Winter Solstice

Today is the shortest day of the year. Or the longest night...It has always been a comforting day for me. Don't know why, but I always want to just stay home and zone all day. It is 3:20 PM and already is getting dark. Then of course it is raining like hell too. Might have snow tonight, mixed with the rain of course.

I have not seen the squirrels in several weeks, they must hibernate, although they were out two years ago playing in all the snow! I wish the sky was clear, so I could look at the moon. I Love a crystal clear, cold still winter's solstice, with all the stars sparkling and the moon a waxing crescent! Been so long since I saw it, I THINK it is that phase now! But then a really full moon on winter's Solstice is pretty too, shing and lighting the woods like a spotlight! So we will be still for a day or so, and then start our tilt to the South, and the days will get longer and longer. Of course those of you in the Southern Hemisphere may be sad, because your days will get shorter and colder! THat must be strange.

I have to go swim, then run to rehearsal and read several parts, as two people will not be there tonight. (GRR) Then Tomorrow I take the car in for a tune up and a detail. (The other 1/2 of my CHristmas Present. Poor Bob had no idea how much this was all going to cost when he mentioned it, but when I said hey, you dont have to do this and I mean it, he said he rides in that car too, and he wants to make sure everything works right. Bless his sweet heart! He is A keeper.

I just about have all my shopping done. I need to find something for TIm, and I have no CLUE what to get him. He could probably use money, so I might just do that. He is now living with Mistie, and she has all of her stuff up here, so I dont think they need any household stuff. SHe seems to be helping him stay clean and sober, and he seems happy! So go for it! She is divorced, and has children, although not with her, and is a devote Mormon, so does not drink or drug! If he is happy and safe, that is all I want!

O Christmas Tree....

I finally got my lights up outside and finished decorating the tree inside. I told edt I would post a picture of "my wee tree" when it was finished. I always start out wanting a small tree, and by the time I get the thing home, it has grown two feet, and by the time I have it in the stand and the lights on it, it has grown another 2 feet.
You think I would learn, but I never do. Got all the ornaments on it this time too, and fixed the broken ones, and rigged fishing line in the ones with no hooks. (cant find any anywhere to buy!) So now all the ornaments I have are on the tree. All new lights, and all I have left is to put out my Christmas village. Then stand back with a fly swatter and kill schroeder as he tries to play with everything.

Nutcracker

Meiko Parton as THE NUTCRAKER in Thw Whidbey Playhouse's Production of Nutcracker



Meiko, and Jacey Geragotelis As the Sugar Plum Fairy



I really did not have anything to do with this play other than be the Photographer and do the Bios and the Lobby Wall and the Poster, And the Program...Ok, maybe I DID do something. Meiko was in my show ZOMBIES< and we encouraged him to go try out for Ballet, and Voila. He stuns the audience with his leaps and turns. and only 6 months of formal training too!

This weekend was the reception for the Donors, and I had right at a month notice to plan and pull it off. But I did! WHEW! I am tired. I took today off of rehearsal for Cover of Life to get my house cleaned and rest! I can actually see my dining room now. Now tomorrow I have to go find a tree!

30 Years of WHIDBEY PLAYHOUSE On MIDWAY

Here is what was presented to the Oak HArbor Chamber of Commerce today. It is 5 minutes but shows a number of productions that I have been involved with!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvjG5DuQPTA

I dont know how to make this an active link, but if you copy and paste it should work it is a you-tube link.

Busy, Busy busy!

Where has this year GONE? I cant believe that Nov is already 1/2 over and I have not even racked my lawn from August. As usual it has been raining here, and windy, and BLEAK! Typical Fall weather. But it has not been really cold yet. no frost that I can tell.

I had my first Board Meeting with the Whidbey Playhouse Sunday night, and I did a show and tell on the poster restoration that I have been doing, They were amazed!!!
one of my readers here, Karen Twitty-Hartlieb whom I have never met, has offered to start a donation to the playhouse strictly for the restoration and framing of theses posters. THe Board was in awe that someone that DOes not know us would be willing to do that. THey said they would earmark all funds that came in labeled for poster restoration for just that purpose. WHAT A NEAT THING! I was just doing it because I wanted to, and doing them a few each month. This now makes it official! THANK YOU KAREN FOR BEING SUCH A WONDERFUL PERSON!



GODSPELL 1980 Before and after





Camelot 1979 Before and after





The big gray squirrels have found the feeders again, so Schroeder has something to chatter at our my window. I do not let him nor Loki outside at all. THey are inside wussie babies. Big bad nasty things out in the woods, eat cats! So mine each have a window they lay in and watch the wildlife.

Last weekend Bob and I went down Island to W.I>C.A. to see ROcky Horror Picture Show. it was done live and it was a hoot! We dressed casually but everyone else was dressed like the show...transvestites, monsters, weird people. It was more fun watching the audience than the show. We sat in the front row, so needless to say, we were drenched, and covered with confetti! It was fun though. Everyone needs to see it twice in their lives. Once to go see how it is done and the second time to participate! I did the time warp in my seat because my back was hurting so bad.

I have been doing a major spreadsheet for the Coupeville Festival, as we are getting ready to give away the money we made this summer. Our Grant allocation meeting is this Sunday. Man time is flying! I also have a Patron Gala to plan for December 12. and then the WPH Christmas party, then on with COver of Life. Which I am producing. I have some exciting news about next season, but we cant tell anyone yet! HEHEHEHEHEHEHE

My 3 Angels

THe latest Play on the boards is the Christmas show, My THree Angels. I went last night to get pictures for the scrapbook. It was very funny, and well done.







Fil Baca, Fred Conley, and Jim Ortuba played the convicts, and they were all great!
The story takes place in the early 20th century in French Guianna, in a prison town. The convicts all run free, and do handiman chores for the shopkeepers and the townspeople. Needless to say they mettle where they should not and trouble ensues. It all works out great, and everyone leaves happy.

I have three more posters done. I am surprised that there were not many pictures taken for these productions. Even the scrapbooks have none. But we had a fire about 40 years ago, so maybe they all got ruined then.



As you can tell, refurbishing them adds a little more life to the already worn pictures. The originals were not behind glass, so they are badly spotted with fly spatter, and water drops. I try to save as much of the originals as I can. I scan them and use the copies on the new poster, and put the originals on the back for posterity!



Now on to round one of Camelot! (we did it more than once!)

Rain!

After a summer of nearly no rain at all, and a fall of nearly no rain at all, we are getting all of it at once. We have a front moving in from the Ocean, that is bring tons of rain! We are in flood watch! ON an ISLAND!! weird huh? right now it is ouring rain, and the fog is really getting thick. I know that most of you do not equate fog and rain but here in the pacific Northwest, it is very common! I just ran out during a 10 minute pause in the rain, and filled up the feeders, and suet blocks! Those birds sure get greedy when the weather turns bad! Maybe they know something we don't! I can hear a squirrel in the alders, but so far, it has not come back into the yard! I have not seen the little red squirrels (lola) in almost 6 months. DOnt know if it is kids, dogs, cats, or owls keeping them away, but I miss them. Maybe when all the leaves fall off the trees, they will be able to see the feeders again and come back. Right now I have a flock of doves pigging out! must be 25-30 of them! and the woodpeckers have returned! both the Northern Flickers and the Downey woodpeckers. I have heard the Piliated one fly over, but so far he has not partaken of my hospitality. The Hairy woodpecker should be here soon too.

BAck to my bedroom window to watch the power of nature. AHHHHHHH relaxing!

Restoration in Progress...

One of the jobs I volunteer to do for the Playhouse is Historian. I keep a photo album of all the shows, and make sure that the lobby posters are stored safely. During my last show, I spent some time up in the balcony and noticed that the Belfry was wet. There is a leak somewhere, that can not be located. So I got all the lobby posters out of there, and brought them and the albums home with me for safekeeping until I can convince someone to build me a cabinet to put them in.

I was looking thought them and noticed that a lot of the older ones are falling apart. Te pictures have paint splattered on them, and they are all of various sizes. All of our posters are 2X3 so they can all be interchanged in frames.



This was the oldest one we have. BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE from 1973. I decided that I would reconstruct it, and the really bad ones, and put them all on standard size cardboard. The picture below is the next oldest one we have. ANASTASIA from 1978.




It too was falling apart. THe pictures were torn, and falling off. I scanned the pictures into my computer, and then used photoshop to retouch them somewhat. NOT like new, but better. Then I used my wonderful new machine THE CRICKET and cut out details to glue on the new poster.



Quite a change huh? I even made the pictures bigger so they can be seen better. So now I need to try and talk the board out of enough money to frame 8 of them, so we can put them in the main staircase going up to the auditorium. This will be an all winter project I am sure, but not all of them need to be rebuilt, just repaired.

Autumnal Equinox

Well Fall has fell. At least that is what Jeff on Channel 5 said. You would not know it by the weather though! We are having unusually hot and dry weather. The trees are starting to lose their leaves, and the evenings are getting cooler, but today was a gorgeous summer day. I was almost late for my Yoga class this morning. I no longer have an alarm clock. Threw it out when I retired! what wakes me up is the birds at the feeder, and the sun hitting my face, or Loki licking my cheek for breakfast. TOday, they pussy willow tree was still in full leaf, and the birds were not making noise, Loki had decided to sleep on the sofa, and the sun had not hit my face yet. Fall. THe sun moves from way over here, to way over there and back again. My house faces the West, and my bedroom faces East, so my bedroom gets the morning light.

I always note the time and the date that I first notice Orion pop up over the alders each Fall. This year it was way into September, around 4:00AM. The alders are getting taller, so Orion has farther to go to be seen. He is my favorite constellation. I know that once orion is fully risen that the cold and the winter will not be far behind.

This year Fall snuck up on me. I have been so busy with the show that I just did not have time to do all the late summer things I usually do. No apples, No Pears, no peaches no tomatoes canned. just lots of zuchinni bread. THe autumn light is there though. The sun just went down behind the house across the street, and as it went, the sky turned bright gold! I have a feeling that we are going to be paying for all this great weather all winter long! any body wanna take a guess on the first frost?

Well we are half way through the run of this show and so far we have only hit about 45% of our house. NOT GOOD!! We are getting great publicity, we are getting great comments by those that have seen it, but we just are not getting the people in that usually do not come. I guess it is lack of a NAME BRAND, Iw ould have thought with ZOMBIES in the title we would bring in the young crowd, but so far NOT! Maybe we ought to have a YOUNG PERSON night! Charge 1/2 price for anyone under 19. Might work, Might not, but the seats are empty anyway. BIG SIGH!

I had a picnic last night after the show...TIm and his "family" came down for the show, and to celebrate his birthday. We went down to CIty Beach and roasted hotdogs and cut Chocolate decadance cake! OH YUMMY!!!! I came home knowing that I had NOTHING TO DO for three days! YES!!! I could sleep all day if I wanted!! WHOOT!

I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 630! CRAP! SO I got up ate my yogurt, made a pot of coffee and watched the TOday SHow. Now I am washing clothes, cleaning the kitchen cleaning my bedroom and then vaccuuming the livingroom! SO much for NOTHING TO DO huh?

THere is always tomorrow!!!

Zombies From THe Beyond

By LIZ BURLINGAME
Whidbey News Times Reporter
Today, 3:15 PM • UPDATED
The town invasion has begun at the Whidbey Playhouse, which carries a collection of buxom aliens, I-like-Ike Americans and a spy from across the Iron Curtain.
They’re part of the production “Zombies from the Beyond,” the low-budget musical, comedy that opens this Friday.
‘Zombies’ satirizes the sci-fi films of the fifties and pop culture in general, in a time when America’s greatest enemies were imaginary aliens.
Playwright James Valcq created the music and dialogue and used his hometown of Milwaukee for the play’s backdrop.
“(Valcq) thought people could relate to a small town being attacked by aliens,” director Mary Lou Chandler said.
‘Zombies’ is set in the Eisenhower era and the Cold War and space race were the big headlines of the day. The staff at the Milwaukee Space Center is anxious about the arrival of rocket scientist Trenton Corbett. Nathan McCartney plays the stiff, no-nonsence military man named Major Malone, who heads the fictitious center. His overly serious assistant, Rick Jones, is actually a red agent (played by Meiko Parton) and his daughter Mary soon becomes Corbett’s love interest. However, their budding romance is jeopardized when a flying saucer lands in Milwaukee. The craft is piloted by Zombina (Amanda McCartney), a buxom alien bent on gaining he-specimens to repopulate her planet.
Her secret weapon is her high-powered singing, which “zombifies” the unknowing males.
Chandler’s cast is relatively young compared to recent playhouse productions, with most actors in their mid-to-late 20s. The actors’ silly, cartoonish demeanor tenderly mocks the bad acting of space paranoia flicks.
The film nostalgia includes sharp 50s clothing, indoor smoking (it’s fake) and scientific jargon: The reflexive lens must be responding recalcitrantly to post-lunar pressurization, says Corbett (Wes Ralston).
“I just remember those old, horrible sci-fi shows on television back when it was free. I love sci-fi. I’ve been a Trekkie from the get-go,” said Mary K. Hallen, who plays a man-hungry secretary.
The cast used a lot of movie comparisons to describe the play, and ‘Zombies’ truly has the look of a grade-B film. There are scenes where the actors mug at the audience, as if they were staring into a camera lens. It has the feel of “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” “Mars Attacks” and “Flash Gordon,” to name a few.
The trick was to make it look imperfect, Chandler said.
“Everything is tacky and corny. The cues are off in some spots but it’s intentional.”
The play’s score is an homage to ‘50s pop, such as Perry Como and Doris Day. Each of the actor’s vocals are ear-pleasing and McCartney gives a standout performance as the operatic Zombina. It’s paired with over-the-top jazz, swing and Russian dance moves. A lanky Parton manages a one-handed side flip in the dance number “Big Wig” and a Michael Jordon-sized leap across the stage. Young also brings a charming tap number in “Atomic Feet,” as his character flirts with Charlene.
Finally, the set design team did an incredible job of staying true to the cheesy sci-fi style. The Space Center looks like an airport control tower, with geometrical flashing control boards and a giant projector screen. Later, there’s a styrofoam skyline of Milwaukee and a space ship moves across the stage on a visible wire.
This play doesn’t need to be analyzed too deeply; it’s simply fun, clever and hilarious.
“In short, it’s a beautiful disaster. You gotta see it to believe it,” Parton said.
Tickets for “Zombies from the Beyond” are now available. The show runs Sept. 11 to Oct. 3, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m. All seats are $16. Contact the Whidbey Playhouse at 679-2237 for more information. The Whidbey Playhouse is located at 730 SE Midway Blvd. in Oak Harbor.

A Corner turned...

Last week was hot and dry, this week was cooler and moist, and today it is COLD and WET! I think we have taken a turn around that weather corner, and have gone from summer into Fall. The leaves on my Maple tree have started to turn yellow on the west facing side. Soon they will all be on the ground, and have to be raked into piles and loaded into the back of Bob's pick-up, to be carted off to his mulch pile.

I woke up late this morning and it felt so good to be snuggled down under the blankets witha cold wind blowing in the window. Sometime during the night of restless sleep, I must have turned on the blanket, because I was toastey and sure did not want to move. Loki however had other ideas, and kept licking my face and purring into my mouth. MOM wake up!!! WE ARE HUNGRY. I expect that if I had not gotten up that they would have had ME for breakfast! Sadie maybe not, but I have no doubts that my cats would have eaten me starting with my nose!

I got up, fixed a pot of coffee, fixed another batch of zucchini bread, popped that into the oven, and went back to my bed to watch AFFAIR TO REMEMBER for the 35th time! I know that movie by heart.

THe show was WONDERFUL on Family and Press night, so they all got the holiday weekend off. All of the tech is done, the set is finished, the costumes are done and I only have three more portraits to take and then I AM DONE!!!! I almost cried because it was so good! I have put so many many many hours into this show, spending upwards of 8-10 hours a day trying to get all the tech just right, finding people to work backstage, setting the lights, sound, and tweeking everything. It is up to the cast now. My job is done. I have also turned a corner. I actually relaxed for the first time in MONTHS.

THe pool opens again on Tuesday, and Yoga starts up again on Tuesday morning, so I can get back to being healthy instead of stressed out.

My toe is sitting at a cock-eyed angle to the rest of my foot, and it hurts like hell, but it is not black anymore. Just bright CHerry red!

It is pouring rain and dark out and I heard a far off rumble in the distance, so I guess we may get some thunder and lightning. Very unusual for us. LOVE IT!!!

AHHHHHH!!!!!

tonight's Dress Rehearsal!

As you can see by these photos, it is an hilariously funny, kitschy, tacky,campy show. It was written that way, and it is so corny that you laugh all the time!
I wish you all could come see it. I will get it on you-tube sometime in October!

Rehearsal

Things are coming together great! After Saturday afternoon, I should have lights done, sound ready, and music all recorded. The set is ALMOSt ready, and the costumes are done. This is a picture of the ZOMBETTE costumes. WHAT A HOOT! I will post more Pictures after Press Night. Then we will have everything done. SO stand by....Sept 3 is Press Night and Family Night. Wanna come?

Flying saucer lands in Oak Harbor!

A Flying saucer has been seen flying over the Whidbey Playhouse as of late! Word has it that it is inhabited by an alien buxom aviatrix named ZOMBINA played by Amanda McCartney. Terrorizing earth and looking for he-specimens to re-populate her planet X she has ZOMBIFIED Major Malone (Nathan McCartney) and his right-hand man and Russian spy Rick Jones (Meiko Parton). Trenton Corbet (Wes Ralston) is the Young Astronaut trying to save the Probe Seven experiment from total destruction. Alas, he too is ZOMBIFIED . Major Malone’s daughter Mary (Caitlen Lewis), and his man-hungry secretary Charlene Osmanski (Mary K Hallen) along with the lovable Billy, the Tap dancing delivery boy,(Allen Young) create a cacophonous noise on the roof of the Probe Seven Control Room confronting Zombina and her Zombettes. They try to destroy the secret weapon that she keeps in her throat. Her extremely high and obnoxious voice. This Musical Comedy spoof on the 1950’s space movies is a wacky, zany production! The soundtrack may sometimes be off a bit, and the dialogue is really corny, but this is after all a spoof. A hilariously funny and toe-tapping take on the beginning of the Atomic space age. Tickets are 16.00 for all seats and reservations can be made by calling 360-679-2237. Directed by Mary Lou Chandler, Assisted by Kent Peckenpaugh, Produced by Rusty Hendrix, The Vocals Directed by Nathan McCartney and the dance routines by Daunne Zinger and K. Sandra O’Brien, This is one not to be missed!!! Show opens September 11 and runs weekends through October 3, 2009

I have been up to my ZOMBIE eyeballs trying to get this show on the stage. I think we finally are on the road. No Pianist, no orchestra, can't get the vocals off the CD but we are going to sing over the CD! camp it up and make it really Kitschy and corney! gotta work. My head is starting to ease up a bit. I really need to get back to yoga and swimming. no time!

Get your tickets!!!

Testing new toy

I just got a new Dell Laptop DUDE!!! Sat on my table and plugged it in said I wanted to do wireless and poof!!! there it is. Now I have NO idea why I am on the internet, but I appear to be. MAGIC!!!

More to come!

Desparate

My Pianist quit AGAIN!!! THis music is way too hard for the average joe. We tried Jim and he quit too. Right now we are singing and dancing to the CD, but that will not work for the show. I have no idea what we are going to do. Slit my wrists I think. (joke people) This was NOT a show I wanted to do, but I got offered it and took it. I am doing fine with everything else, just not the Piano player. Hard to put on a musical using only a CD!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!!