Grinder's Grumblings

Get it here .

Hello everyone, It is with the deepest sadness that I must announce today that Grinder Productions has suspended operations, effective immediately. The reason for this is simple: I cannot find and keep enough male actors to do any shows this season. This is not a temporary problem, but one that has plagued me for years. It is not fair to ask the few men and many women who have agreed to do shows this year to rehearse without full casts. I am deeply sorry for doing this to all of you. If you are receiving this email it is because you have some stake in our company, as an actor, community partner, or friend, and I would like to apologize to anyone who is hurt, upset, disappointed or otherwise inconvenienced by this decision. I would like to extend a special apology to Tim and Sade, the two extremely talented, enthusiastic young people who were to run our summer camps who are now unemployed. If you know of anyone looking for two great camp counsellors this summer I highly recommend them. ...

Good, bad and ugly, it's been nice to get some comments this past week here on the blog. When you blog and blog and blog and blog and you're not sure whether or not anyone's actually reading it can get a bit disconcerting once in a while if you don't get the odd bit of feedback. (Luckily for me blogging fulfills the natural need within me to write, with a minimum of structural constraints and little or no censorship) Please don't hesitate to keep the comments coming, even if you're a hater - I do appreciate people's ideas and feedback, but I especially like to hear about constructive, pragmatic things that make things better here at Grinder. And if have any ideas about topics you think I should include in future posts feel free to let me know about that too!

I was going to simply make a comment in response to the recent comment Grinder received but I have been allowed to do a guest post instead. When I read the comment I was disgusted that someone would say such terrible things and not express their feelings directly. If someone has a problem with someone or something the only decent and adult thing to do is discuss them openly so the problems may be resolved. I have worked with Grinder for many years now and am thrilled to say that it got me back into theatre after many years away from it and I love it again. The fact that I love it means that I would rehearse almost anywhere, just so that I can do it. Grinder is not a big company with lots of money to throw around, yet it works hard to allow local people to get on stage and show off what they can do. It’s a company that has been in the community for years and struggles to keep going in these hard economic times. Eric runs Grinder out of a love for theatre and his love for allowing o...

Here's an article on Helium on a subject that's near and dear to me and the world's greatest wife. Understanding in vitro fertilziation (IVF) FYI, there's no news right now, nothing to report whatsoever. I won't say "stay tuned" because I can't promise that there would be anything to report much before the first day of kindergarten - that's the nature of these things. We've decided that being open about the process is an important step though, because too many people aren't aware of the extent of couples who deal with fertility issues, and it isn't talked about enough, even amongst fellow patients.

Day four of rehearsals dawned bright and sunny, as had been the norm all week long. By 9am the Main Street in Sheridan’s Falls was already filling up with tourists and teenagers, all of the scantily dressed for the hot day to come. Dressed in her “show blacks” because Trudy was taking her picture today for the front-of-house photos, Mackenzie attracted more than a few quizzical stares as she walked down the main street towards the theatre, coffee in one hand, her stage management toolkit in the other. “You’re a smoke short of finally looking like a real techie,” joked Steven, who was sitting on the front steps of the theatre having a smoke. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, both covered with dirt and paint from the shop. “So how’s the stage managing workin’ out for you?” “It’s okay, I guess. I never know what the next thing will be that I’m supposed to already know, but I think I’m staying ahead of things. “That’s good. That’s very good. And you’re sure you’ll ...

This was going to be our 1st main stage show at the Ennotville Library. Now it's the our first show at the Belwood Hall. This is Chaucer Uncensored! Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales were completed in the final few years of the 14th century. They are a collection of stories being told by a group of pilgrims on their way to the Thomas Becket shrine in Canterbury, England. What makes the stories unique is that they are told largely by and about the common people of the time, not just the usual kings and queens. We've taken three of the most-loved and funniest tales and rewritten them for the stage, in thoroughly modern English - this play is just as easy to understand as a typical bedroom farce. The play is directed by Alan Quinn, who has also co-written the show, adding the British colloquialism that give it an even more farcical flavour. Chaucer Uncensored runs July 8th, 9th and 10th at the Belwood Hall. Call 519-780-7593 or visit www.grinderproductions.org for tickets a...

It was a dark and stormy night in late October 2004. The old Grand stood much as she does now, except with far worse lighting. A vast set covered the stage, dwarfed only by the endless vista suggested by the scrim beyond the large bay window upstage centre. Someone said it was one of the biggest, most elaborate sets they'd ever seen on the Fergus stage. Two young actors huddled in the cramped backstage, waiting for the lights to go down. A young man and a young woman, both playing roles well above their age, but filled with the plucky determination of youth. Alan Jackson's "Remember When" filled the theatre as the lights went to black. That night Grinder Productions was born. That night it wasn't a staged reading, pieces of paper stuck to a wall, or some pathetic techie's asinine ramblings over his fourth pint of Guinness. That night we performed a play. It was called Home Farm. I don't think Home Farm is the best play I've ever written (though a few ...

I write this as I'm sitting on the dock in Rosseau, whiling away the hours until I can pick up the world's greatest wife (who looks simply ravishing in a poodle skirt, by the way) from her company's annual meeting. Cottages dot the shoreline. A young family fishes on the next dock over, and then a loon's call echos over the water. You don't get much more Northern Ontario than this. Even though I'm far from home, noticeably exhausted and have narrowly avoided not one, but two wet and runny bombs from the seagulls periodically swirling overhead I'm oddly enough in a largely peaceful state of mind. Large bodies of open, calm water seem to have that effect on me, as does the quiet majesty of the boreal forest that seems to rise effortlessly out of the granite. A par of mallards land just behind me, and begin foraging along the shore. A pair of loons surface just a few feet from where I sit. A blue heron glides over the water, disappearing in the instant she lan...

I usually get excited when someone leaves a comment - it means that someone out there is actually reading this thing. But this morning I finally had someone who dared offer more than a platitude. Apparently I'm a horrible theatre company. I'm disorganized, I don't care about my casts and everyone in the theatre community hates to work with me. I'm supposed to stop complaining and get my act together before I lose what few actors I have left. The comment was left anonymously, but it was by someone who had done one show with me, and had such a horrible experience that he or she would never be back. The timing couldn't be worse, as this morning I was planning on telling everyone exactly what we are doing to fix what's wrong with Grinder, which is exactly what the commenter says needs to be done - I've been upstaged on my own blog. The words hurt - give me sticks and stones any day over this. The only thing that hurts more is that the commenter does have a valid...