Grinder's Grumblings

If you remember my last post, I mentioned the dozen disasters that stalk me. I thought I had outsmarted them all, for the moment. Perhaps I did. But there was one more disaster.  First, the good news - rehearsals for Benches and Couches are going well. Personally, I started off slowly, and it took a couple of nights before I really got my directorial feet back under me, but now that post-rehearsal rush is back, and stronger than it's been in a long time, and that's a very empowering thing to work with. We've come together quickly as an ensemble, and already the play has taken on new dimensions, thanks to everyone's enthusiastic input. We've added, discarded and rewritten scenes, and have wrested a plausible narrative out of a series of what seemed at first just a random jumble of sketches. We're all having a lot of fun.  But of course this is Grinder, so for every high it seems there must always be a low. Just as we were on the cusp of starting rehearsals for th...

 It's been well over a month since my last post. A lot has happened. A couple of my "Four Big Things" have come and gone. Huge changes at work - new possibilities and new responsibilities. Lots of birth and death on the farm. We finally bought a bull calf. He's a bit small, but eager to get to work. In keeping with our tradition of naming herd sires alphabetically, since this is our first bull Jules has decided to call him Angus: Got some surprising good news - my script "Good People" was "good enough" to be accepted into the 10 minute play competition at the Grand River Arts Festival, taking place in Brantford this September. We were accepted based on the script alone, but the competition itself is all about productions - 15 short plays are in the running for bragging rights and cash prizes. I've never done anything like this before, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Thanks to our workshop production of this play in Ennotville las...