March at Grinder Productions

Blocking notes are coming along nicely this year

It was a cold and blustery day at the Ennotville Library, but we still managed to pull off both our workshop reading and our open auditions - thank you to everyone who came out to both events!

I'm really glad that I put the time and energy into organizing this "preseason" event. I haven't done either an in-person staged reading and workshop or held in-person open auditions for several years now, and I forgot how much I missed them. I spend a lot of time alone with my theatre company this time of year, huddled in the cold of my basement under blankets pouring over the scripts. It's so refreshing to actually hear other people reading my work, or the work of others that I'm directing, out loud. As much as I value all the written feedback that I get, nothing beats hearing a play brought to life by actors who are right there in front of you, theatre as theatre is meant to be. 

Now it's time to get back to work, in earnest. I have some casting decisions to make, some of which I've already made, others are still a work in progress. Based on the forecast I think winter is finally going to loosen its grip this week, allowing me to creep back out to the shop (carefully, to avoid falling on the ice), and start putting the physical pieces of my company back together again. With any luck this will be the last year where the weather will keep me from my workshop during the winter. 

And of course, I must get working on rewrites for Shackled to a Corpse, the script that we did for the workshop - I'm under a submission deadline that is fast approaching. We had a great discussion about the play following the reading, and I have a page of valuable notes that I think are going to improve the script greatly. 

And finally, though I am usually loathe to share things from the other half of my theatre life on this blog, I do think it's safe to mention that Thursday, March 27th is World Theatre Day! Come out to the Fergus Grand Theatre at 7pm for some great scenes from local groups, the presentation of this year's Lis Pieper Award, and staged readings of the three winners of the Fergus Grand Theatre's 10-minute play contest. It's a free event, and all are welcome. There might even be one or two surprises!