Woodward Shakespeare Festival

So long...

2005-08-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't been keeping up with the postings, and have been reprimanded. Sorry, Gabe. I'll try to do better.
In my own defense, I have been "slightly" busy.
So here's the deal: Much ado about Nothing went into rehearsal with an amazing cast, and then we opened, got a lukewarm review ('A' for effort, but not so much with the concept and execution--who likes reviewers anyway?) and finished the run on Saturday the 6th of August to a packed house. Then we took down the set for another event in the space, only to rebuild it the following week for the opening of Romeo and Juliet.

The interesting part is all the stuff that took place between those bare facts.

We opened the show on July 14, the hottest day of the summer so far (108) hoping to get at least 100 people to come out on a Thursday night. We had 210. Friday and Saturday, with the only news item of the day being how hot Fresno was going to be, we held strong at 180 and 190 respectively. The following Thursday was our lowest count at 170. Friday our review came out, lackluster response at best, and we again had over 200 and never dipped from there. Our third Saturday we hit 260. Our final week we broke 300 on Thursday and packed out our final performance with 430. The attendance for a 4-week run, for a brand-new theater company, in FRESNO, outdoors during the 3rd hottest July on record was OVER 3,000 PEOPLE.

Fresno is changing, and I am so honored to be a part of that change!

So, some shameless self-promotion: come to see Romeo and Juliet. We open August 25!

The Company

2005-05-10T12:35:00.000-07:00

(Click on "the company" to see the cast list)
After a long and somewhat irritating process (because we had some really tough choices to make, and the audition schedule was not ideal) we have our first ever Company. Can I get a great big "woo-hoo" from everyone??
The cast for this summer is just going to knock your socks off. I would love to highlight some people, but that would end up in a posting longer than the entire blog... and the other posts are plenty long. ;D Suffice it to say, the 38 people on this list, plus the stage managers and designers are simply amazing. I could gush for ages. Tom Hanks once said that what he looks for in a director is a fan, someone who appreciates his work. I am a certified fan of each and everyone of the people acting in our shows this summer!

So, lift your glass, and toast with me: "To Mr. Shakespeare! To the Woodward Shakespeare Festival! To the Company!"

Why are things the way they Are?

2005-04-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

Or- What's up with Fresno?

This posting falls under the category of contributing to the problem rather than the solution, but I feel the overwhelming urge to whine today. It seems to me that Fresno is all about individual visions. Whether you agree with him personally/politically or not, Mayor Autry has a vision for the direction Fresno needs to take. And so does every other member of our City/County government. The problem is that none of those individual visions are the same. Forget the two steps forward, one step back routine... that at least is progress. We seem to be pretty much all about one step in fifty different directions.

But, wait, I must stop myself in mid-whine... could this fall into the same category of the common lament, "there's nothing to do in Fresno." Being a part of starting WSF has taught me on SO many levels how wrong that is. The problem with Fresno isn't that there isn't anything to do, nor that no one can find something to do, but that people don't LOOK for things to do. They don't open the paper, they don't subscribe to mindhub, they don't look on the Creative Fresno or Fresno Famous websites (or the dozen or so other sites that promote things in Fresno), they don't google "activities, arts, events, literature (replace the word as appropriate) Fresno." Someone hit it on the most recent posting of mindhub regarding Fresno, "since we're a 'Last Minute' town.... " We don't plan to do things, we just go--if we feel like it. Please note that I am totally including myself in that "we," at the end of the day if I don't have to go somewhere, I would frankly just prefer to go home and watch Gilmore Girls re-runs on TV. But, as the Fresno Bee has so succinctly told us with their events magazine: GET OUT!

But I digress (as usual, you all scream!).

A great deal of my knowledge of the above, actually all of it, has to do with my being a participant of the above. WSF joined FCASH (get a website, guys, so I can paste a link!) and through that organization I became involved/aware of the other stuff.

Does this mean that I have to start going to City Council meetings so that I will stop whining about the way Fresno is run?? Say it ain't so!

Presence

2005-04-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

I would like Christien to know that I have joined the blog, that the world indeed does revolve around her, that my very joining of the blog is evidence to that effect. But that I have nothing to say at present, except that I am...uh...present. Pass the mead please.

Frustration

2005-04-27T16:39:00.000-07:00

Today I just want to know WHY the rest of the world doesn't just get with the program and do what I want them to?

Okay, okay! I get it! The world doesn't revolve around me. But couldn't it just for one day? One? Please? Alright, I'll settle for local bureaucracy revolving around me, or at least WSF. No? Well, why not??? Seriously, I want to know!

It's all about the Mead

2005-04-25T09:27:00.001-07:00

I don't, as a rule, like alcohol. Period (see previous posting re: control issues). I am trying, for the sake of a very dear friend who is a wine connoisseur, to develop a taste for wine. The problem is that Red Wine tastes... icky. White tastes like I think Red should taste. Do you remember the first time you had coffee? It smelled all rich and sweet (especially if it was flavored) and tastes bitter and just... icky. That is how wine is for me, especially red; I think it should be rich and sweet and it is dry and somewhat bitter. I am developing a taste, or at least trying to. I like Gerwurstraminer and Reisling (even though I can pronounce neither)--both very sweet wines. I recently tried a Mondavi Cabernet (I think it was a Cabernet--Deanna, would you comment when you read this?) and liked it. It's a slow process. But, I am making progress.

What, you must be asking, does any of this have to do with Shakespeare? Well, I'm glad you asked. This past Saturday was our first annual "Birthday Bash for the Bard" (April 23, 2005 was Shakespeare's 441st Birthday). We performed some scenes, had a birthday cake, hors d'oeuvres, and offered wine tasting. I requested the company that provided the wine to offer mead, if they could. They did! (http://www.fullcirclebrewing.com/) I LIKE Mead. :)

Oh, yeah. The party was great too. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. The food was good (Whole Foods donated it, http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/), the cake was Great. Since I was sort of the liaison between the "party" and the "actors" I only got to have one glass, and barely finished that, but it was pomegranate Mead. SO good! People weren't running away, they seemed genuinely regretful when they had to leave early, disappointed at what they missed when they arrived late. The weather predicted rain (we planned to be outdoors, on the lake, Jim and Gayle Philips have a gorgeous home) but the weather was perfect, turning chilly about 7:30 and encouraging those who lingered to be on their way (the party was from 5-7). All in all a wonderful night. Wish you could have been there!

Re-iteration of a Recent Post I Made to Mindhub.org (or a bunch of shameless plugs for some really awesome folks)

2005-04-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

Thursday night at the Crest Theater in Downtown Fresno I went to the New Valley InForum Lecture Series (http://www.lylescenter.com/inforum/2005.htm) featuring Rebecca Ryan (http://www.nextgenerationconsulting.com).

When the event was over Craig Scharton (http://www.onebyoneleadership.com/edstaff.htm) asked me what I took away from it, and I told him that I needed to process before I could answer. So, this is my answer--just in case someone can benefit from my own personal epiphany. Something I am currently struggling with (and I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm not the only one with this problem) while trying to build this amazing thing that is the Woodward Shakespeare Festival, is letting other people take some of the responsibility off of my hands. I sat down with Cynthia Cooper the other day (sorry FCASH or the Fresno Coalition on Art, Science and History doesn't have a website) and discussed what our project needed and who in our organization was covering those needs. I found myself answering me a lot. A. Lot. Those few times that I didn't answer me? I really wanted to answer me. What I was feeling was that nobody knows as much as I do, nobody cares as much as I do, nobody else can do it right.

(My grandmother instilled two truisms into my head

1. If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing right...

not so bad until you couple it with:

2. If you want it done right, do it yourself.)

What Rebecca Ryan said at the very end of her lecture--after a whole bunch of stuff that was really great and useful and exciting and inspired me to take down several pages of notes--that finally connected to me personally, and to my situation and struggle to build a company:

When nobody cares who takes the credit, amazing things happen.

For me, it was as if that proverbial lightbulb went on in my head. This is not a new concept to someone in the theater, especially me as a director. NOTHING happens on stage due to only the work of one person. There are the actors, the playwright, the designers, the crew (thank god for the crew), the director, the producer, the equipment, I could go on. Even if there IS only one person who is creating a particular piece of theater, it isn't theater until someone else is WATCHING it, so the audience is an equal part of the creation of theater. If we didn't want to perform for an audience we'd all be home reading Shakespeare in front of our bathroom mirrors (the acoustics are usually better there).

Of course! I thought as I considered what I took away from Rebecca Ryan's lecture, I have an agenda, I have something to prove and I want the credit for proving it!

See, when I direct a play, I fully understand the concept of no one particular person getting credit. I also understand that if the play is a huge success, most of the accolades go to the actors. If it is in any way a failure, all of the blame goes to the director. Designers and crew rarely get blame/accolades, unfortunately I need to add playwrights in there. Come to think of it, the audience rarely gets the blame/accolades. Except by the actors, as in Wow, what a great audience, they just energized all of us (actors never say anything bad about an audience, you know!). I just haven't been applying that to the Festival.

The question for me now is, "Do I want the credit or do I want the Festival?"

So, Craig, what I took away from this lecture was that INNOVATION is so, so, so much more important than EGO.

The Woodward Shakespeare Festival needs this innovation. Fresno needs this innovation. The Central Valley needs this innovation. None of the above need my ego.

Local Theater

2005-03-21T09:38:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I went to three, yes three, local theatrical productions. At the final one (I'm not going to name names) I spoke to someone who clearly stated that he/she didn't, as a rule, go to amateur productions. This of course means that this person doesn't attend much local theater since that is almost the only option here. We do have the odd traveling show, usually the third or fourth run or the barely professional bus-n-truck tours.

This person, who still remains nameless, doesn't really have an issue with the production quality. For the amount of money available, the production quality on most shows that I have ever seen in Fresno is amazingly good. The issue is the actors. Having come across this problem myself, I can relate, and feel the need to expound.

Even having recently moved back from New York, and having worked with actors there, I don't know if I have any particular insight into why the actors here are so limited and so unprofessional. I did community theater in the areas around New York City and can honestly say that the worst show I have ever seen in Fresno is much, MUCH better than the best I've seen in the equivalent there.

The thing is, the amateur actor isn't driven. Pardon me for going off on semantics again (by the way, the book is Revelation NOT Revelations- it's a linguistic thing, it is easier to say "Revelations 8:1" than "Revelation 8:1" (try it) sort of like "a" and "an" they aren't there for any other reason than it is easier to say "an animal" than "a animal"; regardless, there was ONE revelation given to John that he wrote down, not more than one, so it is Revelation, not Revelations, remember that!) but shall we look at dictionary.com?

Again, I love the American Heritage Dictionary, it includes word origins. Amateur is French, from Latin amtor, lover, from amre, to love. (Or, one who does something for the love of it rather than remuneration of it.) The definitions are as follows:

1. A person who engages in an art, science, study, or athletic activity as a pastime rather than as a profession.
2. Sports. An athlete who has never accepted money, or who accepts money under restrictions specified by a regulatory body, for participating in a competition.
3. One lacking the skill of a professional, as in an art.

This pretty much defines (with the exception of the sports definition) the acting community (for the most part) in Fresno. It is a pastime, lacking the skill of the professional.

There has to be a statistic somewhere about the percentage of a community that will actually leave the house of an evening and go to a "cultural event", and I imagine it is very low. Now calculate in the number who will actually work the long and thankless hours required to produce a "cultural event". This is a pastime, not a profession, for anyone in Fresno. Even if the Woodward Shakespeare Festival succeeded in its goal of becoming a regional theater with an LORT equity contract, making us eligible for the Tony (r) awards, we would still have the same problem. Unless we import the entire cast from out of town, there aren't enough jobs here to support a professional acting community. Even if the WSF succeeded in its goal of becoming a year-round resident theater we couldn't alone support a professional acting community.

Just the fact that I am worried about this problem, though, I think is a good sign, really. The fact that it is plausible for Fresno to host a professional theater year-round is an amazing thing. We just need a way to support the professionals needed to see that goal realized.

Completely Off Topic

2005-03-17T17:38:00.000-08:00

I was browsing other blogs this evening while waiting for a report to download, and came across a nerd test. Of course I had to take it!

Lego my Logo

2005-03-16T15:54:00.000-08:00

My rant for the day has to with logo and brand recognition. My question for the day is, "why is EVERYTHING so complicated?" I came up with what I thought was a really great logo idea, but it didn't look on paper how it looked in my head, but it was pretty cool. Then I kept hearing how wrong it was. And finally it stuck. It is wrong, or at least, it isn't right. So the real question of the day is, "What is right?" I've looked at logos off and on all day. They are all basically simple, and if they aren't exactly representational, they are eye-catching. Look at the Blogspot logo. Bright, simple, and nothing to do with a blog. But really, what icon would? The point is that ours is neither bright nor simple. It's this beautiful picture that has something a little off, and is really busy, and doesn't copy easily, and is really big.

I googled "logo" just now and came up with about eight million web sites of companies that design logos. So, maybe it isn't that everything is complicated, it's just that everything is expensive. I sent out logo ideas to the board members today. If I could get my computer working, I'd post some here, but [sigh] it isn't working at the moment, and the firewall at work will not allow me to download the software necessary to post them. Argh. (On a completely unrelated note, I once had an email address that went as follows: phhttt@. I think I need that again, just fits my mood at the moment. So don't be surprised if you get email from phhttt @somewhere.com soon!)

Back on topic: and I quote (granted, from a logo design company that is trying to generate business, http://www.logodesignworks.com/logo_design.htm btw, I edited their typos! Very unprofessional and if we had money to spend on this, I certainly wouldn't take our business to a company that produces typos on their website!)
"When meeting a prospective client, your business card would speaks a lot about the type of company you are associated with and the quality of your service. A cheap looking card with a poorly done logo would instantly create a feeling distrust in the client."
"The first and foremost feature you should look for in a logo design is whether it represents your company's image. This could mean several things. Does it show your vision for the company? Is your message visible in the logo? Would any one looking at your logo be able to recall it again and associate it with the service your provide or the product you sell? Is it clear, simple and effective?"
"An iconic treatment of a logo involves a simple and sometimes clever representation of an item associated with a product or service the company promotes. Incorporating a stylish and simple gavel in a auction company logo is a good example. Iconic logos do not have too much detail and border on being abstract. The designer's expertise determines how clever the icon is. A clever icon would always demand respect from the audience. [duh]"

So, our logo is definitely memorable, but it isn't clear, nor simple, and if people have to keep asking us if we're in Yosemite, it probably isn't effective.

What do you think? http://www.woodwardshakespeare.org has our current logo front and center (or is it top and left?).

Renaissance

2005-02-24T15:37:00.000-08:00

I looked up Renaissance on Dictionary.com (they use my favorite dictionary, by the way, The American Heritage dictionary, and yes I know it is really anal that I have a favorite dictionary! My favorite line from any television show: Bree (on Desperate Housewives) "Don't mistake my anal-retentiveness for affection.")

Renaissance: A revival of intellectual or artistic achievement and vigor.

In order for Fresno to be going through a Renaissance, we would first have to have had at one time a period of intellectual or artistic achievement and vigor. I'm being careful about the wording because it's like the spiritual revivals that the charismatic missionaries talk about. Tell me how China could be having a revival??? China has never been a Christian nation, how can they have a revival. Note the "re" as in, "again." I find it very irritating when people get lazy about semantics. Then there is my real pet peeve, rehearsal/practice and audition/tryout. People, yes mostly in athletically dominated areas, tend to use these terms interchangeably. I will once again refer to dictionary.com. (my anal retentiveness requires that I admit that I am choosing the definition that best supports my argument.)
Rehearsal:
The process of repeating information, such as a name or a list of words, in order to remember it.
Practice:
To do something repeatedly in order to acquire or polish a skill.
Audition:
A trial performance, to demonstrate suitability or skill.
Tryout:
A test to ascertain the qualifications of applicants.
Here my favorite dictionary deserts me, it lists Audition as a synonym! But look at the definition. When one has sides that one is reading, is that not a "trial performance"? It isn't a test. Maybe I am being too picky, but I just don't like using football terms for theater. Besides, a tryout is what a Play does before it goes to Broadway. Not what an actor does for a director.

Or is it that we're just lazy. When I was in college, it annoyed me to have a professor that wasn't a PhD because then I had to say "Professor Schmoe" instead of "Doctor Schmoe" and Doctor is much easier to say than Professor. Just like Practice is much easier to say than Rehearsal, and Tryout is much easier to say than Audition.

In the same vein, it is much easier to tear down a building and start over with a really cheap version than to restore the old one. Witness "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" there is no way that they could do what they do in 7 days if they were restoring. They knock the old house down and put up a pre-fab home that goes together like tinkertoys or an erector set or legos, whichever works best in the point I'm trying to make.

I guess that this is the point I am trying to make by using the term Renaissance. It implies a restoration, an acceptance of heritage, a revival. I commend everyone, including myself, who wants to bring more art and culture to Fresno and its metropolitan area, but I see little value in reinventing the wheel all over again. We can't move forward without acknowledging where we came from. As a director, my first question to an actor entering the stage is usually, "Where did you come from?" As a participant in this Renaissance I can proudly answer, "Fresno!"

Welcome to the Blog!

2005-02-22T12:23:00.000-08:00

Just opened this blog, and somehow I feel it necessary to go through all of the usual "just posted" stuff. Like starting a new diary, "dear diary, today I am starting a new journal." Duh. Still and all, have to go through the hoops to get to the destination.

I'm hoping that this site works as a sort of conversation for those who want to contribute to the cultural landscape of Fresno, and the surrounding areas. It seems that we are in the midst of an artistic and cultural Renaissance here. I wonder though if Renaissance is the right word. Did we ever really lose the arts here? Or did we just sort of forget about them? Fresno was incorporated in 1885, and from everything I've been able to garner about the history it was a neat place to live. Of course, there is always the romanticizing about the past that people suffer from, but Fresno's history always makes it sound so... vital. First there is the architecture that doesn't exist anymore. Follow this link: http://www.sjvls.org/cgi-bin/dig_b3/fr/1 (but come back, because I'm not done) and then go downtown. Do you recognize any of those buildings?

If you ever listen to KMJ 580 AM, at 8:30 am and 5:30 pm they do little snipets of "The Valley's Legends and Legacies" by Catherine Rehart. Stories about Opera societies and art guilds and all these things that gave residents a rich cultural heritage. It seems that Fresno's history has been filled with its residents trying to make it the best place to live. We're the same sort of unloved step-sibling to San Francisco as Bakersfield is to LA. "Our" freeway, the road that connects us with the rest of the state is an over-crowded mostly two-lane state route that, despite the fact that we've been on the fastest growing list my entire life, never seems good enough to merit an upgrade to Interstate. State Route 99 is one of the busiest and most critical arteries of the country, let alone the state, and the quality of much of it is vastly inferior to its needs and services. But I digress.

The Renaissance is a revitalization of everything that Fresno once thought it could be. We need to stop thinking of ourselves as a pass-through and start thinking of ourselves as a destination. When I was a kid, before I left Fresno (for what I thought would be forever), we used to ask new residents why on earth they would ever want to live here. Now that I have been to that cultural Mecca known as New York City for a good quarter of my life, I know. Fresno is a great place to live. The people are great. The history is fantastic. And the potential is limitless. The Woodward Shakespeare Festival, along with the Parks, the Met, the Art Museum, The Philharmonic, Opera, Ballet, Community Theater, The Rogue Festival, Arts Council, and so on, and so on are making this a great place to live. But also a great place to VISIT. Come stay for a day. Go see the underground gardens. Take the blossom trail. Tour the vineyards. Come see what we have to offer. And, oh yeah, if you have time, go to Yosemite too. But on the way, don't forget Oakhurst, and Merced, and Mariposa. And Selma, and Visalia. And Clovis. And...

Take part in our Renaissance. Create it. Join in. Get off your butt, turn off the TV and do SOMETHING!