A few years back, the music director where I was working and I decided to present the Rodgers and Hammerstein revue, Some Enchanted Evening. For the first part of the process we held vocal auditions and cast the singers with the songs. I then turned to the task of how to stage the piece. NoteContinue reading “Strange (?) Inspiration Part 1”
Tag Archives: academia
Notes About Dreams
In a recent blog post I mentioned finding old notes about various things that might become future blog posts. Well, the future is now! Four of the notes begin: “Dream:” and have some mention of what happened in some dream I had years ago. Often when I take notes, such brief phrases are enough toContinue reading “Notes About Dreams”
“She Tipped Me A Crystal”
At Berkeley, we had a summer lunchtime theatre series. Each show rehearsed for two weeks (one week in the morning, one week in the afternoon) and then a week of performances. I directed two shows in two summers: Noel Coward’s We Were Dancing (in the Durham Studio Theatre) and Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost—which I cutContinue reading ““She Tipped Me A Crystal””
Hand Me the Whiteboard…
Every time someone starts an in-depth explanation of something, or I need to explain something that requires a variety of steps, I ask for “the whiteboard.” I assume at that point that only a detailed diagram will be able to provide any sensical explanation. I always needed a whiteboard when I covered one of theContinue reading “Hand Me the Whiteboard…”
Don’t Tell Me I Can’t
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? One of the quickest ways to encourage me to do something is to tell me I can’t do it, or to speak the more passive phrase, “it can’t be done.” That’s precisely the motivation I’ve often needed to accomplish a goal. ItContinue reading “Don’t Tell Me I Can’t”
Ahhh, Look At All My Fav’rite People
Who are your favorite people to be around? As a life-long introvert who only recently has said, “Screw it, life’s too short, and who cares what people think?” (as I venture into the local social scene to raise awareness of my non-profit theatre company), I would say that the list of favorite people to beContinue reading “Ahhh, Look At All My Fav’rite People”
A Plethora of Miscellaneous
If there was a biography about you, what would the title be? I wrote that title a few weeks ago and saved it in Notes, because I knew it would come in handy eventually. When seeing today’s prompt I thought it was strictly apropos (which would be a bad title for my biography). Looking backContinue reading “A Plethora of Miscellaneous”
Retire…Now!
What were your parents doing at your age? No, I’m not retreading an old topic. (Tread….get it? Re-tire?) I’m responding to the prompt, actually. I think by this time my mother had shown me my father’s obituary that she had clipped from the newspaper.* I never knew him, and quite frankly, seeing the article, IContinue reading “Retire…Now!”
Can Retirement Be a Dream Job?
What’s your dream job? People often asked me why I was retiring from my position as a college professor in Theatre when I clearly enjoyed it so much. And my constant refrain was always: “I love my work but I hate my job.” I liked working with students, I enjoyed some aspects of teaching, andContinue reading “Can Retirement Be a Dream Job?”
Hard Choices
What’s the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make? Why? Sometimes, you’re asked a question, and you have to replay your entire life in your mind—rewind, fast-forward, stop, play, then more rewinding… Did you miss any details, and did you see enough of the highlights? Rewind again…. Or maybe it’s more like checking your analytics.Continue reading “Hard Choices”
