to be destroyed?

Now, there was also a story from California about a bear trainer who was working with a bear (black bear or grizzly, not sure), and he was bitten on the neck by the bear and killed. And the newscaster said "they are deciding whether or not to destroy the bear"
WHAT?!?!?!?!? For following it's animal instinct of "bite on the neck anyone who makes me do something I don't want to do" - like be in movies - apparently this was a bear that had been in some films...
Now, I understand that the killing of the trainer is tragic, and this defintely signals that Mr. Bear is now retired from the movie business --- but killing him?

Recently, you may have heard about the couger that was roaming around Roscoe Village in Chicago and was shot and killed by the police. (and by couger I mean the wild cat, not and 45 year old female sex pot). And when I say shot, I mean the couger was pumped full of lead. The pictures I saw show at least 3 shots hitting him. The cops said they were "charged" by the couger and had to shoot it in self defense. Yes, it was a residential area, yes there were families and kids around .... but my heart feels like there HAD to have been some other way. I know, I know --- hindsight is 20/20 and I wasn't there and all that crap. But the news just kept showing the cops slapping each other on the back, etc, and it made me kind of sick.
They couldn't stay in their cruisers and use the PA to tell people to stay in their houses?
Lincon Park Zoo is a 10 minute drive away - and I'm sure they had SOMEONE there that could have handled this....

What do you think?

Auditions are Dante's unknown 9th ring of hell

Don has listed some audition tips in today's post.

Here are some more.

1. Don't tell me this is "the part you[ve always wanted to play"
I had 3 chicks tell me at Crucible auditions "I've ALWAYS wanted to play Elizabeth Proctor".
That's AWESOME... thank you for sharing....NEXT!

2. Don't try to be OVER nice to the auditor out front (me).
I'm a cynical asshole, and I don't take kindly to flirting.... oh, and by the way cheesedick, I'm GAY, so put it away and waste your masculine wiles on another chick that cares.
Thank you...NEXT

3. Ladies - wear underwear.
I shit you not - last full audition I sat through when I was directing, I was flashed 3 different times by 3 different leg-crossing chick auditioners. Trust me, I enjoy the view, but it makes me forget what character qualities I was looking for. "Wait... what show am I directing again????"
Thank you again ladies.....::wink, wink::..... NEXT

4. Be prepared to do anything with that "great" monologue you have in your back pocket.
I've asked people to do it WITHOUT the blocking they've set up, and it totally throws them..... really people?
Best audition ever - the director asked the audtioner in question to do his monologue as a gorilla - to free his body and get him doing somthing totally out of the ordinary.
He did the best fucking gorilla I've ever seen, and it in some ways IMPROVED the monolgue.
Needless to say he was cast - and I've worked with him twice since then and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. (Moral of the story: Paul Fagen does a MEAN gorilla. SO cast him, already!)

5. GET A NEW FUCKING PICTURE
I KNOW that headshots can be expensive - but isn't it worth it if you can actually get roles because people look at your picture later and say "Great audition - great picture".
Now don't get me wrong - I've never been in the room and had people say "that picture sucks - there's no way I'm casting them", but if there's a chance we would look at the picture later and not recognize you, shouldn't that be a sign that you need new ones?

As a CONSTRUCTIVE point, I would encourage actors to try sitting out front during an audition and checking in people, or sitting inside and watching auditioners just a couple of times in your life. It will help you make smarter decisions IMMEDIATELY.

I promise.


(oh, and Red Sox won yesterday, so I'm in a chipper mood!)

It's the most won-der-ful time of the year...

It's the time of year that makes me feel like my brother and I *are* related...

We may have very little common- but we can ALWAYS talk about baseball.

There's a line from "Field of Dreams" that says it best for me. Yeah, yeah, the movie's cheesy...but the entire thing was all about a guy having a second chance to "have a catch" with his dad.

James Earl Jones' character says: "The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time."

Baseball has marked the time.

It sure has.

I could tell a story or two about the meaning that baseball has in my life - but I won't. :)
Just know that it means a lot.

Tonight?
Sox win, 6-4.
fuckin-a!

called out for calling out

So, I called out Kris Vire for his lack of a new blog for 10 days - he apologized and obliged with a new post.

Then I thought about it.... If I'm hard on others (in a vaguely stalker-ish kind of way), then I suppose I should update for my 3 readers as well. It's only fair.

"The Diviners" closed this weekend. It was the best play that no one saw. Our house were kind of lacking, but the show itself never lacked. These guys gave their all if it were 7 people or if it were 37. There were some backstage tensions during our last full production, so it was great to have a tension free run. Actors who liked each other - professionals who brought their A-game every night. And every time I listen to that soundtrack I just want to hug Joe & Steve. Should you have a chance to hire Toxic Bag Prod. to do your sound design, DO IT.

Last night I watched 'Into The Wild" finally. Cried my eyes out, I have to say. Even though I had read the book and completely knew how it was going to end. What a great performance by Emile Hirsch - he was amazing.

And lastly, had "more than 6 hours" of sleep last night for first time in about 3 weeks. It was DIVINE.

Bullets

• There was a little kid at Blue Man last night who was just jumping up and down on his seat during the finale he was so excited (there was no one behind them, so that didn't matter)Stuff like that just warms my cynical heart.
• There's a WMFA chick I work with at BMG (that's the shortened version of "wicked-mega-fuckin-awesome") who is having some health problems and is on a leave of absence. I think about her daily and I keep hoping the good mojo I keep sending her via my brainwaves is helping.
• "The Diviners" closes this weekend, so starting tonight there are only 4 more chances to see it! 312-458-9374 for reservations.
• Yesterday I got the wedding invitation for 2 of my favorite people in the whole world - it made my heart smile :)
• Sunday is the first day since Easter that I haven't had to be at either my day job, BMG, or The Diviners. Let's just say I plan on sleeping in...HEAVILY.

That's it for now I guess....

To quit or not to Quit?

There's a lot of ker-fuffle over at Don's house regarding 2 female actors who dropped out of slated shows due to being cast in "Shout! The New Mod musical". I have some pointed responses in the comments...

The bottom line (IMHO), is that regardless of whether it's a great opportunity or not, quitting a show SUCKS. Replacing an actor a week or 2 before a show opens sucks in the obvious ways (finding someone, getting them caught up with blocking, and getting them off book), but it is the UN-obvious ways that can do irreparable harm to a show.
Even losing the smallest cog in the wheel right before heading into tech week can change the emotional and psychological makeup of your cast - not to mention, your cast that is still in place will need to work even harder while you bring the new person up to speed, creating a hostile atmosphere if not handled correctly.

I understand the idea of artists having "better prospects" - but there should still be at least SOME element or respect for the dudes that cast you in the first place...

Let me tell a story... and I will humourously refer to myself in the third person. (it's long, go grab some coffee first Brownlee)

Years ago, when a wee Dianna first descended upon the Chicago Theatre scene (1999 - 2001), she had some early success working for a couple of smaller companies - she always thought herself woefully under-qualified, so she took whatever she could get. One of those was a gentlemen's handshake/agreement in earnest to stage manage a smaller company's fall & spring shows. (This is a company that no longer exists, but she still won't tell you...). Well, in the fall they produced a fairly ok version of Guare's "House of Blue Leaves". It was the first time she even read the play and she really enjoyed it - plus, the production wasn't bad. Working with the Artistic Director and Managing Director was... strange... and.... complicated....
They weren't unprofessional - but they were weird to work with. Needy and over-emotional. They both were in the show (in the leads, of course), so it created some conflict here and there.

Now, in between the Fall and Spring show for the company described above, Dianna was hired as ASM for the About Face production of Neil LaBute's "Bash: The Latterday Plays". This was (and still is) one of her most artistically satisfying production of her career.
When Bash was drawing to a close, the then-PM of About Face, Greg Copeland, told me they loved me, loved my work, and I had a great relationship with the SM (Cassie?). They wanted to hire me for their next show, "The Terrible Girls". He described the show - it sounded awesome - I was totally excited.
However, dates for the Terrible Girls fell directly in conflict with dates for "Un-Named Company"'s Spring show of "Death and The Maiden".

Herin lies the conflict (and it hurts to write in third person, so now I'll stop): I never had a contract with the other company - we always talked about it, but we just never got around to it. But I was conflicted about leaving "Death and The Maiden" to work with ABout Face. While it was an AWESOME opportunity, I was new to the city, and I was afraid of burning bridges etc..
I spoke with Greg about it, and I explained that even though I didn't have a contract, I didn't feel "right" about leaving them - Greg completely respected my decision, and that was that.

Now, before we started "Death & The Maiden", The Artistic Director told me that the Managing Director was going to direct. (and of course, AD was slated to be the female lead). I explained to the AD that the MD is very emotional and confrontational, flies of the handle, yadda yadda, and she cajoled me by saying "well, you'll only have to deal with him during rehearsal... once the show opens he'll be gone"

Let's flash forward to the Thursday or Friday before tech week. It was a rehearsal I couldn't make it to, so the Asst. Director ran the rehearsal - and I find out later that the MD/D had a SHOUTING match with the male lead, and the actor stormed off and left the rehearsal. I spoke to the AD, and she said worst case scenario is that the MD could step in and learn the role quick --- I nearly shit my pants - - the MD I don't like, that always reacts strongly to EVERYTHING - I now had the prospect of dealing with him for the additional 8 week run.... oy vey!
We convene for the Saturday afternoon rehearsal - things are going ok for awhile - and then....
ka-BLOOEY! Director and Actor start shouting at each other, and actor (rightly so) tells the director fuck you, and storms off saying "I Quit!"
The director picks up the script, jumps on stage and says "lets keep going - looks like I'm gonna have to start memorizing these now"

As I left the rehearsal, my hands were shaking and my mind was reeling - I did what all women in my family do when they are freaking out - I stopped at the store and bought a pack of cigarettes. I had a standing date to meet my friend Lisa at The Melrose Diner that evening anyway, so when I walked in and she was already at our customary booth, she waited until finishing her page she was reading to look up - and when she did and saw me frantically puffing on a cigarette, she said "holy shit - what happened?". I related the story - said I didn't think I could handle another 8 weeks of this. I told Lisa I thought I should quit. She agreed. I called the AD the next day (Sunday) and said I couldn't work with the MD anymore, and that the propect of another 8 weeks with him was enough to make me chain smoke. She tried to get me to stay - I refused. I stopped by the theatre the next day after work to drop off the keys to the space and the audio disc for the show - the AD answered the door, and the MD was in the background - he looked like he wanted to punch me in the face. I didn't care. I handed off the items and said 'see ya" and I was out of there. I never felt so free in my life.

So, 4 days later, instead of being at opening night of Death and The Maiden, I attended a preview performance of "The Terrible Girls" at About Face with Lisa. We had a LONG conversation after the fact about whether or not I should have ever gone back to the other theatre company, whether or not I should have just ACCEPTED the Terrible Girls job....
I'm still (7 years later) not sure which decision would have been right....
Would I have been happier at About Face? probably.
But I still feel I learned a valuable lesson staying with the other company - I learned how far my threshold is, what things I will and will NOT accept in a job environment, and I also learned that sometimes (regardless of the consequences) you HAVE to feel empowered enough to be able to walk out the door.

Now -
My situation was a little different than the gals involved in 'Shout", but the essense is the same....
Knowing when to quit or not...

a month? really?

Wow - I had been doing so well updating the 'ole blog. Obviously I must have fallen asleep late in the day on February 26th and I *JUST* woke up!

Lots going on....

"The Diviners" opened back on the 14th, and things are going good. The reviews are good, and the show is great, but audiences are a little thin. I think we were just dealing with that "second weekend" lull - ticket sales look good so far for this weekend. Cross your fingers that we can pay the bills.

Things are busy at Blue Man (it's GROUPS season!). Which basically means my days are filled with high school kids hopped up on sugar, who don't understand that when I say "no pictures allowed in the theatre" it actually means that you can't take your camera out and take a picture of you and your friends in the poncho. Last night, we greeted a large group, told the kids (in full view of the chaperones) they couldn't take pictures at any time. So, they go inside, show starts and my staff caught one of the adult chaperones FILMING the entire opening sequence.
oy vey.

Don't mind my bad humour - I'm currently in the middle of day 3 of my 6 day-72 hour work week - and those are just the hours I get PAID for. I also have to house manage for Diviners tonight, and that's FREE!!!!! Somebody swing by the theatre tonight and bring me a pillow!

I discovered something super cool last night - the first linking of my blog on a "non-friend" site!
Sure, Brownlee and Sara have links to me on their blogs, but they kind of have to. Sara because I live with her, and Brownlee because I'd kick his butt if he didn't.
Anyway, I digress...
I started at Don's blog, where he did a "3 things I learned the hard way" meme and tagged some folks - I follwed the tags around to other people's blogs to see how they answered it, and I finally got to Rebecca's blog from GreyZelda Theatre. I don't read her's as regularly as some of the others, but I do check in a couple of times a week. Well, I must have missed on the sidebar that she has a link to my blog! How sweet! Rebecca and I have never met (don't ya love the internet), but she seems like a real tough cookie, running her own NFP Theatre group, starting topical conversation, etc.

So, I've returned the favor ---------->
and Rebecca's blog is now listed with mine - and she should get traffic from maybe 2 more people...who are the sum total of people who read my blog!

dammit

were it not for Marion Cottillard and Tilda Swinton I might have had a shot at winning the Oscar pool.
stupid surprise winners.

(however, yay for Javier Bardem & Daniel Day-Lewis)

oh... and wanna feel a little old?
Daniel Day-Lewis won for My Left Foot 20 FREAKING YEARS AGO!!!!!!

Come on down, ya hear???

Brownlee's a bastard...

...because he "tagged" me with a blogger meme.

My Media Week

Books:
Recent reads: "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Phillippa Gregory (makes me super excited for the movie, FYI). Just finished "Water for Elephants" last week - loved this one. Made me want to go out and join the circus. (sort of - not REALLY). Right now, I'm reading "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides. I'm about half done, and it's great so far - HIGHLY recommended.
For christmas, Sara got me "Love in the Time of Cholera", and I know it is a classic and something TONS of people recommend (hence why Sara got it), but I'm having a tough time. It hooks me for awhile, and then it goes away. I'm about 1/2 done, but I keep putting down.
I'll pick it back up again when I'm done with Middlesex. I promise.


TV:
There isn;t too much to choose from, right now just LOST and Project Runway.
And - me & Sara's comedic discovery - Carpoolers. Now, it's not a comedy that's gonna change the world, but it just makes us howl with laughter each week. They smartly held back some of their new epeisodes, and they've been showing them for about a month now (they're On Demand too, check 'em out of you can). Re-runs wise, I can't EVER stay away from Antiques Roadshow - the show fascinates the hell outta me!
There is one show I caught the other night on PBS that I HIGHLY recommend. It took this group of African Americans (some well known, some not) and traced their roots all the way back to slavery, and identified whether their ancesters were slaves or free men. It also traced their DNA, and suprisingly showed some European DNA, etc in these folks. They also were able to trace their DNA strains to particular African Tribes. So they can now say "I am descended from the 'X' tribe in Nigeria". It was VERY moving.


Music: good lord, I can't remember the last CD I bought. Sara is the only way I hear new music - I never listen to the radio (on my own) anymore. We listen to the radio in the car - so usually I hear somnething cool, and then ask Sara later "Who was that?" I'm liking the Alicia Keys song "No One" right now - it's in heavy rotation in the car (especially when we're feeling lovey-dovey). I only listen to my iPod at work, and I usually either shuffle The Shins or The Beatles. Nice contrast, eh?

I'm supposed to "tag" five other bloggers.
But, since Brownlee is one of the only bloggers I know, I'll have to leave that part out.

oh, and another thing...

.... I'll put 10 bucks right now that in November it'll be Romney Vs. Obama.



*****DON'T FORGET TO VOTE IN THE PRIMARY ON TUESDAY!!!!!*********

life moves PRETTY fast

It feels like I just picked the dates for our California vacation yesterday, and here we are --- almost time to go!!!!
We leave on Saturday - we're booked on a later flight, but we're hoping to standby on an earlier one (fingers crossed). Then, we're in Cali til 2/7 -- YAY!!!!!!

It's not super hot, but mid - upper 60's is better than Chicago, thats for DAMN sure!

Our only plans so far are to relax, do some beach stuff, go to the San Diego zoo (hopefully), and I'll be watching the super bowl on this Sunday - thats it for now! We're renting a car, so we're planning to do some driving around, for sure - checking out this and that.
(I personally think it'll be hilarious to swing by where the writers are picketing and get some pics of celebs!!!! - Sara thinks I'm nuts :)

Between planning for California, and anticipating the new LOST episode tomorrow night (WOO HOO!!!!!!!), there's not much else on my mind, I guess.

There's a couple of hot theatre topics out there in the blog land, but I've been commenting on other people's blogs and not really posting here -- arguing over equity vs. non equity and such....
it hurts my head after awhile.

Preview or No-view?

There are some great blog posts out there (from yesterday and today) that are discussing the use and need for previews in theater. There's some great stuff from Rob and Kris, so go check it out.

Personally (and with SRT), I've always looked at previews more like an "invited dress". SRT has always had lower ticket cost (around 5 bucks), but since most of the audiences end up being friends and colleagues who comped in, we only make about 50 bucks at the most.

And although this has never happened, if something catastrophic were to happen, I would probably be inclined to refund money if need be.

The value that SRT gets out of it (I feel) is letting the actors get used to a non-tech-week audience. People who have NEVER seen a run of the show before, and the laughs or reactions are fresh and new - and sometimes in unexpected places (who knew they'd laugh at "x"???). This all assists the actors and the designers to help fall into the RYTHYM of the show. Pace can be the make or break part of a show, and getting a chance to test out the pace is a godsend.

Now, if someone saw an SRT preview, hated it, and then ran to their blog and posted about it - I would be SO DISSAPOINTED.... but I would have no reason to be angry about it.

By opening up for a preview, you roll your dice on the criticism.

Some folks, like the folks at GreyZelda, discuss why people use them at ALL.

Where do you fall in this discussion???

A Promise

If Mitt Romney says he's the candidate of "change" one more time, I'm going to punch him in the throat.

fudge update

back from Saugatuck.

and lo and behold the Fudge shop (Kilwin's) was CLOSED FOR THE SEASON.

My brain can't even process a vacation without fudge purchased.

picture pages....

I know I already posted today, but I'm feeling a little nostalgic and I thought I'd post some pictures ... little explanations accompany each one.


For all who know my cat Maxwell, who is a big fluffy beast --- check this out! Look how TEENY he is companred to my hand! He was the CUTEST kitten ever.

In this one, my good pal Michael is about to take a pie in the face during one of SRT's annual benefits. Ty Cobb paid about 20 bucks for the right to smash that pie.... and Michael looks VERY happy.

This is a promo shot we took for Coronado. Not only do I love the shot, but the idea for the set-up was mine (looking in mirror, yadda yadda). It's a great shot and a great memory of my first Asst. Directing gig.

This shot was actually taken by Michael, the pie-man above. He's quitethe talented photographer, and SRt is very lucky to him around to take advantage of his skill. This was a promo shot for The Crucible, and capturing the motion of the girl's hysteria coupled with the unwavering focus of Abigail is just HAUNTING. (check out the lighting design, man - John Horan - if you've got a chance, book him - the SUBTLe use of that window gobo - any other designer and that window pattern would have been WAY more pronounced. John's touches were awesome)

And I'll end it on one shot that, no matter what, I will always love. Taken by Michael as well - he did a great job, because the love and absolute joy in their faces is evident.

Have a great weekend everyone.

off we go

Sara and I are headed to Saugatuck again this weekend. A little bit of a longer stay than the last time (last time we got there around 730-8pm, and left about 4 or 5 the next day), this time around we leave later this afternoon (around 230-3pm?) and should get there about 7 (time change), and we'll come back around the same time Sunday.

Also, this time around, Sara's mom is coming with us, which should be fun. I don't thiunk she's ever been to the Michigan shore, and Saugatuck is SOOO cute. For the New Englanders, its a lot like Bearskin Neck in Rockport, shops, gallerys, etc... and always the allure of "Home Made Fudge".

What is it about those sleepy little towns that have a high tourism population part of the year, and their fascination with having HOMEMADE FUDGE?

I don't mean to tangent here, but think about it. Any kind of waterfront village that has that whole "New England-esque" quality tries to push the home made fudge on you. All of the ACTUAL New England sea-side vilages I know and love (Salem, Rockport, Gloucester, etc etc...) all had their own Fudges, plus even further north - in fact, when Sara and I were staying in Portland Maine back in September we bought some home made fudge - no lie (and I even got pumpin pie fudge, which thoroughly grossed out Sara and delighted me). When we went to Saugatuck back in early Nov.? We bought fudge...
Not only does Saugatuck have an extensive candy/home made fudge shop, their home town version (Kilwin's) actually has *2* location in the downtown area - they're only a few blocks apart!

Why, people? Why?
Why the fudge?

Oh, and for the record, this time around I think I only want to get some vanilla fudge cuz thats my favorite :)
Anyone want any?

trip

So in a couple of weeks, Sara and I are headed west (California, to be exact). And i'm STOKED. I've never been to California, and neither has Sara, so we're dying to get there and check out the beaches and parks and the sites -- we jazzed, defintely.

I'm bummed about ONE TINY THING, though.
We'll be out of town 2/2 - 2/7, which means we won't be able to vote in the Primary election.
It may seem small and insignificant to some, but not to me.

I had plenty of issues with the last election in 04, but my biggest complaint was my CHOICE. John Kerry just wasn't my top choice for the Dems - BUT, since I didn't push a candidate during the primaries, I couln't really complain.

This time I don't want to be faced with that - I would rather go to the polls in November knowing that I did everything in my power to get who I felt was the best person for the job into that office. And now I can't do that.
nuts.

best of 2007? what?

Apparently, Kerry Reid liked Coronado.

a lot.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/stage/chi-0104_bestofthefringejan04,1,1327194.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

"3. "Coronado" (Steep): A mystery about past indiscretions and betrayals unspooled in this play by novelist Dennis Lehane ("Mystic River"), but it was the performances here that I loved. The actors swerved from playful seduction to cat-and-mouse anxiety, and I bought it every step of the way."
(emphasis is mine, not Kerry's)

i'm actually a tad speechless.

funky fresh?

I'm feeling funky lately.
Not dance-hall funky.
"in a funk" kind of funky.

Work is fine, Blue Man is fine.....

Theatre wise? hmmmmmm.......

Not so sure.

Right now, SRT is working on a show for the spring. Other than lending company member support, I'm not involved in the process. (This is ok, by the way - I've needed a break, as I've produced every major production stretching all the way back to Caucasian Chalk Circle, in Spring of 05)
So, a break is ok, I just feel kind of.... floating? Is that weird?

I don't want the stress of producing, but I don't want the depression of doing nothing...kind of a damned if I do, damned if I don't situation.

Maybe things will be better in the New Year. I'll keep you posted.

Ho Ho Ho-hum

Christmas is almost here.

I'm not done with my shopping yet.

well, fer crissakes

... if I'm gonna be linked by Michael's new blog http://michaelbrownlee.blogspot.com/, then I guess I'm going to have to update more. Crap.

Well, thank god I brought a picture with me today that I was looking to scan. I can talk about that (phew!) .


Feast your eyes (if you will) on what I feel is the best picture ever taken of me and my brother:

Let me set the scene and situation for you - If memory serves, I was about 9 I think - Which makes Danny 12 or so. We were totally at those ages - yeah, we had nothing in common, nothing to bond about. I was a total dork (books, etc), and Danny was a sports guy.

My mom and stepfather took us on this camping trip - we were to canoe on the Saco river in Maine for a day, spend the night in a tent, then drop off the canoe and spend the rest of the short vacation in a cute little hotel.

About halfway through our day of canoeing, the skies opened up and it started to pour out - we paddled over to side of the river and took refuge under some trees overlooking the river. (observe if you will my soaked hair and my damp jeans)

My mom had the camera out, and Danny made some crack, something that, in the moment, was so utterly hilarious that I just threw my head back in uproarious laughter. My mom was lucky enough to have clicked this pic at JUST the right time.

How fortunate is that?

holidays

So... Thanksgiving was good. We went to Sara's mom's house, and stuffed ourselves. Then, we did the sales. Crazy....
The only one I participated in was the outlet mall that opened up at midnight on Thanksgiving. I did that and then was dropped of at Sara's sister's and I went to sleep. They then proceeded to go to a store opening at 4, and another at 6.....
crazy....

Christmas is around the corner... some of the presents have been bought already but there is a shit-ton more to get. Every year, I always say "We need to start buying earlier", but we never do...

Coronado, I hardly knew thee...

Well, tonight begins the closing weekend of Coronado, my first venture into the "Assistant Director" domain. And, probably the most artistically satisfying experience I've had in Chicago in a long time (Sorry Kevin - #1 will still be working on LaBute's Bash: Latterday Plays with About Face)

A lot of the reason the show rocked for me was being able to work with one of the best groups I've talent I've ever been associated with. These actors, pardon my Boston, are fucking wicked pissah (although, Lehane would be pleased with colloquialism). Bergen Anderson, Jessica Jane Childs, Jeremy Fisher, Trey Maclin, Peter Moore, Karyn Morris, Caroline Neff, Brian Parry & John WIlson. If you ever have a chance to work with ANY of them I implore you to do so.

New thought

Ok, so I read a bunch of the local theatre blogs - most of the time I don't feel intellectual enough to join in on the discussion, and lately its only been worse.

Pretty much everyone has gotten into this long-winded discussion about "what is art?", and some of the discussion has gotten into that "story vs. spectacle" area. (Wicked vs. Death of a Salesman, if you will) Now while I cant expound with notions about neo-classical and modern art and the like, I can give the facts about MYSELF.

So here's the question (and BE HONEST):
For the theatre folk, what was the show that "hooked" you? the one that made you stare up at the stage with your mouth open like a goon and the only thoughts going through your mind is "wowwwwww....."?

The show that hooked me? My high school's production of Anything Goes.


Whats my point?
Next time you talk about the lack of artistic merit in shows like Wicked or Jersey Boys, try to remember the steaming pile of shit you fell in love with when you were 10.

So - what's yours?

audtions

I think I have finally discovered the only way to live through auditions.
No monologues, only readings....

This is the second set of auditions in a row I've been involved in where that has been the format, and I really like it.
Taking actors out of their element of "prepared" and throwing into the fire with cold readings is a bettrer assessment of their skills, i feel. I mean, I'm a sucky actor, but I can memorize a monologue just fine. But would I make interesting and creative choices during a cold read? probably not - I don't have that bag of tricks.
Actors do certainly need to memorize, but they also need to be totally comfortable "in the moment". In live theater, anything can happen (and usually does). If you're not ready to take it as it comes, then you're not right for me.

stupid is as stupid does

Back on Oct. 31st, The Trib posted a 4 page article called Theatre 101 (article is here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-1102_c_theater101nov02,1,7510413.story?page=1)


I understand the intent was to be funny and informative - and they succeded at both....occasionally. A majority of the tone was very condescending, though. Seriously, telling people when they're supposed to clap? (the part that offended me was the rebuke to house managers - I got a little huffy in the comment I left... what can I say, I get emotional)

The best comment left was from Marcus, who wrote:

"Hm, I'm trying to think if the NYT would run an article like this in their
Arts section...... Nope. I don't believe they would. Unlike the Tribune's
editors, the editors of the Times probably recognize that their readers are
smart enough to figure out how to go to a play all on their own.

You gonna print an article telling us not to be scared of the Art Institute
next week? "

hilarious.

Morose vs. downright cute

So Sara said my blog had been getting a little morose (I believe she said my blog was getting like an obituary page...)

Observe if you will the last 2 entries.... my uncle Marty and my brother Sean.

Okay, okay, maybe they were getting a little macabre... whatever.

So today I will instead celebrate LIFE.

This is a picture of my sister-in-law Melissa, and me & Sara's new nephew Riley Louis.

How cute is he? He develops hiccuping fits when Sara holds him, but when I hold him, he snuggles down into my chest and falls asleep.

The next set of "new baby" pics will likely be when Sara and I have one.

on my desk...

I keep this picture on my desk at work....

Its a great pic of me and my younger brother Sean. I taped his obituary to it, and I look at it every day.

I have a few regrets in my life. He is my biggest. I wasnt close to my brother (we were 9 years apart), and then, unfortunately, we lost our Dad to cancer when Sean was 4 and I was 13. It pretty much tore the family apart. So, years go by, and I dont spend time with him (or my sister either). There's that misguided notion of "No worries - we have YEARS..."

Not so much. My brother went back and forth with some drug issues over the years, but was on a fairly good path going into May of 2005. He was on methadone to try and kick the habit, and things (according to my sis) were going good. He went to bed the night of May 25 and on the morning of the 26th, his girlfriend found him unresponsive. He died of a methadone overdose - he was only 20 years old. (the anniversary of his death is 15 days after the annivrsary of our Dad's death - 5.11.88)

Sean Joseph Driscoll -- 7.21.84-5.26.05

My Uncle Marty

In 1979, my mom's youngest brother, my Unlce Marty, drowned at a local beach after deciding to go for a late-night swim. He was found by a woman walking her dog along the beach the next morning. He was only 21.

Now, I was only 4 1/2 at the time, but I totally remember my uncle Marty. He liked picking up my brother Danny and carrying him on his shoulders. He also taught me how to tie my shoes. He was young, and he was fun and he ALWAYS had a smile on his face. I actually got to see him in his coffin and he still looked amazingly handsome.

The most lasting legacy of him though?

Minus the cleft in the chin, he is the relative I look the most like. (in my opinion).

Now, if only I could get a stylin' 1970's denim VEST to wear with my favorite outfits, then I'd be as cool as he was. :)

too damn WET

stupid storm raining out the Red SOx / white sox game

to fly or not to fly

I was taking the train home tonight and I was struck by something. I hate flying...HATE it. All I can ever do the whole time is worry about whether or not I'm going to crash and die. But, I am completely transfixed whenever a plane flies overhead - I could sit and watch planes fly over for hours. Whenever I'm on the highway going past that spot by O'Hare where the flight path goes over the highway... I love it, the whole thing excites the hell outta me.

Now why can't I take that enthusiasm over how amazing the mechanics and engineering of flying are and apply it to when I'm actually ON the plane???

less than 2 weeks...

...until our road trip!


I love when you're planning something - an event, an evening out, or a vacation, and you've planned the thing months in advance, and at the time all you can think is "I can't wait until X happens!". Then, the time ghoes by and you're in the position I'm in now... where all I can think, after 5 months of planning, is "I can't beleieve we leave in less than 2 weeks!"





I plan on trying to blog from the road so I can keep everyone up to date on our travels.





The plan for the trip (so far) is to leave the Chicago area around 2pm on Friday the 31st (Sara is picking me up straight from work). We are planning on having a cooler of food so we dont have to stop as much (just for the occasional pee-break). Our goal Friday is to make it AT LEAST as far as Erie, PA. This is completely do-able: I made that far driving back to Mass. with my mom back in 2001.


Sara is actually going to be OFF on that Friday, so she's planning on sleeping in as much as she can so that she can just keep driving until she can't anymore.


(Erie, PA is the goal, but if we can POSSIBLY make it into NY, we're going to try)





Then, on Saturday the 1st, we'll get up around 8ish and be on the road by 830-9am. Depending on where we stopped the night before, we should get to my mom's neck of the woods by 5pm - 7pm - hopefully just in time for dinner :)


We're staying at a cabin just a short 10 miles away (in Maine, you would call that "down the road a piece").


Here's a shot from the back porch of the cabin:

How can you NOT get excited about someplace that cool looking?

I can smell the pine trees already...

color question

Tony has raised the question on his blog today about color http://jayraskolnikov.blogspot.com/2007/08/race-and-theatre.html , and it's something I've thought about a bunch lately.

There's lots of discussion going on in "blog-land" about community and theatre's place in it, and this is certainly something that is a part of that argument.

For SRT, we have never done what one could identify as an "African American Play" or a "Hispanic or Latino Play", etc. , however we have certainly have had several different minorities be a part of some color-blind casting over the years. (Not a pat on the back, just laying out the facts)
Unless we happen to have an artist of color join the company as a company member, I don't think we'll actually DO an "African American Play" etc and here's why - we are an ensemble-based theatre company, so we choose a season that will not only challenge us but also reflect the ensemble.

Recently, though, we had our annual playwrighting festival, which we now have a panel of theatre professional sit in on and help choose a "best play" - we also ask for these panelists opinions on the festival as a whole, things they liked, things we can improve. And one panelist said that they wished they had seen some more "diversity" to the evening. I agree with him - at a festival we should certainly be making our best efforts to showcase diversity, HOWEVER... here are some challenges we have with that.

First, as we don't recieve pictures of the playwrights with the submissions, we simply need to select the BEST plays we can, and hope for diversity amongst those. This past festival, we recieved 3 plays that featured characters of color. One, that featured some Asian characters, and two that featured African American characters.
The one that featured Asian characters almost made it into the festival, but the technical requirements of the piece forced us to say no in the long run.
The 2 that featured African American charcters were simply not good plays. We have no idea of the race of the playwrights, but in my opinion, the way the charcters were written - if the playwright was white, then they were racist, and if they were black, then they were just perpetuationg some of the worst African American racial stereotypes - and I'm not about to be a part of that.

So, now, on to auditions and casting.
For the 6 plays that were chosen by the 6 directors, only ONE play really had any kind of NEED for white characters. The premise of the play was a middle aged couple who goes on a trip to India and to really capture the "fish out of water" sense of the play, a white couple would certainly capture that BEST, but if the director had seen actors of color who were BETTER, I'm sure she would have chosen the quality of the acting over the skin color.
For the remaining 5 plays? No racial or ethnic "needs" of any kind. Just a mixture of relationship plays and 2 that both had some fantastic surreal qualities. Any of the characters in the shows could have been played by anyone of any color or look. (I directed one of the 6, and I can personally say that I didn't care about what colors walked through the door.)

For the auditions, we had a handful hispanic and latino actors come, one African American (I think) and one asian american.

This happens all the time.

We put out the audition notice, and we always say that we enourage all ages, all races, colors, ethnicities... and then we get no more than 5 or 6.

We did cast ONE hispanic/latino male (because he's GREAT! He's actually so great he was in 2 of the 6 shows) and the rest was the usual. White women, white men 20's to 30's.

How do we change this? I feel as though we need to broaden our audition advertising , but how do we do that?

This is not something I know the answer to - I'm looking for the guidance - and looking for other people's experiences.

Sean looking all powerful and shit....

I was looking for a picture to write another story about, and I came across this one, which I LOVE. This is a great shot that Michael took of Sean during tech for our last show, "The Past's Present". I don't know what it is... the rich colors in the background... the intense stare on Sean's face... I can't explain it... this picture just...MOVES me.

It's kind of like that song you can't put into words what it means... thats what this picture is to me.

great picture... great memory

My stepfather Timo was in no uncertain terms, a right bastard. But thats an entirely different post. However, his only shining quality was his love of hockey, and he loved to play with my brother and some of the neighborhood guys.

When he was younger, Timo was an accomplished swimmer and won a bunch of medals for his swimming back in his homeland of Finland.

What you are seeing in the picture is the end of a great game of Everett street hockey, where Timo let all the guys wear one of his medals, so they could act like they'd won the olympics or something. He had a really soft side for the kids (when he wasn''t drinking -- again, for another day I promise), and this picture is just such a great representation of my youth. (My brother Danny is all the way to the left... even in winter he's wearing his Little League championship jacket).

regret

Have you ever looked back at something you did, and feel such an overwhelming wave of regret….but not be in a position to actually do anything about it effectively?

Have you ever done something that was so completely out of character, for truly selfish and stupid reasons, and not been able to take it back?

Have you ever been in a position where you chose one path, and you wish that you could go back and get a different option? And now its too far along to make any change, because you don’t want to hurt the ones you chose but you can’t believe the hurt you caused to those you didn’t choose?

I wish…..

I wish there was a way to go back
I wish there was a way to CHANGE what I did.
I wish I could write all of this without needing to speak in code :)
(although, no one ever reads my blog, so I guess it doesn't really matter)


So, without sounding all flowery and poetic – I hurt someone. This was a few years ago. Whether or not the person “deserved what was coming to them” is open to personal interpretation and opinion, and I’m not about to debate that. The manner in which it was done? Hands down – it sucked. It was underhanded and slick and over-all it was unprofessional. When the main argument against the person in question was a matter of professionalism, then one would think the matter should have been presented to them professionally. Yeah…one would think…

So how does one express regret to someone who a.) isn’t speaking to them at present and b.) will likely scorn everything you say?

Also, how do I make it sound like it’s genuine without sounding like a total ass-hat?


And if I try to express regret, is it solely to make myself feel better? Is that too selfish a reason? What if that other person could care LESS if I have regret? Perhaps they have moved on completely and I don’t even enter their mind, not even in a bad way? If that’s the case is it even worth the effort?


This sucks. I made a choice and it was wrong. Sure, we’ve all done it before, but did it change the fabric of a large part of your life? It did for mine.
It sucks that I can’t DO anything about it and I can’t SAY anything about it. (too many people involved)

thank GOD its Friday

This was a LONG week at work, lots of crap to do. I'm so jazzed its Friday, and that I'll be able to sleep in a WEE bit tomorrow.

Vitality closes tomorrow, and I would have to say that my first foray into the world of direction was successful (at least to me). My actors are happy with the piece and the audience has defintely responded to it... what else can you ask for?

Also, the first read-thru for Coronado is this Sunday evening. I cannot WAIT to hear it aloud from the actors!

August 9th

wow... 2 posts in one day, Brownlee will be beside himself...

August 9th is a GREAT combination of days.

FIRST - My baby sister ( I guess not so baby anymore) was born 27 years ago today. Man, I remember that like it was yesterday - she was like a little doll with dark brown hair. Some of my BEST memories of childhood are with Heather. Watching "Annie" for the millionth time, listening to Madonna songs together and signing along, playing with barbie's (yes, I was a girl once), going camping... the list goes on.
Happy Birthday baby sister! You're a treasure, and I wish you happiness and love.

SECOND -
Well, today is ALSO me & Sara's 6 year anniversary.
HOLY CRAP! 6 YEARS? really?!?!?!??

Yes, really. I was 26 when we first met and fell in love (and Sara was a mere 22). Now, 6 years later, we own a car, we're making small plans for a condo (within a year, hopefully...), plus Sara wants be pregnant before 30 if possible....
We did that "live apart" thing for a year, and without voicing it, I know that our friends were wary - they probably thought we wouldn't make it. Strangely enough, it made us stronger and all the best ways. We appreciate each other more, we don't take each other for granted anymore and we TALK about what we're feeling. We hardly ever argue anymore even! We take the time to say not only that we love each other, but whatever's on our mind at that moment (things like "Your hair looks really cute today - I love it" or "I love your smile", etc).

She's the best thing that has ever happened to me.
hands down.

Vitality V

FINAL WEEKEND ! Tickets are GOING FAST!

Speaking Ring Theatre Company
proudly presents
Vitality V
This is the 5th year for our annual playwrighting festival. This year's theme is 'Breaking Out: The Moments when we Shake Free of our Constraints and Eclipse the Past'

For this year’s festival, the following plays were chosen:
I Want You to Find Me by Ryan Burkett * The Madness of Sophie by Tanya M. Chase
Kamasutra by Tom Coash * Kings of Cabbage by Thurston Cobb
Rising by Kristyn Leigh Robinson * Submerged by Kristyn Leigh Robinson

The playwrights are also competing for an audience award of
"Best Play" which is voted on by YOU!

This year's directing team includes:
Dianna Driscoll (Rising), Brian Troyan (I Want You to Find Me),
Lydia Millman (Submerged), Adam Webster (The Madness of Sophie),
Lavina Jadhwani (Kamasutra), and Erin Rooney (Kings of Cabbage)

• This is the final weekend! August 9, 10, & 11.
• All shows are at 8pm and all tickets are just 15$
• All performances are at American Theatre Company, located at 1909 W. Byron, Chicago (corner of Byron & Lincoln)
• Ticket reservations are available by calling the SRT Box Office Hotline (312.458.9374) and leaving a message or by emailing at info@speakingringtheatre.org.
  

Please come out and celebrate
NEW WORKS!

take that, Brownlee

Ok, so Brownlee is impressed that I've done 2 blogger posts in a month...

Why don't I just make it three and give the poor bastard a heart attack?

So, the play finalists for our playwrighting festival have all been chosen... and I don't know how this happened, but I volunteered to direct one of the plays for the festival. I have NEVER directed before. I think I'm a smart person, but dircting takes a different train of thought... here's hoping I can tap into that! So, of the 13 finalists that were chosen, me and my 5 fellow directors read the 13, decide on our top 3, then we write a directors proposal for each of our top 3, and then the producers and the reading committee will select which directiong proposals sounmd best and choose the festival program based on that.
I already have 1 or 2 that I like, but I need to approach the 13 with the eyes of a director and what speaks to ME the best. So, wish me luck!

Next weekend is auditions - and hile I've sat through countless auditions as a stage manager and as a producer, I've never sat auditions as a director. I know what to look for, but it doesn't make me any less nervous about the process.

I think it's funny that in my last post I mentioned that I really wanted a copy of Deadwood season one, and on Friday Sara and I were at Costco, and it was available for 49, which is a great price for that.....
Yay for Deadwood!!!!

I'm doing a focus group this evening (lip care products I think?) - and I get 100$ cash for that... woo hoo!!!!! This is only the 2nd one I've done for this company - They've called a couple of other times, but you have to "qualify" - so if they're looking for people who use Athlete Foot cream on a regular basis, and I don't (which BTW, I DON'T), then I don't qualify.

random stuff

• It's "hell-week" for our annual playwrighting fest. This is the week that we have to complete the playreading, comile all of our votes and then fight out the finalists. We didn't get ad many entys this year as in years past (last year we got close to 140). I would conservatively say we got about 75 or 80 this year? I haven't checked in recently with the person collecting the plays - hopefully that number has risen. I'll keep you updated {grin}

• random - the "naked bike ride' happened over the weekend and they drove right past Briar Street theatre, but I was busy inside the theatre, and didn't see ANYTHING. I come out to the lobby, and all of the staff are like "dude, I just saw bunch of breasts and penis'. And then we had a discussion about whether the plural of penis is "penises" or "penii". I prefer "penii", myself (not literally, of course...)

• The Soprano's ended last night. It was a LITERAL "ftb". Very nice.

• I ache to own the seasons of "Deadwood" and I can't explain why.... maybe the end of ONE of my favorite foul-mouthed shows makes me yearn for another? I'm watching an auction on eBay for season one. cross your fingers.

• I'm supposed to bring in LOST:Season One for my co-worker Lizette, and I KEEP FORGETTING. It's obviously a sign of age.

• I am excited beyond explanation about me and Sara's road trip for Labor Day weekend.

• I keep trying to come up with a plan that would allow me to work at BMG full-time. The thing that keeps me chained to the hotel are the benefits. They don't emply a LOT of administrative people, so it's a tight fit there... I'm hoping if maybe someone gets an opportunity at another BMG theatre I could slide in there (company management feels the most natural, I think). But, I don't want to get ahead of myself, I'm just BARELY at the end of my 90-day period for crying out loud :)

• Thats all the news thats fit to print today.

8 randoms...

So, my friend Michael sent me an email "tagging" me to do a blogger meme, and in the process also insulted my lack of posting. (my last post was in April - and man was I pissed at Jesse Jackson back then!!)

"Bloggers must post these rules and provide eight random facts about themselves. In the post, the tagged blogger tags eight other bloggers and notifies them that they've been tagged. "

Well, I can post the 8 random facts, but I cannot tag others, since I only read a few blogs, and 2 of them have already done this (Don & Michael), and the others don’t even KNOW ME! (and I'm sure Wil Wheaton and Margaret Cho are too busy to fill out a blogger meme)

so here goes...


1. I’m afraid of birds.
All my life, as long as I can remember, I’ve always felt trepidation as soon as a pigeon or a lark or whatever takes flight anywhere near me. It’s pretty humorous to see – I usually duck down, or I’ll jump in fright. If a bird is sitting in the middle of the sidewalk, I’ll either stop or walk around it, or I’ll stomp the ground to startle them and make them fly away. Now, a few years back, I brought it up to my mom that I had, what I thought, was a completely irrational fear. Then she tells me this story about when I was a toddler, we were in the park and a bird landed on my head and pecked at the top of my head – completely freaking me out…..so, not so irrational I guess.

2. I consider myself a movie buff, and yet I have never seen any of the Godfather movies. Shame on me.

3. I don’t have a driver’s license. I just never got one.

4. Sara and I have been together now for 5 years, 8 months and 29 days. Her smile alone makes me blush and I still get all giggly. I’m a dork, I know.

5. I am only 5’4”, but my ID for the longest time said 5’6”. Yes there’s a Story….
Well, for ages, I would just “round up” and say that I was 5’5”, because essentially I’m 5’4” and some centimeters. But, somewhere along the line, I started saying I was 5’5 ½”…why? I have NO idea…. So flash forward to getting my Mass. State ID (so I could drink), and when I filled out the form, I put down my lie, 5’ 5 ½”. Well, they don’t put ½ sizes on licenses or ID, the DMV rounds up too. So, my state ID (for about 8 years) said I was 5’6”

6. In grade school my nickname was actually “Tits” for awhile. I don’t honestly think it needs explaining. (unless you’ve never meet me face to face)

7. While I haven’t done a lot of traveling overall, when I was 7, my Mom and I went to Finland and stayed for a month. My stepfather was from there, so we stayed with family, etc etc. Weird, huh? I haven’t been to Florida or California but I’ve been to FINLAND. (side story – because my stepfather was from Finland, my mom went through this phase where she wanted to learn the language, so she’d have little poster boards in the kitchen with the Finnish & English words for things, etc. She went so far as to get the entire translation for the “Itsey-Bitsey Spider” song, and since I was so young I would sing it in Finnish all the time – I actually can STILL remember the song, and if prompted would GLADLY sing it for you. I promise J )

8. I love Boston (my hometown) so much that when I see movies that have been filmed there and the scenery is really beautifully shot, it makes me cry. When I am particularly homesick, I watch Good Will Hunting. It's not just the scenery in that case - the speech patterns and the accents. I don't care how many times other people THINK they're doing a Boston accent, unless you actually USE people from Boston, it doesn't sound right. (and as a side note, don't say "pahk yah cah in hahvahd yahd" in front of me unless you want to see me get violent)

Imus, SCHMI-mus

(cross-posted from my LJ)
let me start off by saying, that I BY NO MEANS condone what Don Imus said, what a doofus.

But it was interesting, this morning on the Today Show, Meredith Viera was chatting with some various folks about the issue, and Jesse Jackson was part of the conversation via sattelite. He was doing his usual "this is unnaceptable" yadda yadda... but Meredith was trying to show both sides of the coin, and she asked Jesse Jackson, that back when he called New York "Hymie-town" it took him a few days to apologize, and when he did, he took a lot of flack for what he said, but he came out and apologized and said he was sorry for making a "stupid" remark. So, she asked Jesse Jackson... "How does this situation differ? He came out and apologized, just like you did"
(** just a little historical reminder, Jackson was RUNNNING FOR PRESIDENT when he said that...)
So, Jackson gets all blustery about how only "x" amount of black students are college students these days, and compared with the numbers of the blah blah blah.....So basically, he sidestepped the whole thing and did not answer her question. Personally, I feel that if the basketball team that he insulted is able to forgive him (no word yet on whether that has happened or not), then that should be it. He apologized on several national radio shows, he's taking his suspension, says he totally deserves it... is it NECESSARY to fire him? I don't know... But also don't think Jesse Jackson should be hurling stones while his in that glass house of his....
(side note, I can't STAND Jesse Jackson, but I also am no fan of Imus either...)

BTW - gay/les/bi/trans people of the world.... don't forget.... Ann Coulter call John Edwards a FAGGOT. Where the hell was the public outcry on that one? why wasn't She suspended? why were there no people talking about her bing fired, or the tv stations she contributes to being boycotted by gays....It's the END OF THE WORLD to call a handful of upstanding Female Athletes "nappy-headed ho's", but it' OK to call an upstanding Senator and public servant (and devoted husband, BTW) a FAGGOT???
Hey - Ann Coulter, why don't you just run up to Elizabeth Edwards and kick her right in her cancer-ridden breast and call it a day?????

grumble*grumble*grumble

double standard?

Ok, opinion question here....

Ordinarily, when a celebrity does anything stupid or foolish, it's splashed all over the TV & the papers, the late night comedians poke fun, and we (the mere mortals) simply shake our heads in disbelief.

So, why is it different with Britney? There is word from a few comedians that they won't make fun at her expense now, because they don't approve of kicking her while she's down... they think she's in too vulnerable a state, etc etc.

What?!?!?

But, COUNTLESS other celebs who have taken a tumble are fair game? Mel Gibson? Robert Downey Jr? Even Tom Cruise? It's ok to ridicule these other folks, no MATTER what, but somehow Britney gets a pass fom some people????

Why? Is it because she's a woman, because she's young??? Because she's a mom?

hand me the shovel

dude.... it, like, SNOWED.

Aquar-i-us!!!!!!

"Happy Birthday to me"

ha......ha......ha

At work today, there was a sign by the security office:

"There will be crisis counselors on hand in the employee break room today to assist in dealing with the Bears horrible loss"

Our security director has a HUGE sense of humour.

Huh?

what? I haven't posted a blog in 6 months?

Shut up :)

Anyway, things are great. Sara is now living back with me full time (has been since September-ish). She's got a GREAT full time job which she LOVEs working at this upscale cafe in the Gold Coast, called the Goddess and Grocer (http://www.goddessandgrocer.com/site/epage/40516_628.htm). She started out working the counter area, but now she's an Asst. Manager. She loves the job and loves the environment. I'm so happy she's finally doing something where the people above her don't want to USE her talents, thay want to CULTIVATE them. Awesome.

Now as for me, still at the hotel (for now) and working part time at The Goodman as a House Manager. They pay is pretty good, and having the money from 2 jobs is WONDERFUL.
We're currently saving cash right now to put a down payment on a car. We hope to do that within the next couple of months.
We're also looking at a possible move. My pals Chuck and Kristine are moving back east and will need to take care of their condo here. I offered to rent it from them if they had trouble finding a buyer. Well, because the market is so soft right now they probably aren't even going to try to sell at ALL. So now, we're going to try and see if our landlord will let us break our lease, and we may be moving in only 2 months.
2 bedrooms?
Washer and dryer in unit?
2 bathrooms?
TONS of closet space?
huge kitchen?
parking space?

HELL YEAH!

more to come....

what to say?

i was instructed by the powers that be
(sara)
to update my blog
(or, get rid of it)


so... what's new?
in my last post, I was kind of bitching at the world. things have eased up a bit. work is way less stressfull, the show I was working on closed, and I'm a little more at peace.
Plus, I've been able to spend a lot of time with Sara lately, and that ALWAYS puts me in a good mood. :)
Last night, I came home to a delicious dinner - homemade feta-sundried tomatoe burgers, with grilled onions and mushrooms on top; garlic roasted potatoes; corn on the cob; and a great garden salad.
We ate outside on the back porch, and after we ate, we cleaned up the back yard, and did some flower-seed planting and watering. A nice, relaxing time. :)

I can't wait for Sara to be be back full-time.
I'm glad we had this time to live apart - in the very least, it was a great lesson on not taking each other for granted - but I'll be glad when it;s OVER.
It's just not the same without my sweetie there.

I guess that's it????

get off my back.....

alright, so I said I'd post every day.

bite me.

OK, here's the situation. (my parents went away on a week's vacation....sorry, couldn't resist..)
In my office, there are 9 sales managers, and 3 sales assistants. Mathematically, we get 3 apiece.
My colleague, Jojo (also an asistant) left the hotel a while back. She assisted the Director of Sales and the Director of Marketing, so the position is SLIGHTLY higher than me and my other colleague. Well, they asked me if I was interested in taking over for Jojo - I thought about it a little and I decided to go for it. In the meantime, they started a search to replace me.
In the midst of all this was Jojo's last day. They eventually found someone to fill my open slot, but the girl couldn't start until the 10th (yesterday).
Total time elapsed from Jojo's last day, and yesterday when new girl started?
28 days.
So, until she started, there was only 2 assistants.
And unfortunately for me.... the other girl who works with me is VERY sweet and nice, but doesn't work very fast, and the other salespeople don't trust her with their stuff. So, rather than stuff being spread out, she took care of her three, and I took care of 6.
One of the six is a brand new sales manager, who has a question or needs my help about every 5 minutes it feels like.
There's another gal in my department, who does a bunch of sales reporting and analyisis. Some of the reports she does are mundane, but they need to get done every day.
She has a family issue and needs to be out every friday and monday in April. In fairness, they spread her duties out, but I (of course) got the one thing she most trusted (the one thing that she didn't want to get wrong)
I'm touched by all this love, and I won't lie when I say my ego swells when I know that I'm very needed....but I'm dying here.
I'm trying really hard to be positive and a "team player".
Mostly, I'm just laying low because once the new gal is up to speed, I will actually be working for the 3 sales people who are the lowest maintenance.
(did I also mention that I have to help TRAIN the new girl too? )

• 3 extra sales people
• covering for the sales analyst while she's out for 10 total days this month (plus I hear she may take an additional whole week at the end of the month. wonderful. )
• answering all the questions of the new sales manager
• helping train the new sales assistant
• PLUS I have work to do for the 3 sales people I'm actually SUPPOSED to be working for.
• oh......and I answer the phone all day.
• we also take turns covering for the main receptionist out front for her lunch. We rotate weeks. last week was my week.

Did I mention that I ALSO opened a show last week?

I went from that work situation each day last week, and rushed over to the theatre, and was there until 10ish and do it all again the next day.

That was my Monday through Friday last week.

I didn't have time for blogger.

sue me.

It's a good thing I actually like all the people that are involved or else I'd have already taken out the AK-47 and gone to town.

I need a drink - anyone buyin'???

nothing new

I don't have any interesting CTA tales for the day, so instead I will reference an GREAT old CTA story from back in December 2004.

Read on for the craziness........

http://allthingsdianna.blogspot.com/2004/12/most-surreal-train-story-yet.html#comments

i've been away a couple of days

sorry, faithful readewrs... it's been hectic at work, and since that is my main blogging locale, i've been remiss for a few days.

Let me recap the commute week -

Monday - not bad, pretty busy on the train in the morning and had to do the "sit next to the person I don't want to" for the whole trip. Oh well, at least I got to sit. Going home, no issues.1

Yesterday - Commute in, I left the house 15 minutes early so I'd have time to swing by Walgreen's. I needed a couple of things, and then I had passes to see a movie last night and I wanted to get snacks before O got there (one of those first come first serves screenings - they're usually at 8, but this one was at 7, so I didn't want to DALLY after work, you know?)We sat in between Addison & Belmont for about 13 minutes, so there went my extra time. dammit.
So, to the theatre and going home from the theatre I took the bus. My main irritation with the bus (and I have MANY) is the multiple ringers.
Let me 'splain.
You're approaching your stop, and in preparation for this you pull the signal ringer. It makes the distinctive "ding" to alert EVERYONE ON THE BUS that someone else is getting off, so if you need to get off too, there's no need to pull the chain. However, for pretty much EVERY STOP, once someone pulled the chain, and it went "ding", there's was an average of 3 more FRANTIC pulls on the cord
"I didn't hear the ring - why didn't I hear the ring?"
And these are people with no headphones on, not talking on their cellphone, they are simply OBLIVIOUS to whats going on around them. If they were driving, for crying out loud, would they not hear people BEEPING at them?
retards.

Today - I spent 10 out of my 13 stops listening to REALLY LOUD U2 music. 10 minutes of which was some extended-club mix of "even Better than the Real Thing", which was then promptly followed by my ceremonial one millionth listen of "Vertigo"
Hurrah! sing it with me! "Uno, DOs, Tres, Catorce..."
Actually, don't sing it with me... I want it gone from my head.
She got off at North/Clybourn...we pull out of the station and after about 30 seconds slow to a complete stop and hear the dreaded "disabled train ahead - we'll be holding until the train clears"
happy Wednesday.

Thank God there's a new episode of LOST on tonight, or I may kill myself.

seriously?

today - a man almost sat on me.

what a way to end the commuting week.

sonofabitch.....

i am such a dumbass

today's rant is ALL directed at myself.

So, my usual mode of CTA payment is my lovely 30 day pass (just the regular one you buy at the store, none of this "chicago card " crap.....)
Anyway, it prints the expriration right on the back, and I've been going through this week under the impression that it expired some time on the the 17th.
This morning I put it in the slot and get "see attendant"
I've gotten that message before - my card is expired.
I flip it around and it says "expires 725 pm march 15"
yeah, thats LAST NIGHT.

I needed to buy a pass soon, so I had the money, no biggie.

Here's the complication. I live near one of only 3 red line stations that are not situated right over a currency exchange (dammit!!!!!)
SO, I have to walk around the corner and up the street to the Dominick's to buy a pass from the customer service. This would have been a fast transaction, were it not for the woman at the front of the line sending money via western union.

moral of the story is I was only 8 minutes late puching in at work, which isn't bad, considering.

dianna = dumbass

ho-hum CTA

today was actually a pretty boring an uneventful commute - I will, however, post a story that my friend Michael told me today about HIS commute:

"Here's a CTA story for you. This morning I get on the bus and at the next stop a woman is waiting but the driver blows on by. I say "Sir, I think that woman wanted the bus". To which the driver replies "She was walking her dog". Which makes my mouth drop open as I say to him "Sir, she's blind. That was a seeing eye dog". Numbnuts."

classic.

for the love of Pete, MOVE!!!!

Tuesday's CTA rant

This is a 2-pronged rant (get your mind out of the gutter Brownlee).

Rant, the first
folks, you take the train EVERY DAY, you get on it every day, you exit it every day.....why then is it so hard to decide where to go?
Case in point, today, as I exit the train at Grand, the woman directly in front of me exits the train and once she's on the platform, she comes to complete stop --- to the point that I almost plow right into her the back of her high-priced-but-overly-bulky North Face parka. There wasn't any reason for her to stop - she just....stopped. Retard.

Rant, the second
I hop to the side and try and side-step the bulky-coated hesitant retard. I shake my head rather than say what's on my mind (expletives only, I assure you...). I head toward the escalator, and head up the left side, which day after day is always the side you head for if you want to walk up the escalator - as I do. If you'd rather stand still, traditionally, people always move to the right. This is usually the case..... except when people forget the "move to the right" rules.
The most common thing is NOT someone who wants to stand still staying on the left, it's usually someone who'd rather walk UP the escalator somehow making to the right side, and then when they realize they aren't moving, the push over to the left so they can walk up....and of course hold up the REST of us, who k now they want to walk up and are SMART ENOUGH to position ourselves on the left side from the beginning.

until tomorrow, my lovely readers.

(*disclaimer* - the people I refer to as "retard" - I call them this because the mentally handicapped and developmentally disabled are SMARTER than these people. I would never deign to refer to developmentally disabled as retarded. They're smarter than that.)

New ideas.....

I decided a couple of days ago that I need to resurrect my Blog. The poor thing is dying a slow death. The problem is that I find LJ to be a quicker way to post info and catch up on other folks, so I tend to neglect my Blog.

Not anymore.

Not only will I be updating every day (cross fingers), but I'm going to EXCLUSIVELY use it to air my CTA commuting stories.

Every day, a new story. Some will be happy, some sad, some FRUSTRATING...
(the CTA? frustrating? shut up....)

Onward & upward -

The only thing from today's commute that stands out is an adorable moment I shared with a woman on the train. Since I get on the train so far away from downtown, I'm always able to get a seat. Once we get to Belmont, though, the train just PACKS in with people. So this morning, this woman comes on and is practically pushed into me due to the creush behind her. This makes me look up from my book, and I notice that she is about 7 months pregnant. I immediately pop up and ask "would you like to sit?"
She smiles and says "I would, if you don't mind?" -- and I say "not at all - please do.."
So she sits, and I become part of the crush. Not a normal thing for me on the WAY to work (coming home, different story), but it wasn't awful, just tight :)
We travel all the way down to Chicago Avenue, and she gets up to exit the train. On her way past me, she lays her hand on my arm, and smiles and says "thank you so much for letting me sit". To which i responded "no problem"

Well, it was nice to post a nice story to start with. I'm sure that will change.

Stay tuned dear readers!

(now, I;'m off to try and remove those awful google ads I put in ....)

a kleenex tale

(cross-posted from my LJ)
I’m going to tell you the tale of a vacuum cleaner.

A very important vacuum cleaner.

Back in 2000, I was living in Chicago (for the first time) and living with one of my closest friends, Jenn. We had known each other and had been close since pretty much the first day we met, which was back in January of 1994.
Well, in trying to be more “adult” and purchase practical things for the apartment, I bought this Bissell vacuum cleaner. Not the best vacuum cleaner, but it was over 100$, so that was a lot for me back then….
About a year later, I picked up and moved back to Massachusetts, and when I did, I inadvertently left behind a couple of things. The dish set that was a going away gift for me & Jenn, a mixer I liked and simply forgot…. and the vacuum cleaner.

We have since joked over the years about how “it’s right in our closet, if you ever want it back” and I would always protest and say no worries.

Jenn had started a theatre company just before I moved back to Massachusetts in 2001, and when Sara and I moved BACK to Chicago, it was natural to ease into becoming a company member of that theatre company. I’ve been a company member for over a year and a half now, and I’ve grown to view my fellow company members as family. That being said, due to the emotional and raw nature of the art we do sometimes, much like family - we don’t always like each other, and sometimes conflicts arise.

We (the company) decided over this past weekend that in order to have any hope of moving forward as a theatre company, we needed to let Jenn go from the company. The reasons are there, and it’s not my place to discuss them in a public forum. That being said, though, all of our company’s props, costumes, lights, etc, have always been stored in Jenn’s basement. She requested we remove all of it within 48 hours, which we agreed would be the right thing.

I’m the only one with a large enough “common” space in my basement, so all the stuff is now slated to reside at my place. The rest of the company emptied out Jenn’s basement last night, and then they met me at my place, where we started to unload the truck as fast as we could.

and then I saw it.

tucked in the back of the truck, unnoticed by the rest of the company….

the vacuum cleaner.

my heart fell.

and I knew.

we’re done.

I knew that we didn’t have a good chance to recover our friendship from the mess of the theatre company stuff, but I did have a grain of hope.

not anymore.

I don’t even need the vacuum, but I also can’t bring myself to throw it away.

*YAWN*

9:37 am
i'm awake. i guess i can't complain considering Mace being woken by the construction noise at 6:30....
I'm hungry. i should make some brekkie. I hacve the tools to make a variety of things, but I'm not sure what I actually WANT.... so here I sit --- contemplating breakfast.

Only 5 more performances of the show. Thus begins the most frustrating week and a half....
I guarantee you, we'll have plenty of empty seats this weekend, and then NEXT weekend, for closing, ALL the people who haven't seen it yet SUDDENLY remember "shit! I have to go see the show!" and we end up selling out, and having a waiting list, and turning pople away.....
folks - come during the middle - come the weekend BEFORE closing. If you come closing weekend, you may not get in. This happens with EVERY SHOW IN THE CITY.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind selling out - we could certainly USE IT, it's the people who don't end up making it in.... it's sad.

oh well - I can't change the way people think....

*******************************************

there's a possibility I may need to go to Providence, RI to attend a training session for the hotel. As Providence is only an hour or so from Boston, the ability to actually see people and hang out while I'm there is very high.
Plus, who can complain about maybe being able to see he very last of the fall foliage on the hotel's dime? :)

i love embarrassing videos of me....

in the interest of ALWAYS being able to poke a little fun at myself....

My old pal Paul Bisson recently converted a bunch of his old camcorder movies he took of some wonderfully embarressing college cast parties of ours onto DVD, and he sent me a link to one....

he posted it publicly on his LiveJournal, so who am I to not share that with the rest of the world?


Bear in mind, folks, that this video is 7 1/2 years ago, and I'm a terribly immature 23 (and obviously can't hold my wine)

Enjoy - Happy Halloween


http://www.livejournal.com/users/alex7000/21142.html

great e-mail

Myf friend Molly headed down to New Orleans a few weeks ago, and she just got back and sent this e-mail.
thought I'd share.....

******************************************************************************

Hey Folks,

Just thought I would let everyone know that I am back from Louisiana safe and sound. I think I am experiencing a little culture shock right now, but am doing fine and am readjusting to normal life after one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

I spent 2 1/2 weeks working at the River Center which was the largest shelter in Baton Rouge, housing 7,000 people at it's peak, the large majority of whom were from the superdome (Some had been sent to texas and then evacuated back to Baton Rouge when Rita was about to hit). The other large portion of our population was from St. Charles which is west of New Orleans and was Flooded during Rita.

The last week and a half I drove a truck delivering water MRE's and other food stuffs to shelters allover Louisiana and a few just over the border on the coast of Mississippi. I have rolls of film of the area but this crappy dial up connection won't let me attach any of them so maybe later

The people I met are some of the strongest and most inspiring folks in the world from the New Orleans evacuees, the families of Waveland MS, who are now living in tents where their homes used to be with a dignity that is undescribable, the local volunteers who not only took evacuees ionto their homes in Baton Rouge but spent several days a week volunteering to work at shelters and drive trucks, and my fellow Red Cross volunteers who have the most amazing capacity for companssion and self sacrifice.

If you have any questions about my experience or want to know how to help, donate money or time or especially just write or call to say hi please get in touch. Missed y'all!

XOX

Molly

congrats

(cross - posted from LJ, etc)

Dear Chicago,

From "my" Sox, to "your" Sox.

Congrats.

Nothing quite like taking 2 curses and getting them GONE 2 years in a row.

(Cubbies? are you listening? you're next...)


Sorry, Houston, your winless streak just wasn't long enough to contend with the hunger of these players.


Congratulations, South-Siders....

You deserve it!

Love,

Dianna

google ads

so I've decided to try out the Google ads. I figure a couple of bucks wouldn't hurt (if any one CLICKS on them that is!)

holy CRAPPPPPPPPP

(cross-posted from LJ)
::dianna's jaw DROPS to the floor::

The pre-sale starts tomorrow for the FIONA APPLE show 12/4 at the Riv.

oh.
my.
god.


::picks jaw up off of floor::

ok, who's coming with.... Jo, I assume your ass is there... :)

a new page

dealing with living alone was weird....

dealing with being single will be weirder...

baffled.....

how do you nominate someone for the "highest court in the land" who has NEVER BEEN A JUDGE BEFORE??????

Red Sox just clinched the A.L. wild card.....

amen, sistah....

::sigh::

I need a vacation

FINALLY

after what was probably the LONGEST turnover process KNOWN TO MANKIND......

i FINALLY turnedover my keys to my landlord last night (the new folks should be moving in as we speak..... talk about waiting till the last minute)
I frankly allowed him to walk over me a bit in some sposts mostly because I JUST WANTED IT TO BE OVER.......

i mean, the apartment looks better than it ever did while we were living there (except for the boring kitchen, which had to be re-painted - NO MORE RED KITCHEN! boo hoo!) - so, I don't know what his big deal was.
he's such a schmuck.

This whole episode just verifies the fact that my number one goal in my life is to save money aside this year so that I can MOVE THE HELL OUT.


There's a pal of mine here at work who is transferring to Houston in a couple of weeks, and he was telling me about the apartment he's rented. (and BTW, I'll miss him terribly)
it's in an apartment "community" kind of like a subdivision - he's a 10 minute walk to the hotel he'll be working at, and the place is a duplex, 2 bedroom, yadda yadda....
$800 a month, dammit.

makes me REALLY want to move out from the clutches of my landlord....

(not that HOUSTON sounds attractive, just the apartment price....)

...because Thales said so....

ok, ok....

i posted something......... happy?



So I just watched a movie I'd never seen before (god bless HBO), and I feel a little nerdy because I actually got a little caught up in it.

It was "The Day After Tomorrow".

I know, I know......

I was actually yelling at the TV when they had left the library to get supplies, and the eye of the storm passed over..... I'm like, "get back inside! get back inside!"

and I ACTUALLY got misty at the end when the helicopters flew over Manhattan and it showed all the other people who had survived appearing on the roofs of the tall buildings.

::sniffle::

shut up man, nothing wrong with enjoying a summer blockbuster 2 years late!

I also have Ladder 49 from NetFlix - I'll take care of that either today or tomorrow so I can send both back to Netflix (the other being West WIng season 4 - disc 2)
That on was in the mailbox when I got home last night at 10, and I didn't go to bed until after i watched all the episodes (i think there was 4?)


Oh, and "big ups" to Jen for having the gang over last night. Jen, love the new place, and loved the sangria! All the snackies were delish!
We'll have to all get together again soon.

Until then...

Hey Jo.... 185 cellular phones walked into a bar and..........

godDAMMIT

It's just WONDERFUL to know [sarcasm intended], that no matter how much my self and those I am closest with can celebrate their pride (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8367448/) there's always something out there to bring me back to harsh reality. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8349415/)

son of a bitch.
happy fucking pride

...scraping by......

So, the big move out happened just one week ago. Sara packed up the essentials, and headed out to the suburbs to live with her mom, probably for a year - we'll see.

I am now living alone, and in a single paycheck situation, which is fine, but the first time of paying rent (next week) all by my lonesome will be a stretch.
I've done some overtime here at work, and the hourly pay for my time and 1/2 is PRETTY nice. I will defintely have enough to pay the rent, and have a scrape of money left over - the challenge becomes this - the next paycheck isn't for another 2 weeks. Next month is when I' ll have to start putting aside a couple hundred dollars from the "mid month" paycheck, so that I don't have to use EVERY LAST PENNY of the "end of month" paycheck just for rent. I mean, I do need to EAT and all.
::grin::

The bills are paid up (and in some cases, slightly OVERpaid - Sara and I got into this habit with some of the smaller bills, like Electric and Gas, if the bill was for 36.42, we'd send 40$), and I've gotten a 30 day CTA pass, so I'm good until Mid July for transit.

My friend Jo has a line on a part time job for me over at Comedy Sports, where she is an intern.
It's not a lot of money per hour, but if hired, I could make my own schedule (basically, only get scheduled for nights I CAN be there) - which will work great for me.
Now, I just need to go ahead and fill that application out so I can get started.

All I need between now and that glorious "mid month" paycheck arriving on 7/14, is maybe 20$ worth of groceries (money goes FAR at Aldi's), and maybe 2 rolls of quarters for laundry.





Any donations will be kindly accepted.

Content, content, content

I just realized i haven't updated my blog in justover 2 months...

what the fuck?

well, I was PM for a show, then my best friend's wedding, then i was cast in a show and was rehearsing, then I had a tragic death in the family, and then the show i was in opened.
This past weekend is actually the first one I have had almost entirely to myself since about Easter (i know, i know - whine, whine, whine....)

I' m now in day 3 of "living alone".

Things are ok (so far). Honstly, the weirdest part is not having Sara next to me in bed at night. We talk on the phone (every day so far) and we'll see each other when we can, but not being next to her in bed each night will be the hardest thing to get used to. I hope I never "get used" to it. I honostly don't think I will. I'm sure I'll discover some more "weird" things as time moves on....


***********
On a completely different note, I'm contributing to a reading tomorrow night of a play written by my friend Michael. It's weird, because I know he reads my blog from time to time, so I dont' want to gush too much (his head would get WAY to big...)
Suffice to say, the play is just beautiful, and I love it.
The theatre company is contemplating producing it as a show, and I certainly hope that we do. There's a lot of "Michael" in the play, and since I know him, it made some parts difficult to read, but I'm glad I did.
It's just wonderful, and I hope the reading tomorrow night goes well (::crossing fingers::).


that's all for now.