Articles, NCTE, Opening Night

It has been a whirlwind week. First, let's talk about our class podcasting project, Dragon Booktalk. Some major bullets:

• So far, two authors -- Larry Colton (Counting Coup) and Michael D'Antonio (Hershey) -- have contacted me about Dragon Booktalk. They listened to the podcasts and sent their kudos to the students for their work. As if that wasn't enough . . .
• Dragon Booktalk was mentioned in a NCTE INBOX e-newsletter (with 115,000 subscribers), and the site and C-J article was discussed at length in a corresponding blog entry. This has led to . . .
• A lot of hits. It took three months to get the first 400 hits at the site. In the course of 48 hours, we've climbed over 1000. In addition, I've received emails from all over the United States, as well as a Canadian associate professor and a teacher in China!

I'm thrilled for the students, who are getting the opportunity to reach a global audience.

The Honest Abe Festival opened last night, and John Foster interviewed and photographed myself, Matt Orme, Dale Strange, and Juergen Tossmann for a feature article. No pictures online, but you can read the text of the article here, which came out in yesterday's edition.

Oh, and I turn 35 this weekend. What better way to celebrate a birthday than the opening of my play?

More thoughts on the production later . . .

Come to Bunbury! The three week run begins NOW!

Courier-Journal article on Festival!

Apparently, Bunbury is not the only theater with Lincoln on the stage!

I just read the Courier-Journal article online from Sunday's paper. Our Festival is thoroughly discussed; Nancy Gall-Clayton (playwright) and Matt Orme (actor protraying Lincoln in all the plays) are quoted at length; and Nancy is beautifully pictured at her desk.

Read it here:
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090125/SCENE05/901250326/1047/SCENE05

Two more days!

Oldham Era article, and How I Feel About Electricity

First things first: having no electricity, to put it gently, sucks. But I won't complain too loudly. Our house was without power for only two days, and considering as of this post that 100,000 are still in the dark, I consider myself lucky. Also, I had a week off of school, which I spent hanging out with family, so I was glad for the mini-break.

The press release for the Honest Abe Festival actually came out a few weeks ago; I posted links for it at both my personal and Jackpot Tiger site. But in case you missed it, click here.

I've been going to, on average, about one play rehearsal a week. I have to say, I'm very excited about the actors' work, Juergen's direction, and the set and lighting design. (Here would be a good time to give the actors a well-deserved shout-out: Matt Orme, Dale Strange, Ted Lesley, and Mike Burmester.) Actually, I'm impressed with the overall quality of the writing, directing, and acting of all of the plays in the Festival. Counting down to Thursday, February 5 -- the Festival's opening night -- and Saturday, February 7 -- my 35th birthday!

Yesterday, John Foster from the Oldham Era came to interview myself and Juergen, as well as take photographs. The article should run in this Wednesday's paper (February 4). Find a copy in Oldham County anywhere newspapers are sold.

At this point, I'll probably not post until after opening night, but let's hope for broken legs and no more ice storms.

Podcasting Article in The Courier-Journal

My students work hard. And it's great when they get a chance to shine.

Sara Cunningham from The Courier-Journal came out a few weeks ago to interview myself and my students about a podcasting site we incorporate into the classroom. In short, they record literature circle discussions, and as a culminating project, write, record and edit a "book commercial." It's like a "movie trailer" for the book.

Read the article for more information and a link to the podcasting site:

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090121/ZONE09/901210362/-1/ZONE09

In play news, I've been to a few rehearsals, and I'm excited to see Juergen's ideas in action, as well as the actors bringing it to life. (As I told them last night, my favorite parts are the looks, reactions, and acting business they do between and around the lines -- after all, my words are just a scaffold!) We're hoping for some publicity opportunities, but I'll announce and/or link them here if and when they become definite.

Until then, the countdown continues to opening night February 5 . . .

Holiday Greetings, and a Abe Poster present

Happy holidays! Some amazing things have happened since my last blog posting. We've had an election, and a new President is on his way. Halloween has rushed by, along with Thanksgiving, and Christmas is just a few days away. School has kept me busy and happy.



Here's some pictures of Ayla:







Ayla wanted to be a black cat for Halloween. You can just make out the tail going down the stump. Thanks again to Michelle for taking pictures at our Halloween party (and thanks to Aunt Sue for the stump!).



And here's a few Christmas pictures, also thanks to Michelle (it was hard to narrow down to two to post, but here goes. Oh, and BTW, the backgrounds are courtesy of Michelle's newest stomping grounds, Fusion Photography in Middletown):

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.


In Honest Abe Festival, there is a new poster, reflecting a change in playwrights (John C. Finnegan is now in our fourth slot).





I went to a production meeting last week. Turns out Juergen is directing my play (very flattering and tres cool), and rehearsals will begin in January.



I'll try to post at least one more time before the Festival kicks off, especially if I know about any publicity appearances from Juergen or the crew.

Little Black Dress Rehearsal Party

So I went down to see the new Bunbury Theatre for the first time since they moved into the historic Henry Clay Building. The place is impressive, to say the least. Go to the building's website and see some fantastic pictures.



And if you have $285,000 to drop, you can even live there. Take a virtual tour for free. Just yell when you get back.



Did you enjoy that? Good. Moving on . . .



One of the sponsors of the evening was Little Black Dress wine, appropriately enough. Had a taste-test of their Merlot. Also had a Finlandia grapefruit cocktail drink (another sponsor), which was pretty smooth (I like a good vodka on the rare occasions I drink, but not much of a grapefruit enthusiast, so this is high praise). Munched on some great hoers d' oeuvres; I'd give a shout out to the caterer, but not sure who it was. Should also mention Gilda's Club, yet another sponsor of the event, who had a worthy cause (creating a space for those enduring with cancer to enjoy themselves); their Louisville chapter is celebrating their first year anniversary.



Unfortunately, all this was done without April; Ayla had a photo appointment with Michelle at her new studio space (Moto Photo, across from the Summit). But I enjoyed checking out Juergen's new digs, even if it was solo.



Speaking of Juergen, we did meet and talke for a few minutes. He didn't recognize me without the hair (I was 21 last time we were face to face; ah, youth). Apparently, all but one of the actors of Poisonings are casted. With three months to go before rehearsals, no worries, mate.



The evening concluded with a snippet from their opening show, Beau Jest. We went upstairs to the new theater, and it is a fantastic performance space. It sits 149 in padded stadium chairs in a slight curve around a curtainless stage area. Beautiful. As for the play itself, it looks like it might be a hoot. Frankly, I'm really looking forward to the Albee show at the end of the season, Seascape. (Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is easily one of the top 5 plays of the 20th century, and a helluva Nichols movie to boot.) Any play where lizards come out of an ocean and start talking -- well, that's hook enough for me.



One of the things I picked up was a flyer that gives an overview of Bunbury's season. Here's a copy:



A closeup of the Honest Abe portion of the flyer is on my personal and Jackpot Tiger websites.

As the holiday season hits (which means AYLA PICTURES!) and possible publicity opportunities ahead, I'll post more soon.

Living in the 1800's, and a Black Dress

When you look outside and there's not a drop of rain --heck, it's even sunny -- you don't worry about a power outage, much less a chance of storm damage. Yeah, the wind was shaking the trees, but I swear I've seen worse.

Imagine my surprise when we lost our power. For five days.

Yep, from Sunday the 13th to Friday the 19th of September, we took a trip back in time. Back when you went to bed early cuz Mother Nature didn't allow you to stay up late watching HBO, or checking on the newest TV and movie news at Dark Horizon. School was also shut down, which meant I did have a chance (during the daylight hours!) to catch up on all of my grading.

Of course, many people were far worse off. When I finally went back to school last Monday, there were still some people without power, which boggles my mind. And all of us are more lucky than many people in the South. Seeing the news report about Galveston, Texas getting hit by Hurricane Ike was particularly distressing, since April and I enjoyed such a fantastic honeymoon there back in 2003. I hope the people of Galveston, and all those affected by the storms, get all right in the end.

Moving on from such heavy news to something a bit lighter. Bunbury Theatre is having a special "Little Black Dress Rehearsal" party to kick off their 2008-2009 season on Wednesday, October 1. I'm going and excited about it -- I haven't been face to face with Juergen since 1995, and I hope to meet some of the artists involved with "Poisonings."

As always, call Bunbury at 585-5306 for more information on the party and their upcoming season.