Grinder's Grumblings

I've likely already posted this, but just in case you missed it, here's what we're doing this fall, at the Fergus Grand Theatre and the Elora Centre for the Arts: At the Fergus Grand Theatre: Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-in September 4th, 5th and 6th The Innocents October 23rd, 24th and 25th Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates December 18th, 19th, 20th At the Elora Centre for the Arts: ART—A special presentation in Conjunction with Sensational Elora October 3rd, 4th A Bench in the Sun October 23rd, 24th and 25th Sally and Marsha December 4th, 5th and 6th All shows , dates and venues subject to change, tickets are on sale as we acquire the royalties for these shows. For more information please visit www.grinderproductions.org .

Just a reminder that this weekend will be your last chance to see Dean and Rachel in this wonderful little show. With the close of this show on Saturday night our 4th season of the Ennotville Summer Theatre will be complete. Make sure you get out to see this one - there's a sequel to it that we're considering for the summer of 2009! Tickets at the door, on the blog or by phone at 519-780-7593. See you there!

We're just over one week away from the all the mad-cap, sock-it-to-me, humour you can stand! Grinder Productions is pleased to present the stage version of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in at the Fergus Grand Theatre, September 4th, 5th and 6th (shows at 8pm nightly, with a 2pm Saturday matinee). Featuring some of the best known and loved lines, gags and characters from the TV show, including "The Judge," "The Old Maid," and the Soldier (Verrrr-y Interesting!). There's even room for the dumb blonde! Call the Fergus Grand Theatre box office at 519-787-1981 to make sure you get you and your sweet bippy a seat for this extra-special Grinder Productions event.

It's been a long summer. Much fun as I've had, all the memories we've made, it has taken a lot out of me. Perhaps not as much as it did last summer (where it nearly destroyed the company as much as it nearly destroyed yours truly). I've had many happy times, many sad times, and now that the summer is almost over I think it's a good time to take a bit of stock about where I am, and what I've learned, or how I've grown, over the past 15 weeks. For starters, this is the first summer where I wasn't truly alone in my quest to keep the company afloat. Yes, Grinder has always been about the people, but when it comes to the books I've usually kept that out of my conversations with directors and actors, because I would much rather they focus on doing their jobs, rather that worrying about whether or not there's enough in the cash box to keep us going for another week. But this summer, with the addition of the world's greatest girlfriend, I finally...

We're done! A big thank-you to everyone who helped out this past weekend with Brighton Beach Memoirs at the Belwood Hall. It was a big show, and a lot of work, and despite all the pitfalls that assailed this show from the beginning I'm proud to say that thanks to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved (including an actress who picked up a role with just 3 days to learn the role!), the show came off without a hitch. Plans are already underway to bring theatre back to Belwood in 2009 - watch for the season announcement coming soon in the fall!

Do you Facebook? Then why not join the Grinder Productions Group on Facebook! We're just starting the group now, but as time goes on we hope to have lots of photos, news, and even reviews of past productions. Check it out! Grinder

The 3rd and final show in our Belwood Summer Theatre season is upon us, as is the last opening night this summer. Come on out to the Belwood Hall and see the life of Eugene Morris Jerome played out as he sees it, in 1937 New York. With just a 3 day, 4 performance run, this show will be gone before you know it, so please make sure you get out to see it before it closes this Saturday. Tickets at the door, by phone at 519-780-7593 or online at www.grinderproductions.org

Laugh-in at the Fergus Grand Theatre, September 4th, 5th and 6th. Call 519-787-1981 for tickets.

Live performance, be it ritual, dance, music, storytelling, sermonizing, or sitting in a darkened auditorium watching a show on a stage, has been the dominant form of entertainment the world over for the last ten thousand years or so. From Peking Opera to Haitian Voodoo to the latest sex farce on Broadway, theatre has “held up a mirror” and given humanity a reflection of itself, at once both grotesque and beautiful. More visceral than anything printed on a page, more invasive than anything hung on a gallery wall, theatre is, or was, the best (and often only) way the members of civilizations could self-identify, connect with their compatriots and, ultimately, find a palatable route to their conception of eternity. No more. Since the invention of the camera there has been an explosion of new media. Photography came first, then cinema, then radio, television, and the internet. Each of these new mediums exponentially increased the methods by which the members of a civilization could s...

Brighton Beach Memoirs - August 21st, 22nd and 23rd at the Belwood Hall. Call 519-780-7593 for tickets, or get them online. Insert Photos Here

For Immediate Release The final production in the 2008 Belwood Summer Theatre is a semi-autobiographical comedy by one of America’s best-loved playwrights. Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs is the story of a young boy coming of age in Brighton Beach, New York in 1937, in an overcrowded, overwhelmed household. The play is narrated by Euguene Morris Jerome, a thinly disguised version of the young Neil Simon himself. Eugene is both an observer and a player in this story, and it is as much about his coming of age as it is the coming of age of pre-war America. His thoughts, which he writes down in his “memoirs” are funny, piercing looks at the ironies that shape his life, from the death of his uncle (which has led to his aunt and her two daughters moving in) to the hard work and sacrifice of his father, who seems to have to keep working harder and harder just to care for the seven people living under his roof. In true Neil Simon fashion though, the pains and frustrations are all fram...

It's finally here! The fourth and final show in our Ennotville Summer Theatre Season opens tonight. Arlene, Sara, Nancy, Andy, Dean and Rachel have all worked so hard to make this show come to life, and I would like to congratulate them on a job well done. This is a fairly well-known show, yet they have made it their own, and our patrons are in for all the richer experience for their efforts. If you can't make it out tonight, the show will run Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, with 2pm Saturday matinees, all the way to August 30th. It's the perfect "date night"for couples young and old, and is sure to please anyone looking for a quintessential piece of summer theatre. Tickets are available either at the door, by phone at 519-780-7593 or through our website at www.grinderproductions.org.

What follows below is some random musing I've been doing on the Naked Theatre as it pertains to marketing. I'm still very much in the formative stages on this - I can and will change my mind depending on what information comes my way. Your thoughts and comments are welcomed. The Naked Theatre is not about being all things to all people. Rather, it might be considered to be one thing to all people who want that one thing, or more accurately (and profitably), many things to many people who want many things. In promoting the Naked theatre we have to seek out the groups of people who want what we have to offer, not just the “regulars” who come to every show. By the same token, we can’t be relying on “mass advertising” efforts to get our shows out. Take a look at the Middle Ages. By promoting to our “niche” audience (the local and tourist crowd in Belwood) we were able to reach an audience that might not read the Wellington Advertiser or Google our website or blog. It would ...

Rehearsals are now well underway for our first show back at the Grand in the fall, the (authorized) stage version of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in. The cast has been working tirelessly on this show already; whether it's bringing in props and costumes, finding creative ways to bring characters to life or simply coming to a rehearsal with a smile on their face and some of the best "can-do" attitudes I've seen in quite a while, these people have really taken to this show. And so they should - this is some very funny theatre. Some TV comedy loses its lustre when you transfer it to the stage, but I don't think that will be the case here. The material has been optimized by Rowan and Martin for the stage, making for a fast-paced, fluid show that can be done with a minimum of scene and costume changes or elaborate technical effects. They've also been gracious enough to provide some "alternate lines" at the back of the book - helpful when some of the j...

I've recently re-published the website with a few updates about our upcoming shows and the productions that have already closed this summer. I'll be doing a more thorough review in September, but in the meantime please take a moment to look over the new and improved links page, and feel free to send me any links you think would be worthwhile to include in Future updates. I want the links page at Grinder to be a portal to arts, culture, leisure, services and anything else in Centre Wellington that our prospective patrons might need or want, so the more links we have, the better (it also helps improve our search ranking in Google!)

We're on there! Just click on the title of this post to see a pretty good list of all the theatre bloggers in Canada that these guys have been able to find. You'll notice "Grinder's Grumblings" is there in prominence - that's thanks to you guys, who actually read this and make it a worthwhile endeavour. It's been a little crazy this past week, but I promise more witticisms are coming next week, as well as all the info you'll need about our upcoming shows this summer and fall. In the meantime though, check these blogs out. There's some great debates about theatre going on right now in the blogosphere - and I think they have a lot of bearing on what we're doing here at Grinder Productions, both now and in the years to come as our company grows.

Just a reminder that this Thursday, Friday and Saturday are your last chances to see First Kisses at the Ennotville Library. This little show has played to great houses over its three-week run so far, so don't be disappointed - get your tickets today! And if you're unable to get out to see that one, then hurry up and get your tickets for Same Time, Next Year, the next show that is opening at the Libary on August 14th.

Just a couple of Rehearsal Pics from Same Time, Next Year. Featuring Dean Dunbar and Rachel Behling. Opens August 14th at the libary. Get your tickets online by clicking on "buy tickets" in the sidebar, or by calling 519-780-7593.

Whew! It's finally over, I can put my clothes back on again! After many weeks of toil, including some last-minute heroics, the second show in our Belwood summer season has come to a close. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard on this, and their infinite patience with our ongoing casting nightmares. In the end, it was well worth the effort, and I'm very pleased with what was accomplished, and I think we're excellently positioned for Brighton Beach Memoirs, our third show in Belwood, opening Augst 21st.

Just a reminder to everyone that the August Newsletter is now available. Get it here .