The Play(s) the Thing...

So I recently was denied the rights to do the new/re-discovered Mark Twain play Is He Dead? for my high school play. Auditions are coming up in 3 weeks, so I need to start finding a play now. Here are some titles that intrigued me. Let me know what you think. (We have a big program at Riverton- but after doing such a huge musical, it's fun to do a show that is a little smaller- between 10-15 people).


Dracula vs. the Nazis- If I'm just basing this on title alone, this would win. Unfortunantly, this is a 2 person show (they play all of the characters).

Rumors- A funny farce- 5 girls, 5 guys (plus, 1 unit set. No set changes!)



A Flea in Her Ear- a huge hit a few years ago at the Shakespeare festival in Cedar City. Big cast (14), funny plot (one character cannot pronounce any consonants so everyone thinks he's emotionally unbalanced). Minuses: kind of naughty (act 2 takes place in a hotel where "married people go- just not with each other"), crazy set (2 bed need to be on a revolving platform in Act 2), and Act 2 probably has over 290 entrances and exits with the entire cast that have to happen lightening quick.


Inspecting Carol- A funny comedy about a group of actors putting on the worst performance you've ever seen of A Christmas Carol. I think this could work (even being performed in February), and there are 5 women and 6 men. Minuses: the set has to fall down at the end of the show (not really that hard for my stage crew to do...) and the jokes may be to theatre-insidey.


Postmortem- A Sherlock Holmes play. 10 person cast (4 women, 6 men)- interesting plot/mystery. Minuses: Act 1 is kind of talky- lots of "effects" (sound and technical).

Any other ideas? Plays only! (Comedy or mystery- I'm trying to stay close to the same genre that Is He Dead? is).

The Life of a Drama Teacher

This gives me new ideas how to hold auditions for my school play in December:

Things that Millie Prays For

Ah... the sweet, innocent prayers of a 3-year old:
* Bless Cinderella, Ariel, Belle and Aurora
* Bless my bum
* Bless I can go poop in the potty and not my pants
* Thankful for babies, Jesus and Cheetos
* Thankful for Mommy, Daddy, Ellis, Grandma and Grandpa and dancers on the stage
* Bless gymnastics and school
* Bless that I'll be good in sacrament meeting
* Bless we can have movie night
Amen.

Say "Yes Yes" to Nanette

If like were more like the musical No No Nanette, this would be a typical day:

* Having $200 in cash on you would make your fiance break up with you.

* When life throws you a big curve ball, your legal guardian would come in and tap dance for you.

* After the tap dance, random strangers would enter your house and play the ukulele to cheer you up.

* When you are having marital difficulties, you would sing the blues in your living room accompanied by 11 strange men who sing backup for you.

If this sounds like your life (or the life you wish you had), come see Riverton High School's production of No No Nanette on Friday, Nov. 14, Saturday, Nov. 15 and Monday, Nov. 17th at 7:00pm in the Auditorium. The students are great and Bradley Moss (the director) and the rest of us have put a lot of time into it. Tickets are $5.00 for students and $7.00 for adults. Come see the show where the set has given me multiple ulcers! (And say your prayers that all 43 ukuleles in the show will stay in tune.)

New York Adventure Day #5

On a crisp, clean Sunday morning, Jackie and I awoke in our hotel room and packed up all of our stuff for the plane ride home- but we would not be leaving until we ate a little more of New York City.

After getting our luggage held in baggage and checking out, we went to Le Pain Quotidien a New York bakery for breakfast. After walking in a brisk, cold wind, we stood in line with half of New York for Belgian hot chocolate, cheese and bread and a pistachio pastry.

After that, it was time to search for chocolate. As we walked up the Upper West Side (with thousands of people going to Central Park for a huge breast cancer awareness run), I saw a kid that looked familiar. I approached him (and his dad) and discovered it was the lead of the musical 13 that we had seen earlier on Thursday. He was a nice kid and he said hello. After that, we headed up by Gray's Papaya (where we had eaten a hot dog with tons of drama kids over the summer) to Jacques Torres Chocolate. After wanting to eat everything there, we decided on a couple of truffles- then it was off to Peanut Butter & Company.

After waiting for what seemed hours for a subway (and then missing our stop because of doziness on our part), we reached the village where peanut butter goodness lives.

We got our sandwiches to go (perfect airplane food) and it was off to the hotel.

After a horrible cab ride (where I really thought Jackie was going to vomit all over myself and our driver), we reached the JetBlue terminal.

We ate our final New York slice of pizza, met Kelly from The Office before our terminal changed (she has bright pink luggage and likes to eat a salad), read the Sunday New York Times, watched DirectTV on our flight home and got back to good old Lehi, Utah around 9:00pm where the kids were asleep and Jackie's Mom was packed and ready to go the next morning. All in all, a whirlwind trip that Jackie's bowels are still talking about.

New York Adventure Day #4

Saturday morning was sunny and COLD. We weren't super hungry so I told Jackie I'd go get hot chocolate at Starbucks. On the way, I stopped by the gift shop to get stamps for our postcards. They were charging $.75 a stamp but they told me there was a post office near by. I decided to walk to it- only to find it closed. I then decided to go to the Drama Bookstore to get some scripts for our school. It was fun listening to two actors right outside the shop because one kid just moved here from Ohio and was doing an Off-Off-Broadway show. I leaned against a street sign where a filming permit was still posted for the previous day for the tv show Friday Night Lights.

After my unsuccessful quest for stamps where you actually pay the price on the stamp, I ended up buying them at the gift shop (at least I found 10 great scripts for school).

Fortified with a Caramel Hot Chocolate and a pumpkin scone, we were ready for the city. We hit 5th Avenue with a thousand other people. After a quick stop at H&M, we hit the jackpot at The Gap. We always find stuff in New York for our daughters that can't be found in Utah. After spending the girls college savings on clothes they can wear for 4 months, we hit the Disney Store on 5th Avenue.

We realized that we were in desparate need for carbohydrates, so we went to our favorite spot in the East Village- S'mac. Jackie mocked me for getting the same thing I got over the summer, but it was still just as tasty.

After lunch, it was time for A Tale of Two Cities. We were on the 4th row on the right side and two elderly New York women were behind us. They were cracking me up because they were talking about all te shows they've seen and how they failed to live up to their expectations. I was hoping I'd see an old friend that I had done a show with a Hale (One for the Pot), but he wasn't in the show that day. It was a fun show (and James Barbour- the lead- was amazing).

After that, I had grand plans to take Jackie to a French restaurant in SoHo that supposedly makes the best souffles in the city (especially a hazelnut one). After walking a while, we found it- only it was closed.

This is what I didn't get to eat.

We walked around So-Ho a bit (and visited Dean & Deluca- a gourmet grocery store where a student ofmine 4 years ago was practically arrested for shoplifting a mango juice). We decided to go to Katz's Deli over on the lower east side.

After waiting forever for the subway we arrived to the craziness that is Katz's. On Jackie's blog, she explains the whole ticket thing- DO NOT LOOSE THEM!! They are serious that you will pay $50 if you loose it. Next time I'm sitting at a table with a waitress, but the corned beef and pickles were amazing.

After Katz's, it was time for the highlight of my trip- I've been wanting to see the stage version of Billy Elliot ever since it opened in London. It met my expectations (especially Act 1) and I highly reccommend it!

After Billy I was craving cheesecake so we went to Juniors and got slices to go and ate it while we watched Saturday Night Live. Only 1/2 a day left in the city.