Today I ended up having to rush in to the theatre because, for the second year in a row I was not notified of the important meeting that was yesterday morning.  At least I made it there only about seven minutes late, but I was kind of mad that again I hadn’t got the memo.  No, it isn’t because they didn’t want me there, it was merely because I was not on the email distribution list.  Go figure.  It made me feel good that the people in charge felt bad that they forgot me AGAIN!

Why is this meeting so important you ask?  I mean most meetings I probably wouldn’t care about missing, but this one is somewhat important.  This is the annual meeting where we talk about potential shows for next season.  Sure, it really all comes down to our artistic director’s choice, but I think that he does consider many of the comments that we put forth.  I can tell you though, we don’t really pay too much heed to the audience survey that we put out.  We do a little, and this year more than others, but not always.

Amazingly, the meeting this year didn’t go on for as long as it has in the past, but I think that there were some good ideas.  I am probably not really supposed to talk about the shows that we discussed, but since the decision will have to be made within a week or so, I can’t imagine that it really makes a difference.  I am also pretty sure that I would not be the only leak.  Also, I am interested in opinions from outside of Utah, since our survey only looks at our patrons.

Here are the shows that made the “short list,” a list that our artistic director is seriously considering (in no particular order).  Also keep in mind that most of the time we like to do the musicals as the first and last shows of the season.

I crossed off White Christmas, because no one really wants to do it, and the odds are very much against it.  I believe it was only on the list to see if there would be any favorable reaction to it.  The * by Anne Frank is there because there is the possibility that it could be a co-produced show with another regional theatre, however the thought was that if the co-production doesn’t happen, we would probably not pursue the show on our own.  There were also other shows on the  survey that I think might be good choices that were not on this list.

My personal thoughts are that in musical land we should do Rent and Spamalot.  I think that it would be a big mistake NOT to do Rent because people come out of the woodwork to see that show.  I also like the show, I know there are many who don’t.  I think that it has the potential to really kick off the season with some high energy.  I would only put Rent at the beginning of the season because of the business end of things, inevitably we will turn some people off by producing Rent, and having it at the end may affect season ticket sales more than at the beginning.  I think that Spamalot would be a really fun closing show, who doesn’t like Monty Python?!  Also, we would probably be the regional theatre premiere of the show.

In the world of plays, at first look it is kind of a dark list, but they are all pretty interesting/good shows.  I think with the current vampire craze Dracula would be a good choice.  It would also probably go in our second slot so it would be running around Halloween.  I think pulling out the original vampire and getting away from sparkly, virgin, teenage, angst filled vampires is a good thing, and I think people will come.  Dracula also ranked number two on our audience survey.

I would like to do Cat as it is a great American classic that I have never worked on.  I think that would be interesting.  I haven’t read or seen August, but I hear that it is similar to Cat in themes but right now is pretty popular which could make it a good choice.  Anne Frank is a great show and the co-production possibility is kind of interesting, I just wonder if the show is overdone.  I like it though and would be happy to do it.  Out of the Shakespeare choices I would lean a little towards Shrew as otherwise we are really lining up a dark season.

Beyond that, I don’t really know Fallen Angels (I am told it’s a comedy), The Philadelphia Story, or In.  I think that would make my picks: Rent, Spamalot, Dracula, Anne Frank, Black Comedy, Shrew, and Cat.  I could probably go either way on Cat or August though.

So what shows would you pick?  There is a poll below, you may choose five (5) plays and two (2) musicals.  By the way, if you pick White Christmas, you are fired

I apologize for the long-ish post, but I thought it would be fun to see if anyone had ideas/thoughts/input.

I suppose it has only been a couple days since my last post, but I finally feel like I have time again in my life to sit down and write a new post.  We opened the show on Friday night and so far it sounds like all is well with that.  At the same time though, my brother came in for a few days to do some skiing, so as soon as I was free from the theatre I was off to spend time with Dan.  It was a lot of fun, we got in a lot of skiing, and I am still pretty wiped out from that.  It is a lot of fun to ski hard, but you feel it later!

I of course still had a full schedule over the weekend.  On Saturday I did photos for Youth Theatre at the U’s production of James and the Giant Peach.  It was a cute and fun little show and I am sure that I will do some business with the photos.  If you are interested in taking a look at the images you can find them at this site.

YTU was not the only photo engagement that I had on Saturday.  I also went to a performance of Ruth’s which was to raise money to fund her class’ trip to France over their spring break.  The “French Connection,” as they are called, is a group of students who are going to spend a week in France studying, performing, and working with similarly inclined theatre students at a school in France.  It sounds like it should be a fun trip.  Through various fund-raising efforts including two such performances as this one, they have raised all the money that they need to go on the trip.  So, since I would have been at the performance anyway, I took some photos from them, it was a lot of fun.

I did have one other photo adventure this weekend, though this one was not very significant (at least in my mind).  I was walking up Main Street in Park City with my brother and we stopped, as usual, in the Thomas Mengelsen galley.  I love looking at hi work, and he is going to be in town later this month!  As we left the gallery, we ran into a family on the street trying to figure out how to get a good photo of themselves.  They asked if I would shoot the picture for them and of course, I was happy to.  Had to take a couple to get the tiny little flash on the P&S camera to actually light them up.  They were very grateful, at which point my brother decided to point out that they had happened to ask a professional photographer to take their picture.  At which point they wanted to know more about me and my work and I unfortunately didn’t have a card on me (which reminds me I should have more printed).  So, kind of fun experience.

So, I do have to make a couple appearances at the theatre this week, even though I don’t have to run the show.  We have lots of prep work to do for our final production of the season, 42nd Street.  We have a lot of things that need to light up, and if all goes well, I will get someone else to spend their money on it so that I can save my budget for other things!  I am usually pretty good at that.  So, all things considered, I should probably get off my couch, eat something and go to work.  I like relaxing and writing, but I can get paid to relax and write if I sit in my office, it is just not as comfortable as being at home!

I have also heard that the shop is having a party today and the team drawing for March Madness will happen this afternoon.  We do two different pools, one is a standard fill in your own bracket and the other is a random drawing.  I don’t follow college basketball at all really so doing a bracket is kinda moot for me.  The random lottery is fine, cheap to buy in to, but can make you a few bucks.  Plus the party at the beginning and at the end is fun.

So, that is about where things are.  I have lots of blogs to catch up on reading and maybe I can get ahead on a post or two with some of the ideas that I have thought of (and probably forgotten) over the past week.

It seems like it has been a while since I wrote anything about what is going on in life.  It has been a nice relaxing week since I don’t have to be at the theatre every night pushing the GO button.  I have been able to do things like get in a lot of skiing, see some theatre that wasn’t mine, and watch the Olympics.  I think that I only interrupted my “vacation” as-it-were, once to go to a production meeting for our next show, Our Town, in which I had nothing to say on account of the meeting was really a week earlier than usual.  In fact, pretty much no one aside from the costume shop had anything to say.

I kicked off the week skiing with friends from temple, and now I am finishing up the week skiing with my uncle and cousin.  We seem to be getting some snow at the moment which should make tomorrow pretty nice.  Probably another good day for taking out the new wider skis to go bomb around.

Aside from the skiing, probably the most fun thing this week was going to the opening night of the U of U Theatre Department’s production of The Rocky Horror Show.  It is so fun to finally see another musical produced by the department and Rocky is just a fun show to see.  the cast was great, they seem to have a great time dong the show.  While there are a couple of singers who are not the strongest, they certainly make up for it in the rest of the production.  The tough thing was finding the balance of what audience response to give and how much to just watch the show.  In any event, if you like Rocky, it is worth going to see if you are in the SLC area!

Other than that I will be hanging out with my uncle the rest of tonight and tomorrow.  Good times.

As a theatre professional I probably often take theatre for granted.  I live and breathe theatre all the time and I really enjoy what I do, but sometimes that fact does take a lot of the magic out of it for me.  I enjoy going to the theatre to see shows that I am not working on, but I sometimes feel like I have to go twice to really see the show because I am always thinking about “how/why did they do that” and you really can’t pay attention to everything at the same time!  I suppose I just get a different enjoyment out of going to a show than many people.

One of the benefits of working for Pioneer Theatre is that I get comp tickets to all of our shows.  Usually I don’t have people to give the tickets to and I don’t use them myself on account of I run a lot of the shows.  I often look for people to give tickets to because sharing theatre is the whole point!  Our ticket prices are nowhere near the cost of a ticket to a Broadway show, but sometimes the cost of a theatre ticket can be prohibitive.  The other reason that I like to use my comps is that it is nice to have people at the shows, especially the lesser known ones that don’t sell as well.  That being said, if you are ever in Salt Lake City and want to see one of our shows, just let me know and I will set you up.

So, this year I made good friends with my SCUBA instructor who works up at Dive Utah in Ogden.  When I was telling him what I do for a living he told me that his wife and daughter love to go to the theatre.  I brought up a stack of our season fliers and a pair of tickets to our production of Is He Dead? which made them very happy.  Upon hearing that I sent up more tickets for our production of A Christmas Story, and then I didn’t hear anything from them for a while.

The other day I received the following letter:

Dear Alex,

You don’t know who I am, but I am the lucky recipient of the tickets to see not only “Is He Dead”, but also “A Christmas Story”.  I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your generosity.  It was the first time I had ever been to that particular theatre, and I was so impressed with everything.  The scenery on both of them were amazing, and they were done so professionally, that it was a pleasure to watch.  I don’t think there is a bad seat in the house, and the sound was wonderful, you could not ask for more.

I had never heard of “Is He Dead” but thoroughly loved it.  ”A Christmas Story” happens to be one of my favorite Christmas shows…..and the play was a million times better….THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

My daughter and I are the live theatre lovers in our family, and try to get to just about any and all plays around, and that is why I am so surprised that we have never been to the Pioneer theatre before, but it won’t be the last time….we loved it!!!

Thanks again for your kindness, I really do appreciate it!!!

It is really cool to hear that what we are doing has had such an impact on these people.  Frankly, I think that is what doing this job is all about.  I love sharing what I do and I am happy that I am able to offer this kind of opportunity to the family of my friend.  Getting a letter like this really reminds me why I do what I do, why I work in this industry.  It makes me feel like I am doing the right thing and that I made the right choices to get here.

I am sure that there are plenty of people out there who get some kind of positive feedback and response to what they are doing, and it probably makes them feel similar.  I just love the fact that theatre is such a community activity every person in the audience has an impact on the show that is presented and everyone takes something different away with them.  To be able to share that magic and have it make people happy and excited to come to the theatre is what it is all about.  I don’t look for or need to see my name in the program, I don’t care if my contribution is recognized.  Just knowing that at least one person was moved or inspired by coming to the theatre makes my job worthwhile!

In general I tend to find ways to keep busy. Between work, cooking, eating, skiing in the winter, hiking and camping in the summer it doesn’t really leave that much time. However, it seems that the number of TV commitments that I have continues to grow. Working in theatre, I am usually at work when the primetime shows are on, so having a DVR is kinda handy. Additionally, watching shows on the DVR is so great because you don’t have to watch all the commercials.

The question is, how do you deal with all the shows you want to watch? The list of shows that gets recorded on my DVR is pretty long. I am mostly a Sci-Fi person, so Battlestar Galactica, Stargate and the likes take up lots of my time. Then of course there is Dollhouse, House, Ugly Betty, Mythbusters, Project Runway, Hell’s Kitchen, and the list goes on. Even with some shows having come to an end (like BSG), they are quickly replaced by new shows like Caprica or ABC’s V.