mid term

I can write to you while I'm giving Mid Terms here at Overton. It's so wonderful to be somewhere where the students really want to learn and are interested in what they're doing. The birth we dealt with the other day was not in the performing arts building, I'm proud to say. I've been updating my LinkedIn page, so check that out-I've actually got a little poll going which you can particiapate in.

Cheers,

Steve

am i really getting THAT old?

Hello again...I'm at Overton again today and what a surprise yesterday when the word began to spread (pardon the pun) that a FOURTEEN YEAR OLD girl had her water break in the classroom and needed some assistance. An all call was put out for the nurse and an ambulance arrived quickly, rushing her to St Francis, I assume. I don't know the outcome-I've asked but noone seems to know.

The pending birth was discovered by a classmate who cried out, "oooh, you just peed on my shoe!"...........

So, the question is....

Have I blocked out the memory of this happening when I was fourteen? Fifteen? Sixteen?

When I was seventeen, I had a fifteen-year-old girlfriend. She had a friend who left school a few weeks early because her family had an "emergency" out of town. I graduated, but my girlfriend began to hear over the summer that her friend had gotten pregnant and the parents had taken her out so the pregnancy could be kept quiet and she gave up the baby. She came back in the fall and denied it through to the end of her senior year. That was the only instance I knew of like that-maybe there was more.

These students I'm encountering are proud of the fact that they're pregnant.

Am I really getting THAT old?

oh the weather outside is...

I haven't had a chance to post in a while. I'm back at Overton and have had a few performances since last I wrote. Two more Greatest Generation concerts, one in Covington, one in West Memphis. The venues are always interesting. In Covington, the theatre was an old vaudeville place, and the producers were clearly hanging on for their dear lives. No heat to speak of, and a run-down feel to the building-but so much potential. Probably 300 seats, of which MAYBE 100 were filled. A great show, which once again would have been even better with the house respectably filled.

In West Memphis we had an even bigger house with even fewer seats filled. No more needs to be said except that we had a nice time at Blue Monkey afterwards. I love the Vocal Arts and hope something can be worked out so it can continue-and I can continue with it.

Had a gig with Deb last night at Memphis Country Club and that went well. We actually have two such concerts on Saturday and one on Sunday-sandwiched in between all that, a MESSIAH at Germantown Presbyterian.

God bless us all, everyone.

freezing

I'm sitting in an art classroom at Overton and it's got to be forty degrees in here. Anybody who knows me knows I'm unhappy. I'm hoping I can figure out how to completely disable the air conditioning in here soon. Tonight is Hallowe'en, and Deb and I are going to have trunk and treat at the apartment complex, followed by Sweeney Todd at Theatre Memphis. Then we're probably going to One More for Karaoke. I will probably be warmer outside tonight than I am right now in this Memphis City School classroom.....

Kallen Fatigue????

The Commercial Appeal sent Jon W. Sparks to the Orpheum to see us in Traviata and wrote a review that prompted a response from a reader concerning Kallen Fatigue.  The writer said he suffers from this malady as well but still enjoyed the production.   I agree with Michael Ching when he states that regulars are a good thing and all the big houses do this.  If Pavarotti wasn't at the Met one year, there was talk as to what was wrong, not a yippee from the press.  I enjoyed doing the show, not just because of Kallen, but because I thought it carried out the reason I fell in love with Opera at the age of 13-it was a metamorphosis of theatre, art, music, and dance.   

as you like it, traviata

I've been in the wonderful predicament for the last two weeks of rehearsing one show while performing another. As You Like It closes Sunday after three wonderful weeks of performances. We got one "review" so far from Christopher Blank, and I guess you'd call it favorable. He liked the show. He just didn't, and doesn't, really mention the players and their performances.

I've been rehearsing Traviata with Kallen in the afternoon and at night when I didn't have an AYLI performance. Kallen is her usual wonderful self, Quinn Kelsey is the Germont and he is fantastic, Bill Joyner is Alfredo and is simply wonderful. Karen Tiller is directing and she's doing good things. We open next Saturday...come see us! And if you haven't been to the forest of Arden, you need to get there by Sunday!

More later...

Steve

four weeks, you rehearse and rehearse....

Well, here we are at our first preview. We'll rehearse this afternoon from two to five and then our first real audience comes in. I'm at Overton today, so I'm tired, but excited. I think it's gonna be really good-everyone is so talented and Dan has done a wonderful job of using the space, or should I say wide open spaces. Deb came last night after she got out of church and had MacGregor with her. She said it looked good because so much of the woods is being used. MacGregor barked at Dan-I hope it didn't make him mad to have the dog there.:)

Hopefully I'll be able to give you some post-opening thoughts here in a a couple of days...

Steve

as you like it

I am at Overton High School today, but more importantly, I'm rehearsing my first Equity contract in ten years with As You Like It and the Tennessee Shakespeare Company. It's so nice to be able to do this environmental theatre piece. We're going to perform part of the show inside and part outside! The cast is wonderful, and I really hope Memphis gets out and supports this chance for real professional theatre to come here. We're opening Oct 2 and closing Oct 19. After we open, I'll be rehearsing Traviata with Opera Memphis and open that Oct 25. Come see us!!!!

the final countdown

When you read the title of this post, you have to go "tah tah tah tah...tah tah tah tah tah..." to get the full effect. :) If you don't the Europe song, just skip it...

I'm at White Station Elementary and having a wonderful two weeks here in the library. Friday is the end of the school year here, and of course the children are excited. They had a field day last Friday and it really quite fun. Lots of fun things for them to do, all organized by the gym teacher here, Coach Cochran. He really did a wonderful job of keeping everything moving.

I've been offered my first Equity contract in ten years. There is a new fledgling Shakespeare company starting here, and I'll be doing Amiens in As You Like It. Oddly enough, I did Amiens in 1977 at Theatre Memphis in the Little Theatre. The artistic director is a wonderfully nice man named Dan McCleary, and I really hope this could be the beginning of some decent pay in Memphis for actors.

I also did an audition and callback for Les Miz in Little Rock for Arkansas Rep and felt like it went well. I sang the latter half of the Suicide scene and the director asked for Stars. In the callback, I sang all that again and did the Priest's little scene before the candlesticks are stolen. He must be thinking of me for that with a Javert understudy. I don't know if I can afford to do that, but we'll see.

Deb's had some nibbles on an email we sent out about her potential job change and I'm optimistic about it. I don't know if she is as optimistic as I am about it, but I pray something will be settled soon. She gets very stressed about money and it doesn't help to have an actor for a husband if you worry about money.:)

That's about all for now, I have a class coming in.

expelled, les miz, shakespeare

So we had our viewing of Expelled and it was kind of anticlimactic. Far more important was the depressing news of my wife's job being "relocated" to Murfreesboro. She was completely freaked out about it and didn't feel like going. It ended up being me and Janet Bush, Mike and Jo Rutter, Jason Grosser, and Michael Coplon. Most of the other atheists found some reason not to go-and I wasn't really in the mood to have some big discussion afterwards.

I'm very confident Deb will find some other work here in Memphis-I just pray for her peace of mind. I also pray that I'll be able to find something that pays more and is more of a full time job. I'd like to get back into radio and I've made some connections that I hope to bring to fruition.

I'm at White Station Elementary all week in the library and what a wonderful new school this is. I hope I'll have more time to write this week and I hope to do well tonight at an audition for a "Tennessee Shakespeare Company"...I don't know exactly what this gig is supposed to be but it is supposed to be a union job.

Next week I'm singing for Les Miz in Little Rock ...I REALLY need this job...pray for me.

expelled...or not.

Today my quandry is how to deal with my atheistic friends. We're trying to go as a group to see Expelled, the new film by Ben Stein. I thought it would be a good field trip since it deals with freedom of speech, ID, evolution, and the like.

When I mentioned this on Tuesday night's meeting (Occam's Coffeehouse meets at the Atlanta Bread company in Germantown at 6 pm), I was met with a most surprising reaction. A few said they'd go but pay for another movie and sneak in, and a few said they don't need to go at all. My wife had been to a discussion of Lucy with our wife's founder Janet and we've had numerous other examples of listening to an Atheist's point of view about relative topics so I was surprised. The movie was immediately termed "propaganda" and a negative disussion ensued. I actually got pretty worked up at the hypocrisy being sent out by the "atheist" side and had to leave the meeting. I apologized later in person and via email.

I also tried to make my point of how we've been to lectures by evolution-leaning scientists, watched Richard Dawkins videos, read God is not Great as a book choice, and basically been open to trying to listen at least to a point of view that was contradictory to my own.

I was surprised as to the negative emails I got and arguments that came from this. I thought we could go to this movie and enjoy it and go somewhere afterwards and discuss-maybe even argue about it.

I guess not...

More later...

Monday

Well, here I am in a Science and Creative Writing class wondering what's happening to our youth. I won't elaborate on that here for fear of retribution, but I will say on a positive note that there's actually been some of these students who want to do something. I guess, in their defense, that most subs don't to do much more than babysit.

I want to do more. I'm paying a dollar to the first kid who finds the word of the day and uses it in a sentence. If it takes a bribe so be it.

Let me digress away from subbing for a moment. I've been told via email that our beloved MVAE is cancelling its final concert due to financial straits. One can only hope that we'll be able to regroup for the fall. Memphis Vocal Arts Ensemble is a great group of great singers who just can't seem to advertise.

One can hope that we can find some advertising and get people to know about us. If you've never been to a Vocal Arts concert, you'll be pleasantly surprised if you venture forth and try us.

Gotta go back and try to inspire some fourteen year olds to write.

I've just had the wonderful pleasure of having a great singer come to my fifth grade class and sing for them. Ruth Stevenson has been singing off and on with me in the Memphis Vocal Arts Ensemble for four years now, and she truly is one of the great singers of this city. Jazz or Broadway, she's got it. Today she delighted my fifth graders with Popular and For Good from Wicked along with The Lonely Goatherd from Sound of Music. Then I joined her for Anything You Can Do from Annie Get Your Gun। The kids really seemed to like it, and it's always a joy to hear her. Lisa Goble accompanied, and she always right there when you need her. I only hope my request to get them paid comes through.:)

loss

I've just discovered that my former girlfriend's father has passed. Sandra Joseph was on tour with me in Phantom and we were in a relationship about twelve years ago (my God, has it been that long?) and then became Christine in the other tour, followed by a long and successful run as Christine on Broadway. Her Dad was a fantastic man who endured an insane man at the car dealership where he worked trying to kill him, and the positive outlook he had on life was an inspiration to me. I'll have to try to put a small film that he and I "starred" in from Disneyworld on YouTube or something. He truly was a great man. Much Condolences to the whole Joseph family.

My own father has been gone since 1989, and every year during tournament time I have a moment where I want to pick up the phone and ask him if he saw what the Tigers did-how they're going to the final four! I did pretty well at the funeral, but three months later, back in NYC, I picked up the phone to ask him if he was watching the game and the recording rang in my ear...

"The number you're trying to reach...901 357 0979...is no longer in service or has been disconnected....

I held the phone away from ear for a moment, wondering if I'd misdialed. Then it hit me and it hit me hard-my father was gone. I cried for the first time, really, for quite some time after I hung up the phone.

Our loved are never gone as long as we hold them fast in our hearts and memories, I've found, and I hope that if you are a person experiencing loss of a loved one today, you'll think of that person fondly and realize they are resting in the arms of the Lord and probably wishing we wouldn't fret so much about them.

"Heaven rest them now..."

Steve

the one true ring

Well, I'm finishing my first week of this long term sub position and it is working out okay, I think. Being that it is a drama class, I am more equipped than I might be elsewhere. Today the students are studying scenes from The Lord of the Rings-The Fellowship of the Ring and looking for continuity issues and doing quite well, I'm surprised. Ian Holm is so amazing in this film, and I haven't watched it in a while. Elijah Wood is wonderful, and the cinematography is amazing. I forget when I haven't seen this in a while that the film uses some wonderful camera trickery to make the Hobbits look so short. See you soon...

This is the beginning of my journey through thoughts, ramblings, musings, et al about opera, theatre, and performing in general. I'm moved to do so by reading the blogs of Michael Ching about our trip to Wynne, Arkansas, to do a preview of La Cenerentola with Micheal, Steven Carey, myself, and the incredible mezzo Rachel Waiters. I've had the incredible pleasure of being on stage with her in Carmen and Rigoletto and now she prepares one of the great bel canto roles for mezzo, Cenerentola. She is absolutely wonderful in the rehearsals I've seen and in singing these previews with her. I can't wait to see her do this role and neither should you. If you're in Memphis, you should make plans for next weekend, April 5 and 6, to see these performances at the Orpheum. More later....