Flex Those Muscles, Girl!

I'm going to try something new. I am not sure whether or not I will be successful but I'll never know unless I try, right? I am determined to give my writing muscles a more disciplined and steady workout and I am hoping that this blog will be where that happens. Starting today, I am going to commit to posting to this site at least five times a week. Beyond that, all is fair game. You may get a review, a musing, a project update or perhaps a shopping list. Don't know. It's pretty much going to be a WYSIWYG situation. Enter if you dare.

So, what has been going on in my life since my post-back surgery blog in early August? Firstly, I have recovered from the surgery. Now my aches and pains are just age related, not herniated disc related.

In September, TheStage Repertory Company launched its monthly Musical Mondays! series at The Palace Theatre in Danbury, CT. Each month, our company produces a concert featuring the songs of new and exciting musical theatre composer/lyricists. So far we have heard music from the canons of Bobby Cronin and Robert Rokicki. On November 15th, we are going to feature Gaby Alter & Sophie Jaff's Not That We're Bitter, about the high, lows and further lows of dating. For December and beyond, we are preparing an exciting lineup that will be announced very soon! If you can spare $15 (or $35 including train fare for those of you in the City), don't miss the chance to see original and fresh musical theatre performed by some of Broadway's brightest rising stars!

At the end of September I went to The Catskills with Bobby Cronin, Erica Ruff and a group of deliciously talented young actors. Over the weekend, we put the musical formerly known as The Beaten Path up on its feet. From that weekend emerged Welcome To My Life, a beautiful, moving and important new musical about the challenges of growing up and what can happen when make missteps on the journey to adulthood. I am so excited for people to see the first collaboration from the writing team of Cronin & Dempster. It really is a powerful piece of original musical theatre! In fact, if you want a sneak peek at some of the songs, why don't you head to Birdland NYC on November 29th to see The Roads I'm Taking: The Music & Lyrics of Bobby Cronin. You won't be disappointed!

I continue to reallocate focus to my writing, which has become an increasingly more rewarding and exciting way for me to spend my "spare" time. I am in the process of putting some pitches together for some new projects and I'm thrilled to say that I'm going to be collaborating on a new project with Bobby. You can certainly expect to hear more about my writing adventures in the coming months. In addition to working with TheStage Repertory Company and my writing projects, I am beginning to put together the pieces for the production of Alfred Uhry & Jason Robert Brown's musical Parade. This has been a longtime favorite of mine and I am thrilled to be at its helm for The Ridgefield Theater Barn's March 2011 production. After it goes up, I will be taking a bit of a directing hiatus as I spend more time writing.

I continue to go to New York and, when I can, try to catch my favorite performers in action. As part of NYMF, I saw some amazing productions including Anthony Rapp's Without You and Jennifer Ashley Tepper & Kevin Michael Murphy's If It Even Only Runs A Minute 4. I was at the first preview of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, caught a Times Talks panel discussion with Tom Kitt and the new cast members of next to normal, took in a couple installments of the Joe Iconis Rock & Roll Jamboree run at The Beechman (where the breathtaking "Ammonia" made its debut) and I saw Off-Broadway Close-Up, which featured the pleasant surprise of the entire [title of show] cast joining the ever-cramazing Susan Blackwell in a kick-ass performance of "Die Vampire, Die!".

I will take a brief moment here to say that the 2010-2011 Tony Season on Broadway is getting off to a smashing start. I know that time and money won't allow me to see everything but if both were in abundant supply, these are the shows that I would be getting tickets to: BROADWAY: War Horse, Catch Me If You Can, The Scottsboro Boys, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark and Godspell. I am interested in The House of Blue Leaves with Ben Stiller & Edie Falco and Death of a Salesman with Philip Seymour Hoffman, admittedly this interest is primarily because of casting. OFF-BROADWAY: Angels In America, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, Compulsion, The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, By The Way, Meet Vera Stark, and One-Arm. I am also really, really hoping that I make it down to DC to see Follies at The Kennedy Center, featuring Bernadette Peters, Jan Maxwell, Linda Lavin and Elaine Page. It will be interesting to see how many of these shows I actually get to see. Thank God for things like TDF.

Tomorrow is Halloween, which really marks the beginning of holiday madness for me. In addition to raising three kids, wrapping up the year at the 4o-hour a week income generation establishment, producing a couple Musical Mondays! and casting Parade, the family has some exciting trips planned including the much-anticipated trip to Great Wolf Lodge in The Poconos. This time is also known as "time for mommy to write, while the kids conquer the indoor water park". Everybody wins.

So there you have it. I have written something. I have caught you up. And I've probably exhausted you a little bit.

I think I'm going to go take a nap.

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Rising From The Ashes

Today is the first day of a new decade. Today is also my birthday and, thusly, the beginning of my 41st year (or, depending on perspective, the beginning of my 42nd year).

Last year was difficult. And I'm not going to lie, I'm happy to see it end. I worked hard and I was let down hard. I made friends and I lost friends. It was a year of accepting truths - about myself, about my relationships, about my illness and about my aspirations. For me, 2009 was not only the last year of the decade but the end of a significant chapter in my life.

After my most recent blog post, the following T.S. Eliot quote appeared as the Facebook status of TBTA's future leader: “For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice.”

At first, I took it very personally. Last year, I spoke words in a language that will soon become obsolete. This year, a new voice will speak new words, in a new language. With one single quote, I felt both hurt and dismissed, as though all of my contributions were for naught.

Appended to the end of the quote from "Little Gidding II" was a fragment from a different T.S. Eliot quote: "And to make an end is to make a beginning."

Now, T.S. Eliot holds a special place in my heart. As a child, my father read to me from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (before Andrew Lloyd Webber got his hands on it). As a student, I explored the deeply complex world of T.S. Eliot, most specifically The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and The Waste Land.

Of course, I know that my friend's usage of this quote was more likely predicated by the onset of the New Year rather than as a personal affront to me. However, despite its intent, I choose to use that quote, in its entirety, to begin the next chapter of my story: "What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from."

Much like the Seneca quote in my previous post, T.S. Eliot purports that without an ending there cannot be a beginning. Endings are hard and often sad but they are, indeed, where we start from. Beginnings are exhilarating.

From the ashes rises the Phoenix and, as such, I am proud and excited to announce that, in collaboration with B. Peter Hughes and Joseph Russo, a new theatre company is being born. TheStage Repertory Company, devoted to championing new and lesser known theatre, will spread its wings in 2010.

TheStage Rep will begin producing theatre for our community in Spring 2010 and will announce our inaugural season in February 2010.

Join us, won't you? Because beginnings are, indeed, exhilarating.

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