A good rehearsal helps.

I've not been greatly thrilled with the One Act Play that I'm directing this year. In part because I'm not crazy about the script, in part because it's a bit depressing, and in part because rehearsals haven't been going real well.

But finally, we had a good rehearsal.

The kids managed to run through the entire show in 31 minutes (the first time they've ever done it in less than 45 minutes!) and completely off book. Energy was high and we even managed to work through some notes.

All of this goes a long way in improving my attitude toward rehearsals.

Say, hey.

I got together with a few friends from the high school days last night. It was good to see some old, but still familiar faces. At least one I hadn't seen in about 29 years.

While some of us stood around in the lobby of Perkins restaurant at 2:00am, I thought "how familiar this is ... a bunch of us hanging out, late." But at the same time, I wondered, "When did we get old?"

When DID we get old?

A page to insult you.

If you've ever had a ken to be insulted by the best, try the link below. this will take you to a page which will insult you with a Shakespearen insult. Click the link there and be insulted again.

http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Shaker/index.html

There's a Theatre Museum?

I read this morning a web artictle from the U.K.'s paper The Stage about a fight to keep a Theatre Museum open. My first reaction was, "There's a Theatre Museum?"

Well of course there is. There's a museum for just about everything. But the fact that I couldn't immediately think of what or where it is, suggests why it is no surprise that they are planning to close in 2007. You would think that a museum to something fairly specific such as theatre would do some kind of advertising in theatre periodicals.

Now, I subscribe to at least four theatre magazines and I've never seen anything about this museum. Being in the U.K. I wouldn't have been able to pay it a visit, but I'd at least be aware of it and have it in the back of my mind for any hoped-for trips.

The fight to save the museum has got some pretty big name support. If you're interested in reading the article and/or signing the petition to save the museum, you can read The Stage article by clicking the link here: http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/15052/industry-heavyweights-unite-to-save-theatre

There is a link on that page to the petition.

JT at Christmas.

I've been hearing many of the songs on James Taylor's new Christmas album getting lots of radio play lately. I've really liked what I've been hearing and can't wait to pick up a copy of the disc.

You can listen and watch a video of one song on Amazon.com by clicking the link here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/655:654/002-2842960-6893669