Grinder's Grumblings

  The harsh glare of the supervisors I'm often unsure of how much of myself to share in this space. Is this a marketing vehicle for a company, a carefully curated personal brand, or an authentic snapshot of a given place and time in my life so far? I'm never really sure, and whenever I try to make it one thing or the other something else inevitably creeps in. Perhaps I should just quit trying to force this to be something that it's not, and simply let it live, as it is, where it's at. Sometimes that might be telling you about the awesome thing that I have coming up that I want you to be a part of. Other times it might be about my evolution as a writer, director, or whatever else in the world of all things theatre that I'm working on. And sometimes it might just be an authentic snapshot. I think tonight's post is one of those times.  Baby goats baby goating This has been a tough month. We're spending a lot of time in the barn right now, and it's been a di...

At least these two seem well-prepared It's been a long, long time since I tried rehearsing a play in January. It can be done here on the farm but it's not easy, and you have to have actors with some very steely resolve. Not that anyone would be able to get up the driveway right now anyways - even the four wheel drive isn't enough to tackle the drifts.  And it's also a busy time at the day job (annual maintenance) and on the farm - January is kidding season for us, and while things got off to slow start today was another day of multiple births, with many more definitely coming in the hours and days ahead. Apologies for the lack of pictures - there just hasn't been time.  But even with no rehearsals, lousy weather, long days at the top of a ladder and long nights in the barn I still have room in my thoughts for the summer, and getting ready for the shows that we're planning to do. It's something to think about after I'm tired of pushing through all the str...

Year of the Blue Jay? Dear friends and fans of Grinder Productions, Happy New Year! As always, this is the day when I announce the shows that I'm planning to do in the coming year. Sometimes I have a theme, sometimes I don't. For 2026 there is no theme, just a couple of shows that I hope you'll enjoy.  Our first show is called Dirty Deeds at Handlebar Dan's House of Old Wives, or, How Sally Simple Saved the Sarsaparilla Saloon. This is a “gay-nineties” melodrama (think of it as the American version of a Panto, if that helps). It calls for exaggerated, over-the-top performances. Actors shouldn't hold back, or try to over-analyse characters, and the audience is encouraged to cheer for the heroes, boo for the villains, and have as much fun as the actors on stage.  Instead of our usual set-up, for this play we're going to transform the Ennotville Library into Handlebar Dan's, with the patrons seated at tables, cabaret-style. Maybe we'll even get Dan to serv...

Picking a season is like playing chess... against an evil master! This post is just a quick reminder that the Grinder 2026 season will drop, as usual, on New Year's Day. I'll be announcing the two shows that we will be doing this summer at the Ennotville Library, and maybe one or two other things that may or may not come along.  Have we got a story for you! Picking the season is something that has always been very important to me. Out of an infinite number of plays and an infinite number of dramatic possibilities I narrow my choices down to just a handful of shows. In this case there are two, but sometimes a season is only one show, or three shows, or three dozen shows. I don't think the actual number of shows is all that important, actually. What matters is why you chose them.  The Assistant Director fell asleep on the couch... And the older I get, the reasons why I chose them become more and more important to me. I find that odd, because I thought as time went on I would ...

Most of the time I devote this space to all things Grinder, but this month I'd like to take a small detour, and talk a little bit about my writing.  Writing is and always has been a primarily creative outlet for me, rather than a source of income. I try to write every day, and I can't go too long without writing, even if I try not to, or even if it's not convenient to do so. I always have a notebook in my pocket, so that I can write whenever I do get the chance. For creative work I compose exclusively by hand, pen to paper, writing in cursive (if you don't know what cursive is, ask your parents). Over the past year or so I've taken some steps to further develop the writing-as-business side of things, as I struggle, however slowly, to take my creative career to a new level.  One of the first things I did was to give in and finally start paying for a website once again. I hadn't paid for web hosting since the old Grinder era crashed back in 2010, but now I am the ...

Back to the blogosphere. It's been a while. The plan this year was to post at least once a month, and when I had a show in production, at least once a week. Needless to say that reality got in the way, as it always does, and as the Bard once said, Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of Resolution Is sicklied o'er, with the pale cast of Thought, And enterprises of great pitch and moment,  With this regard their Currents turn awry,  And lose the name of Action  In other words, a lot of things didn't go according to plan this year, as usual. But out of that darkness, there came a lot of light. There was Maid of Stone, finally brought to life by these three fine actresses. This show was the rock upon which I was able to build a season.    And if the cast of Maid of Stone was my rock, then it was the next four ladies who were my life raft. I had planned to do a Greek Tragedy this year, but when that fell through and I put out a call f...