Played for laughs.

I ran in to an old friend last night at the Great River Shakespeare Festival. She was there for the free concert on the lawn and had already seen both shows. We chatted briefly about her thoughts on the shows (this is someone I once acted with in a summer theatre production, and who's theatre "claim to fame" is that she once acted on stage with Harrison Ford [in college]). Mostly she seemed to enjoy the shows, but one comment struck me. Regarding Twelfth Night, she said, "Of course, they played it for laughs."

She did go on to say that while Winonans are always quick to give a standing ovation to nearly everything, she admitted that she was first on her feet at the end, "so of course I must have liked it" she said.

But her comment about playing for laughs has stuck with me.

I hate playing for laughs. But I think there is a fine line between playing for laughs, and playing the comedy which you expect will get a laugh. When I tell me high schoolers to do something a specific way because it will get a laugh, is that playing for laughs? Or is that playing the comic moment, which is intended to get a laugh?

One of the things that I really like about the GRSF production of Twelfth Night is that it is funny. I've never seen a production of the show before that I enjoyed, and in large part because no other production that I've seen (maye three) has made me laugh. I'd always wondered why it was considered a comedy when it's always seemed so dry, and even nasty (consider what is done to Malvolio). The current GRSF production, to me, is funny, and I've finally enjoyed the show (and with the ability to watch it multiple times, as I have, I've gotten more from it).

And so I wonder ... is playing for laughs, in a comedy, wrong?

ebooks and things

My eBay name and account has been restored, my computer is functioning with a new hard-drive, and I have re-loaded probably 75% of my programs on to this new, improved, lemon-scented (not really) machine. And with my work for the Great River Shakespeare Festival done for the season, and soon to talk about my place with the company next year, I finally feel I have a moment to sit and blog.

While weeding through my emails, I came across an interesting article about free e-book downloads. This only lasts until August 4 (for this great variety of ebooks, anyway), and I would encourage everyone to check it out: http://www.worldebookfair.com/. I still think that Project Gutenberg is a great idea, as long as we can avoid copyright issues!

What I missed the most while spending long hours at work, was reading. I didn't get any chances to read for pleasure and I missed it. To make up for lost time, I'm trying to read too much. A stop in the library the other day had me walking out with six books, all that looked really interesting (and of course there are the shelves and book cases full of my own, unread books). And so... I think I'll go and read.

Wyl, if you're reading this, I need the link to your blog(s) -- it was lost with the hard-drive crash.

Who am I ? (or, an on-line identity theft)

I've spent the better part of the day trying to find out how my eBay ID was stolen, and to change it back. After a very late, and then sleepless, night, I continued my quest to restore my good eBay name. After all... I'd had the name for seven years, with a perfect eBay rating. Of course the concern was also wondering what else might have been taken.

I did manage to convince the eBay chat person that I was indeed the owner of the account, and the ID name was changed back to me, and a new password sent my way. I had to go back in and change the name of the owner of the account, and I see that the thief won two auctions for playstation equipment in Great Britain. I still have to try to deal with not paying for those auctions and retain my good rating.

FORTUNATELY, while eBay accounts are invariably linked to PayPal, I kept different email addresses and passwords for my eBay and PayPal accounts. Otherwise, I am certain that my PayPal account would have been used to pay for the $600 worth of merchandise.

Now, while you might think that tracking the thief is easy because there was a name and address listed as the account owner, I hesitate to think that it is an actual person and/or the actual thief. Further research on my part finds that the request to change the information came from an IP address located in Beirut!

It's been a real pain in the ass to go through and change as many passwords as I can think of changing, and to change them to something completely new and different than I have ever used. Again, I am keeping eBay and PayPal separate.

Moral of this blog... change your passwords! Regularly.

Back...but without a hard-drive.

It feels as though it's been ages since I wrote in this blog. I've been terribly busy with the Great River Shakespeare Festival, but I'm incredibly proud of the shows that they've got up and running. Twelfth Night is about as funny as theatre gets, and Romeo and Juliet is appropriately dark and brooding. If you are in the Southeastern part of Minnesota, I hope you'll check them out.

I did decide that I'm getting too old to spend two solid weeks of fifteen hour days at the theatre. I was incredibly exhausted by opening.

Other than working such long hours, the other reason I haven't blogged much is because the hard-drive on my laptop computer failed. One repair store has said that the information there is not retrievable. I am going to try another place as well, though the outlook is grim.

This also explains why I haven't visited many of my friends' blogs, as well. Without my computer, I also don't have any of my "favorites" in my queue, and heaven knows I don't remember many of the URLs.

I am using my children's computer to post this blog, and thankfully my newest email address (at gmail) is web-based, so I can check in there periodically from this computer as well. It'll be a few days before I can get my computer to the geek store for repair, and longer still to load all the important programs, so please feel free to drop me a line at my address: daniel[dot]munson[at]gmail[dot]com and include a link to your blog, or any other site that you think I might enjoy.

Honkin'.

I was in the local grocery store yesterday and a woman, approximately 50 years old, was with a young child (a son, or a grandson, it's hard to say).

As I wheeled my shopping cart past the pair, I heard the woman say to the youth, "We need that big honkin one."

I was probably as young as that child the last time I heard that term "honkin" in such a way. What does it mean? Where does the expression come from? (Bonus points, Kootch?)

Foxy.

I've been working late quite a bit in recent days, and every evening as I drive home, there is a particular stretch of road where I see at least one, and often a pair, of red fox. They have always been walking along the side of the road, but as my headlights catch them, they disappear quickly in to the brush.

I'm not sure why I enjoy this so much, but I do. I look forward to that section of road each night.

What The Bard's apprentices will do.

One of the nice things about the Great River Shakespeare Festival is their apprentice project.

GRSF is strong on education (Elderhostel's, Teacher's Workshops, High School Night, Apprentice Classes) and for their full time apprentices, the work-load can be tremendous. This year, fourteen acting apprentices take classes six days a week, understudy various roles in the two shows that run in rep, work in the various shops (scene shop, costumes, lights, props, etc) for two weeks, work the front of house concessions, and will also be performing one showing of a different Shakespeare play.

This year's play for the apprentices is Cymbeline.

I find this quite exciting as I was not otherwise familiar with Cymbeline. What a great opportunity for these young actors to expereince Shakespeare, and to perform one of his less known works as well!

And perhaps that's what I find most appealing about having a Shakespeare Festival in the immediate area -- the opportunity to hopefully experience all of The Bard's works at some point.

Bonus points for any reader who can tell me (without first looking it up on the internet [you're on your honor here]) what the term "bard" means, and why it's attributed to Shakespeare.

A busy job is a happy job.

Last year, about this time, I was making plans to leave the job that I was in. I was being micro-managed by a boss who was on a leave of absence. And still I was bored, finding plenty of time for blogging and web-searching.

This summer I have been extrememly busy, working very long days and evenings, haven't had a chance to write in this blog, nor even check out others' ... but couldn't be happier. Over-all, I love what I do.

Theatre IS where I am happiest, and when I can have a solid position in a good theatre company, I'm thrilled. As Production Manager for the Great River Shakespeare Festival (www.grsf.org), I get to sit in on rehearsals, give notes to the directors, over-see all the shops (props, sets, costumes, lights, sound), keep an eye on budgets, hang out with the actors, and today I played a quick game of chess with one of the directors.

I'm busier than I ever was at my last job, but I'm a heck of a lot happier as well. Some people like mindless jobs, and the opportunity to collect a paycheck for doing nothing. I'm not that kind of person.

Come see a show at GRSF this summer!

...fly away home.

In my mailbox yesterday was a thick, oversized envelope with half a dozen copies of the latest (June 2006) issue of Ladybug Magazine ... a magazine for young children.

There, in the center spread of the magazine, with staples going right through it, is a "poem" of mine.

(I say "poem" with the quotes because I originally wrote it trying to sell it as an easy reader book.)

I sold the poem to the magazine about three years ago. It's hard to believe it's taken this long to see print, though it was illustrated (not by me) and I'm sure there were lots of factors involved.

With a circulation of approximately 130,000, this magazine publication likely represents my biggest sale in terms of readership.

It is always "cool" to see one's name in print, and one's words on a page (perhaps that's why blogs are so popular?).

Two week notice?

Wow. I can't believe it's been nearly two weeks since I last posted.

Well...maybe I can believe it. I've been working two jobs. One finished last night.

I've been stage managing the ballet Cinderella, which closed last night. It was fun. It wasn't a lot of work, but it was time-intensive. We closed with some technical snafus which I've never experienced before -- I lost head-set communication with my light board operator and my sound board operator. Hence, one sound cue was missed and about seven light cues were missed before we could restore some kind of communication. Ah well... the joys of live performance.

I am also working as the production manager for the Great River Shakespeare Festival. This is also quite time intensive as well as a lot of work. But heck, I enjoy it! It's much better than sitting around behind a desk being bored out of my skull!

The moons of Jupiter.

For those of you who find astronomy a nifty hobby (or even worthy of a career), you will note, first of all, that in honor of the one-year anniversary of this blog, I took out the Google ads, and put in a chart showing the lunar phase.

Also, it so happens that Jupiter is at it's closest encounter with Earth during this week. I took our telescope out the last two nights and got a good look at the planet. Even with our "little" telescope, we could get a good look at the planet and were even able to see it's four moons.

A very cool thing, to stand on planet Earth and actually see the moons of Jupiter.

Happy Birthday, Blog!

This blog is one year old today.

Do I have any reflections on this blog, or blogging in general? No.

Shoes. No socks.

I read an interesting article from the MiamiHerald.com, via my daily ArtsJournal email. The article was about the troubles at the Coconut Grove Playhouse and the 21-year reign as artistic director of Arnold Mittleman. I found the article interesting for a number of reasons....

First, I have been to the Cocount Grove Playhouse, loading in and over-seeing a show that I worked on immediately before and immediately after it's run at the Playhouse -- it was one of those situations where an existing show was being brought in, but by some strange clause in the Equity contracts, they didn't have to bring in the stage manager of the show -- just my prompt book (I probably got paid a small stipend for it, I forget). While I had wished I could stay with the show for that period, I held no hard feelings -- my daughter had just been born and I was looking to spend some time at home with my new family anyway.

Second, the situation reminded me of my time at the old Los Angles Theatre Center, whose troubles mirror what was being reported on by the Herald. Any time there is evidence that grants and loans are being used to pay off other debts, rather than what the grants and loans are specifically ear-marked for, this should wave gigantic red flags! The article mentions this problem, but skims over it. I was immediately tossed back to 1982 where I lived through the same things -- building and construction grants being used to pay salaries. The LATC closed it's doors for good shortly after.

Third, I was reminded of my recent blog in which I wrote that the problem with theatre is not that there aren't any great plays being written, but that there aren't any great producers taking risks and nurturing talent. Was Arnold Mittleman an exception to that comment? I don't know. I don't know the precise history of his tenure at Coconut Grove, but the fact that he has been there a long time and maintained a vibrant theatre community for so long might suggest that he was certainly doing somethig right. I doubt he was a nurturing, progressive producer (but I don't know -- we'd have to see if any "new" playwrights were developing their craft there), but the role of producer for a regional theatre is very different. There is a constant battle to produce what the community wants to see (usually Neil Simon plays, and "feel-good" 1950's musicals) and maintain artistic standards and expose the patrons to new work.

That Mittleman and Coconut Grove is now in trouble suggests that there has been a severe failure in this battle. How much time and lenience do you give someone who has a good history, but who also appears to have been deceptive in use of funds?

Four, but mostly the article was of interest to me because I don't like Arnold Mittleman. It has nothing to do with his work in theatre, his hiring or not hiring me, or even his possibly running the theatre into the ground. My dislike springs from something entirely different.

After my very first introduction to the man, I turned to an actor friend of mine and said, "I dont know why, but I don't trust any man who does business, dressed in a suit, but doesn't wear socks. Shoes. No socks."

No takers?

No one is brave enough to take on my Shakespeare challenge?

Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare!

The Bard would be 442 years old today.

In honor of the Bard, I challenge you all to make up a new word, and use it in a sentence! (Bonus points for anyone creating hendiadys!)

Narnia's not in the wardrobe, but in my family room!

As I sit here at my computer, my children, and their best friends, are all camped out in my family room, just about ten yeards away, watching The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe on our large-screen tv.

I'm not sure why I point this out, other than that it's a conversation starter.

I didn't think much of this movie when I saw it in the theatre. It has great visuals, a good script adaptation, a moderately exciting fight scene, but as a whole, this film doesn't click for me. I've thought about this fairly often, trying to understand just what doesn't work.

The best that I can come up with is that it lacks a cohesive energy. I'm never really "attached" to any of the children, nor am I ever really "afraid" of the witch. And the pacing of the entire film seems too much the same, and so we lose the rhythm of highs and lows that is so essential to good drama.

It's not a bad film, it's a heck of a lot easier to watch than the BBC television version, but it's not nearly as exciting as it could or should be.

I'm curious what others thought of the film...?

You're messing me up, Bill Gates!

I don't think much about my computer, except when things start to go wrong. I suppose the majority of people are like that. I like my computer to operate the way it's supposed to, and to be safe and secure.

And because I don't want to think about it, I've subscribed to Microsoft's automatic updates program (as well as at least two security programs).

This past week I downloaded fifteen Microsoft security updates for my computer.

And then it stopped functioning properly.

Now you would think that when Bill Gates sends you an update for your computer, your computer will actually work better than before. When it doesn't, you (I) actually have start thinking about the computer. This is what happened during this week.

I'm fairly computer savvy, so I began my investigation, first determining that the computer stopped working the proper way shortly after downloading the updates. That was the easy part.

I won't go into detail as to my route to fixing this, but needless to say, my email to Microsoft Support was indeed answered within 24 hours. Here's the response:

Hello Daniel,Thank you for contacting Microsoft Online Customer Service.I
understand that you are experiencing issues with Internet Explorer and Microsoft
Word after installing updates. I regret the inconvenience caused.As a Customer
Service Representative, I would like to inform you that Microsoft provides
no-charge support for all issues that arise due to installation of Windows
updates.Please contact the concerned support team to avail no-charge support at
(866) 727 2338. Monday-Sunday: 24 Hours a Day.Daniel, I hope you find the above
information helpful.Thank you for using Microsoft products and
servicesDysonMicrosoft Online Customer Service RepresentativeIf you have any
feedback about your Online Customer Service experience, please email my manager,
Rahul Rajgopal, at ...

In other words... "We've contacted you in 24 hours, but if you want it fixed, then take a day off work and spend it on the phone talking to someone you can't understand try to figure it out for you."

I discovered, from a chatroom, that ONE of the updates doesn't work properly on SOME computers (no one has been able to determine which computers are most likely affected as far as I can tell).

The answer, of course, was to remove the update (which wasn't nearly as simple as it sounds), but once that was done, my computer is back to functioning normally (so far, he says, with fingers crossed and knocking on wood). If YOUR computer isn't working well since updating, post a message here and I'll walk you through the solution and/or point you to some web sites that can suggest how to fix it (if you don't trust me).

I know that all my Mac friends will point to this as another reason to take a bite out of the Apple family, but as someone who has worked moderately with both, I still prefer my PC ... faults and all. After all, there's nothing that says I have to use Internet Explorer as my web browser. In fact, once I started experiencing problems, I immediately switched to my loaded Mozilla program and had no problems whatever. And as for programs such as Word and Excel ... I believe those are the standard on most Macs now, too.

It's amazing, though, what we expect from our computers.

Earlier this week I was looking for a recipe for something I remember making many years back. I assumed it was in one of my cookbooks, but couldn't find it. I mentioned it to my wife and said, "It has to be in my recipe card file or in one of my cookbooks because it was something I made before there was an internet, so I couldn't have Googled it back then." Boy, did that statement give me a shock once I realized what I'd said!

No drama good enough.

I've been following some interesting conversations in a Yahoo Playwrighting group, regarding the fact that the Pulitzer committee has decided not to award a prize this year in the Drama category.

There is a sense of indignation among playwrights that the Pulitzer committee has declared (by the virtue of not declaring) that there are no dramas worthy of their award. What does this mean?

Well, it could just mean that there weren't any plays good enough. It could mean that the judges (journalists) weren't qualified to make such an assessment. It could mean that by having the deadline moved up (apparently) the shorter time span eliminated some of the best plays from consideration. All of these are "possibilities" that have been discussed.

Any one of them is a rather sad possibility, particularly if true.

I do wonder if there truly aren't any plays out there right now that are worthy of receiving award honors. Can it be? Is theatre in such trouble that it can't even find a show worthy of winning a prestigious award?

No, I don't think so. I think that the world is filled with gifted playwrights. The problem, as I see it, is matching those playwrights with equally gifted producers and/or promoters who will see to it that the works of the playwright are polished and produced.

Producers today are looking for the quick buck, they are not interested in developing a relationship with an artist and working with him (or her) to bring out his(her) fullest potential.

No drama good enough? Nay, I say. No producer bold enough.

Good books.

As some of you know and others can determine by looking at my current reading list, I often am reading more than one book at a time (though not at the SAME time). Often, one or two of these are slow reading and haven't really grabbed my interest. On occassion I've been stuck with an entire reading list that is a chore to wade through (I know, I know, there's nothing that says I have to finish reading a book that I don't like -- nothing except my own sense of literary duty).

On this particular instance I am reading four books (Arthur & George; Saga of the Volsungs; The Evil B.B. Chow and Other Stories; The Historian)that have all captured my interest and are very good reads. In fact I struggle with choosing which to read when I have a moment to sit and read. This is a nice feeling.

Hendiadys.

I learned a new word today.

"Hendiadys."

It's a word I probably should have known, though I can't imagine when or why I would have learned it. It's also a word that is not in my paperback Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

According to the book I just finished reading, A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599,

Hendiadys literally means "one by means of two," a single idea conveyed through a pairing of nouns linked by "and."

Examples are "law and order," "house and home," and "sound and fury." According to the book, almost no English author before or after Shakespeare wrote in hendiadys, and even Shakespeare himself didn't do it much -- except for Hamlet, in which there are sixty-six of them. The next highest count is in Othello, with twenty-eight. (And yes, it's pretty amazing that there are people [generally considered to be scholars] who actually go and count things like this!)

While I recommend the book, Shapiro goes on to note how the use of hendiadys creates a kind of "mental vertigo" which adds to the unbalanced nature of Hamlet.

Fascinating. A cool word. Neat meaning. I'll have to try to incorporate some in my own work.