Dunkirk, NY - Well, it's time for the intermission after Act III. Christmas Carol has completed its run, and the members of the Atomic Fission Tour have scattered across the country for their well-earned two-week vacation. My family - parent, wife and two boys - came in to see the show on Thursday evening, and by all accounts they enjoyed themselves. Not uncritical, of course, but overall the reviews were positive. My dad wanted a copy of the lobby poster, which I had already anticipated, so hopefully that's being ordered and delivered. After the final show and strike on Friday I had thought Ann Marie and I would spend the evening relaxing and then leaving for home early today, but instead, when strike was over before I knew it, we just got in the car and sped home. Seven hours and two stops later we were back in Dunkirk, and happy to be so ("My own Bed! I'm in my own room!"). Today I got a belated Christmas and opened my presents, which included many items for touring (a laptop carrier, iPod case and mini-speaker, and a mini-reading light which clips onto your earlobe). Nice items.So I won't spend too much time this evening writing anything like a review of the first part or anything. I will save that for an "interlude" posting after the new year. And I also suspect there may not be too many postings during the vacation, because I intend to "vacate." So hopefully those of you who have been faithful readers of this poor blog will re-join me in full force when Act IV begins at noon on the 15th of January, 2006. We will be in brush-ups for the first few days and head out on the road about Jan. 20th for our first road date at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.
But before I go, let me give you one small web tip. If, like me, you try to read a lot of news and blogs online, you may have a hard time keeping everything together and getting notification of new postings or items. So let me suggest to you a fine website called Bloglines. It is an absolutely wonderful site which organizes and updates all your news sites, blogs, or whatever else you read online which has an RSS or Atom feed (just about everything from the New York Times to this blog). Consider it my offering at helping you keep that New Years resolution to make your life more organized and your web reading more efficient. Also, you can now view Atomic Fission photos on Flickr. Search for my name or Atomic and you'll get the stream, or click on the Flickr badge in the sidebar. Also look for Atomic Fission videos on Google Video. Getting better all the time!
Happy New Year to one and all! -TWL
2 comments:
Happy New Year! I'm glad you got some vacation time...hope you're enjoying it to the fullest! Can't wait to read all about your new adventures! How will you ever go back to Fredonia after all this excitement?
"...I begin to wonder at times what sort of lasting effect we have on the people for whom we perform..."
---ASC actors don't necessary get to see/hear/feel/experience the lasting effects...but since I've been doing this touring thing as an actor, director, producer, etc. for eighteen years, I'm aware of a ton of lasting effects (from the mundane to the profound).
---Some kids who have never seen live theatre before have their minds/bodies expanded beyond what their life experiences had previously provided (the program cost a buck, the experience: priceless)...some never see another live performance again, some seek them out because of us.
---Some high school teachers and college professors who have never had Shakespeare come alive the way it can with lights on-audience contact-being a part of the world of the play-language that no longer feels antiquated have been forever changed and pass that on to hundreds/thousands of students they teach.
---Some people of various ages are inspired to pursue acting in an effort to have a piece of that magic they felt coming off the stage (damn you for infecting people with that curse!!).
---Some folks fall in love with Shakespeare because we came to their affluent and white school.
---Some peeps who think Shakespeare is dead, boring, and lifeless will have new perspectives planted or revived.
---Some high school students will decide to spend their summer studying Sahkespeare at our theatre camp.
---Some take a class that they never would have before, and read/see plays they never would have experienced if we hadn't come to their town.
---Some folks enjoy that they got out of class for two hours!!
---We don't hit home and hit hard for every kid in a 700-seat house, but I'm not stretching to say that I bet we hit a few hundred in that house and probably seriously affect the lives of mulitple dozens-night after night after night.
---Because the American Shakespeare Center has toured so many shows over so many years, we've been a part of thousands of dreams that would have never been dreamt.
---I believe that experiencing great art (particularly Shakespeare) allows us to see ourselves, our families, our communities in a different way and actually (as a result) makes us better people; us being better people makes this world a better place to be; show by show, audience by audience, I truly feel like we are changing the world.
---THAT'S the lasting effect I think we're having in spite of all the ills of modern theatre/touring/whiteness/etc.
Not that I have an opinion on the subject!
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