Saturday, September 24, 2005

"I myself have seen my wilder days..."

Well, things are tying to get back to normal. I'm back full time in the swing of things at work, and have started rehearsals for A PIECE OF MY HEART which goes up in late October. Logan is growing like a weed, and the missus is busy doing her thing in the world of healing arts... and onward we go. Joy , Logan and I spent a rousing Saturday browsing at the local mall, eating lunch at the food court (Chao Cajun...yummy!) and followed it up with a hearty late afternoon nap! And I LOVED it , cause it's the first day in weeks I've just been able to vege and do not much of anything...but MAN it's a far cry from what my Saturday's used to be like...it's strange: one day you're young and vital, partying your rear-end off and staying up all hours, the next day you wake up and BOOM- you're one of those real, bona-fide grown up types, with a job, family, BILLS, etc...granted I've been that guy for over 12 years now, but let me tell you - it's blown by awfully fast! For instance, Logan has his nine month check up next week, and it seems like we just had him two days ago! If time flies when you're having fun, I must be having a helluva lot of fun....cause time is like the FLASH in my world (Wally West, of course- there's one for you geeks!)
SOOOO- what I wanna know now is...as a theatre artist, has time made you MORE adventourous or less? Bolder or more cautious? What do you think?
ps- 10 points for the ref...I figured the game MUST go on, since it;'s soooo close and all...

"I myself have seen my wilder days..."

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

DIVA NEWS

Here is t is , Divas!

From Johnny Moore...................Please check out the trailer for my new movie Glorious Mail. Ritchie Montgomery plays Brother Oral Buchanan of The First Church of Divine Rightessnous. It's a scream. Please forward this to anyone you know that may be in the Oxford area this Saturday to come see it. The 3rd Annual Oxford Film Festival will host the World Premiere of GLORIOUS MAIL written by J.D. Evermore and Alice Walker and directed by J.D. Evermore this Saturday, Sept. 10th at 2:45 P.M. at the Gertrude C. Ford Center on campus at The University of Mississippi. The movie stars Ritchie Montgomery, Stuart Greer, Grey Sample, Turner Crumbley, Alice Walker, JD Evermore, Johnny McPhail, Patty Lewis, and Rebecca Jernigan. To view the trailer, go to: http://www.lifeofms.com/TRAILER.wmvFor more info: www.oxfordfilmfest.com---------------------------------------------------------------From Jason Armit................
Please pass on the below information to any of your studentsor friends about to graduate or to any alumni who are lookingfor an MFA degree in performance. Also, feel free to call meor e-mail me with any questions about either of these twoevents. The member MFA programs of SEGTA are committed tokeeping the fall audition as an annual event, possible addingdesign/tech auditions in the near future.I am happy to announce that the University of Georgia will beholding on-site auditions for our MFA Acting Program onSaturday, December 3, 2005 on the campus of UGA in Athens,Georgia. Please join us for a day of acting, voice andmovement workshops, interviews and tours of the facility andcampus. We also invite you as our guest at that evening'sperformance of NOISES OFF by Michael Frayn, a hilarious, rip-roaring farce. Please contact me at this e-mail address orthe below phone number to schedule an appointment forSaturday, December 3. The day will begin with a workshop at1:00 PM, followed by auditions and interviews. We are hopingto enroll 10-12 students in our newly revised MFA Actingprogram in the fall of 2006. Please visit our website foradditional information, www.drama.uga.edu. If a conflictexists for this December date, we can schedule an individualappointment as an alternative. For those unable to auditionthis fall, we will be holding an additional on-site auditionat UGA in the early part of the spring semester.Another exciting event scheduled for this fall is the firstannual Southeast Graduate Theatre Auditions (SEGTA)! OnNovember 12, at the Atlanta Civic Center in Atlanta, GA fiveMFA Acting programs will be holding combined auditions forstudents interested in their graduate programs. Please visitthe website (www.segta.net) for details and particulars onthe audition, application and procedures. Feel free tocontact me about either of these auditions. I look forward toseeing you in the fall.Best regards,RayRay PaolinoAssociate ProfessorHead of Performance; Director of TheatreDepartment of Theatre & Film StudiesUniversity of Georgia, Athens GA 30602Phone:706-542-2085Fax:706-542-2080-----------------------------------------------------------
THIS IS FROM LIZ MEYERS ADDINGTON. SENT SOMETIME DURING OR SHORTLY AFTER KATRINA..........Greetings from the addington family. We are outside of Houston with Kevin and Sarah harrison. We are alive and well. We road the storm out in our home in Louisiana. We boarded up. Our house is fine just tons of trees down and it was very hard to get out of there. The down power line in our driveway and the gas leak next door made us leave. My grandmother did die during the storm. She was sick and couldnt leave. She died while they were evacuating her. So needless to say i am happy to be alive. Hope all is well with all of you.P.S. Our clinic didn't withstand any damage just no electricity or water.God Bless.Liz Addington-----------------------------------------------------------------
David Hutson in New York City saw Charles Farris on the Weather Channel talking about the hurricane. Sunday evening about 9pm or so. -------------------------------------------------------------------lauraazul22@hotmail.com This is laura smith's email address. she wants to be added to the Diva List. i told her and eric holland what they have been missing and they want in-oh yeah.xojenn duran

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

"Let's get back to the cave...for a little while..."

USM DIVAS- Mr Mills has asked that you send any DIVA news my way for the time being till he gets things up and going at the cave again...any and all KATRINA reports would be greatly appreciated, particularly those of you in the burg...Hope all is well.

Our benefit is progressing nicely. Met with Rick and Jim Clark (Lexington Arts Commission) to begin some strategic planning, and things are already progressing nicely. Here's what we know thus far:

The event will take place October 11th at the DAC in Lexington (time TBA). Admission is $25 a person and donations will also be accepted in addition to this. We are planning either a pre or post (or perhaps BOTH) show reception with some Cajun fare, spirits, etc...the evenings entertainment will be provided by local actors/singers , some from specific productions, others solo or in duet...some of the confimations we have include the cast of CROWNS(AGL) , the cast of FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM (WCTAA) the cast of RED HOT AND COLE (Sayre School), Jonathon Watson, Mike Fryman, Laura St. Peter, Shayne Brakefield, Michael Thompson, and yours truly...any local reading this who want to be involved leave a comment with a contact or email me at the address in the last post.
Even if you don't want to participate., PLEASE come out and support this worthy cause. The specific charity is still being worked out, but all proceeds WILL GO to Katrina victims...

...and just to get back to a LITTLE normalcy...EIGHTEEN POINTS for the winner of this weeks lyric...title AND performer, please!

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Austin, TX

My sister in law Hope lives in Austin TX where some of the now homeless NOLA folks are arriving. She and her friend Eileen have been helping out at the evacuee center. This is part of Eileen's account of their past few days:

Hope and I have spent most of the last two days down at the Austin Convention Center helping out at one of the public computer banks and my hubby Sam joined us today. I feel like I've been there for weeks and wish that I could stay for as long as the evacuees are there. There have been so many emotions whirling through me since yesterday morning:

ANGER AT WHATS HAPPENING TO THESE LOVELY PEOPLE:These people are the statistics we've heard about: the 37% of the NO population that is living below the poverty line. These are people who had next to nothing, and the "next to" was washed away. Most of the evacuees at the Austin Convention Center are a prime example of who is being left behind as a result of the digital divide and they are the losing side of the widening gap between the lower and evershrinking middle classes. They are people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and older who have never used a computer, never heard of an e-mail address and approach a computer as if it were a tiger with its teeth bared. Unfortunately most of the resources available to the evacuees require online access and basic PC skills.
Frustration and anger with the system that left these people living in unspeakable conditions for WAY TOO LONG
I've talked to someone yesterday who saw a 12 year's throat being slit in front of him. I talked to people who were too afraid to go to sleep for all the days there were in the Superdome and NO Convention Center because they didn't know if they'd be killed in their sleep. I talked to people who spent six days waiting under a bridge for help with no water or food in the sweltering heat.
You can read more of their first hand account at http://www.appalachia-alumni-association.net/blog/.
This thing gets sadder by the minute for me. Reading some of these stories breaks my heart.... for those in lexington I CHALLENGE ALL OF YOU to get involved. We are discussing fundraiser ideas and after friday I'll have a clearer picture of whats going to happen. PLEASE get invloved with us and lend a hand. And do anything else you can: Give money, time, blood, old clotes, anything!
Also, for Lexington folk, do any of you know if any people have been aevacuated to the Central KY area? And if so where are they and do they need help? Also, who's taking clothing and supply donations?
Let me know.
For any South MS folk reading this, please continue to let us know if you are ok and if you need anything at all. We are here for you...and any other DIVAS with news or comments are welcome to chime in.

Friday, September 02, 2005

KATRINA BENEFIT

Greetings all. Actors Guild of Lexington in conjunction with the Lexington Arts Council is in the planning stages of a fund raising event to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf South. I have been asked to be the point person for this event, and I would like to enlist the aid of the ENTIRE Lexington Theatre and Arts communities. Rick, Jim Clark and I plan to meet next week to begin planning this event, and I need YOUR input AND support! If you have any ideas, please send them to my private email at woundedeagle8@yahoo.com. As I've mentioned before, the Gulf region is very close to my heart. I would love to make this an event to remember, and it would be great to see our wonderful, large community of artists come together for this very necessary cause. Let me hear from you!

And for all you DIVAS, please keep posting info on any of our brothers and sisters in the area!