A GREAT NIGHT IN THE THEATRE!

Oh it was a great night! At tonight's performance of The Physicists I saw my fellow Into The Woods colleague Jackson Davis - who is an acting inspiration to me and I also had a great talk with Keith Kreitman, critic for the San Mateo Times. Keith has been such a great supporter of my work for the past 7 years and he is a dear person. I am really glad he was able to come see our show.

I am so exhausted but the play will end on Saturday. I will miss actually miss this experience especially working with my beloved Linda Hoy. I really can't imagine my life without her. After the show closes I will have one more week of school before spring break and then I will be heading to Seattle to visit my best friend Heather Clemens and see her perform in the Seattle production of Teatro Zinzanni. I'm thrilled because it will be my first vacation in...I can't remember the last time I went on vacation!

I will also be seeing a lot of theatre soon - Anna in The Tropics & The Sisters Rosensweig at TheatreWorks, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers at Broadway By The Bay, I Do I Do! at Coastal Rep and True West at San Jose Stage Company. That's a lot of theatre!

=+)

M.

A GRAND OPENING

Sorry I have not been able to write anything lately as I have been swamped getting ready for the opening of The Physicists. Our opening night was a great success - in fact I have never seen a standing room only performance at Canada and it was - truly a great night in the theatre. All the kids worked really hard and their hard work really paid off. Come check it out - it's a great play!

RANDY ADAMS

I am so sad so report that after 21 years, Managing Director Randy Adams is leaving TheatreWorks to pursue a career in the East Coast. Randy is one of the sweetest men I have ever come across. Always with a big smile on his face and he is a a great laugher. He made me feel so welcome when I worked at TheatreWorks and I know he will be greatly missed. Randy helped TheatreWorks go from a small $300,000 a year theatre to an incredible $7 million a year theatre. What an accomplishment. There is an article on today's Mercury News. I know both Linda Hoy & I were crushed & teary-eyed when we heard the news. We wish Randy well on his future endeavors - I can only say this gentleman is as good as it gets.

KUDOS TO MY GAL HILARY!

My dear friend Hilary Little called me to tell me she was just cast as Adelaide in Cabrillos Stage's upcoming production of Guys & Dolls. I am so thrilled for her! Her Nathan Detroit will be played by the fabulous David Curley. I can't wait to see this! Way to go Hilary!!!! This is a cute picture of Hil & me backstage during Sweeney.

THE PHYSICISTS OPENS MARCH 23

Not much to report - busy as can be with the show at school as we approach our final week of rehearsal before Hell Week. Things are coming along though. Last week was particularly busy for me as I was also housesitting in Half Moon Bay. Here's all the info for the show - come check it out.

The Cañada College Theatre Arts Department Presents
Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s
The Physicists
Directed by Linda Hoy

The scene is a madhouse and the focus is on three inmates who are nuclear physicists. One thinks he is Newton and another, Einstein. The third has visitations from Solomon. They appear to be nice, likeable lunatics, but nothing is as simple as it seems. Are they really mad? Or are they playing some murderous game with the world as the stake? Who is earnest and who is the spy? Gradually we learn that each has been led down the path to moral destruction, past the signposts of truth, the purity of science, and personal responsibility. The asylum to which their paths have led them seems much saner than the mad world they've left behind.

The Physicists will be performed with a curtain-raiser performance of
Scientists Say, written by Cañada College’s Dr. David Meckler.

A cast of 17 Cañada College students perform including:
Joey Axiaq, Volkan Heval Akoglu, Bianca Beyrouti, Josh Bryant, Cristal Campbell, Kimi Carey, Michael Chow, Megan Finley, Kyla Gibboney, Samantha Goldberg, Dmitri Kononov, Maryann Moore, Natali Nichols, Kate Russo, Kelsey Schiedeck and Peter Winch.

When: Opens Thursday, March 23 at 7:30 PM.
Closes Saturday, April 1.

Showtimes: Thursday-Saturday at 7:30 PM.
(March 23, 24, 25, 30, 31 & April 1)

Where: Cañada College Flexible Theatre
4200 Farmhill Blvd. Redwood City

Tickets: $10 General Admission,
$9 Staff/Seniors,
$5 All Students

Ticket Reservations: (650) 306-3396

SHAME ON THE ACAMEDY

Wow - I'm still fuming about tonight's Oscars that I am questioning whether or not to wait and write this post - ah fuck it I'll just write it anyway, my best posts are angry ones =+).

First of all, I must say how dissapointed I was to see Reese Witherspoon walk away with the Best Actress trophy. I recently saw Walk The Line and in my opinion, she did nothing. Well, she did a fine job but Felicity Huffman was robbed -she clearly gave the best performance of the year (and looked stunning in her gown.) Reese won because she's popular in Hollywood. I used to kinda like her, now - not a fan!

The real moment of anger came when Crash was announced as the Best Picture. Now, I have to start off by saying that I think Crash is a tremendous film - however Brokeback Mountain is probably the most beautiful love story ever captured on film. Do we really need to celebrate a film that reminds us that deep inside we're all a little bit racist? My fucking heart dropped when I heard that news - I haven't felt this awful since Bush was elected to office. Yes, that's how strongly I feel about this.

Brokeback won 3 awards - for original score (don't even get me started on original song or I'll fucking burst!) best director (Ang Lee's speech made me cry) and best adapted screenplay. What a terrible loss - we all know (okay I strongly believe) Brokeback is the better film.

My hero Philip Seymour Hoffman won Best Actor and that gives me a little bit of faith in the Academy. His Oscar was well deserved. Kudos to George Clooney too - he's just a cool guy and I was happy to see him win.

Jon Stewart did a fine job as host and kept the action going providing funny commentary on what went on. The awards went into overtime. Did we really need that many fucking movie montages? Oy!

Anyway - I must look on the bright side as it was a good year for films and I was glad to see such good work all across the boards.

But as for some of these wins - shame on you Academy - shame, shame, shame.

THANK GOD IT'S SATURDAY!

This has been a very busy week - still very much hard at work on The Physicists. This show is kicking my ass - there is just so much to do and only two weeks of rehearsal left. It almost seems like Linda & I are a two-person machine.

My friend, Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award Nominee Sean Patrick O'Connor left me one of the sweetest phone messages ever - what was said is private - but it meant the world to me - thanks Sean. (A little message 'cause I know he reads this =+)

Some good news to report - I won the Emerging Artist Scholarship at Notre Dame which brings my scholarship money to over $15,000 - fucking fantastic. I'm still deliberating what school I'm going to attend but it seems Notre Dame is at the top of my list (despite my arch nemesis who shall remain nameless will be attending as well - like that's going to stop me, hee, hee, hee...hee)

I'm hoping to do something fun tonight like going to see a show - hopefully I won't be too tired and pass out after I finish typing this. Oy!

Have a great weekend everyone!

=+)

M.

MORE SNUBS

After thinking about it and having a discussion with some theatre friends I noticed there were even some more snubs from this years BATCCA nominations:

*J.B. Wilson for his brilliant scenic design for Into The Wooods. It truly was a magical set.

*Richard E.T. White for his outstanding direction of The Goat, or who is Sylvia?

*Jackson Davis for his heartbreaking work in Intimate Apparell for Best Featured Performer Male.

*The incredible James Monroe Iglehart for Featured Performer Male (Wolf in Into The Woods) and while we're there Courtney Stokes for her portrayal of Little Red Riding Hood.

*The two that really stand out are Pamela Myers for her tour-de-force performance in Harold & Maude and the phenomenal Christiane Noll for her spirited & beautiful portrayal of the Baker's Wife in Into The Woods.

It was kinda buggin' me today - now all better.

=+)

M.