Sunday, February 24, 2008
Finally, a Family Sunday at Home!!!
How wonderful! How good! How restful and how productive! A full Sunday at home, spaghetti casserole baking in the oven, two loving in-laws settled on the living room sofa, one husband getting house chores done, and two doggies snuggled on the in-laws laps: domestic bliss!
Too rare a thing around the busy, creative and constantly buzzing Barter Theatre campus...but if there is one thing I have promised myself this time returned to our beloved Barter, it's that i would do my best to lace my happily busy schedule with copious amounts of a balanced home life! And, so far, so good....sometimes it's hard to clear a day a week for oneself, but I am intent upon doing so, no matter how busy I get once rehearsals for EVITA start. That will be harder than usual: balancing the many Outreach projects that are developing with what will be a full rehearsal scheduel starting April....EVITA, which I will be directing, and CURE FOR LOVE, in which I will be playing the delightful role of Baroness Barthelme !!
Last night, as part of what has developed to be a truly terrific Spring Rep here at Barter Theatre, we opened the tough and brilliantly written BLACKBIRD, a controversial drama by David Harrower, about a taboo relationship re-visited 15 years later....it has fallen into my hands to create panels and talkbacks for our Opening Nights, especially after the Stage II shows, which are often our more edgy and confrontational productions, and BLACKBIRD presented me with a wonderful opportunity to seek out and meet, converse with and enlist the help of a theraputic community I am proud to have gotten to know....it was a powerful evening, and a productive talk-back with an appreciative audience after the show. We have a truly devoted and smart , loyal and bright Opening night audience here, and last night was no exception: such response and comments and questions and concerns expressed. It was gratifying to be part of it, as usual. The panel after POW'R IN THE BLOOD, another superb play by T.Cat Ford, also at Stage II, was comprised of hospice and palliative care workers I was truly privileged to get to know and I am still moved by their intelligent presence on that night. So was our audience. I am meeting wonderful new people here as a result of this new Outreach initiative I've been given. I'm grateful.
Working as hard and diligently as we both have been working at our desks at Barter (Peter is learning brilliantly in his new Director of Marketing position), we are discovering the most stunning things about this miraculous theater organization; how much it accomplishes, how much ground it covers both artistically and financially, in its pursuit of community and growth. I am amazed to realize how much gets done with (relatively) few people to do it, and I will be forever in awe of the amazing Administration and Staff at 160 Cummings Street! Frankly, Rick Rose inspires confidence and devotion in all who work for him, and because he himself is a unique dynamo of energetic accomplishment, he inspires others to turn themselves into same...and that is the way miracles are made. We once were given a joke t-shirt at the opening of rehearsals for one season and the caption on each one read: Barter Theatre - Where Your Best is Just Not Good Enough!!! And though we laughed at the hyperbole, it had a ring of truth which made us laugh even harder: we all knew we would be asked to give even more than we thought we could...and so we usually do...that's the way it is around here...the Barter way.
But today, my family day at home, my family Sunday evening (tonight are the Academy Awards), while we wait for the pasta casserole to bubble and brown, I will do something really important: THE NEW YORK TIMES crossword puzzle!
Too rare a thing around the busy, creative and constantly buzzing Barter Theatre campus...but if there is one thing I have promised myself this time returned to our beloved Barter, it's that i would do my best to lace my happily busy schedule with copious amounts of a balanced home life! And, so far, so good....sometimes it's hard to clear a day a week for oneself, but I am intent upon doing so, no matter how busy I get once rehearsals for EVITA start. That will be harder than usual: balancing the many Outreach projects that are developing with what will be a full rehearsal scheduel starting April....EVITA, which I will be directing, and CURE FOR LOVE, in which I will be playing the delightful role of Baroness Barthelme !!
Last night, as part of what has developed to be a truly terrific Spring Rep here at Barter Theatre, we opened the tough and brilliantly written BLACKBIRD, a controversial drama by David Harrower, about a taboo relationship re-visited 15 years later....it has fallen into my hands to create panels and talkbacks for our Opening Nights, especially after the Stage II shows, which are often our more edgy and confrontational productions, and BLACKBIRD presented me with a wonderful opportunity to seek out and meet, converse with and enlist the help of a theraputic community I am proud to have gotten to know....it was a powerful evening, and a productive talk-back with an appreciative audience after the show. We have a truly devoted and smart , loyal and bright Opening night audience here, and last night was no exception: such response and comments and questions and concerns expressed. It was gratifying to be part of it, as usual. The panel after POW'R IN THE BLOOD, another superb play by T.Cat Ford, also at Stage II, was comprised of hospice and palliative care workers I was truly privileged to get to know and I am still moved by their intelligent presence on that night. So was our audience. I am meeting wonderful new people here as a result of this new Outreach initiative I've been given. I'm grateful.
Working as hard and diligently as we both have been working at our desks at Barter (Peter is learning brilliantly in his new Director of Marketing position), we are discovering the most stunning things about this miraculous theater organization; how much it accomplishes, how much ground it covers both artistically and financially, in its pursuit of community and growth. I am amazed to realize how much gets done with (relatively) few people to do it, and I will be forever in awe of the amazing Administration and Staff at 160 Cummings Street! Frankly, Rick Rose inspires confidence and devotion in all who work for him, and because he himself is a unique dynamo of energetic accomplishment, he inspires others to turn themselves into same...and that is the way miracles are made. We once were given a joke t-shirt at the opening of rehearsals for one season and the caption on each one read: Barter Theatre - Where Your Best is Just Not Good Enough!!! And though we laughed at the hyperbole, it had a ring of truth which made us laugh even harder: we all knew we would be asked to give even more than we thought we could...and so we usually do...that's the way it is around here...the Barter way.
But today, my family day at home, my family Sunday evening (tonight are the Academy Awards), while we wait for the pasta casserole to bubble and brown, I will do something really important: THE NEW YORK TIMES crossword puzzle!
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Funny, He Doesn't Look Flu-ish!
My darling Peter is laid low with fever and chills, sleeping the entire day away today...frankly, a much-needed rest, even if it did take falling ill for him to listen to the needs of his hard-working body! For the slightly over a month he's been at his job, he has put in at least 6 months' worth of hard hard work, delving deep into the complex roots of the Barter Marketing Department systems and processes....much to lean there and Peter is the man to learn it, but he is hard on himself, unrelenting in his pursuit of perfection as he defines it, and so, of course, exhausted and now ill. I am glad he is resting, (as if he could do anything else at this point....poor baby).
I am sitting by his bedside, with my office wireless laptop on my quilt-covered lap,and the doggies are equally snuggled between Peter and me...for Sally and Cyrano, having Peter home all day, sick or not, is pure heaven...a warm human to snuggle with, and snuggling is what they do for a living...so, they have had a great day, at least.
Actually, so have I...much got accomplished on behalf of some good things we are working on at the Barter office....people have been so generous with their time and ideas in support of so many of our initiatives for Outreach...really I am grateful. There are some people in the Abingdon community who do wonderful things for everyone!
Gotta go soothe my dear man's brow....
Interruptions and Life
Please - all who read here - please forgive my absence from the scene!
Where to begin? So much to write....and one thing I 've discovered since moving down here to Abingdon : people have actually been reading and appreciating this blog! It makes me sad, therefore, that I have stopped this form of communication for so many weeks...sort of like rudely hanging up on friends, mid-conversation...so , please, friends: accept my apoligy.
It's simply that - as you all know - Life can get too frantic, especially after a major move of household and starting a new job...in fact, when I stop and think about it, I can't believe Peter and I have both not dropped dead from all of it!!! The pressures, the tensions and expectations from oneself...the sheer uphil climb of it all....I know that's why I simply came home after the PETER PAN Opening Night last night and collapsed into bed with the vague suspicions of a cold coming on....I've been on the job at Barter barely a month , fueled by sheer excitement and enthusiasm for this wonderful new initiative of Outreach, and it's time to stop and breathe! So last night's collapse -after an exhilarating show (PETER PAN is really lovely and touching fun) and greeting of the loving audience (with fresh red roses for each, attached to a terrific photo from the show) I suddenly lost all energy and had to beg off from the party!
Peter soldiered on and did his job at the party, even though he too is filling up with cold and aches all over....he has been working so hard, learning so much...it's all so so so very good...
But , of course, one of the down side things has been I have had no time or energy left over to simply write: in the blkog, poems, anything...energies all used up for now...
Even after the fabulous KINGSPORT CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DINNER last weekend! The adorable Bob Feagins was kind enough to give Barter Theatre an entire table for our use and we pretty near filled it with our delightful Marketing and Development Department: Jayne Duerhing, Courtney Bledsoe, Mary Anne Holbrook, Nikki Crawford ,Peter and me...plus our "date the beautiful Betsy Boyd, an honored and personal favorite Board member! Such an elegant and fun evening, where we saw all sorts of dear old pals from our time here before and everyone was so welcoming and warm to us...the ever-dear Josh Smith - our favorite tv news anchorman and co-host of the event - welcomed us back with such joy, it made my night! Il Destino was the entertainment (the only other times we have gone to the Chamber Dinner we were the entertainment!!) and they were gorgeous! It was simply nice to be there, especially after spending a gracious hour alone with Betsy at her stunning home in Kingsport, and having a good Scotch or two....that was fun...it's my goal to spend more time with this fascinating and kind woman.
So - what I meant to say is: even after that lovely event, I had no time or energy to continue blogging...and this morning, before even the sun rises, I had to get some words down on electronic paper! Another filled day ahead: over this past month, I have done what I can to begin to create and shape what the Outreach office is and can be, so it has been busy...much effort put to mostly good use, some not...but how else can I learn what it is? There is much to do, always, in the never-ending fight to keep Barter growing, in the community in helpful, creative ways....I have been learning and learning and learning..and talking to a few Kiwanis Clubs along the way....loving that! Now there's a whole other blog entry in itself: Kiwanis! Love those people! Such staunch Barter supporters, and caring people....I have loved discovering them...(and despite the fact that they call it the "rubber chicken circuit", the food I've had at the Kiwanis Lunch meetings has been great!!!).
So, it's been abusy time for both of us....feels like we've been here far long than a month and a half...Paul and Stephen have already visited twice!! Miss them.
Well - gotta get to my office....I go nowhere near rehearsals for anything until April 4th ...people in the Barter office, new to us, have no idea that Peter and I are actually actors! They think we're Admin folks....I wonder what they'll think when...oh well..that'll be fun....
More soon ...i promise....
Where to begin? So much to write....and one thing I 've discovered since moving down here to Abingdon : people have actually been reading and appreciating this blog! It makes me sad, therefore, that I have stopped this form of communication for so many weeks...sort of like rudely hanging up on friends, mid-conversation...so , please, friends: accept my apoligy.
It's simply that - as you all know - Life can get too frantic, especially after a major move of household and starting a new job...in fact, when I stop and think about it, I can't believe Peter and I have both not dropped dead from all of it!!! The pressures, the tensions and expectations from oneself...the sheer uphil climb of it all....I know that's why I simply came home after the PETER PAN Opening Night last night and collapsed into bed with the vague suspicions of a cold coming on....I've been on the job at Barter barely a month , fueled by sheer excitement and enthusiasm for this wonderful new initiative of Outreach, and it's time to stop and breathe! So last night's collapse -after an exhilarating show (PETER PAN is really lovely and touching fun) and greeting of the loving audience (with fresh red roses for each, attached to a terrific photo from the show) I suddenly lost all energy and had to beg off from the party!
Peter soldiered on and did his job at the party, even though he too is filling up with cold and aches all over....he has been working so hard, learning so much...it's all so so so very good...
But , of course, one of the down side things has been I have had no time or energy left over to simply write: in the blkog, poems, anything...energies all used up for now...
Even after the fabulous KINGSPORT CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DINNER last weekend! The adorable Bob Feagins was kind enough to give Barter Theatre an entire table for our use and we pretty near filled it with our delightful Marketing and Development Department: Jayne Duerhing, Courtney Bledsoe, Mary Anne Holbrook, Nikki Crawford ,Peter and me...plus our "date the beautiful Betsy Boyd, an honored and personal favorite Board member! Such an elegant and fun evening, where we saw all sorts of dear old pals from our time here before and everyone was so welcoming and warm to us...the ever-dear Josh Smith - our favorite tv news anchorman and co-host of the event - welcomed us back with such joy, it made my night! Il Destino was the entertainment (the only other times we have gone to the Chamber Dinner we were the entertainment!!) and they were gorgeous! It was simply nice to be there, especially after spending a gracious hour alone with Betsy at her stunning home in Kingsport, and having a good Scotch or two....that was fun...it's my goal to spend more time with this fascinating and kind woman.
So - what I meant to say is: even after that lovely event, I had no time or energy to continue blogging...and this morning, before even the sun rises, I had to get some words down on electronic paper! Another filled day ahead: over this past month, I have done what I can to begin to create and shape what the Outreach office is and can be, so it has been busy...much effort put to mostly good use, some not...but how else can I learn what it is? There is much to do, always, in the never-ending fight to keep Barter growing, in the community in helpful, creative ways....I have been learning and learning and learning..and talking to a few Kiwanis Clubs along the way....loving that! Now there's a whole other blog entry in itself: Kiwanis! Love those people! Such staunch Barter supporters, and caring people....I have loved discovering them...(and despite the fact that they call it the "rubber chicken circuit", the food I've had at the Kiwanis Lunch meetings has been great!!!).
So, it's been abusy time for both of us....feels like we've been here far long than a month and a half...Paul and Stephen have already visited twice!! Miss them.
Well - gotta get to my office....I go nowhere near rehearsals for anything until April 4th ...people in the Barter office, new to us, have no idea that Peter and I are actually actors! They think we're Admin folks....I wonder what they'll think when...oh well..that'll be fun....
More soon ...i promise....
