2018 in Review!

I promised a year-in-review post, so here’s a quick rundown of this year. Meant to post this last night but I wanted some time to review it before I sent it.

This has been an eventful year and I’m sure I’ve missed some things. It has felt incredibly long. I tried to hit the highlights of things, especially things that have built into where I am now.

I purposefully kept this list brief and dry because it’s so long and I don’t want to drown it in emotion forever and ever.

So without further ado: a brief list of what I did this last year.

January

Auditions for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at The Players Theatre Company.

Trip to New York to tour a college, including seeing performances of Sleep No More and Come from Away. Thanks to family friends, I was able to get onstage at Come From Away after the performance. Spent the night with my friend Michael Williams, and sadly missed his roommates Ryan Jacobs and Austin Jacobs.

Saw snow in Ithaca, NY!

February

Pop Show, Solo & Ensemble with choir students.

Piano Solo & Ensemble.

Continued Rehearsal for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

March

Performances of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at the Players Theatre Company

Trip to Phoenix, AZ to visit Arizona State University, where I have applied for my master’s degree. I’m looking forward to auditioning in February of this year. I stayed with friends Dale Sakamoto and his wife Jayna.

Hatched the idea for The Woodlands Chamber Music Project along with John Paddie.

April

UIL Concert and Sight Reading

Rehearsals with Stageworks Theatre for Bonnie and Clyde (sadly, I was replaced on this show, as I was unable to play the score well enough on short notice.)

Rehearsals with Stageworks Theatre My Shot Cabaret.

May

Pop Show

Performance of Stageworks Theatre My Shot Cabaret.

First “The Woodlands Chamber Music Project” recital. It was the same night as the above, so I was unable to attend it.

State Solo & Ensemble with a number of band students.

June

Auditions for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers with the Players Theatre Company.

Performance with “The Woodlands Chamber Music Project”

July

Trip to the Grand Canyon (see Instagram for more detail on this one).

Continued Rehearsals for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Performance with “The Woodlands Chamber Music Project”

August

Final rehearsals for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Performance with “The Woodlands Chamber Music Project”

September

Performances of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Short & Sweet Choir Concert

October

Men’s Choir Performance at MWHS Football Games

SHSU Men’s Choir Showcase

Trip to Shenandoah, VA to tour Shenandoah University where I have applied for my master’s degree. I’m waiting on feedback, as I submitted just before they went on winter break.

Began rehearsals for [Title of Show] at Iconotheatrix.

November

Performances of [Title of Show] at Iconotheatrix.

Hired as organist at Advent Lutheran Church. This opportunity came about thanks to meeting with Scott McAdow, who judged my students back in the spring.

Submitted application to Arizona State University.

December

Merry Mustang Show & Auction

Christmas Services at Advent Lutheran Church

Thanks to all of my friends and family for their support during the past year. I’ve tried so many cool things and some have been successful and other haven’t. All of them were opportunities for personal or professional growth, so I’m thrilled to have had them.

I’m also incredibly grateful for the new friends and colleagues I have met in the last year. I have met so many talented actors and musicians through my travels and expanding my network. I have worked with committed, talented amateurs at the theaters and at school and at church. My heart is full of love for those who have given their art into the world during 2018. Let’s do it again in 2019!

The Montie Awards 2018

I am thrilled to announce that I have been nominated twice in the Best Music Direction category for The Montie Awards 2018! Here's a quick rundown of the situation:

What are the Montie Awards?

The theatre where I regularly work (The Players Theatre Company, Conroe, TX), is one of two theatre companies in the downtown Conroe area. It sits just across the square from Stage Right of Texas, the other theatre company.

For the last six years, the two companies organized The Montie Awards as a kind of local Tony Awards, complete with featured performers from last year (three shows I directed are performing, see below). In all of the typical categories, four nominees are named based on the 13 shows performed during the previous season. (six by Stage Right, and seven by the Players)

What is my history with the Montie Awards?

Since I have been involved with The Players, I have been fortunate to be nominated every year.

In year one (2015-2016 season), I was nominated, along with my co-director Sal Jiminez for Meet Me in St. Louis, which we collaborated on. This was especially exciting, as it was my first community theatre show.

In the 2016-2017 season, I was nominated for West Side Story, and ultimately won. I was immensely gratified, as this show won a number of awards, including my own. Sadly, it did not win Best Show of the Year, but we won plenty of others.

So what's going on this year?

This season (2017-2018) was an incredibly busy one for me. With The Players, I have directed Disney's Beauty and the Beast (along with Sal), Little Women, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. 

Today, the nominees were finally released, and I was gratified to see that I was nominated for not just one, but two of the shows: Beauty and the Beast (which nomination is shared with Sal) and Little Women. In both cases, it was an incredible cast, and Beauty and the Beast had an incredible orchestra as well. I'm honored to be nominated.

Among the nominees, there are many talented actors, actresses, and technicians who I've worked with over previous years. They are too many to list, but click below to see a complete list.

See the full list of nominees here.

Performers from all three of my shows are being featured during the ceremony, as shown on The Montie Awards Instagram account. Click the name for the appropriate post.

I'm looking forward to attend the awards ceremony next weekend! More news will come as things progress.

Show Progress

As of tonight, we are a month away from the opening of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

Tonight we had our first stumble-through of Act 2. Overall, I was really impressed with where things were. About 75% of the act has been set in stone, with a few scenes never staged, and a few dance numbers that haven't been choreographed yet.

The singing was really solid. A couple of songs were rough (there's one choral section that is really tough and wasn't quite right tonight), but for the most part I think the singing is pretty much done other than finesse.

One of the challenges for the actors is to match the pace of their dialogue to some of the underscoring. Certain sections have to be sped up or slowed down in order to line up with expected moments in the music. Since we're performing with tracks, there's really nothing I can do in the moment, so it's up to the actors to become familiar with those moments.

The run took about an hour and a half, which is longer than the act, but only by about 50%. When all is said and done, the act should run a little less than an hour.

At the end of this week, we will finally get access to the stage. At that point, things will really move along. It's tough to visualize how set pieces will move and where actors will enter when our rehearsal space is smaller than the stage!

Since we won't have set for a little while longer, I'm a little concerned with the scene changes. The choreographer plans to have them pretty carefully plotted (her husband has designed the set), but they'll take practice to get them in the music. Many of the scene changes flow directly out of the end of the scene, or into the next scene with no breaks, so they have to be precise.

All that to say, the actors are doing a great job, and the show is really coming along. We're not totally done yet, though. In the next few weeks, this show is going to completely transform as the final pieces fall into place and I'm excited to see it!

Last Week of Summer Vacation

What am I going to do with my last week before inservice begins?

  • Practice piano (I have a lesson on Thursday)
  • Rehearsals for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (click the link to get tickets!)
  • Meet with other organizers of The Woodlands Chamber Music Project to discuss our future.
  • Clean up my apartment one last time
  • See a new show or art experience
  • Return library books
  • Try to consciously Sharpen the Saw

I guess it's going to be a busy one. Anyone have exciting plans for this week?

What I'm Reading

  • Still working my way through Drew McManus's blog archives over at Adaptistration. I'm in March of 2012 as I write this. Fortunately it seems he's taken a short hiatus until next Monday so maybe I'll catch up by then!
  • The Nantucket Diary of Ned Rorem. I haven't spent much time listening to Rorem's music (I will be checking out some scores when I go to the library tomorrow), but his writing is a pleasure to read. This particular book is more tinged with melancholy than previous ones, as it chronicles his advancing age.

Building an Audience

I've been spending a lot of time this summer reading Drew McManus's blog Adaptistration, after I happened on it just before the end of the school year. Drew is a prolific writer, and has published an article virtually every day since sometime in 2003. I've only made it through 2009 so far, but it's been fascinating reading.

Among the many things that Drew returns to over and over are the questions of how to make an organization socially relevant and financially solvent. That is, how to attract and keep an audience.

Throughout these early archives, Drew emphasizes relationships. He is constantly urging groups to communicate between management and performers, and reach out and genuinely listen to the concerns of stakeholders such as board members, performers, administrators, and the audience.

This has gotten me thinking about some topics that I first approached back in the spring. I work with two organizations that are trying to build an audience and a reputation. One of them, the Players Theatre Company in Conroe, claims a 50+ year heritage of community service through theatre.

And yet it has a vibrant, young competitor right across the street. Shows rarely sell out, despite a relatively small auditorium to fill. This suggests to me that their reputation doesn't speak for itself enough to attract unify the community behind them. How can they improve their standing?

The other company, The Woodlands Chamber Music Project (Facebook) (Instagram), exists in a somewhat untapped market. The northwest Houston area doesn't have any homegrown chamber music ensembles or performances. We want to bring this music to the area and generate some interest in the music, both new and old.

But so far, our three audiences have been made up almost entirely of family and close friends of the performers. How do we attract outsiders and people who aren't already invested in us personally? As we move forward, I want to discuss these things with my fellow organizers.

The live and performing arts are always struggling for their lives. Even artistically adventurous, culturally relevant organizations rely on donations and grants to help make ends meet. I still get calls from professional companies in Houston asking for donation. Is there any way a performing arts company can generate enough interest and find the correct balance of income and expenses to self perpetuate?