-Awesome job today!

As you have heard, we WILL have practice tomorrow. You need to call each of your actors and remind them. Houston has sent out an email and D and I have started spreading the word.

-A few props are left.
-Reeses Peanut Butter Cups or Reeses Pieces.
-On time and pushing actors to be ready tomorrow.

-Spacing of actors. Go through the scenes ahead of time and work it out.
-You should plan a time to practice the fight.
-Snickers or Milky Way?

-Today went well and we saw some great acting
-The play is moving along.
-We need to be harder on the Psychologist scene and getting them to take it more seriously.
-How are the props coming along? We are still missing a good amount of them.

The Golden Fish

Hey, guess what? Your show is in less than two weeks.

I was getting a huge vibe of lack of energy, enthusiasm, and a sense of anger and general malaise towards this project. That's too bad.

Even though you are nearing the completion of this, it is far from over...your words, visions, pictures, jokes, and hours of hard work are going to go up in front of the whole school, your families and friends. You have worked for many months on this project. Even though all of your thoughts and dreams lie out on the lawn, on the beach, on mountains, in Florida, Delaware, Chicago, Kalamazoo, NYC, NY State, DC and who knows where else...you are at Pennington. For better or for worse, graduation is not tonight! It is in June. So, you need to buckle down, reach into your hearts and minds, get yourselves together as one and direct and tech this show! You owe it your actors, techies, your teachers, but most of all, you owe it to yourselves.

I don't want to wax too poetic here, but there will come a time in the not so distant future, when you will be off living your new life somewhere and thoughts and memories of the Blackbox and all it meant to you will come to the surface. So, let your last memories be of this show and the greatness it can and will be. Don't drop it now and regret it later.

Peter Brook, a great theatre director of our time, described the production of a show like a group of fishermen (or women) going out on a ship to catch fish. There are many tasks to complete. Getting bait, checking weather, setting sail, dividing up jobs, swabbing the deck, sewing your nets, and finally, when the wind is just right, the water calms, and you cast your net to see what you can pick up. Lame theatre companies drudge up a rubber boot, or a tire, or a tin can. Mediocre theatre companies pull up fish that aren't mature enough for selling or eating. The best, most professional, polished and creative theatre companies might be lucky enough to pull up a golden fish.

All of you know, from being at Pennington for so, so long, that we pull up the golden fish each and every time. You want this show to be another one in a long line of gleaming, glittering, golden fish. Resist the boot and tire option. Go for it!