Sunday afternoon show and more family showed up. They really seemed to enjoy our attempt to entertain. We had another good crowd and show today. It always amazes me the energy the actors get from the crowd. When the audience gets into a show, it seems the show gets better. That is how it was this weekend. A series of good audiences and fun shows.

This morning I spent some time getting new tires for my truck. While I was expecting to get new tires soon, I was hoping to be able to shop around a bit. I wasn’t pleased to be forced into getting new tires before I had that chance. But the happenings of yesterday my choices just a bit. There are very few places in the boondocks that are open on Sundays. So again, my hand was forced. Such is small town life.

But getting the tires did allow me to drive my youngest daughter back to college after the show. I like the time I get to spend with my daughters, so it was good to get the tires today. Oh well, the truck does need a bit more work. The miles I put on it tend to wear things out.

Starting Thursday we have our final run of 4 shows. I hope they all go as well, and I have few vehicle problems.

It started off so well. I was leaving just a bit early so I could get some gas and other necessities. Oops, a mile from home I noticed that I forgot my boots. Important item for the play, so I had to turn around.

Back out for the second time, still early, but without as much leeway, I heard a funny noise from my truck when I turned a corner. Thinking I had something stuck, I got out and noticed that my tire was flat. ARRGH.

No problem, I have AAA…. I called my daughter to say I would not be able to pick her up and got out my AAA card to call for service. Dang it expired in November. Why don’t I remember the bill. I must have missed it.

Not to worry I can change a tire. Oops no flashlight, I couldn’t find the jack!!! I couldn’t see to change the tire. The countdown to the play was running fast. Call my daughter to pick me up!! Slowly move the truck to a safe location. And hope nobody tows the truck away before I could get the tire changed.

Show turned out well tonight. My oldest and youngest daughters were in attendance. As much as I love having friends in the audience, it is special when I get to entertain my family. Unfortunately, I was not able to spend as much time with them as I would have liked. I still had a tire to change.

Found a light, a jack and the lug wrench. A few chilly minutes later the temporary spare was in place. I was ready to go home for a cup of warm tea.

Tomorrow is another day, and I will have to see if I can find someplace to get some tires before the 2:30 show. So now I know what Santa is getting me for Christmas. I don’t recall asking for that.

A Miracle on 34th Street opens this Friday and we definitely have a show to come and see. This was not always apparent by the number of people we had drop out and then had multiple recasting of the actors involved. My first entrance in the show was to be as the Drunken Santa who gets fired from the parade. While I still play that role, I have another part in the opening scene.

We have a great cast, wonderful crew and excellent director. I get to be on stage with a few of my favorite people to work with. We have new faces and quite a few young faces. Be sure to get your reservations early. I’ve heard them talk about it on the local station and I only listen to about 20 minutes in the morning.

I get the evening off tonight, so I get to get some of the things done that have been waiting for just such a moment. Short post, but I will be busy soon.

Come see a show….

On a spur of the moment decision, I decided to go to the theater today. A show called “Fat Pig” by Neil LaBute. The director of the show was enthusiastic about this show before it was even a sure thing. After watching it I can understand why. If you read this before the show is over this weekend, and you like theater, go See the theater page to get more information. It is rated ‘R’, so leave the kids at home.

The show was vulgar, crude and occasionally ugly. It was also very real. While you may not know a person exactly like any of the four characters, you probably knew at least one.

Talking with people after the show made us think that we were watching people, kind of like intruding in their lives or spying on them. Not at all like watching a show to entertain. It was occasionally very funny. At other times it made you think.

I can’t say I enjoyed the show. I really enjoyed parts of the show, but the show as a whole was not an enjoyable experience. It was a thinking and introspective experience and it has my full recommendation to stop what you are doing to catch the show.

Studying lines for tomorrow night’s rehearsal. I have some fun parts and they are the smaller roles. The intoxicated Santa at the beginning of the play is going to be a lot of fun all on 3 lines. Another 3 lines, and being on stage with my 3rd daughter makes the role of Dr. 2 very fun. Another 3 lines for another small part and 3 more for my 4th small part. 12 lines all memorized.

Some lines were taken away and I was given the part of Kris Kringle’s friend and Dr from the Maplewood home, Kris’ home away from the North Pole. This should be fun.

Anyway back to the lines….

I will be in the company of two very lovely ladies this evening while I am entertained by the wonderful actors of the Williams County Community theater.

It was a wonderful evening that started with dinner at the local Mexican restaurant.  There was a time I could not say that in Williams County since there was more than one Mexican restaurant.  Now we just have one restaurant and a Taco Bell (which is not a Mexican Restaurant). Good food, good company, what more could you ask for.

Well, we went on to the theater and saw a wonderful show, that is what we could have asked for.  The Ohio part of my family was completed when my oldest daughter made it to the theater.

The show was “The Little Shop of Horrors”.  It should be known, that I loved the 1960 black and white movie.  I was not a fan of the 1986 musical version.  The play is what the 1986 movie is based on.  I was only looking to be impressed by the many people working on the show.  I did not think the show would impress me.  Happily, I was mistaken.  The show itself brought back many memories of the original 1960 show.  Of course, I still wonder why they had to add music, but that is me. 😉

The story was the one I remembered.  Mysterious, blood thirsty plant makes a small rundown flower shop a place to stop.  For me the sign of a good musical is that the music does not interfere with the story.   The three street urchins were a treat to watch and listen to.  If the rest of the show had been pedestrian, these three would have made the show.  They were that fun.  The actor playing Mister Mushnik was also very good in his role.   He had the worried shop keeper down to a ‘T’.   The actors playing Audrey and Seymour had very good chemistry and their acting and singing voices meshed well.  They were interesting and fun to watch.

Now on to Audrey II.  The voice and acting of the monstrous plant were two separate actors.  From what I saw, they must have put a lot of work into their performances.  Matching ‘mouth’ and plant movements to the words coming from offstage must have been a difficult timing situation.  I saw this performance two times this weekend, and I was impressed both times.  Again a plus to the show.

Now those who know the show and have seen it on stage before may have noticed I missed a character or two (5+???) .  One final actor played the remaining roles.   I was very impressed.  Many different characters from one actor.  He made each and every character different from the others.  Even though everyone in the audience could tell that this was the same actor, he impressed me with the talent he displayed on each character.  That and being able to sing while pretending to be under the influence of laughing gas… Wow!!

I wish I would have been able to see this show the first weekend.  I would have loved to give my opinion to others who were still wondering if they should see it.  From what I could tell, it almost sold out the last weekend.  A good turnout for a wonderful show.

There is one problem with being involved in the theater. When you plan a holiday show, the rehearsals start well before the actual holiday season. And since our Christmas show starts at the beginning of December, the rehearsal is also earlier. I don’t like to do Christmas until after Thanksgiving.

Anyway, it will my job to bring Santa Clause to life in “Miracle on 34th Street”. Ok, so I’m not playing Kris Kringle/Santa Clause, but I am playing 2 different Santa Clauses. And some other part I cannot remember right now.

For those of you who do know the show, the first Santa I play is the drunk Santa that loses his job because he was trying to stay warm on the float. One little drinks never hurt, doesh it?

To make the show even better for me, I get to act with one of my daughters again. This is always a thrill for me. Should be fun.

Children and young adults (7 to 18?) are invading our theater. It is, of course, time for the annual Children’s Theater.

As long as I remember, we’ve always had a good turnout for this acting forum, but this year it is an absolute invasion. There were at least 40 younger members of society on stage during the first evening. Tonight was the third evening of theater for the youngsters, and there was still at least 35 roaming stage and backstage. It is really good to see this in the theater. This is the future of theater. In the next few years some of these actors will be back on stage as adults. Always good to see.

I am wondering where the child relatives of other Tangents bloggers are. Didn’t see any nieces, nephews or children of the Tangents group. Oh well, since I volunteered to help again, you will all know where I will be…

I was allowed to attend a dress rehearsal of “Wild Oats” at the WCCT’s Little Theater off the Square. (Is that a mouthful?) If you don’t have a wedding to attend, a daughter to pick up, or some other things that will take up all of your time for the next two weekends, make some time to see this wonderful little show.

Yes, this is a melodrama. Be prepared to laugh, boo and maybe even hiss. There were twists, turns and setups galore. Love, laughter and greed. And religion, we had religion too. And of course there was the sowing of wild oats.

I won’t give anything away, but I really recommend this show. I would give a run down of the cast and crew, but I didn’t see any programs yet, and I wouldn’t want to miss anyone.

I really wish I could see this show with a full audience. It is one of those shows that will feed off the audience energy. So go, be prepared to have a good time and join in the fun.

One more word — Take in some canned food for the Food bank. 1 can of food will get you money off the admission. Great way to give to the community. One non-profit helping another. Great idea.

A fascinating trip to bring Audrey to town. Audrey is the name of a carnivorous plant from the show “The Little Shop of Horrors”. We had to bring various sizes of Audrey back from another theater. The trip there was uneventful. No problems, and the GPS unit, while a bit annoying, led us unerringly to our destination.

Then we saw the plants. All I could think of was: “Would it all fit in my truck?” All of the stuff was soon loaded into the truck, and we were on our way. On the way to get some food, I was sure the stuff in back would need to have a tarp to be safe at speeds over 40 mph. We stopped at a Meijer store to locate said tarp. I was sure I had enough cords and straps to contain the load. Everything looked good to go.

Starting down the road, the load looked good. At 45-50 mph things started to come apart. Something came off and the back end of the tarp was flipping all over the place. I started looking for a place to pull over. In looking at our prized load we found that the tarp had ripped, and a one of the bungies broke. We thought we saw some of Audrey fall off the truck, but we could not find any of the pieces. Tying down the load again we took off at a slower speed.

Things still weren’t looking good, so I found a better place to stop. I was too close to the road the last time, and tying up loose ends when traffic is flying past you at 55+ isn’t something on my list of things to do. We stopped in the lot of a small yard ornament shop. They had some nice things, but we didn’t have any room to put them. If I had really found a deal, I wonder if I could have talked one of my fellow travelers into holding a 50 concrete statue on their lap?

Again we go out to tie things down. I do mean tie things down. More straps came loose and broke. We actually had to tie them to the tarp and the truck.

Instead of taking the the roads with higher traffic, I took a less traveled road, hoping to get to a town or village. We did stop 1 or 2 more times before finding a place to get some more things to tie this menacing beast down. Audrey II was threatening to fly off with the tarp whenever our speed approached 50 mph. Not much could be done at this point. We were out of things to tie her down. If we kept losing straps, we would need to go less than 25 mph because there wouldn’t be much holding Audrey in place.

Finally making it to Oakwood, Ohio there was a little hardware store that did have what we needed to finish our transport. This place actually had a wood stove to supply its heat. This was common in a much earlier time period, but not so much in 2009 OHIO. When replacing the straps one of the old ones actually snapped in half removing it. Wow!! I think we just made it. If I can find the receipt for those straps, I may take them back. They were supposedly heavy duty bungies. I don’t think so.

With more straps and tie downs we were finally able to travel at 50+ Mph without fear of Audrey II taking flight. We made it through Defiance (and a bit of traffic) with out much more than a few strange looks. And finally made it to our prop’s final destination of Bryan OH.

The thing about this whole trip is not so much the trouble we had, or the frequent stops. I’m sure given the ‘wrong’ group of people, this could have been a nightmare experience. Anger and frustration could have reared its ugly head. But for some odd reason none of that happened. We joked about it during the trip. We were also saying it would make a good blog post. Who would write about it first. I’m still waiting for more pictures of Audrey bits on the road, or the each of the stops along the way. How about one of our Esteemed admin crawling under the truck to look for a place to tie something?

The trip became an adventure. At least on my part, I had a fun afternoon. The three of us on the trip are still talking to each other. 😉 No fights broke out that I am aware of. And I’m sure whenever the show is discussed, the first adventures of Audrey will be told. Will the story be ‘stretched’? (bad pun considering our bungies). You bet, this is for a theater group. We like good stories. Will there be little Audrey’s growing on the roads between Lima OH and Bryan OH? I wouldn’t bet against it. Will I volunteer for another road trip? If it is with the same people, you bet.

I’m not sure how the play itself will go, but if the first trip of Audrey is any indication, it should be fun. This is a musical, so due to my own idiosyncrasies, I will not be on stage for it. My role, as much or as little as it is will be in an off stage capacity. Theater will be taking a back seat for me. Family is taking over with graduations, weddings, babies and just plain visiting with the daughters, sons and grandkids I don’t see often enough. Theater is now taking a backseat.

Anyway, I did once write about me having a truck and actually using it, so I guess that I did it again. Have truck will deliver, maybe I should make a sign?