In the Works

Namaste, Everyone!

The Odd Couple, female version, is in full swing with rehearsals, set building, and menu-planning. We've got another talented cast on board-a nice mix of old hands and new folks (welcome, new folks). This show will run early December, so get ready to mark out performance dates. More on that later.

The other thing you've got to get thinking about are the 2nd Annual Actors' Mission Spammy Awards. If you didn't attend last year, you missed a great time. Here's what it is: We present awards, obviously incorporating Spam (why? because you're an actor, a producer, a ham, but ham's blah-say, dahling). But don't get your ego's in a twist-these are tongue in cheek awards recognizing your performances. For example, last year, Tom Zuehlsdorff prolly got one for Best Performance by a Deity in a comedy for his portrayal of Shiva in Mother's Day. Spammys will be in January. Many will be nominated, few will win. The Board of Directors will feed you, typical Mission style.

Donovan Rawlings has secured a grant from the Wyoming Arts Council for us to target under-developed audiences for the next production. Nice work, Don. We appreciate your efforts.

We Will Rock You, but not anytime soon. Have you heard rumors about the Mission finding a permanent actual theater? We know the Urban Renewal Agency has secured the historic Rock Theater and would like to see Actors' Mission presence there, along with other fine performances, but there's a bit of roof damage to the building, and that needs to be taken care of before anything else progresses. We're hopeful, but we must wait, good people. Wait.

We must absolutely thank Erik Hamm for his generous donation of a sound mixer and mini-disc deck (which Nina then somehow broke). This guy is just phenomenal with his technical wizardry, matched only by his genorosity. If you see him, prostrate before him, 'K?

Finally, we've decided to do another evening of one-acts. But we've no idea what they are yet. More importantly, these one-acts are to showcase new directors who'll be given a veteran AM mentor. So throw your hat in the ring and come direct a play. Where else will you have this kind of opportunity-to herd actors across the stage, develop your people skills, show off your creative chops, all with the support of a loving, knowledgeable Board and organization? Come on! Do it! Leave a comment if you're interested.

We Did the Hell Out of the Laramie Project

Well, we did the hell out of the Laramie Project. We had great discussions after performances with Cal Reruka, the prosecuting attorney in the trials, as well as Thomas Howard from the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

So what are we aiming for: erasing hate from the human psyche, teaching tolerance, appreciating differences, or something inbetween?

Thoughts about the discussion topics, the performances, the cast party? Anything at all?