Ahh, Theatre in the Springtime

I feel as though it's been ages since I've posted anything. Let's see... we've had an interesting year so far: during the fall we had several conversations as a class/company about whether people wanted to continue to participate in theatre at North Star and if so, in what formats; we talked about commitment and discipline and fun; we reviewed elements of Suzuki method, especially the sitting and standing statues and some of the walks; we did compositions* inspired by scenes from Sarah Ruhl's "Melancholy Play;" we played games and did Viewpoints; we wittled our numbers down and also welcomed new members to join us. Trine and I were both incredibly busy at our respective colleges and with the play "Commedia dell Smartass" (by Sonya Sobieski) which our company the Serious Play! Theatre Ensemble was presenting and in which Trine was one of 4 performers and also my husband Dan and I were co-directing. This busyness put a bit of a strain on North Star theatre, but we managed to pull it off! I think we can all say that the fall was productive and fun. We even succeeded in presenting some excellent one-acts, orchestrated entirely by the students (and Trine!).

The spring semester so far has flown by more quickly than we expected, busyness continued ("Commedia" opened in early March), but the North Star Players have survived Trine's and my crazyness and we're picking up the pace now in anticipation of putting up our annual mainstage production at... North Star! Yes, for the first time in years, our main production will take place in our own North Star building. With some work and creativity the large rehearsal room will be transformed into a wonderful little black box theatre. Check here and at the North Star Players website for upcoming details about this year's production.

As an aside, I have long championed spelling theatre as 'theater.' I felt that folks I knew who used 'theatre' tended to be a bit presumptious and I preferred the down-home, nitty-gritty feel of 'theater.' However, I have finally been convinced that 'theatre' is a more universal spelling and therefore a better spelling. A colleague recently reminded me that the U.S. is the only place that spells theatre as 'theater' and that in fact I was being presumptuous by insisting on 'Americanizing' the spelling of this word. So I've switched over. It's not flip-flopping, it's being open to others' perspectives and the possibility of adapting to new (or old) ideas. Something else that I champion. :)

That's all for now, and do check back to see what we're up to!

*for more information about Viewpoints and Composition read Anne Bogart's "A Director Prepares" and especially Bogart's and Tina Landau's "The Viewpoints Book."